It was tired day, with all the journey in the past couple of days, had a very good sleep on my first day in Saskatoon. It was sunny day. I was not allowed to go outside of my room. So, one of my friends helped me getting all the required things to survive for those 14 days. He just dropped at the front door and I picked up the things and moved straight to my room without even moving my head sidewards. This guy from Punjab,India was staying in that airbnb for almost 7 months. We had a brief discussion on the life here is and would be and how difficult it is to secure a job. He has given an a lot failed attempts and has a very negative opinion on Canada and would imbibe in me the same thoughts all over again and again. But I was so pumped up and would not consider those negativity touch the tip of my fingers. I just told my self, everything will be fine. Every other day in the evening, there would be the police vehicle sirens all around the street. I was told the property I took on lease is in west side of the city where most of the natives and first nations reside and create all sorts of havoc around the community.
One day my live on partner banged my door at 10.30 p.m scared the hell out of me to leave the house or the govenrment authorities would come and take you for a hefty fine of $75000 for violationg the state's quarantine rules. My heart was sinking down underneath ground. Sweating like hell. Legs shaking and probably I would have just pissed in my pants. The rule says " the person should be in self isolation for 14 days with out any contact with the outside world, or should not be residing with the elderly people and people with pre existing medical conditions". Just my 4th day in the country, surviving finacial distress, he has thrown a missile on my mind. I was blank. No idea what to do. What if a officer comes to me and says, you have violated the law. What if I get deported. What if they ask me to pay the amount. What if my hand cuffed dragging me to the prison. I should have booked a saperate room. I should not have thought about the discounts this property was offering. With all these thoughts showing up one after the other, I was asleep.
The next day, on looking at his sarcastic smile, I thought I offered myself to him to fuck me hard. I browsed the quarantine rules and read throughly and made him understand but still he insists me of taking another room or relocate to somewhere else. I was reluctant. On my 12th day of quarantine plan, a lady police officer, dressed in black, with a pistol on the side of the waist, looked damn hot like those in the movies, asked my name. I was just staring at that hot lady. On asking for the second time, I came back to my senses, handed over my passport, asked about my health condition and disappered like a thunder. More than me, the punjabi guy was relaxed and I took a deep breath wanted to show this guy my middle finger and shout out loud " FUCK OFF". After 14 days, I wanted to move out of this place, relocated to one of my friend's room on the east where most of the Gujarati community resides. I spent alomost 4 weeks in the house. I occupied the the living room. I secured a job very quickly in a restaurant. That was a quick service restaurant. They did train people in every aspect. I was trained in chopping vegetables. Sorting out the raw non-vegetarian(NV). NV was against my principles and ethics. But I dont have choice. I worked there for about 4 days without any pay and switched over my job to a call center which was work from home.
My initial days travelling by bus, looking around the city, the malls, people, in all I missed my better half throughly. Even for a 2 min walk to grocery in India, we used to go together. Now I'm all alone.
I shifted to a new house on sharing accomodation with Indian people as my previous roomate was moving out of province and wanted to get away with the apartment. So, here I'm, in my new house, shared with 2 other people, located to all the groceries and medical walkby. Started my call centre job, undergoing training, receiving calls, jotting down the case notes, made some mistakes, hanged up the calls intentionally, it was all fun. Continued the job for about 3 months and bought a pre owned Mazda make 2 Lit. automatic sedan car which I made money from the call center. Learning car in a new country was entirely a new challenge in which my landlord from Pakistan helped me alot. They taught me how to drive. where to stop and where no to stop. They were the ones who made me drive confidently. All credit goes to them. They are so nice and warm. They helped me going to a department store, purchasing the daily needs, taking me to the food bank where food is available for free, helping me select the right car, in almost everything.
