You will be with me forever – Unknown.
After living two weeks in the Four Seasons Hotel in Jeddah, I moved into a 2-bedroom apartment in the building where employees from various countries working for the Saudi Electricity Company were living. The apartment wasn’t exactly as I had imagined, but it was okay for two of us. It wasn’t too far from the office but my driver used to come to take me to the office and bring me back.
At the same time, back home my family moved into the new townhome in Ajax. However, Lynda was very upset with me that I had hired a moving company which provided two guys to move our stuff. According to Lynda they both were incompetent twits. As a result Adam and Lynda ended up doing almost everything.
This was our 10th move (5 Houses that we owned and 5 rental places). At the same time this was Adam’s 7th school.
Nevertheless, they moved in as planned and Lynda started organizing and re-organizing furniture, as she always did.
I was in Jeddah almost four weeks and still eating out and had no clue when I would be able to start cooking.
The good thing was that I was invited on Friday for supper again at Saleh’s place. Before Saleh took me to his place, he took me to meet his older brother. He was in the construction business and I knew him very well in India. It was nice to see him and his kids. However, I didn’t see his wife simply because:
- Traditionally Islam doesn’t permit a man and a woman to be in the same closed space except for family members.
In Saleh’s case, they treated me as their family; therefore I was allowed to see his wife.
We had a nice meal at Saleh’s place. His wife cooked something special for me.
After supper we came back into the living room where we had coffee and chatted for a while.
Saleh’s wife said we heard so much about you when you were living in Chicago. She said Saleh told us about several things but I want to hear about two things from you. I said what are they?
She said when you bought your very first car in the States, and how did you get your driving licence.
I said those are not necessarily good stories. It was my stupidity but I had no choice.
She said let us be the judge of that.
I said here I go. Just as background – we all worked nights and attended classes in the morning. Saleh was lucky enough to have a job not too far from where he used to live with a group of students. I shared an apartment with another guy and I had a job in one of the suburbs of Chicago. The factory where I worked was located in Skokie. Probably the distance wasn’t more than 20 miles but I had to take a train, a bus and then walk almost 2 miles to get to the factory. The other problem with that job was that we used to finish working at midnight and the last bus departed at 12:30 AM. If I missed the bus, I had to walk to the train station.
To make a long story short, when I missed the bus in the winter (which I did several times), I used to get home around 3:00 in the morning. Then I had classes starting at 8:00 AM. The worst thing was that I didn’t have enough money to purchase appropriate clothes for the winter. Consequently, I caught cold several times which used to make me miserable.
I am sorry I am not trying to justify what I did but just stating the facts. She said carry on.
In any case, I said, I was sick and tired of not having a proper means of transportation. I desperately wanted to buy a car. I had saved $400.
We had a friend, Bader, who had a car and one day he said there’s a car for sale in a suburb; we can go and take a look. Four of us went there. I liked the car. It was a Chevrolet Biscayne–a few years old but nice and clean. They wanted $600 for the car which appeared to be reasonable but I had only $400. Saleh was kind enough to lend me $200 and I ended up buying the car.
However, the situation was very challenging. We had two cars, one which I had just bought and the other which Badar was driving, but we had only one driver. I neither had driven any car in the States, nor I had a driving license.
I was young enough and stupid enough to say that I was going to drive the car. But they said you have never driven a car in your life. Bader said do you know what will happen to you if something goes wrong, you will end up in Jail.
I remember saying it doesn’t matter. I said desperate times call for desperate measures.
I said I am prepared to take that risk. I said who else will go with me.
There was only one real brave friend, Saleh. He said I will go with you.
I cannot explain to you how I managed to get on the highway and drove home when Saleh was sitting in the passenger seat and watching me drive. I said it was scary but I did it. Eventually, it became very easy for me to get to work and back.
Saleh’s wife said, in other words you started driving in Chicago without a driving license. I said indeed. I didn’t think my driving was good enough to try to get a license. I only used to drive to work. Otherwise I used to take a train or bus to everywhere else.
She said how long did it take to get a license?
I said after driving 4 months, I decided to go for a driving license.
She said then what happened?
I passed my written test. Then the driving instructor came out with me and said where your car is.
I said my uncle brought me here and he parked the car right there.
We went along following his instructions. When we came back the instructor said please tell me the truth. You drove this car by yourself without a license and there was no uncle involved. Am I right?
I said you got me there, sir. I continued — I have nobody here to help me. I needed the car badly to keep my job and pay my tuition fee to stay in the country.
He said how long have been driving without a license?
I said almost four months.
He said how the heck you got away with that. Were you ever stopped by a cop?
I said no.
He said you are a lucky guy and the good news is that you passed the test.
I almost felt like hugging him.
He said did you buy this car or steal it?
I said I bought it and I have the papers to show you.
He said have you transferred the ownership of the car into your name?
I said I don’t even know what you’re talking about.
He said let me see the piece of paper that you got when you bought the car.
When I showed him the paper he said come with me I will help you get the car registered in your name.
I said that was an episode of total stupidity.
