My First Visit To The USA

Rewind back 25 years, I was this young girl out of college, bright-eyed and wanted to do a lot of things after my Engineering degree. I got a job at a prestigious Global Indian company in Bangalore. The job environment looked to be an extension of college as most of my colleagues were also fresh out of college or having about 1-2 years of experience.

The initial years in the company were a lot of learning, hard work and also lots of fun interacting with people from various states now based in Bangalore. The chai talks were a norm and all of us went about doing our work for a US client.

One day out of the blue, my manager called me and said that I was going selected as the part of the team that would be going to Atlanta, USA.. Wow, this was my dream come true as I had wanted to study my post-graduation in the US but due to financial constraints, I could not apply for colleges in the US.

It was like a dream packing for the 3-month trip, boarding the flight and landing in the US for the very first time. As we took the taxi to our rented apartment, the wide roads, fast-moving traffic caught my eye and it seemed like Atlanta not only had a big airport but also a well-connected expressway.

The furnished apartment gave me a good feel of elegance and helped me get out of the jet lag to get started with the work the next day.

The meeting with our customers, getting the project successfully completed was something I will always remember with joy. The happiness of visiting local places during weekends including the native Indian suburb near Atlanta helped me understand that America had a history along with the great malls and global outlets that dotted every part of town.

What stands out as great learning of my first visit to Atlanta was the dignity of labor seen through the place as even a garbage collector was well-dressed and had the necessary equipment to take out the garbage in a non-messy way. This is something that I have always understood and followed while in India.