The Job Story - 10

I lost on the first chance for an onsite project because I did not have a passport. If I had the passport the first time, a lot could have changed and my life would have been different, very different. Because my not having a passport triggered some other event which led from one thing to another and my life changed. For better or worse, I will not judge, I cannot judge.

I got my passport done and was chosen to do a project in Belgium. The project which was supposed to start in July got delayed endlessly. At one moment, I was not even sure if the project would be implemented. Somewhere in September, we finally got a go ahead and the process for the visa started. Until then I was working in the same support job and was quite happy there.

Due to the delay, the project got postponed but the deadline remained the same. As the departure date started delaying we had less and less time to complete the project. Finally it was decided that we would be there in Amsterdam in October 2002. Visa ready and everything we were ready to go. The last minute packing and tickets got me all stressed out.

On 11th October, I finally departed for Amsterdam along with three of my colleagues. The project had implementation of solution all over Europe and the team strength was quite big but we were not working together. Small teams would work in different cities and villages. That was the first time I have been in a plane but my colleagues had their plane journeys in the past. I was like a small child with a new toy. Everything I have heard about the plane, I was experiencing for the first time. It was a Northwest flight which did not have individual screens. The flight was half empty and I slept for the whole 8 hours in two seats.

It had been just 2 years in the company and I was not exposed to the outside world. I had always worked in the Internal support department and was quite comfortable in the company. This was the first project in the outside world. I was little scared and nervous. Right from the flight to check-in and immigration check, I was lost. It was good that I traveled with my colleagues that I knew they would get me there.

So on a cold October morning, I landed in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The year was 2002 and compared to Indian Airports, European airport were well-equipped. Compared to Mumbai airport, Schiphol was totally a different class in itself.

Schiphol is a very unique airport. It is beautiful with rows of shops. It has a full-fledged Railway station right below it. You can board trains to almost anywhere in Europe from here. At least it will take you to stations to take you anywhere in Europe. We landed in Europe early in the morning somewhere at 7:00 AM. From Amsterdam, we were supposed to travel to Belgium.

We were famished after a long journey and Belgium would take more than a hour to reach. So we decided to eat something before we started our journey. One of our colleague had visited Europe many times and he knew what was good to eat. Our parents had warned us about beef and pork and we were not sure if the food had beef and pork even in small quantity.

After much discussion and following the cue from the colleague, we ate fries and Onion rings from the Burger King joints. Years later I could eat anything from Burger King. We took the train to Leuven, a small town in Belgium, mostly filled with students. The complete team was there, some 25-30 people. That was the first and last time we would all meet together because the next day, we would be traveling to different cities to complete the project.

It was the first time I was visiting any European city. Even though I had landed in Amsterdam, I did not step out of the Schiphol Airport so Leuven was the first city I had seen. The climate was cold and chilly. Leuven is a small city not busy like Brussels. The life is laid back. It had a city center and small streets. Everything was so new for me that I went on clicking photos. I did not have the digital camera that time and film roll were costly but still I clicked a lot of photos.

That night the whole team went for dinner in an Indian restaurant. Even in the small town, we could find an Indian restaurant i guess probably run by a pakistani person. That was the first time I became aware of the difference between sparkling water and normal water. I was surprised to find out that water has to be paid for unless it is tap water. After dinner we walked around the town.

We were different individual coming from different cities of India. I was meeting most of them for the first time in my life and although we came from different offices, we worked for the same department. Some were veterans of Onsite assignment, while some like me were watching everything with awe and amazement.

When everybody retired to bed, some of us came down again to have a stroll in the night. We were surprised to find the streets deserted at just 10:00 PM. The next morning when we woke up, it was cold outside. The streets were silent and a mist hung in the air. I packed my bag. I along with three of my colleagues from Chennai were assigned to a small sleepy industrial town of Herentals. Our manager even warned us about the town being a part of many spooky stories.

Till now I had worked with people and it had taken some time to get used to the style of working. Here I was going to work with people who I knew just by their names. We did not have much time to complete the project. Sometimes on 3rd October, I left for Herentals with “D”, “JS” and one more colleague. The third person was replaced by “K”, few days later.

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To be continued……………

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9