Nevertheless, she said you accomplished what you wanted, didn’t you?
I said to be totally honest with you, it was scary like hell.
On our way back to my place after a nice evening with Saleh’s family, Saleh asked what I was working on?
I said the boss wants me to look into the billing system. The rate of error with monthly billing for electricity usage is way too high, and that’s not acceptable.
Saleh said what do you think is the reason?
I said it could be a combination of reasons including bugs in the programs. However, I suspect it has to do with the procedures followed to collect the data from meter readings, which are all over the map.
Saleh said that was the major reason for us to switch from Univac to IBM.
I said tell me what happened.
He said even before he started working there the IBM folks were trying for a long time to get in, but it was a total Univac shop.
Finally IBM convinced the powers that be to change, and everything converted to IBM. Nevertheless, the problem is still there.
I remember saying that it was a totally stupid move. It didn’t appear to me that it had anything to do either with the operating system or hardware. It was and is an application program or procedural problem.
Saleh said now that you are looking into it, I am sure you will find out what is causing those errors.
When he dropped me at my residence, it was almost midnight.
I waited another hour to call home as Lynda used to get home just after 5:00 PM.
When I got connected, it made me feel good to hear her voice. She said how are you doing, old man?
I said not too bad but I miss both of you so much. I am not sleeping well either.
She said we are doing fine here and you need to concentrate on your job.
I said I am doing my best, babe. I also told her that I was invited again to Saleh’s house and had a very nice evening there.
She said I cannot wait to meet those nice people.
She said is there anything else bothering you. Tell me what’s going on.
I said it’s not an organized department. It bothers me every single day, as I am used to working in a different environment.
She said you dealt with that kind of disorganized departments before and you got things sorted out.
I said it’s an entirely different place. Even though I am in charge of the department, I don’t feel like I have any power.
She said tell me what is really bothering you.
I said there are 7 supervisors who report to me. They are responsible for various aspects of applications development.
I have been trying to set up a weekly meeting to discuss the problems we are faced with. Initially, they were very enthusiastic, but the problem is that once we get into any discussion they start speaking in Arabic. I only understand a little Arabic and when they get excited and are almost arguing with each other, I lose control of the meeting.
She said why you don’t interrupt them.
I said I do but they only speak English for a minute or so and then they go back to speaking Arabic.
I said this is bothering me a lot, as I am not getting an opportunity to demonstrate to them that I am capable of managing and solving problems. I need to know what the problems are to start with. They don’t seem to follow any discipline and at the same time they always seem to run to the boss as soon as they finish the meeting.
Unfortunately, my boss is not helping the situation either. When I brought up this subject with him, he said they are used to coming to him because the previous manager wasn’t competent enough to help them solve those problems. He also said have some patience and everything will be just fine.
Lynda said it appeared to be a peculiar situation. She continued – In a way you have always been spoiled by your bosses because they had total confidence in you and they never encouraged your staff to go to them.
I said I am so sorry for dumping all this on you, my love. It’s almost 2:00 AM and probably I should try to get some sleep. We hung up the phone.
I went back to work on Saturday. That was the last day of 1988. Saleh suggested getting together, having a late supper, and spending time together to welcome the New Year.
I had our weekly meeting with my supervisors around 11:00 AM. It was a typical start as every week they would be a few minutes late. It appeared to me that timing was not a significant part of their culture. Even when I went to attend the management meeting with my boss, either the boss or other managers would not show up on time.
I was struggling and questioning myself regarding how many adjustments I would be able to make to start accepting the realities in this country. I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy for me to get used to the societal inefficiencies which appeared to be inherent with the current environment where I was trying to make a living. The question I was faced with – Is it worth trying?
I knew for sure that it would be a huge adjustment for Lynda to consider making. The other question I had to deal with – Was it fair to let her go through the process?
There were no sorority sisters here in Jeddah and there was no place where she could work. I wasn’t even sure if she would be able to drive in Jeddah as women were prohibited from driving in Saudi Arabia. Plus mom would not be able to come and visit us in Jeddah.
Our weekly meeting was another disappointment. Some of them were not only late; they were also engaged in discussing matters in their language which was beyond my comprehension.
I didn’t bother telling them not to speak in Arabic when they were here to discuss business. I simply said our immediate assignment is about the inaccuracy of the billings. This may lead to initiating a project to replace the current application software.
I said before we make that decision, we need to figure out and define the problem in a comprehensive manner.
One of the supervisors raised his hand with a question or comments. I said go ahead.
He said let’s not waste our time in analysing and trying to troubleshoot the problem. He said we had the same problems before converting into a Univac shop. That proved to him that it had to do with the software.
I said I don’t know about your systems and applications at this stage, but I do have some experience working with all kinds of problems in all kinds of environments. Is there any documentation we can look at?
The same supervisor said there were several people who looked into the problem, but none of them documented whether the data was validated or not.
I asked if he knew who did the meter reading.
He said the company felt obligated to hire local folks in the respective communities to collect the data, as they were familiar with their communities.
I asked him if those guys were trained to do their jobs.
He said it is a very straightforward task. It doesn’t require any training or intelligence.
