US travel -- Pre-departure

Jindagi ke aise kitne din yaad hein... yeh shayad keh naa saku.. par yeh din .. yeh kuch pal meri aakhiri saason tak saath rahenge.. Fresh like a lily, vivid like an eel. I close my eyes ... place myself in a time machine...

Its Friday the 17th of March 2006. It took an entire day to finish the formalities of the upcoming onsite --- tickets, forex, H1 B Transfer Memorandum, and the laptop. I bid good bye to my long time infy buddies -- Arun, Shrek, Apps, Shweta. Final adieu to Infy, packing with me the lovely and some of the not so lovely memories with me. The chauffeur driven car was awaiting me and my chotu brother, Gaurav, moving towards home. God I cud hardly wait to reach home.

Thanks to the infy cab, we reached home and thus my mum-dad real quick.. the sparkle in my mom and dad's eyes is still vivid in my memory.. she was so excited, perhaps
even more than me. My first onsite trip was at the door-step ... and I never thought I wud say... lemme wait for another day..

Flight was on Sunday 19th March morning 0900 hrs.. The onsite trips here are so hectic as they leave little time to pack; spending time with family and friends was like business folks say "We are able to spend quality time with our beloved."

Words of wisdom from dad, last minute cooking tips and a lot of affection from mom, lot of assistance and love from younger brother, quality meetings with the mamas (all of them :-)) and family and phone calls from all my friends filled more excitment in the journey from India. My dear ones; Thank you for your lovely gifts.

Then came the last morning. With flight at 9.00 am, we have to check in around 3 hours before the flight. All the things were set, barely had few hours sleep and woke up at 0300 hours. We had booked a taxi and also pulled out our lovely Maruti. Subodh mama and Jayshree mami accompanied us foursome to airport. We reached airport before the outbreak of dawn.

This morning marked me entering a new league. Nothing had changed, just the experience from now on will be adding new dimension to my learnings. I remember this fun-filled, thrilling feeling .. and this was not the first time I felt it. Couple of years ago, I had felt similar transition, similar vibrance -- then it was when I was on my to Pune -- when I joined Infy.

Indeed, the journey at Infy has been exciting to say the least. Loads of learnings, made few lifetime buddies, lovely mentors, some of the best times of my life and some of the not so good experiences too. Now, at this juncture of my life, I strongly feel the same vibrance. Still that fire burning, the same persistence; a lot matured now, with the same sparkle as when a kid. I am loving it !! ;-)

I remember distinctly every moment spent with family. Treasure these moments with me forever.