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.
