Train. to USA. What next?

One thing comes to my mind when I think about USA, Train. Well to be more precise the word is Training. It all started on when I first entered a job consultant’s office at Sarjapur Rd, Bangalore, waiting for a friend of mine in the lobby. My friend had requested me to take her to her first job interview. I was fresh out of college. Tired of writing entrance exams in my college and applying jobs in the newspaper and rediff.com.  As I was waiting, I noticed a wall poster which had words about achieving one’s dream; I gave it a lot of thought as I was a shiny coin just out of the mint in my mind and started my day dreaming session. I was interrupted by a fine gentleman who was wearing formals with well done tie. He was looking for somebody and approached me asking if it was me. I said, sorry sir, I don’t know him and he looked at me for few seconds and asked me, Are you looking for a job? I said Yes, next question was a little unexpected. He asked me if I knew how to test a printer connection. Did I? Off course I did. I just repaired a DOT Matrix printer at my neighbor’s home office last night. He called me into his office and my unexpected interview for a Support Engineer in ‘Training’ at Hewlett Packard just started. After some interesting question and answer session, the gentleman said I will email you soon regarding the job offer. I was now officially employed! What next?

The next several days were followed by Training my vocal cords and my accent to sound less like an Indian and more like an American. First the idea of having an accent trainer sounded very cool but soon it was clear to me that I was trying to defy the nature.  Car was pronounced as Cara and I used to call the non-dust eraser as rubber.  As days passed so as thoughts about what next?

Fast-forward few months and there I was riding the white Tata Sumo to Electronic City everyday trying not to think or understand what was going on and the driver hit the brakes, hard enough to put the passengers out of the seat. That did shake me up and reminded me that questions I have been trying to answer “What next? The following days went in doing research, networking with friends and making new contacts. In the end it was clear. I had found the answer. I was going to USA.

Aug of 2005, I landed in the hottest place in the US – Houston Texas. Within two years I was fully consumed by the city. In no time I had got trained again to call the cycle as bike, glass as cup and understood that Houstonians loved Indian Food, well most of them did. Now everyday was a new lesson and another caution. One has to be grounded. Not do anything stupid and most of all, follow everything that was written in the law for being legal in the US.

For once I had believed that I was coming very close to dreaming and making my dreams come true and now it feels like its way out there. I am buried in the sand of immigration laws and invisible chains of being a legal immigrant. Everything around me now revolves around my VISA and I breathe questions and doubts about how to renew my work VISA. I own a car and yet I feel I am walking on the freeway.  It’s been 6 years and it still feels like I am in training. I am waiting for that white taxi to stop. May be I will dare and ask again, what next?