"Sulleu"........for 5 days

Greetings to one and all.....
I'm back in high spirits and overwhelming energy to tell you guys my story for the last 5 days.

Note:
Almost everyone would have engaged themselves in the game " 'Police & Robber' in English or 'Chor & Police' in Hindi or 'Kallannum Policeum' in Malayalam ". The robber is usually given the privilege to take 3 time outs in the game. As and when the police gets too near for comfort of the robber he a.k.a. chor a.k.a kallan can take a time out, if any is left, and then catch his breath and continue eluding the police. The Malayalam word to call 'time out' is namely 'Sulleu'.

So, I called 'Sulleu' from my Bangalore high life for 5 days which contained 2 days casual leave, 1 more day casual leave and 2 days for the weekend. I split the 3 days leave into two parts as my company doesn't allow to club 3 or more days of casual leaves with a weekend.

With neither the luxury of a king or lavishness of a prince but joy of a son, I stayed home for 5 days in a row, the longest break that I've ever taken once I joined my first company. But that doesn't mean ki I had a blase time at home. In fact, I was sweating it out with the ayurvedic medicines that the ovoid headed doctor had given me.

First Day
The very first day, my avocation was being a photographer. I took photos of my brothers 1 month old baby with different people in different angles with different backgrounds. I was keeping a clear count of the film remaining in the camera as I yearned to have a photo with the baby and show it to people both far and near. So, I didn't hold back myself to ask my brother to take a picture of blushing 'Chacko Uncle' i.e. ME with THE great gift of GOD in my arms, which your eyes wouldn't fail to notice.

I remember myself thinking when his rightful parents took the baby from me, "Hmmmm...., I'll also have one or more such babies some day".

Second Day
05:00 A.M
I was roused from sleep by my mother to drink a mixture of 25gms of ayurvedic power and warm water. I gulped it in a single go. Little did I know that it was for clearing my stomach.

I woke up with a uneasy feeling in my underbelly, it was then my mother revealed the plot of the ayurvedic story. Before any of the ayurvedic medicines are to be consumed, they generally clean the stomach. And, O my GOD, the story started at 8 in the morning and there I was at 12 O'Clock, in front of the TV with 12 visits to the toilet. I was drained and tired and I no longer wanted to maintain the abstemious diet that I had thought of following to burn 15kgs of fat from my, more fat less healthy, body of mine.

Third, Fourth & Fifth Day
Aftereffects of the second day lasted for the remaining days. The change were drastic and I didn't have both mental or physical control over my appetite. I felt that my obstinate hunger was leading me towards nirvana, but it was not to be. Thus the inertia and the momentum of my hunger rolled to a stop with 5 days of homely food, sweetly and soundly cooked by my mother, even when her mind would have been populated with how much more deposits she needs to reach the target for the quarter. Kindly withhold from having misapprehensions about the quantity of food that I may have had, but I can ensure you that many of you could not have had the equal amount in 10 days.

Now I'm back in Bangalore, modulating my fight with hunger and luckily for my purse my need to trim myself is emerging victorious. I'm also mollifying my hunger but taking care not to mollycoddle it.

I would like to epitomize this article by providing a very important piece of advise to all of you. Please take care the next time anyone of you even think about having any king ayurvedic treatment!!!!..........

Gastronomy - Art of eating or style of cooking

Disclaimer: One of the most most important necessity for me is FOOD and I'm not ready to compromise on the quality and the quantity of it. Thus anything and everything meant in the article means a lot and I do not want to hold back anyone from thinking anything other than what I would have really meant or tried to convey as ones freedom to think is an inalienable right of its own unless you move into a condition of hibernation or coma due to many reasons, particularly with respect to the current topic of discussion, FOOD. But mind you guys, I'm not a gourmet or a gourmand and this article is not written by any of the spirit, mind or body of Mr. Chacko, Saju Rajan, but by a very honest appetite in pain.

And as it seems my company or let me be more sympathetic, my building in particular, gives so much importance to their culinary products that the associates return to their cubicles with elation that they are under diet and their tummy's are gonna remain put. Also, every company would want me to believe that the green figures in their balance sheets are due to me remaining healthy.