I did two jobs. Day job was the call center and the night one being the sales associate in a reputed convenience store for three days in a week from 12 a.m to 7 a.m. It was tough. Taking an hour break, switching over to my call center job. Since this was a remote work, I had taken advantage of sleeping sitting before the desktop during our training sesions. There were many frustrated days thinking of the job I was doing against my education, against my experience back home, against my expectations before arrival. I got so deeply hurt getting to know the fact that the employers wanted Canadian experienced employees. How the heck one should one fullfil this requirement? I kept applying for jobs. Finnally I saw a light at the end of the tunnel securing a job in an electronics manfacturing field with a decent pay good enough for myself. I was happy.
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Maple Leaf
Before landing in the country of Maple Leaf, Canada, we along with family made sure we visted to all gods and temples to complete our vow.
Have taken the flight from Hyderabad-New Delhi-Toronto on 9th June 2020. Traveling amidst the Corona Virus made me take all the necessary precautions. Have checked in my baggage at Hyderabad airport and boarded the flight for Delhi. A layover of about 8 hrs and then boarded a flight to Toronto. On entering the flight, there were no signs of social distancing. I wore a N95 mask all through out the journey and a transperant plastic face shield. I've submitted A duly signed paper, before boarding, which says the Airline is not responsible for any kind of covid symptoms and shall deboard the flight immediately and the cost shall be borne by the passenger. There were a group of passengers, probably heading to China, dressed in white apron from top to toe shielding from virus attack. I look around the airport and the passengers, spraying all over the seating places, rubbing theirs palms with sanitizers, it was wierd but it is the new normal.
As I reached my seat in flight, I see a zip lock bag with some chips, chocolates, fruit drinks and sandwich. Indirectly it says, stop calling the crew members for any snaks and drinks you moron! So, my dream of having wine is gone for a toss. During the entire 16 hrs of journey, I had'nt had taken any food or drink as I know that would create huge pressure in my intestines which would burst out like a volcano. I saw, from my window seat, the city lights twinkling like stars, thinking of all the dramatic changes to the initial plan and slowly slipped to sleep. Sleeping with a mask and face shield was a challenge in itself. But that's the new normal. When I woke up, I saw the beautiful clouds passing by. By the time I landed in Toronto, it was around 6 a.m and very soon I was in line for my turn at the immigration cell.
After waiting for almost an hour, I did show my passport, my COPR(Confirmation Of Permanent Residence) document, my address and clarified about my 14 day quarantine plan. My COPR document was stamped and I was told would receive my PR card in 3 months by mail. My plan was to stay at the aiport since my connecting to my city, Saskatoon, was on the following day. But, due to covid restrictions, passengers were not allowed inside the airport. So, I headed towards a nearby hotel by taxi. Just for a night, I paid about $260. My first spending in CAD in a new nation. It was hard to digest the amount on the very first day. I got refreshed after a long flight, had a very good sleep. Woke up the next day early morning, arranged a taxi and was getting all the luggage to downstairs from thr 2nd floor. Unlike in India, there's no one to help you. I took two iterations for all this and meanwhile the taxi driver was waiting and I was late by about 5 min. He got pissed off and said to me" look out for other taxi. Im getting late." I then understood, here in Canada 'Time is Money'.
As I entered the domestic flight lobby, the lady on the counter asked me to pay some $900 as the previous transaction of the credit card did not go through. My second heart stroke on the second day. I left with no other choice but to follow her. In an hour I boarded the flight. 3.5 hrs of journey, I saw myself in Saskatoon, my destination. It was a sunny day. Took a taxi to the hotel where my quarantine plan was scheduled. A guy who was staying there, as this is air bnb accomodation, drops a bombshell making me sleepless nights for the rest of the quarantine plan.
Have taken the flight from Hyderabad-New Delhi-Toronto on 9th June 2020. Traveling amidst the Corona Virus made me take all the necessary precautions. Have checked in my baggage at Hyderabad airport and boarded the flight for Delhi. A layover of about 8 hrs and then boarded a flight to Toronto. On entering the flight, there were no signs of social distancing. I wore a N95 mask all through out the journey and a transperant plastic face shield. I've submitted A duly signed paper, before boarding, which says the Airline is not responsible for any kind of covid symptoms and shall deboard the flight immediately and the cost shall be borne by the passenger. There were a group of passengers, probably heading to China, dressed in white apron from top to toe shielding from virus attack. I look around the airport and the passengers, spraying all over the seating places, rubbing theirs palms with sanitizers, it was wierd but it is the new normal.
