December 28, 2011

  • Never Ending Daydream - The Next Step

    I wrote these fast and furious J so you may find serious grammar and other structural errors. Don’t look for them, if you find any please let me know in the comments.

    Previous Chapters.
    1)     Never Ending Day Dream-The Journey.

    2) Never Ending Day Dream-The Journey-Part-2.

    3)     Never Ending Day Dream-The Journey-Part-3.

    4)  Never Ending Day Dream-The Early Days.

    5) Never Ending Daydream - Trouble

    Never Ending Daydream.

    The Next Step.

    The rest of the days at Johnson Controls were very interesting. One day Susie brought another Indian guy to us and introduced him.

    “Here is Udai, He just joined Johnson Controls” I got up and shook hands with him and said “I am Riaz Ahammed” then Gowda and Peter also talked to him for a little. We were very busy with work as the project assignment was getting over. During a smoke break I met Udai again and we spoke more about each other. He was born in India but studied in USA.

    Now I have to say what my daily routine was at that time in Milwaukee. I am a late starter, I wake up early but going to the toilet, taking a shave, shower all takes about an hour or more. Then my breakfast usually was about a full bowl of cereal with milk in front of the T.V that will take another hour. Both Peter and Susie are early starters so I adjust my time in the toilet circus and breakfast to be with Peter who picked me and Gowda from our apartment as we both don’t have a car. That was the good side of Peter even though for some reason he just can’t take me as who I am than what I am.

       Once I am back from work then I go into full action. I go for an evening walk. I start from Milwaukee street and go all the way to Wisconsin ave taking that I go all the way eastwards and come through lake side and walk back home taking Brady then Van Buren. It was a long walk but the best part was meeting a lot of others who walked along and so many others total strangers who smiled at me and said hello. I was surprised to see such friendly people. Those walks in different directions of Milwaukee did not dissolve me into the city. On the contrary the city became part of me. That spiritual connection I got to a place which I never got to even the place I was born was, is and will not be understood by many. But I knew it at that time, this is it, this is where I belong. On the flipside I should have never felt that way because I am on a visa to United States. If Keane is not sponsoring my Greencard I have to go back to India after three years. So the material reality can all become ugly if things go bad. I once looking at Lake Michigan said. “If there is a magic in me which I believed till this day only a girl can unravel then I have to find her. If it is to her I am feeling connected standing here. I have to wait for it” But Magic is an illusion, magic happens only in movies. A reality I learned in hard ways in the days that followed after what I said.

      I joined a driving school to learn how to drive in USA. Driving was not my thing when I was in India. First of all I am not a person who obeyed anyone’s instructions. So the only time I drove in India, I ended up smashing the family car into the wall of my cousin’s house. That happened because there was a women’s hostel right in front of her house and I was looking at couple of pretty girls walking out of there. That day my mother day said “I will never get into a car you are driving” and I never drove after that. I got into the driving school car remembering all that. But to my own surprise, driving was not that hard at all. There are no gears to change and one leg is free. So in about 5 minutes I was driving quite well. Mani did not had any problem at all driving but Anand had issues as he had a tough time staying on the right side.

      We all learned to drive in the next 4 to 5 days and by the end of the week I was driving through the highway at 70/ mph. When I called India that evening I told my mother I am driving and she was like “Oh My God, Save Americans”.

        That Friday I was sitting in the smoking room reading news paper when Udai came in. As we were alone in the room the first thing Udai said was, “Man that Peter is an ass hole” I raised my eyebrows from the paper and asked “Why you think so?”  Udai looked at me and said “Do I have to explain it to you?” I laughed and said “Not at all” and went back to the paper taking another drag. Then I asked him “Do you know any car dealers around here?, I gotta have a car buddy. Driving with a man every other man calls asshole is no longer safe for this pretty ass” Udai laughed and said, “Not around here, but I know couple of them near New Berlin” I frowned and looked at him and said.. “Let me look around silver spring this weekend” I left the smoking room and later left with Peter and Gowda to Keane office as we had a meeting at the Branch Office. I reached home early and took a nap for about 20 mins then went out for my walk.

      It was a nice walk I went westwards from Wisconsin Ave and came back to Water Street walked through Water street couple of times, looked at all the bars and came back to Court Yard Square and got into the elevator. Before the door closed I saw a guy with beer cans in both hands rushing to the elevator. I kept the door opened and let him in. From his look I know he is Indian. He looked at me from top to bottom and bottom to top and asked, “Are you Indian?” I said “Yes” He again asked, “What part of India?” I smiled and said “Kerala” Then in pure Malayalam he shouted “You are a Malayali, Oh My God, I have seen you walking around” I told “All pure Malayali born bread and brought up there, now making this city part of me”. He cannot shake his hands with me because he got beer in both of his hands so he said “I am Cecil” I introduced myself to him and he invited me to his apartment. I went to my apartment took a shower, changed my clothes and went to his apartment. It was a mess in there where 3 students lived. When I got in two guys were seen running inside and then Cecil came out and asked me to sit. It was fun talking to them all Indian students studying at Milwaukee School Of Engineering. When I started talking freely the other two came out and introduced themselves. One was Doshi and the other Poppad. They first thought I am Cecil’s uncle of someone like that as I look much more older than my real age. I laughed and said I am 28 years old. We all laughed and talked late through the night watching T.V.

         That night I went to bed with some thoughts, tomorrow I should go and get a car. In Wisconsin I can buy and drive a car with my Indian license. The next day I woke up a bit late but early enough to go to the car dealers in Silver Spring. I went to the Nissan dealer and was looking for a used car. I saw a very nice Lexus with about 31000 miles for about $18000. I drove it and felt good. There I learned my negotiation skills are incredible. Eventually the salesman told shown me like 20 cars all of them I took out for a drive. Two I liked very much, the Lexus and then a Chevrolet I thought I decided the Chevy is my car and went home as Monday I have to get the loan all set up with IBM Credit Union and come and buy the car.

        Sundays are lazy days, I don’t move much, I became a couch potato and stayed at home. Cecil came asking me about my car buying adventure he heard what I said and left fast. Nothing much changed other than that as movie after movie I watched and later that night I was sitting in the deck thinking about the way I am going. The crook in me woke and hugged me with the air, I said “I need young hands with boiling blood inside and I see Cecil and his buddies will be a good start” I smiled and said “here starts The Next Step”.