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.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
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!
What not to do
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!
What to do
Well, lots of things here!
- Make a checklist of documents. Arrange them properly in you folder and practise taking them out quickly from your folder when asked.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Carry supporting documents and proofs for every aspect that revolves around you. Be it your identity, academic record, extra curriculum or finances.
- Memorize the figures of the funds used for education and also the annual income of your sponsors.
- 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.
- 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
- Do not argue with the visa officer.
- Do not try to over explain. Be short, sweet and precise.
- Do not give information unnecessarily when not asked.
- Do not show any documents if the visa officer has not asked for it.
- Do not contradict the information that you yourself have provided on the DS forms.
- 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!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
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.
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.
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