As I reached my seat in flight, I see a zip lock bag with some chips, chocolates, fruit drinks and sandwich. Indirectly it says, stop calling the crew members for any snaks and drinks you moron! So, my dream of having wine is gone for a toss. During the entire 16 hrs of journey, I had'nt had taken any food or drink as I know that would create huge pressure in my intestines which would burst out like a volcano. I saw, from my window seat, the city lights twinkling like stars, thinking of all the dramatic changes to the initial plan and slowly slipped to sleep. Sleeping with a mask and face shield was a challenge in itself. But that's the new normal. When I woke up, I saw the beautiful clouds passing by. By the time I landed in Toronto, it was around 6 a.m and very soon I was in line for my turn at the immigration cell.
After waiting for almost an hour, I did show my passport, my COPR(Confirmation Of Permanent Residence) document, my address and clarified about my 14 day quarantine plan. My COPR document was stamped and I was told would receive my PR card in 3 months by mail. My plan was to stay at the aiport since my connecting to my city, Saskatoon, was on the following day. But, due to covid restrictions, passengers were not allowed inside the airport. So, I headed towards a nearby hotel by taxi. Just for a night, I paid about $260. My first spending in CAD in a new nation. It was hard to digest the amount on the very first day. I got refreshed after a long flight, had a very good sleep. Woke up the next day early morning, arranged a taxi and was getting all the luggage to downstairs from thr 2nd floor. Unlike in India, there's no one to help you. I took two iterations for all this and meanwhile the taxi driver was waiting and I was late by about 5 min. He got pissed off and said to me" look out for other taxi. Im getting late." I then understood, here in Canada 'Time is Money'.
As I entered the domestic flight lobby, the lady on the counter asked me to pay some $900 as the previous transaction of the credit card did not go through. My second heart stroke on the second day. I left with no other choice but to follow her. In an hour I boarded the flight. 3.5 hrs of journey, I saw myself in Saskatoon, my destination. It was a sunny day. Took a taxi to the hotel where my quarantine plan was scheduled. A guy who was staying there, as this is air bnb accomodation, drops a bombshell making me sleepless nights for the rest of the quarantine plan.
Friday, January 1, 2021
IVF, Pandemic, . Its an epic.
The stock markets across the globe started crashing. Global economy started down fall. Businesses came to an halt. Most of them defaulted. International flights stopped. No public out on streets. Fears everywhere. Death rate hovering to the peaks. Hospitals were more than the capacity. Doctors were not in a position to operate patients. Even if they do, clueless on the right medication. Job crisis at historical highs. All this is not because of war between nations. No border conflict issues. No race to take over Mars. Just a small virus.
Yes. A virus created such a havoc across the world with no positive news. We were shopping frenzy to Canada when the news hit on the TV's and our flight was cancelled just a week before scheduled. Goverment decided to stop evrything. From railways to brick and motor stores. From Flights to movie theatres. From supermarkets to companies. The country was in Lockdown. Its the same with all global economies around the globe. Just a small virus with origins from China and the fact that it is being hidden from rest of the world created a deep crisis which can never be compensated. The word positive created a real pain in the ass.
Personally I was devastated. All my plans shattered. There's nothing in our hands. Sitting at home. spending hours together sticking to the TV to hear any positive news on the Pandemic. I had some quality time spent with my family after a very long time. Roof gardening, learning some spiritual songs, morning walks, some cricket with my wife, playing cards, relishing some authentic home made dishes. This was my daily activity. During nights, where the city was hell of noise and air pollution, I sensed an absolute paper drop silence. This was the time we decided to plan for kids again as there is high uncertainity on when we are gonna land in Canada and we dont wanna delay further. So my wife fed me with banana and chocolate shake as if I'm gonna enter the boxing ring with all my muscles bumping up. So here we are in the March experimenting with all kind of angles to hit the bulls eys.