Through the last few months in the new office, my taste buds have been tested thoroughly and I've started to realize that even if the software bubble bursts I can easily get through an alternate profession. Its been a journey through the different tastes that I wouldn't have tasted even if I would have gone all around the world, which is again slippery dream. I'd like to take you through the different culinary delights that I go through everyday, but I cannot ensure to give you the real simulation of what really happens, and this is now when I realize "There are some things that even words cant express."

8:40 AM -- Reading the Menu
8:45 AM -- Realizing that its the same menu for the last 2 months.
8:50 AM -- Someone behind the long queue says, "Dont have food from PNN on Monday, its the left overs of Friday."
9:00 AM -- Reach the counter to take coupons
9:05 AM -- Argue at the counter over change.
9:08 AM -- Give me a slip for Rs. 9/- balance.
9:10 AM -- Pray to God, "Let todays Idlis be soft and spongy".
9:15 AM -- Understand that God has not answered my prayers.
9:18 AM -- Get seated.
9:20 AM -- Try to cut the idly with the spoon.
9:22 AM -- The spoon and me surrender to the pressure of the "Hardness" of the Idly.
9:24 AM -- Stand in queue for another spoon.
9:27 AM -- Cut the spoon with the Idly.
9:30 AM -- Finish eating the spoon.
9:50 AM -- Thank God, I'm still alive.

It takes hardly 10 minutes for me to reach office from home and I retain the same freshness of spirit, mind and body after the goodnights sleep and the over-chlorinated water used to clean my body, thus this would mean that I neednt take one more bath atleast for the next 12 hours. But, no dude. It isn't gonna be that way.

I would impute 0% tolerance from my commonsense to accept certain names of Karnataka's culinary delights( or supposed to be delights) like the many (public) baths available at the canteen. I never tried my luck with them just because my internal inhibitions held me back even before my taste buds got the chance to reprimand me. But one thought that constantly nags me after the color, smell, taste, viscosity, look, feel, etc etc is the name of the final product.

(Its just that my sense of humor is getting affected by some of the newly found ingredients at the Center of Excellence in food and gas at the L-Center)

The story at the PNN, as I call it "Please, Never & Not" disturb sign outside the loo, is also the same. Pure 'N Natural alias PNN a.k.a "Please, Never & Not". The humdrum conversations at the counter have started to bore me. It has always been a confusion regarding which side of the counter I should be standing. On one side there would be the PNN staff wearing their incandescent green shirts and on the the other would be the associates with their company tags. These tagged people provide their sudexho or cash at the senescent machine and then would move across the counter to direct the PNN staff regarding how whatever they ordered is to be made. There can be two reasons as to why the associate is forced to assume a role of a recipe. One, the PNN guys don't know how to make or two, the PNN guys make it horribly bad.

I've heard someone asking the PNN staff as to the difference between a milk shake and an ordinary shake. In the milk shake they put ice cream and in the ordinary shake they put milk..... Anyways, that too is none of my concern. The only dish that I've ever consumed from the PNN counter is an array of depleted corn and obnoxiously black mushroom. Okay, I'm getting a little too much hyperbolic. Spare the pun.

Punchline of PNN
"Milk" is a cosmetic, also serves as a camouflage in milk shakes.

Burp........ Can’t wait for lunch.

12:30 PM -- Lunch is served.
01:34 PM -- I see the menu.
01:34 PM -- LUNCH FINISHED.
01:40 PM -- Thank god the cooler water comes free.
01:45 PM -- Bantering away through the airs of freedom.

Burp....... can't wait for tea break.

04:00 PM -- The menu screams "Today's Menu"

Sometimes I feel pity for the menu. The menu displaying the same items day over day is ready to gladly accepting the wrath of every gentleman or woman who expectantly reads the menu hoping to see new entries to list of experiments by the evening cook.

1) Asserted Samoosa's
Please excuse the canteen boys English, that was meant to be assorted.
But then, could that be a candid warning, maybe he meant assaulted.
These samoosa's alias "Killer Samoosa", come in blood shot beetroot red color and looks obnoxious, like one of those aliens that suck blood from your neck in a cheap space fiction serial or the vampire from the affluent cinemas.
The day I buy them will be to puncture my boss’s skull.