Are those meters designed to show the electricity usage in Arabic?
He said of course.
I said in other words:
- Somebody collects the information for that month;
- Brings it to the key punch department;
- Somebody translates that data into English before entering it into the system.
He said that’s the right process.
I said I have another silly question – Does anybody validate the data?
As far as I was concerned that seemed to be the area that was prone to errors.
After the meeting I was thinking how come these folks are so focused on finding problems or errors with anything other than human errors.
Saleh and Sabir came for a late supper and we decided to go to the Four Seasons Hotel. They definitely had a nice chef and he knew how to make steak the way I liked it.
The Four Seasons had decorated the dining room and people were gathering there to welcome the New Year.
When I got back after welcoming the New Year at the Four Seasons, I called home.
Lynda answered the phone. I said Happy New Year, my love.
She said I hope this year’s going to bring some changes to the way we are living now. I said I hope that too.
I asked about Adam and she said he is out with his friends.
Don’t you have any party to go to? She said the people she worked with had invited her to a party but she didn’t feel like going anywhere alone.
I said I am hoping that we will be together soon–and we hung up.
The next couple of days I was busy with a number of things but I made sure that one day I went to Madinah to visit. I asked Sabir to go with me.
I hated the process to get permission to travel to Madinah but I had to do that.
We took off on Thursday night on a bus. Madinah was almost 400 km. from Jeddah. We expected to travel at least four hours.
We got on the bus around midnight and we got to Madinah just after 4:00 in the morning. After prayers and visiting the mosque we decided to go to the local American hotel where we found a nice restaurant for pancakes.
After breakfast we mooched around for several hours before I decided to call my mom’s cousin in Madinah.
Right away she came and gave us a ride to her place to spend some time with them. They also insisted that we had supper with them.
Around 10:00 PM we said our goodbyes and went to the bus station to go back to Jeddah.
The next Friday I was invited again to Saleh’s house for supper. As usual we all had a nice meal and everybody wanted to know if I had made up my mind about staying there. Saleh said the boss seemed to be happy with me.
I said I am still confused in so many ways. How would I be able to do a decent job if I don’t feel comfortable having my wife with me living in Saudi Arabia?
Saleh’s wife said it is indeed a big decision for you and you should take time to decide.
Saleh said in the meanwhile I want you tell my family what you did in the States when a cop gave you a ticket for making a left on red light.
I said I do remember that incident. Luckily I was caught after I had secured my driving licence. What happened was I was waiting to make a left on Belmont Street close to where Saleh and his friends used to live. I had just picked up Saleh and his friend and was planning to go to my place to Sheffield.
In any case, as soon as I advanced into the intersection to make a left, I had to wait until the cars which were going straight past me. Once I got the opportunity to make a left, the light changed from amber to red. Then all of sudden a cop appeared from somewhere and beeped, directing me to stop on the right side of the road.
As soon as I parked the car and turned on the emergency indicator, I waited for the cop to come.
When he came, he said can I see your driving licence and the proof of auto insurance and ownership, please?
As soon as he looked at the documents, he asked me how long I had been driving in Chicago?
Probably I bad-mouthed by saying what has that to do with anything. He didn’t like my answer. He said did you realize that you made a left on red light?
I said, I thought it just changed from green to amber when I completed my left turn. Furthermore, it’s not an excuse but the sun was also in my eyes and I didn’t see everything clearly.
He said you can explain that to the judge, but I have to give you a ticket.
He wrote me a ticket on the spot.
Saleh offered to pay the ticket but I said I am going to court to explain to the judge. Everybody in the car objected to that idea. Subsequently, the other friends found out that I was planning to go against their advice.
What they were saying made sense. I just arrived in the States and had the driving license only for a short period of time. They didn’t think that was a very smart move to go against the cop. Nonetheless, it was my decision and finally Saleh said to me if that’s what you want to do, I will go with you.
It took a few weeks but then the judge asked me what my explanation was?
I said I have only two things to say, judge. One, the sun was shining and I may have gotten confused about the colour of the traffic light; and two, I had no choice but to make a left as soon as I had an opportunity.
The judge asked the cop about the sunshine and he said there was no sun shining that morning.
The judge called his assistant and asked his assistant to call the Weather Bureau and check it out. He said we will take a break for 10 minutes.
When court resumed the judge said to me – young man, the Weather Bureau confirmed that the sun was shining where and when you were given a ticket. However, I want you to take a driving test by watching a video and answering a set of questions to help me decide about this case.
To make a long story short, I agreed to go through the test. Once I got it done, I was told that my next appearance in court would be in two weeks. Then I would find out whether or not I passed the test.
When I appeared in court after two weeks, the judge spoke to me and said where did you learn to speak English, young man. I said back home in India, Judge.
He said the good news is that you passed the test with an almost perfect score. Here’s an official certificate of your test with my signature. He said if you get stopped again by a cop in the future, perhaps you should show him or her your certificate before showing your driving license. With that remark, I was dismissed.
I was a kind of embarrassed to go through the details but they seemed to enjoy it.
