Home is where the heart is

Finally I am back home in Mumbai for a vacation and it feels heaven. I feel so much lighter (literally too) with nothing to worry about for at least next 3 weeks. The last flight which was supposed to be of 7.5 hours and which actually took 9.5 hours to get to Mumbai and everything else that followed at the airport seemed unending.

My excitement to have a look at my lovely city from top was made all the very challenging by the female passenger in the window seat. She had chosen the glass of the window as the resting position for her head exactly while landing. I was so disappointed to miss that part. There were many interesting changes going on inside the plane which did not occur in any of the flights I was seated in before. Suddenly, everyone seemed energetic and restless, grin on their faces as the plane was about to land. A long queue at the lavatory appeared; people wanted to freshen themselves up trying to look their best before meeting their familes and friends, few married young ladies even changed out of their jeans into salwar kameez. I could hear people asking each other about which part of the city they were headed to followed by a little chit chat about familiar city locations and each other's whereabouts. Suddenly it became noisy inside the plane. For a moment I felt like I was in Mumbai local trains. But I loved the noise. I had missed it for more than a year now.

The more eager I was to get out of the airport, the more I had to wait. It happens to me all the time. I simply wanted to skip all of the baggage and customs part and run straight to my family waiting outside. Instead I had to wait till the last bag was placed on the baggage carousel only to realize that my bag hadn't yet arrived in Mumbai. Then followed the formalities for missing baggage and another one hour went in that. A lot of people were already in the queue for the same problem and those who had a connecting flight from Mumbai were given the first preference.

Finally I was called, all details were taken and I was told to proceed to the customs. The whole missing bag thing got me so impatient and I was so pissed off since the only bag I had checked in was missing. After all, it carried all the gifts and you can imagine how bad it is to not being able to show the gifts you got immediately after reaching home. I was told that my bag would arrive in 2 days. Customs was quick and I hurried all the way along the exit signs. I loved that part of the run. After all the hugging, kissing and taking photographs, the ride back home made me realize that Mumbai hadn't changed a bit. Somehow, it felt good that I didn't miss anything. But deep inside, I so wanted it to change for the better.

The pretty spring break

It has stopped snowing and I can't tell you how much better I feel. The increasing temperatures have a soothing effect on me. I was fascinated by snow until I experienced it here. The warmth of the sun feels so heaven after four months. It feels like I am back home in Mumbai. The Mumbai heat is different though. But the rains here make me feel nostalgic.

Now is the time to enjoy the weather and to add to the excitement, we have also been given a spring break. But guess what? For me, it is actually a test of how powerfully I can curb my temptations to rest and enjoy, since we have two assignments due after the spring break along with a midterm waiting round the corner. And to make it worse, I found out, I am very bad at focussing on studies during breaks, since all I have done till now is waste time watching videos and getting sleep, thinking that I need a break too and since I am not going out anywhere, I need to relax my mind in some way. I can't tell you how sad this all is! All I see around me now is people having a walk or run with their pets and enjoying the sun and here I am at home stuck up with my "all time partner" - my laptop, doing my assignments and watching videos, not to mention my mind wandering outside half of the time remembering the days I used to hangout with my friends back at home. How I wish they were here!

So, I am determined not to let the spring break go just like that, because I am very sure I will be cribbing and craving for it later. But the thing I find most difficult to get here when it comes to enjoying, is company for the things I would like to enjoy. Everyone has some or the other thing lined up and you cannot blame them. And when they are done, YOU are bound to have it. So you end up going nowhere. But for a change, for the first time, it turned out, my friends here have the time, that too all at the same time , can you imagine? That's a miracle for me and to add to the surprise, they all want to go to the same place - the famous Baltimore aquarium , one of the places I am dying to visit too. Especially the dolphin show which I have heard is very famous. I feel ashamed to say that its been more than six months here and I haven't visited the aquarium yet. Its like staying in Agra and not visiting the Taj Mahal.

I can't wait to give my eyes a treat with the pretty dolphins swimming and diving. Aah! Hope to get there soon and hope it doesn't get cancelled now as it usually did for a couple of times before. More about it after I visit it... hopefully! (keeping my fingers crossed this time) :)

Temme how does it feel?