2) BU’n’S at Express Day
In fact this highly sophisticated dish makes us looks like the word made by replacing the 'n' with an 'M'. They have to go buy the buns, attach a Coffee Day Express cover to it, make it sound exotic like Shangrilla Buns and just serve them to the dumb. The rest is done by the hungry software engineer.
Plain buns they are, oops...not just any plain bun, soggy depleted "Buns"; mind that.

3) Set Dosa.
Same as the breakfast dosas.
Just that they had "SET" it up in some place nice and cozy like maybe the refrigerator or the oven.

4) Paper Plain Masala.
Special dosa in which the position of the "masala" comes after Paper and Plain.
If the name had been Masala Paper Plain then the so called masala would have been inside.

Even this variety of Dosa have been suggested to the Guniness Book of Records and to Ripleys Beleive it or Not as the thinnest dosa repeatedly made.

Chalo its 05:00 P.M and time to relive myself from this defiance of the administration of the building and the canteen.

Note: I've tried to explicate the truth in a little or more exaggerated fashion. Kindly size up your thought process to the delineation. I've tried never to be deceptive in this narration. If anything explicit is noted, kindly add it in the suggestion column. Thanks everyone.

Any Given Sunday

Year of Release
1999

Language
English

Director
Oliver Stone

Cast
Al Pacino, Cameroon Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Dennis Quaid

Any Given Sunday, is a power packed movie, with lots and lots to offer to a person who is watching it. It takes us some games of football being played by the club name 'Miami Sharks', managed by Christina Pagniacci (Cameroon Diaz) and coached by Tony D'Amata (Al Pacino).

Its been a rough patch for the team with 4 straight loses in the league and facing an eviction from the Sunday Playoffs. With the caption and quarterback of the team, Jack 'Cap' Rooney (Dennis Quaid), out of the team due to a ruptured disc, the 3rd tier quarterback, Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx), of the team gets the nod. Even after they loose the match, the team needs to persist with Willie as the quarterback. But the next game, he performs and delivers the goods and the team wins. But in midst the game, he starts changing plays that the coach asks him to play.

All of this is followed by pressure from Christina to sell the club. The players, the coach and the support staff, everyone is under pressure. All this time, Willie, bathing under the glory of his sudden famedom, starts going over the top and considers himself above the game and the players. The coach tries to explain to him that the game has to be about more that winning and that a leader is all about sacrifice, the times he's got to sacrifice because he's got to win, by example but not by fear.

Willie is too selfish to give importance to everyone in the team, but prefers to shun other players as well, which creates displeasure inside the team and starts itself drift towards loosing games. 'Cap' Rooney, gets ready for the final game before the most important playoffs. This is what the coach has got to say before the match,

"When you get old, things get taken from you.
That's part of life.
But you'll only start learning that,
when you start loosing stuff.

You'll find that, life, gains by inches, just life football. Because in either game, the margin
for error is so small. One half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half a second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it, the inches that we need are everywhere around us. They are there everywhere, every minute, every second. And you have to fight for that extra inch. And when we add all those inches, thats going to make the difference between winning and loosing, between living and dying. In any fight, its the guy who is willing to die, who is going to win that inch. And I know, if I'm going to have a life anymore, its because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch. Because thats what living is. You gotta look at the guy next to you, you look into his eyes and you find a man who is going to sacrifice that inch for you. You'll see a guy who will sacrifice himself for the team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same for him. That makes a team. So, we here win as a team or die as individuals. You decide."

Watch the movie and get to know what happens towards the end, whether the team reaches the playoffs or lays off after the most decisive match for everyone in the team, for the players for better contract and coach to continue coaching.

With power packed performances by Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx, the movie has provided great moments of mesmerizing messages which is applicable for everyone in team activities. Al Pacino, through out the movie remains subtle and his dialogue delivery is impeccable.

Rating: 6.5 / 10

How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life

by Kavya Vishwanathan

I heard about this book, when there was a controversy about the author. And I enquired about her and the book, seemed like, she had made a copy of some parts of her book from two other novels namely 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings', by Megan F. McCafferty. Infact it is this controversy that urged me to read this book.

