I have miles to earn ...

There are concerns about the globe heating up, but there sure is another phenomenon going on for a while now, that is the shrinking of its radius. With globalisation and the concept of global village, enterprises are furthering their businesses across countries and continents. People are feeling unprecedented urge to go to Far Far Away, to explore the world, to see the people there. and for numerous other reasons. For some, there is also a hidden desire to earn more miles. These are ones who will feel proud if they have to apply for a new passport with reason "No Empty Page Available" and will indulge in narrating stories after looking at a VISA and Port of Entry stamp in their passport.

Air Miles, Jet Lag, Connections have become ubiquitous terms these days. Just type the words Jet Lag in google, and it will return thousands of pages describing numerous ways to tackle it. They will describe ways to dupe the body clock, to induce sleeping and waking durations by using caffeine or sleeping pills. For a frequent flyer, these are the rules to live by as are ways to control sugar for a diabetic. He cannot afford to spend time to recover from jet lag on a two day trip from New York to Shanghai. Fighting jet lag is a part of what he was signed for and through experience he has learned how to tackle it.

Distances across continents and oceans has been reduced to number of hours you have to sit in the airplane to cross these. The feeling of having come half way across the globe is termed as experiencing jet lag. Friends and family will prescribe ways to handle this feeling to someone who has just come from India to US. He has flown thousands of miles, over oceans and continents to reach where he is now, and yet it seems so trivial. This is just the start for him, he has just earned one stamp, there are others for whom the immigration officer has to look for space to put another stamp in the passport.

With lot of traveling across the US and Canada for work and few flying visits to India from US, I would well have earned tens of thousands of miles in this year. I also had to experience disorientation and felt sleepy at odd hours as a result of being transported across time zones. I have taken days and at times a full week to get accustomed to the new day-night schedule. What I felt was that one should try not to curb jet lag and along with that the feeling of flying across the globe. Jet lag which is looked at as an after result of flying should rather be experienced as the feeling of having traveled thousands of miles and crossed oceans and continents and the feeling be relished and absorbed slowly as the body would in a natural way. One can call this "Organic Flying", free of artificial drugs to curb natural body behaviors.

Departing Home

Walking towards the airport checking-in in the evening today I was really feeling the devoid of energy, although I had had lasagna in afternoon at a nice restaurant along with mom and brother. My stay at home had got extended more than initially planned, totaling 4 weeks, could spend quality time with folks back home. I got a good break from the non-rewarding job that I was doing back in US and enjoyed the stay completely.

The end of the sojourn came rather abruptly, that’s what I felt. The Jet Airways personnel started asking me the regular security questions. I was answering animately, and might have simply accepted if he would have said that there is some problem and I cannot travel back today. It was a regular drill, next was the immigration counter and I half heartedly filled the form and proceeded to the next available window.

The immigration personnel inspected the form, I had filled the wrong flight number, it was corrected. He then started asking me the regular questions, which VISA are you travelling on, who is your employer. I gave home single word answers for his questions. And then it started, the questions came pouring in, where did you work before this, what is your job, where did you do your studies. I started getting bit irritated, it was none of his job to ask me where I did my college from. I kept answering. Then he asked me what where did I apply for the job I got in US, what marks I got in ehgineering. Then I realized what he was upto, He was trying to figure out what would be required to a get a job in US.

He told me his daughter was also an engineer and had scored 95% marks and he wanted her to do M Tech . He was surprised how I managed to land a job in US on H1 VISA with just BE degree from India and that too with 68%. I told him that it was also about the job experience and I had the relevant experience for the job, During the conversation I started feeling better, I was not being sentenced to another term in US, but it was rather a sought after opportunity.

For the first time an immigration personnel smiled at me and told me, "Best of Luck :-)". I would say that made my day and gave me some energy for the long-long flight ahead.

Made in Elsewhere

The other day I was on my weekend running spree, and I thought I saw something on the manhole cover on the sidewalk. I came back the same route to confirm what I had seen earlier, and yes I was right, there was the manhole cover on the streets of Seattle, proclaiming a "Made in India" label. I observed it so many times after that on other locations. I thought it was good with all the software and call center outsourcing but can USA not make its own sewer covers.

Everything you get here in USA is made in any other country than USA, from a Cashmere sweater to a cuticle pusher(I can see some of you frowning here, follow the link, its exfoliative http://www.groominglounge.com/). There are so many big-big stores here with the "Save money, live better" themes, those are all importing cheap Chinese goods into USA. And there are hoards of such companies. I have benefited my geography by looking at the labels on some articles, because they will be made in some far flung country you wont even have heard of, Nicaragua, Azerbaijan (sounds "be jaan" but exports stuff to USA).

On so many occasions, an article is disqualified as gift for someone back in India because it bears a label "Made in India" or "Made In Pakistan" (no anti-neighbouring country feelings intended, but if obvious, I support your emotions). The last thing you want to hear after painstakingly selecting the perfect gift for someone is the guy scorning at the label (yehi milla that tujhe purre USA mein, Made in India, huh ...).

One of the communities which have benefited from all the manufacturing outsourcing in US is the flora and fauna. There are lots and lots of trees everywhere. I thought the idea of well cut lawns, nice plants and nicely pruned trees, was for the gardens and special areas, but here one can see it in every office or housing area. One thing for sure is Americans know how to maintain their landscape(not to mention all the "Made in Elsewhere" garden equipment you can order on walmart or Amazon).