The following month, we have consulted our family doctor and they suggested to go for IVF. On entering the IVF hospital, there were quite a few patients in the lobby. We males are looking at each other as if we had some telepathy, oh! even you did not hit the bulls eye. Looks like we were on the same boat with our own rudder in hands. And then I grinned, why the heck should I care. We were headed to the doctor's cabin. She explained the process and the bottom line was "you will not get normal pregnancy". We both looked at each others face as if we made some crime and wanna run out of this semen bank. She then said the cost of the complete package will be explained to you in another room. The lady in another room started explaining the details of how long does this take, how often we need to visit, what is the installment payments and every other details. They just wanna suck us into this trap which we may never come out and loosing our hard earned money on this crapy thing.
We gave it a thought after coming home. Spoke to few of our friends and relatives. We decided not to go for IVF and out of vengeance towards the doctor's words quoted above, my performance levels, day in day out, doubled with taking more of shakes and fruits. During lockdown, helping the poor and the disabled provide food was a relief to my house arrest. It was in May that the government decided to start international flights and we were lucky enough to get 2 tickets to Canada through VandeBharat(Air India rescue flights to bring back stranded Indians) flights for June 9th 2020.
If everything goes as planned we would call overselves GOD. It was only then when my better half visited the doctor and confirmed the news that she is carrying and been 4 weeks then. Everthing has changes in just an hour. Literally, my mind was not in a state to accept I go alone to Canada. Bags were packed. Got all the required documents. Loaded my international forex card on 11th hour. On the last day, we both hugged. kissed. Cried. Next morning, out of no where she touched my feet. Final adieu to my beloved ones.
Yes. A virus created such a havoc across the world with no positive news. We were shopping frenzy to Canada when the news hit on the TV's and our flight was cancelled just a week before scheduled. Goverment decided to stop evrything. From railways to brick and motor stores. From Flights to movie theatres. From supermarkets to companies. The country was in Lockdown. Its the same with all global economies around the globe. Just a small virus with origins from China and the fact that it is being hidden from rest of the world created a deep crisis which can never be compensated. The word positive created a real pain in the ass.
Personally I was devastated. All my plans shattered. There's nothing in our hands. Sitting at home. spending hours together sticking to the TV to hear any positive news on the Pandemic. I had some quality time spent with my family after a very long time. Roof gardening, learning some spiritual songs, morning walks, some cricket with my wife, playing cards, relishing some authentic home made dishes. This was my daily activity. During nights, where the city was hell of noise and air pollution, I sensed an absolute paper drop silence. This was the time we decided to plan for kids again as there is high uncertainity on when we are gonna land in Canada and we dont wanna delay further. So my wife fed me with banana and chocolate shake as if I'm gonna enter the boxing ring with all my muscles bumping up. So here we are in the March experimenting with all kind of angles to hit the bulls eys.
The following month, we have consulted our family doctor and they suggested to go for IVF. On entering the IVF hospital, there were quite a few patients in the lobby. We males are looking at each other as if we had some telepathy, oh! even you did not hit the bulls eye. Looks like we were on the same boat with our own rudder in hands. And then I grinned, why the heck should I care. We were headed to the doctor's cabin. She explained the process and the bottom line was "you will not get normal pregnancy". We both looked at each others face as if we made some crime and wanna run out of this semen bank. She then said the cost of the complete package will be explained to you in another room. The lady in another room started explaining the details of how long does this take, how often we need to visit, what is the installment payments and every other details. They just wanna suck us into this trap which we may never come out and loosing our hard earned money on this crapy thing.