Kavya writes about how a teenager, Opal, is brought up by her parents through out her life to get into Harward. She takes us through her life from when she was a kid to what she is now at school and what she wants to become. It is a hilarious novel, which forces us to ask some questions to ourselves.

Opal has had nothing else in her life, other than the getting into Harward. There is always a motive behind everything that she does, be it a social or school activity. She was basically a nerd who got rejected in her first interview at Harward, by the Dean Mr. Anderson who realised that Opal is just another girl who was academically very good, but never had a social life. The basic things that he asked her was, "Do you have friends?" and "What about romance, fun and parties?" She didnt have an answer to any of these questions.

As an answer to all these questions, Opal and her parents launch a plan or mission to acheive all these one by one. They were serious about being romantic, funny and having parties. This has clearly demonstrated how being serious can be funny.

The book has used many abbrevations like HOWGIH, How Opal Will Get Into Harward, and HOWGAL, How Opal Will Get A Life. It all looks funny during the course of the book. Opal's parents instructing her on what to do to look sexy and popular at school. They even select the guy who has to kiss Opal. But, all these plans go haywire when Opal meets Sean during a conselling session.

On the surface, the book deals with basic funny incidents that happen in life and school, but in a deeper sense, it tells you to do what you always want/love to do. The message is very appleaing and applicable to everyone in their life.

Characters to look out for in this book:
1. Sean
2. Kali
3. Dean Anderson
4. Prisicalla

Rating: 3.5* of 5
It is a must read for teenagers............

Palunku - The Crystal

Year of Release
2006

Language
Malayalam

Director
Blessy

Cast
Mammootty, Lakshmi Sharma, Jagathy, Nadimudu Venu, Nasreen, Baby Nivedita

Palunku, the Crystal, tells the story of a farmer, Monichan, who has a transition between two diverse worlds.

The film traverses through the life of a middle class farmer, who leads a pretty normal and happy life with his family. He has a wife, Sushamma, from a well off family, who aspires for a better living that she used to have before. He also has two children, namely Geethu and Neethu, aged 11 and 6. Monichan is a happy man and leads a happy life as a farmer and likes his profession, the nature and all things around him.

Blessy has been his natural self in writing this one too after 'Kazcha' and 'Thanmatra'. It is a very strong script with he trademark touches to dialogues and the scenes with care and compassion. He takes us through the ordinary life that a farmer has and the difficulties that a farmer has to go through life for the repayment of loans and other stuff.

Monichan is forced to get admissions for his children in a school in the town 12 kms away as the management of the school in their locality were planned to close it down due to lack of children coming to school. One day he has to go the school to give water bottles to his children. On the way back meets Soman Pillai, Jagathy, a lotter seller, and take a lottery and bags 500 Rs for the same. During course of time, he come closer to Soman Pillai, who was one such kind of a person who always preferred shortcuts to making money.

Monichan later shifts to the city with his family and partners himself with Soman Pillai. The film shows how a naive person from a village gets sucked into the materialistic life that one lives in a city. Even his wife falls into the same vicious circle. But soon afterwards, such an incident happens which will make Monichan realise his mistakes.

The film never confuses the viewer with anything stupid. And the cast has performed their roles to perfection. The film leaves you in a state where you are pricked at the correct point. The viewer feels hurt not for Monichan, but for what he did to deserve such a huge punishment.

The film will not push you to the edge of your seat, but will surely keep you rooted. The enigma of Blessy is clearly visible. He has successfully completed a hatrick.

Rating: 8 / 10
A must see for all mallu film lovers.

Why anyone should not take any personality tests?

Inherently, everyone has an actor in himself. It merely depends on how skillful you are at acting that determines your adaptability or response to a situation. Some people choose acting as their profession where someone else who is better actor may choose to be a doctor, good or bad.

