Approved.

Location: Mumbai Consulate

Time: 12:00 pm

Counter number 5

The final hurdle - the visa interview is behind me! USA is on!!

Reached the place at 11:30. Its almost like a fortress with the huge walls and all those armed guards and commandos sweeping the area. Surprisingly the security check was very lax. No frisking, no checking of my documents folder. Post the finger prints, i had to wait for an hour i think. A couple of trips to the bathroom later my number was finally called. 

I was 5th in line queuing outside the interview box. 1,2,3,4 all got rejects, that guy was on a roll!! Its a little ironic that they give you a 'GREEN' envelope with your passport when your visa has been rejected. 'better luck next time' maybe? Anyway, at this point I began to freak out… 

The guy looked very stern but once we started talking he got me totally relaxed.

VO: Hi, how are you today?

Me: Hey!! I'm good. What about you? busy day, right?

VO: Very busy. So, Mr Karan. Which school are you heading to?

Me: The George Washington University in DC.

VO: Thats a nice school. I know someone who went there. Tell me about your course. 

Me: I intend to do my Masters in Engineering Management with specialization in Finance, Economics and Cost Engineering..

VO: Interrupted me mid sentence and said "so tell me more about cost engineering"

Me: i was actually going WTF?! but i did not stay quiet for more than a couple of second. told him a few things related to it. (thank you IEERP)

VO: Interrupted me again mid sentence "So what you are saying is it is related only to the accounts department" (I don't know if he really did not know or was trying to confuse me)

Me: No sir. It involves all kinds of resources, blah blah so it affects all departments

(starts typing into his computer and seems to lose interest in what im saying at this point)

VO: Who will be financing your education?

Me: My parents

VO: What are their professions?

Me: They are both doctors.

VO: Do they work at a hospital?

Me: (i wanted to say obviously!) Yes they work at a hospital in which they are 50% stake owners.

VO: And can you tell me their annual income?

Me: xxxxx

VO: What do you plan to do after your education?

Me: Come back to my family in India and work as a consultant in the finance sector.

VO: Ok. Your visa has been approved. Your passport will reach you in 3 working days.

Me: Thank you! (with a big-ass smile n punching the air) Bye. Have a nice day!

It might seem very long, but my interview lasted only about 1 minute or lesser. I did not have to even open my folder containing the documents. 

I think being confident and well prepared with your answers is the key here. Eye contact does wonders too.

Its time to book the air tickets. And start looking forward to how the next chapter will unfold..

Jack Sparrows compass

jack sparrows compass. the one which takes you to what you desire most. now thats something i 'desire'. until i find out where to get one, here are some of the best inventions of man (in no particular order). my analogy might be flawed, but it doesn't really matter..

1. tandoori chicken: because its comfort food! i can have it from monday to sunday and still want some more the next monday.

2. the internet: because Facebook, orkut, youtube, savitabhabhi… whatever works for you is accessible only through it. (thank you harsh!)

3. the football: without which manchester united might have been playing cricket! 

4. escalators: because they are stairs that move! 

5. remote control: everything is so much better when it comes with a remote. the tv, the air conditioner, the car door, your playstation, xbox.. (lets face it, without a remote they would be as good as a 'station' or a 'Box')

6. the television: it has been our constant pillar of support through thick and thin. it was there when india won the world cup. it was there before every Agnel prelim when studying was the last thing on my mind. it was even there when sparrow said, "but why is the rum gone?"

(it will also be there when manchester united win the champions league. GGMU)

7. the ipl: not that india has any less reasons to divide the populace. i love everything about it. right from bhajji and symonds playing in the same team to chris gayles sixes which make spectators renew their insurance policies before coming in.

8. boxer shorts: because being comfortable is what clothes are about!

9. cheese: and i mean all types of cheese. cheese spread, cheese cubes, cheese slices, mozzarella, cheddar, blue cheese. everything tastes better with cheese. i should try karela and cheese, see how it goes. ("cheej pijja!!")

10. the iPhone: because i don't need to say anything about it ! <3

not everyone might agree with me. but you are free to tell me what makes you tick…

Handle with care...

just heard some very disturbing news. one of my old class mates met with an accident some time back and is no more. its one thing to read about such incidents in the paper but the fact that its a real tangible person that had some place in your life makes it worse. even though i did not know him personally, it did stir something in me. i can call it grief or sorrow but its more of a humbling feeling.

such incidents only emphasize how insignificant we are in the whole wave of life. 

as an outsider i don't know if i can fully understand the magnitude of their loss. all i can offer is this note as a tribute. may they rest in peace. 

look around you, the people, the relations and everything else - life is fragile. you don't have to believe in a god, just be thankful..

Power(less)ful Sunday morning!

sunday morning, a time to sleep. SLEEP!! something i've been getting very less of now days thanks to 5ps/min night speak on vodafone!

its one thing to be woken up from a imthesaviorofmankind-icanmakeAngelinaJoliepurrforme dream just because you have to piss. (you can probably take on the joker, the trinity killer, gabbar singh and even mugambo while fooling around with Jolie, but u cant hold your pee!) what makes it way more worse is waking up on a sunday at 8:30, when no one is at home just because the power is out. 

just how dependent are we on electricity? VERY! i know that electricity has complete control over everything i do. that is not the problem. the problem lies in the fact that i can do nothing about it. how do i disconnect 'myself' from the grid? benjamin franklin, faraday, thomas edison and such charged ones must be all looking down with contempt at me. "what does a guy have to do these days to earn some respect?"

i head down hoping that some anda-toast will disconnect the 'i-want-to-disconnect' guy from me. with considerably lifted spirits i begin studying automobile engineering from Kirpal Singh (i really like the name Kirpal!). after 2 hours of grumbling i check my watch.. it says it has been only 25 minutes. maybe i got warped into a parallel universe which magically appears every time the power goes off. 

my productivity seems to have dropped a few hundred percent. i managed to complete only 3 pages in half an hour (normally would have done about 10. and yes, it IS a big number)

above the deafening and mocking roar of the generator next door, i hear the whisper of my laptop calling me… begging me to put it to use. thank god (read steve jobs) for the brilliant invention that is the macbook pro and the brilliant-er invention that is its 10 hour battery. it gave me the inspiration to start penning, or clicking down my thoughts. and thus begins the long wait...

nonetheless there is light at the end of the tunnel (figurative light, because the power is not yet back) the leftover ice cream from yesterday was lurking somewhere in the freezer. someone had to eat it, cant let half a tub of naturals ice cream go waste, can we? throw in a few episodes of modern family and you have a power cut well spent…

P.S. the unit for electricity is WATT (what… what… what???) :D