We gave it a thought after coming home. Spoke to few of our friends and relatives. We decided not to go for IVF and out of vengeance towards the doctor's words quoted above, my performance levels, day in day out, doubled with taking more of shakes and fruits. During lockdown, helping the poor and the disabled provide food was a relief to my house arrest. It was in May that the government decided to start international flights and we were lucky enough to get 2 tickets to Canada through VandeBharat(Air India rescue flights to bring back stranded Indians) flights for June 9th 2020.
If everything goes as planned we would call overselves GOD. It was only then when my better half visited the doctor and confirmed the news that she is carrying and been 4 weeks then. Everthing has changes in just an hour. Literally, my mind was not in a state to accept I go alone to Canada. Bags were packed. Got all the required documents. Loaded my international forex card on 11th hour. On the last day, we both hugged. kissed. Cried. Next morning, out of no where she touched my feet. Final adieu to my beloved ones.
Taking Pride
Interviewer : Tell me about yourself.
Me : uttered some story.
Int: Will you be able to relocate to remote location?
Me : Yes
Int: What are your salary expectations?
Me: 20% hike on current CTC.
Int: We cannot offer you so high salary.
Me: Downgraded to 15%.
Int: We can offer you 15% cut on your current CTC.
Me: Just thought to my self "Fuck Off You Assole".
This was one of my interview shots out of many. When you have a gap on your resume, everyone looks at you like a shit. Just dont know how to get on with my jobless days, have utilised this time making trips to temples. Then again on one fine day, there comes a good news. I was offered for heading a plant in Bhiwandi,Maharastra in one of the most trusted brands of India, Nilkamal.
Visisted Lucknow for one of my friend's marriage. We both were roommates during my first company days. He has come to my marriage. So as a typical Indian mind, it is my obligation to give it back. There we are in the middle of a north Indian marriage with all the music, reverberating through the streets, their relatives were so surprised to see us and complimented our pair. During our bus journey from the grooms's place to the hall, we have had good friend's with all of his cousins. They really took care of us. Everyone behaved well mannered. Post marriage, we had taken a day off from the marriage noises and went on to look at the city. We visted few of the Moguls built forts, parks and a riding on a water boat. Enjoyed every bit of it thoroughly.
I've joined the company on March 13th in their corporate office in Andheri. Building was very big with all of the departments working here and controlling the plant operations pan India. My stay was in the company's guest house and headed to the Bhiwandi Plant the next day along with the HR and the Vice President - Operations. The company was built in a godown following all the safety protocols. The team was young. In no time I took charge of the plant operations completely. Management was happy with the performance. Life going good. Actually better. Leaving the company on time and spending some quality time with my family made me forget of all those hard times I faced. This was when we wanted to go for kids as there was no updates on my Canada PR.
My wife missed her monthly cycle and this was when we discovered the egg got stuck in one of the falopian tubes and has to be removed on war foot basis. This is the second encounter to hospital. Booked a flight to Hyderbad the next day morning, went to the hospital directly and after examining all the reports, doctor suggested for cutting off the falopian tube. Which means, the chances of getting normal pregnancy was down by 50%. She was taken to the theatre, operated for about 2 hrs. This was again a matter of life and death. How the hell did she endured all the pain all these days? How the hell did she manage to visit the doctor and the CT scan in Bombay all by herself? How the hell did she not loose courage ans stayed strong all through? These were many of the questions running through my mind.
Luckily this time, I got the health card activated and numerous call to my health advisor, the bill amount from my pocket was just Rs.6000. Doctor suggested not to plan for kids for the next 3 months. So, for me it was like going on for a diet on 90 days. With absolutely no terms and conditions. I was back to my work in 2 days. This is the worst part. When you take care of your health, there is something which cannot be controlled and hits you hard. My wife has taken extreme care with no drinks, no junk food and yet her body was taken for a toll.
The good news of my PR approval to Canada has bee the shine in the dark, after a long two years of our sincere efforts. There were no limits to ur joy. Tears rolling off. Time to sign off from this company as well. By the time I resigned, the company's inventory value reduced, NPA reduced to great extent, Production no.s increased and the serviceability increased as well. I was proud of myself turning a chaos plant into a systematic run plant.