When a lady wins the Miss Universe title, if you notice, she would have an animated reaction, throwing the bouquet in her hand to the audience, sending flying kisses and hugging all fellow contestants, whom she piped to become the queen herself. But you would be wondering, why she shouldn’t have this sort of a reaction? Think, yourself winning a local tournament, there are only two contestants and very few to watch the award give away ceremony. Now, tell me would you react the same way, if there were many more hundreds as the audience. There would be a clear difference. It is as per the situation, you bring out your acting skills, which you never realize.

I enjoy when someone credits me for who I am, for the work I do, the way I reacted to a situation, the words I spoke over the stage or even how I manage my work. Personality tests basically do that. But there is a clear difference between someone appreciating you and getting appreciated by a computer, which will give different results as per the answers you give for their pool of predetermined questions that it takes to analyze you. I can substantiate this statement by asking you a question. Doesn’t it really depend on your mood, how you react to a question? Yes. If so, ask yourself, the answers for the same question may change when you take the same test a second time.

Now, that you have finally clicked on the ‘Submit’ button, which is going to decide what kind of person you are and will be only based on some general questions that you have answered pretty seriously, it is going to take some time to pick up the results for each question and combine them together to form the final result. Again, I like reading well about myself. I read that and I get hung over reading how extraordinary I am and how I’m as a person and how everyone likes me and what all I do for helping others and this and that and this and that. The result doesn’t really get out of your system until sometime. I’ve seen it happen to a friend of mine, thus propelling me into writing this article. In one of the many personality tests that he gave so far, mentioned him as a person who is not afraid of conflicts and that he’ll stand up against any adversity and fight till the last. He was overwhelmed with the quality, because of the way the result was put forth, that just described him as a confrontational person. What? He felt good when some bloody computer coined him as a confrontational person. Not realizing that he is living the character, he slowly but steadily started getting into the skin of the confrontational character that he is not, thus having, not one but many situations in which he would not have felt comfortable in. So, what did he ultimately achieve? He lived the character that was projected by a personality buffoon site, which is never was, thus creating discontent about and around himself.

It would be the weirdest article that you are reading now, but I’ll tell you something, the best judge for you is yourself and the next is your close friends and the next best is a counsellor. They tell you anything and everything that you would like to know about yourself like, how animated you were in that situation or what better you could have done or even how good you were in your speech and that you should be doing something better or this or that or this or that.

As a conclusion, I would like to reemphasize the fact that restraining yourself from checking your own personality from a goddamn stupid test over the internet would prove good for you. Consult your friends and if need be a counsellor to get help and understand how good or nice or well a person you are.

Ridiculous : Isnt it?

I used to think that there used to be lots of people like me.

Who are people like me?
Such a handsome hunk, that any girl will drool over!

But, now I understand that I'm no guy like that. But I do want a girlfriend.
What? I changed the topic suddently. Oh, Its not that. I really wanted to write on that.
Okay, now that the topic is decided, what do I write about it?

What would you guys be thinking about me now?
A fanatic who desperately needs a girlfriend, to get physical with. Hm............
Thats a good possibility. But, NO, you've thought wrong! Premarital sex is one of the other institution that I dont beleive it. But, like every human being, I like the idea of having sex. Now, has the topic changed again to "My likes and dislikes on the matter of having Sex". No, it has not changed. I just simple drifed away from the main topic.

So back to the topic of "How to get a girlfriend?"
Or was that the topic of was it "I want a girlfriend!"

Okay, I'll pick the second one, "I want a girlfriend!"
So this topic would make is obvious that I do not have girlfriend as and when I'm writing this article.

Love or Obligation? (Family Perspective)

February the 24th, 2007
1530 hrs

Topic of Discussion : Is taking care of one's child just a responsibility/obligation or is it because of the love that the parents have for the child and the want to provide the child with the best of the opportunities that they themselves wouldn't have got?

The new generation thinks that it is all routine for things to happen and fall in place and that getting better education and more bigger opportunities are just normal in life, the love the parents show and the responsibility that the parents shoulder to bring them up in the best way is just ordinary and happens everywhere. But, they prefer to ignore the fact that there are many people who wouldn't treat these events in life as normal or routine as they know the value.