I can't believe I got time to write this post today. Ever since I have arrived in the US of A, life has been on a roller coaster and whenever people ask "How does it feel to be in US", I just wish I could be more precise in answering it. The only thought that comes to my mind is "Wish I had done my undergrad here". I would have been so different a person as far as knowing the subject is concerned". I just love the way the curriculum stuff is handled here. Its "full paisa vasool" for me after all the hard work they make you do in the assignments. And the amount of time you keep pondering on a problem after which something strikes all of a sudden is just an amazing feeling which I never experienced back in India and its reason- quite obvious right?.

Talking about life here: "Competing is what you do throughout the semester. Assignments is what you are hooked onto, and sleep?.."when was the last time I had a peaceful one?.. is what you will ask" But at the end of the day satisfaction guaranteed! And this is the part that keeps me going. Satisfaction does not include good grades though. You will be satisfied that you worked hard enough for the course but the curve compares your efforts with other students who are many more times sharper than you. So that makes a difference.

Time for fun is something you will find only at the end of the semester and if you are still able to find time for it during the semester, then I must say you are either superb at time management or you are definately not studying. But studies apart, life is peaceful. Although walking is something you will be doing most time of the day,it is very unlikely that it will make you tired. I had never before enjoyed walking so much. The only thing I dislike is the cold because I am not made for it. Winter in Mumbai or Pune used to be too much for me, so you can imagine my situation here, but somehow I have gotten used to it now with all the jackets and hand gloves and what not. It takes me five minutes to wear all that before leaving home. If nothing else, it surely makes me look fatter so that makes my mom happy to see my pictures.

Friday nights are heaven because although you still know you have to work on the assignments, just the thought that you are going to be home makes you feel better. Friday nights are when me and my roomie are motivated to cook some stuff other than sandwich and omlette which almost is the staple food during the weekdays.

Mid month and month end is the time when I happy because we get the paycheck and however small amount it may be, it makes me feel good about myself. Shopping is meant only for groceries. In fact, we don't use the word shopping when we mean groceries. We just say groceries, which is boring because the stuff we bring is almost the same everytime and we almost know which counter to go and what to pick to make the process faster.

Any kind of manual labor costs a lot here; exactly the opposite of what used to be in Mumbai. I used to love that part about Mumbai.People usually buy stuff online here. Once you stay here, the one thing you are bound to notice is, when it comes to time, they are very particular about it. If you don't reach on time , you are bound to miss many things, be it catching the shuttle or attending a seminar or class or even submitting an assignment.

Cooking food is something which can't be done daily and hearing any Indian recepie makes me feel nostalgic and I remember my mom's garam rotis that I used to have everyday for breakfast and still used to complain about having not having variety. My favorite dishes after coming here are anything that tastes remotely Indian, which is none unfortunately. I can't tell you how much I miss my fish and kokam kari! the total fish person that I am.

I truly loved watching out of the window when it snowed the first time after I came here. So excited was I, that I didn't even want my parents to miss it. I sometimes wonder how people stayed without skype before. It makes life so convenient. But technical problems do occur and then it becomes irritataing because when my mom said she couldn't see the snow actually falling, I had to collect a handful of snow to prove to her that it was really snowing.

I think there will be some generation which will also enjoy the transfer of food and smell online and then they will make the same comment about how our generation survived without it. That would be the ultimate discovery if anyone did make it work. How I wish my generation should be the fortunate one to make that statement. So that's all about my feelings on life in US till now. I am sure to experience many more things ahead, but I think I will save it for the future posts. :)

R for Reel-ity shows

Enough are the daily soaps! Now the audience needs some masala-gossip in the purest form. This has given way to the new mantra called Reality shows. But I am sure half of the janta watches it in anticipation of how much real can it get for them. Take for instance 'Rakhi Ka Swayamvar'. Now is she really going to marry one of them or should I be asking the other way round? The drama queen that she is, anyone can tell you that it is all a sham. I even heard that she has decided not to marry any one of them courtesy some news channel and that the finalists will be given the choice of huge amount of money or Rakhi Sawant. So what do we call this? Reel or real? Just getting the audience hooked onto it to increase the TRP and then winding up the show with no results is what a reality show is all about.