Before landing in Canada, We wanted to treat ourselves a good party and this time its "Goa". It was treat for Canada. It was treat for our anniversary. It was a treat for our final days in India. Boozing on pool side, roaming around, watching girls in bikinis, beaching, paragliding and what not. Goa is actually an out of country experience with most of residents from abroad, sign boards in russian language, foreigners setting up businesses here. That was fabulous. After all this, we took an oath to visit again with kids. We returned to our hometown and booked 2 tickets to Canada on March 31 and then the whole world came to end in just matter of days.
This was one of my interview shots out of many. When you have a gap on your resume, everyone looks at you like a shit. Just dont know how to get on with my jobless days, have utilised this time making trips to temples. Then again on one fine day, there comes a good news. I was offered for heading a plant in Bhiwandi,Maharastra in one of the most trusted brands of India, Nilkamal.
Visisted Lucknow for one of my friend's marriage. We both were roommates during my first company days. He has come to my marriage. So as a typical Indian mind, it is my obligation to give it back. There we are in the middle of a north Indian marriage with all the music, reverberating through the streets, their relatives were so surprised to see us and complimented our pair. During our bus journey from the grooms's place to the hall, we have had good friend's with all of his cousins. They really took care of us. Everyone behaved well mannered. Post marriage, we had taken a day off from the marriage noises and went on to look at the city. We visted few of the Moguls built forts, parks and a riding on a water boat. Enjoyed every bit of it thoroughly.
I've joined the company on March 13th in their corporate office in Andheri. Building was very big with all of the departments working here and controlling the plant operations pan India. My stay was in the company's guest house and headed to the Bhiwandi Plant the next day along with the HR and the Vice President - Operations. The company was built in a godown following all the safety protocols. The team was young. In no time I took charge of the plant operations completely. Management was happy with the performance. Life going good. Actually better. Leaving the company on time and spending some quality time with my family made me forget of all those hard times I faced. This was when we wanted to go for kids as there was no updates on my Canada PR.
My wife missed her monthly cycle and this was when we discovered the egg got stuck in one of the falopian tubes and has to be removed on war foot basis. This is the second encounter to hospital. Booked a flight to Hyderbad the next day morning, went to the hospital directly and after examining all the reports, doctor suggested for cutting off the falopian tube. Which means, the chances of getting normal pregnancy was down by 50%. She was taken to the theatre, operated for about 2 hrs. This was again a matter of life and death. How the hell did she endured all the pain all these days? How the hell did she manage to visit the doctor and the CT scan in Bombay all by herself? How the hell did she not loose courage ans stayed strong all through? These were many of the questions running through my mind.
Luckily this time, I got the health card activated and numerous call to my health advisor, the bill amount from my pocket was just Rs.6000. Doctor suggested not to plan for kids for the next 3 months. So, for me it was like going on for a diet on 90 days. With absolutely no terms and conditions. I was back to my work in 2 days. This is the worst part. When you take care of your health, there is something which cannot be controlled and hits you hard. My wife has taken extreme care with no drinks, no junk food and yet her body was taken for a toll.
The good news of my PR approval to Canada has bee the shine in the dark, after a long two years of our sincere efforts. There were no limits to ur joy. Tears rolling off. Time to sign off from this company as well. By the time I resigned, the company's inventory value reduced, NPA reduced to great extent, Production no.s increased and the serviceability increased as well. I was proud of myself turning a chaos plant into a systematic run plant.
Before landing in Canada, We wanted to treat ourselves a good party and this time its "Goa". It was treat for Canada. It was treat for our anniversary. It was a treat for our final days in India. Boozing on pool side, roaming around, watching girls in bikinis, beaching, paragliding and what not. Goa is actually an out of country experience with most of residents from abroad, sign boards in russian language, foreigners setting up businesses here. That was fabulous. After all this, we took an oath to visit again with kids. We returned to our hometown and booked 2 tickets to Canada on March 31 and then the whole world came to end in just matter of days.
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