At the end of the discussion, I was at EASE (E - Emotional, A - Angry, S - Sad, E - Empty), just because, I was the only person who was fighting for the reason that parents love their children first and that, everything that they do for you comes from the responsibility derived from the love that they always have for you.

Taking responsibility for every action you do is certainly important, but can that kind of responsibility be compared to the responsibility that falls on the parents at the birth of a child. So, now another question comes out in the open. Is the child born because of the reason of love between the parents, or was it just because a illicit sexual relationship?

One of my friends was saying that, parents who send money from the Gulf, really wants their children to use the money and enjoy and they become happy at seeing that, because they never go a chance to do that when they were young and that the parents live their dream through their children. I would agree to that to an extent. But what do parents really want their children to have? I would say that, the parents want their children to get the facilities (books and atmosphere ) that they themselves lacked during their schooling and college days and not by providing the most expensive of liquor that they never had and never the cigarettes that the children puff into their lungs. Wrong interpretations of what the parents want their children to do by the children, tend to take their life in the wrong way. But which way is wrong. Who know? I'm not GOD and I don't decide!!!!

I certainly agree that these thoughts may be completely relative to a person. But, I wouldnt agree at any point that taking care of your own is an obligation. If it feels as an obligation, you are just mechanically doing something that you don't really want to do, but just finishing off your obligation just because the society is looking at you.

I'm not one of that kind. I'll love my wife (when I marry :-)) and will take care of my children with love and care and will be take their responsibility not just because I'm their father, but because I love them and want them to do better in life.

Aus - Are they the Invincibles ?

Now, with straight 5 defeats in One Day Internationals and with many better players sidelined due to injury, many people are ready to write off Australia.

But I'm not one among them. Because, I believe that this Australia team will rise from the dead and rise to such strength that it will still be the favorite for winning the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Being an Indian fan, I've noticed that the Indian media, which is one of the biggest task force in the world, is highly critical of anything and everything that is happening in the world of cricket in India. At the lose of every game, the cricketing media will analyse each and every aspect of the game such that the team management or the team of selectors need not even have a meeting to discuss the reasons of the lose. Sometimes, it so feels that there is not need for the team of selectors or team management as the media fraternity themselves will do everything require. And then letz see if India wins all the matches. I don't think so.

The Australian team plagued with injuries to its front line players and Adam Gilchrist opting to sit out of the Chappell Hadley series, it was always tough on Australia's 2nd XI to defeat a Newzland team working towards opening the world cup road in success. But, the defeats that Australia had to handle were not as bad it seems to be. Maybe the first match in the series that they lost, would have been because of sheer carelessness that their batsmen showed in the application of technique and calm on the field. But, the next two games where toughly competed and the best of the XI won. It could not be blamed on anyone specific. As always said "Catches win matches.", they should have held on to more catches than popping it out of their hands.

Maybe, their over-confidence would have got the better or them. Taking nothing away from South Africa and Newzland, we have seen the 3 highest run chases have come against the strongest cricekting nation in the world. It suggests that they become complacent when they have bigger scores and letz the pressure out of the opposition. These defeats would have equally stunned the Australian team as it has the world and I think that it would be an eye opener for Australia and they would start coming out of the loosing streak with a bang, starting at the world cup. All team beware, of the Invincibles.

This is a team which had habituated itself to win all the time. Even when they had lost the Ashes after a period of more that 50 years, they never let down their strong hold on the International cricket arena. The Aus team proved everyone wrong and cupped the Mini-Worldcup which had escaped their grasp for such a long time. So, its just a matter of time that they return to their winning ways. But their defeats have been over hyped and analysed. The media has even named the days of defeat as 'Black Friday' and 'Bloody Sunday'. I'm sure that the team would derive inspiration from all these media reports and prove them wrong in the World Cup. I wish the Aus team good luck.

Getting a US VISA

Thursday, 15 February, 2007
0700 hrs

I woke up in the bed of Room No.9 of VR Home in Alwarpet, Chennai. It was hot and humid, the climate in Chennai, but I was in the comfort of the AC room provided by TCS at VR Home. I didn’t have to suffer from the scorching heat of the burning sun and 500% humidity. But soon enough I would have to leave the comfort of the room as my PA, as it is called for Personal Appearance before the American Embassy, was scheduled to be at 1030 hrs.

