It was not so much the excitement about going to the United States as was the anxiety and fear of going, living and working in a totally new place that fully occupied my mind for the one week before I started from India. I am so myself when I have to take decisions, when I have to make choices. And the last one week before the journey, my mental circuits were totally jammed with all sides of me trying to gain control, sending vibes, each of which shook my entire brain.
A friend of mine, who claims to be good at palmistry, the knowledge he purports to have acquired by reading many books and analysing many "cases", once read my hand and told me that I'd never enter a foreign country. Well, palmists always have an excuse - your fate will change if you try hard enough, and that will be reflected in your lines as well. I don't know if my lines have changed. And I also don't know if the change of fate is just because somebody wrote "The World is Flat" after the guy read my hand which totally changed the definitions of the word "foreign".
A couple of months back, I was told that I'd be given an opportunity to travel to the US, to visit our client's office at Milford in Ohio. I always thought I wouldn't go. I hoped to do something big so that I cud proudly and safely reject the US-visit opportunity. It is amazing how the mind starts convincing itself of the perfectness of its present state just to keep itself away from a change - the bigger the worse - finding excuses not to allow you to venture into unexplored territories, giving reasons every moment why your comfort zone should be your zone for life. Yet the irony is, the moment it tries to settle for the comfort zones, it starts feeling choked, it is in pain, and wants to break free of its own barriers. It feels weak, though it is not, coz it doesn't know its strength. It has to push itself each moment, overcome the barriers of fear and uncertainty. And each moment of exploration gives it a relief, an assurance, a satisfaction, some air to breathe. And the next moment is no different, unless the mind stops trying to explore.
The preparations for the trip started with the application for VISA - a short visit Business VISA - B1. I attended the interview for VISA at the American Consulate in Mumbai. VISA applications do get rejected. So people wish each other "all-the-best" before their interviews. My application had a very little chance of rejection since my company was one of the few indian companies whose VISA applications are processed faster and with fewer rejections. A blue eyed American Woman asked me a few questions like - Why are going to the US - Who is your Client - For how long are you going - How much is your salary. I answered all her questions - with answers I had prepared well, thanks to my company's Travel-Desk. I was trained to give the right answers with the right level of confidence. That was my first experience of talking to an American. (My client is an Indian settled in America.) I found that they speak clearly and loudly, and even end the sentences at an equal volume, often streching them. I don't know the reason, but we indians complete our sentences in our mouths, as if we are ashamed of letting them out loudly.
To Be Continued...
A friend of mine, who claims to be good at palmistry, the knowledge he purports to have acquired by reading many books and analysing many "cases", once read my hand and told me that I'd never enter a foreign country. Well, palmists always have an excuse - your fate will change if you try hard enough, and that will be reflected in your lines as well. I don't know if my lines have changed. And I also don't know if the change of fate is just because somebody wrote "The World is Flat" after the guy read my hand which totally changed the definitions of the word "foreign".
A couple of months back, I was told that I'd be given an opportunity to travel to the US, to visit our client's office at Milford in Ohio. I always thought I wouldn't go. I hoped to do something big so that I cud proudly and safely reject the US-visit opportunity. It is amazing how the mind starts convincing itself of the perfectness of its present state just to keep itself away from a change - the bigger the worse - finding excuses not to allow you to venture into unexplored territories, giving reasons every moment why your comfort zone should be your zone for life. Yet the irony is, the moment it tries to settle for the comfort zones, it starts feeling choked, it is in pain, and wants to break free of its own barriers. It feels weak, though it is not, coz it doesn't know its strength. It has to push itself each moment, overcome the barriers of fear and uncertainty. And each moment of exploration gives it a relief, an assurance, a satisfaction, some air to breathe. And the next moment is no different, unless the mind stops trying to explore.
The preparations for the trip started with the application for VISA - a short visit Business VISA - B1. I attended the interview for VISA at the American Consulate in Mumbai. VISA applications do get rejected. So people wish each other "all-the-best" before their interviews. My application had a very little chance of rejection since my company was one of the few indian companies whose VISA applications are processed faster and with fewer rejections. A blue eyed American Woman asked me a few questions like - Why are going to the US - Who is your Client - For how long are you going - How much is your salary. I answered all her questions - with answers I had prepared well, thanks to my company's Travel-Desk. I was trained to give the right answers with the right level of confidence. That was my first experience of talking to an American. (My client is an Indian settled in America.) I found that they speak clearly and loudly, and even end the sentences at an equal volume, often streching them. I don't know the reason, but we indians complete our sentences in our mouths, as if we are ashamed of letting them out loudly.
To Be Continued...
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