Me Goes onsite!!

Sometime in november, my PM told me about an opportunity in US for long term, the role was that of a project manager. Preetis marriage was on December 14th and I did not want to travel before that. So it was decided that I will take a leave for the marriage and travel onsite after that directly from Mumbai. When I was in mumbai, I got a mail from a colleague who was also going with me that the project start was delayed. Fawdi was upset and I had a tough time making her stop crying. I had to go back to Mangalore. After reaching back, I was asked to travel to Bangalore for another 2 weeks for training. Travel was getting delayed and fawdi was getting more and more impatient.

Finally, the project start date was fixed and so was my travel date. I had got a long itinerary via Colombo-London-Washington-Charlotte. I did not tell fawdi that I was travelling that weekend. :) Had my roaming activated, fawdi called me when I was in colombo. Told her that I am at friends house and will call later. She got angry and disconnected. I finally called her up from london and told her that I was on my way to US. She immediately booked tickets for me to Phoenix for the next weekend. My college mate Rajkumar was also in Phoenix

Visit to Phoenix

Me and Arun landed in Charlotte after a long journey to find that our luggage did not come through. Our manager there, Gopal, took us to Costco and got some clothes for us. We had not much of work for the first week. We met the Client Manager there and instantly knew that this is not going to be easy assignment. I was waiting for friday, to meet my dear fawdi. I had informed Raj that I was coming

My flight was early morning, I took a cab and reach airport. After 6 hours I reached Phoenix airport. There, after 6 long months, I saw fawdi. I will never forget the expression on her face as I saw her as going down the escalator. We took a cab and went to her place. She made some food for us and we talked for till evening. Raj came in the evening and I went to his place. Had a good time with Raj remembering all the old pranks we played and the happy days in college

I came back to Fawdis place in the morning and went out shopping. I got her a laptop and some other things. We roamed around in her apartment complex. The most difficult part was the "bye" that I had to say in the evening. I saw her looking at my cab from the gate as I went to the airport

Missing fawdi

Fawdi went onsite in July. I was still in mangalore and was missing fawdi so much. We used to have calls daily. I used to get up early in the morning, just in time when fawdi reached home and then talk on messenger. Already had a laptop, got a webcam and headphone mic and also a broadband connection. fawdis project was bad and she had a lots of work, she also used to cry a lot over the phone. Every place in Mangalore reminded me of the time we spent there and I was missing her a lot. I asked my project manager to see if I can get an onsite. He asked me to wait for a right kind of role. He would inform me of every new opportunity and I used to get into learning a new tool only to learn that the project has been postponed. This went on for some months. Meanwhile fawdi finished her project in Chicago and joined Phoenix, Arizona for another project

Fawdi goes onsite

Fawdi received her passport in some days. And got her tickets booked too. I planned a trip to Bangalore to see her off. Her dad was also coming there. Her flight was from Bangalore-Delhi-London-Chicago. She had to leave for delhi in the evening at 7. Also had some shopping to do. I reached Bangalore in the morning. Her dad had not reached till then. I helped her pack and made a list of things that we needed to buy. Her dad came around 11 and took a room in the city. We went to collect forex for fawdi and met her dad there. He was surprised to find me there. Fawdi formally introduced me. No smile..

We had some lunch and then went out for shopping. I was leading in all the things and it seems it irriated him a lot. But I did not mind that, we took some things and came back to the guest house, packed the bags and left for airport. Both of us saw fawdi going into the securiy check. I told her dad that she would be fine and I would let him know once she reaches.

I tried talking to him many times during the day (in english of course :)) but he would always end up in malayalam. Finally when going back, I went with him to the hotel and dropped him to his bus. He thanked me for all the help.

Fawdi meets my parents

Fawdi returned to her desk after lunch. And she was so happy. Everyone was expecting her to be gone. People who knew about us, thought I did something. Otherwise how is it possible that after 6 months of stamping no one noticed that it was an H4? No one but me? Fawdis parents went back the same day. Her PM, Rachna, called her up to check what was the issue. What surprised her PM was how was I involved in all this. Since Rachna knew me well (she was my first PM) fawdi told her the entire thing. As soon as fawdi told me this, I was sure Rachna would call me. And she did :) Blasted me for not telling her this.

Now we had some more time. It would take atleast a month for the passport to be restamped and fawdi has to travel. She was asked to travel to Bangalore meanwhile.

During this time I planned my parents and sisters trip to mangalore. I arranged a trip to some places nearby. Told my dad about fawdi. His reaction was cautious. I asked fawdi to come down during that weekend.

It was a nice trip. My parents, Preeti, Fawdi and me roamed around for 2 days around Mangalore and had a good time. They liked fawdi, only thing aai said was that "She is not smart enough for you". Dad said she found her intelligent (Fawdi is still proud of that :)) Preeti liked her. So it was an Orange signal from their side. Not exactlty green