Well, lets leave Rakhi for a change. Another show 'Sach ka Samna' is ruining lives of couples by asking them very personal questions that even the husband or wife might not have asked each other. And they claim to measure the truth of the answer with the help of polygraph test which is not even the firmly established test for measuring the truth level. And what do the participants get in return by answering all of them truly - huge amount of money and a family wounded by facing the truth or must I say exposing the truth to the public? But any publicity be it good or bad is doing great for the channel, so no worries.On top of it, the show claims to bring families even closer by revealing the dirty secrets in people's lives. Never heard of this psychology. It still remains a mystery to me as to how this can possibly be achieved. How can it be real when there is so much money involved? But still they call them reality shows.

Now there is this new one called 'Is Jungle Se Mujhe Bachao' which is the Indian version of 'I am a celebrity. Get me out of here'. Yes and half of the reality shows are copied ideas. There are many more like the abominable 'Big Boss' with its abominable participants and their controversies and fights and all these shows have only one thing in common- wasting people's time! I would have never said this but looking at the theme of Indian reality shows these days makes me think our daily soaps are much better than that. At least they say 'All characters are fictional and bear no resemblance to any event'. There might be exceptions but the majority of the so called reality shows are just altering the reality and pretending to be real or using reality to increase TRPs and simply mint money.

Visa interview - What to do and What not to do

I know there are lots of sites and forums giving you advice on this one. But this is from my personal experience.

What to do

Well, lots of things here!

1. Make a checklist of documents. Arrange them properly in you folder and practise taking them out quickly from your folder when asked.
2. Prepare yourself for the interview just as you would for any job interview. Honesty matters but expressing the same in a smart way also does. Don't forget they already know a lot about you through the information in your DS forms.
3. Groom yourself well for the interview. Its always better to be formal than casual. Above all, don't forget to wear your confidence and smile.
4. Rehearse well for the questions that everyone knows are expected to be thrown at you during the interview. If you have a special circumstance like your brother/sister studying or working abroad, prepare yourself to answer those convincingly.
5. Make sure your finances are strong. By this I mean, not only the funds used for your education, but also the funds that remain for your parents after they spend their entire hard earned money on your education.
6. Carry supporting documents and proofs for every aspect that revolves around you. Be it your identity, academic record, extra curriculum or finances.
7. Memorize the figures of the funds used for education and also the annual income of your sponsors.
8. Sleep and eat well the day before the interview. I especially say this because I didn't and had some bad experience while waiting for my token to be called out. It felt like a test of my patience, with me feeling all sleepy and tired and on top of it no signs of my number being called out from any of the counters. It just adds to your exhaustion.
9. If you are the kind of person who gets tensed during such situations, avail of the lounge facility offered by VFS. It helps you relax and cool down.

What not to do

1. Do not argue with the visa officer.
2. Do not try to over explain. Be short, sweet and precise.
3. Do not give information unnecessarily when not asked.
4. Do not show any documents if the visa officer has not asked for it.
5. Do not contradict the information that you yourself have provided on the DS forms.
6. Do not carry documents just because everyone does. If you feel taking a document is unnecessary, confirm it with the consulate by calling them or emailing them. They usually give proper guidance for such things and will at least not mislead you.

Remember the visa officers have thousands of applicants that they need to cover everyday. They can hardly give you a minute or two. Its all up to how you communicate and convey the information that is being asked to you during this time. All they need to ensure is whether you are a genuine student with a genuine purpose. It just helps when you know what the other person expects from you. So understand that and prepare accordingly!

I would be remiss if I forget to thank my parents here, because it was only because of their efforts that I could procure all my documents on time under hard circumstances. And my brother who became the visa officer for me the day before and tried to grill me with questions. But his last words(which are usually the visa officer's positive last words to you) put a smile on my face and built up my confidence. Also thanks to the number of forums and seniors on those forums that helped to keep myself updated on this.

All the best to you guys in case you are reading this and are yet to give your visa interview!

