Dec 3 2008 was when I said an emotional Goodbye to Namma Chennai and landed in London Heathrow only to be greeted by dark gloomy skies and biting cold. Hugged my parents a goodbye as they transited to Phoenix, Arizona to meet my brother and stepped gingerly towards the immigration officer .. few questions and then an unwavering " Oh yes" from the immigration officer mentioning that they knew TCS ( i was mumbling .. i work for TCL not TCS) thankfully the grumbly officer did not take a note of my mumbo and waved me in !!! I was like .. thank TCS and Hello London ... Stepped to the carousel .. picked my heavy suitcases ..laden with pickles / rice packets / maggi noodles / toor dal and a pressure cooker apart from my suits .. that do not fit me anymore ... and jeans .. that too ... they all went to charity last year !!!
Vikram Balimidi was kind enough to drop by and receive me and drop me off at TCL Guesthouse at Harbour Exchange and almost forgot to mention .. he helped me spend 100 quid on a GAP winter coat ;-) on day one of my arrival into London ... for which i was like no way but he convinced me it was value for money ... that was then ...
Still remember calling up my brother in US to let them know that i have reached safely and things are fine and remember telling Dad about the neighbourhood ASDA and the 5 varieties of potatoes that i came across and not sure which to choose and onions were very different and big to what we got in India and about the 2 full aisles of alcohol ...to which my mum interrupted and reminded me that .. drinking is a bad habit and I should not venture into those aisles again .. ( oh how i love those aisles till date .. not that i am serial drinker but .. you know what i mean .. being there amongst those hues of golds to browns to blacks to whites coloured bottles ... is it self very impressive and intoxicating !!! )
Dec 3 2013 ...5 years have literally flown by .... lot of changes in my life ... bigger family .. 2 became 3 ... Vishnu opened us up to what parenting is all about and how to schedule diaper orders on Amazon and shop Cow and Gate in Sainsburys . 100 quid today is nothing for us .. I do not winch as much as i did that first day after i landed in London.
Over the years i have had the opportunity to make new friends .. be a part of a new community ... and felt good when someone greeted you in the highstreet or neighbourhood even though they did not know you by name .. they knew you by face.
I had my own set of challenges but whatever said and done , I would like to thank Shilpa Padmanabham for being with me in thick and thin of this Grey weather and Grey office Politics ... My family back in India who constantly egged me to give my best and leave the rest to God :-)
Lest I forget to mention and thank ... Deepak Sharma / Ankur Dalal/ Vikram Balimidi / Sreedhar Muppiri / Venkata Upendra Musti / Vandana Chatterjee / Saratchand Tadepalli and Eoin Jennings .. thank you guys ... you gave me confidence and courage to battle it out through the rough times and enjoy life in London. Would like to thank all my other friends based out of UK for their timely advices and guidance as Sparkling and Grey moments floated by in these 5 Years .
Finally Thank you London for making me a part of you and making me feel @ HOME in these 5 years :-) .