Life in a waiting state

Whenever my friends asked me what I was upto, I always started it by saying "I am waiting for blah blah blah". I just got vexed by the waiting and thought would put it all in my post.

Waiting for an admit: This was a long wait. Since universities I had applied to were many, the waiting period had to be long.The university that you long to join always sends you its decision last. And hence you cannot take a decision before you hear from them.

Waiting for I20: Although I got an admit pretty early, the delivery of the I-20 got delayed to the limits. I got it at a time when half of my friends' visa interviews were done with & they were in the shopping state and this made me more impatient. After getting the I-20 from the university, it was finally my time to apply for the visa interview . I was happy to see the dates I would personally prefer for the V day in the open state at night. But I couldn't take them, since the visa forms had to be submitted before taking a date. I managed to finish the forms at night, so that I can take the date the very next day early morning.Little did I know that, like me, many people are active at night. By morning, all the dates were already booked. Then the waiting started. I have lost the count of the number of times I selected the values in the dropdown on the vfs site to see the dates available for me and the number of times I saw the message box popup with "No dates available. Check after 24 hrs" message. There started my second wait.

Waiting for dates: Finally after a week, the dates were opened again exactly at a time when I had lost all enthusiasm & was sleeping out of frustration. I always sleep at wrong times. Fortunately this time, after I woke up, the dates were still open & I immediately took 15th July. Stage 2 was over and what a relief it was! Now it was time to get all my documents ready for the visa interview. But waiting was my destiny. So a new crisis had to appear.

Waiting for Loan sanction letter: The bank manager in the bank where I was taking a loan got a transfer and we had to deal with the new manager & explain to him our situation and how we needed a loan sanction letter urgently for the visa interview. But we can't expect them to empathize with us, and they took their own sweet time. Visits to the bank daily & calling them up everyday for reminders became a routine. The day just before the V day, they handed over the loan sanction letter to us which covered half of my I20 amount and thus you can imagine what an important document it was!

Now that I had everything I wanted before the V day, I was waiting for the rains to slow down a little which was pouring like it would finish off its entire stock for the rainy season all on my V day. But it continued to rain with the same vigor and my visa interview did get delayed by almost two hours. But all is well that ends well. Hence I should not complain and stop pouring my wait story.

Pride & Prejudice

Remember Bride & Prejudice-Indian version of Pride and Prejudice? The original story is in a different setting, and is about Mr Bennet's family set in England which gives more justice to each event. Can't say that I found the story line interesting. I found the conversations too formal with
words given more importance than the feelings. Throughout, there was communication by letters, & I wondered that had email existed, it would have solved half of their problems. But still, I was glued to it till the last page.

It is about usual family conversations over breakfast, lunch & dinner. It is about how different characters in the same family have distinct views about a common subject and how their approach towards it creates problems or happiness for the entire family. The pride of Mr Darcy, the character that Miss Elizabeth hates in the beginning and the prejudice that Miss Elizabeth has against Mr Darcy creates a barrier between them and doesn't let her mind peep into the benevolence in him. But Mr Darcy has feelings for Elizabeth which he conveys at the wrong time and in a wrong way and when she rejects his proposal, his pride is deeply hurt ,but makes him think about the reasons for his rejection. Realizing his mistake, the misunderstandings between them are unveiled, their secrets and feelings are communicated which brings about a positive change in both of them. It reduces his pride to the extent that he becomes the most amiable person for Elizabeth. She experiences a total transformation of feelings within herself and is unaware of the time of their inception. The story ends with the 'happily ever after' stuff.

The realization by both of them that the reasons for the existence of their pride and prejudice were justifiable in their respective situations in the past assists them in the discontinuation of their bitter feelings towards each other.

What got me so involved in the story was the critical thinking of the characters about the changing situations they were finding themselves in. At every point, I seemed to agree with the way Miss Elizabeth thought. The ambivalence of Miss Elizabeth's feelings that seemed to emanate from Mr Darcy's previous behavior to her and his behavior to her in the later part showed a perfect picture of the psychology of human thinking. Also, the typical behavior of Elizabeth,(from whose viewpoint the entire story is written); the sensible and the adamant kind, does not falter from pressure of family or non-family members and this is what helps her achieve what she desires.