From my colleagues who had come for the same purpose, i.e. to get their VISA stamped, had said to me that everything was cool and that I need not worry at all and that too for an ordinary plain L1B individual, there is no need of even a hint of concern. But, even with the room temperature at 20 Celsius, I was hot and humid inside. I was feeling nervous altogether and upset thinking of the very bleak possibility of my VISA getting rejected and I have a solid reason to think the same. To tell you about that I would need to go almost 10 months back.


Around 10 months back
Someday, April, 2006
Sometime

I got a mail forwarded by my Project Leader asking me to initiate my H1B VISA process. I was surprised, as the information that I had was that an associate could apply for VISA only once s/he gets confirmed and I still had 4 more months to get confirmed. I personally went to my PL and confirmed that that I had received the mail and checked whether any action need to be taken about it. He told me that I fell into the criteria that TCS had set for the associates that year to apply for H1B and that I could proceed with the same. I felt elated and special thinking that this is a great opportunity for me.

I hadn’t still got the Passport from the Passport office in Kochi, Kerala. My parents tried to fasten the process for the same and they managed to get the same within one week and meanwhile I gathered all the documents which was required for the H1B application and provided to the FDFU of TCS. They processed the documents and applied for the VISA at the embassy. After two weeks I got another email saying that the documents have been sent to the US for verification or something and that the next communication may take a duration of 90 to 150 days. I was ready to wait. After all I was not planning to miss such a golden opportunity that may not come my way every now and then. So, I waited and waited and waited, not 90 days, not 120 days, not 150 days, but more than that, was over the top of the patience I had. Even my Module Leader also started to ask me about the status of the VISA. I wrote mails to the head of VISA Cell Bangalore, seeking information regarding the status of the application that I had submitted some 6 months back. He tried to dig out some information and was unable to do so and we presumed the H1B application to be dead.

Now what? I didn’t know what to do. After almost 7 months of patient waiting, one day I come to know that nothing is going to happen regarding that, its natural that I get frustrated. And I got frustrated. Really frustrated. Now the only thing that I could do was apply for L1B, which would be processed comparatively very quickly and lesser hassle to get through, but the only difference being that changing of clients while on onsite would have been more easier if it was H1B rather L1B and as I never had any such things in mind, it never mattered to me whether I'm getting a L1B or H1B, and the only thing that I was keen on was getting a VISA and making myself eligible for travel to onsite as and when required.


Someday, December, 2006
Sometime

There was one colleague of mine, who joined just 7 days after I had joined our clients, who was also eligible for applying for L1B VISA. So we planned to apply together. Now, I having more experience in filling up the forms and preparing the documents, as I had already done that for H1B once, took up the initiative to do all that and later he could copy from mine. He is one such guy who slogs like anything. He always says to me that he is not is a smart worker like me. But, I feel very hurt when he says that. I don't know how he defines his 'Smart workmanship', as for me being tagged as a 'Smart Worker' makes me feel myself lesser to people who to really work hard. Leave alone that topic, I'll write another blog on that. Now that he has told it, I prepared all the documents and kept on waiting for him for 10 to 15 days. I didn’t exactly count. You should also understand that I'm writing this from the memory that I had about this incident. And incidentally, we software developers, just keep in mind only what is necessary as we declare a pointer and destroy it when it is no longer to be used.

I kept on reminding him that I was already late by 7 months and that now I don't care to wait any longer. At last, my efforts were fruitful and he took great care and passion to find out faults and defects in what I had written while he filled up his application and I didn’t care and it was good for me too that he finds out the mistakes and I correct them. Once he was done, we applied it on the same day. We were pleasant thinking about the chances that we may get the same date to appear before the US Embassy and that too almost the same time and to extend it a little further that we would get a chance to go onsite together. And mind you, he still wants it that way to happen, which I'm almost certain that wont be until that day arrives at its earliest.

After a few days, he came to me during a break saying that he got a mail from the VISA cell that his petition has been approved and that this PA date is January 23rd and the he needs to go for breifing regarding the VISA procedure in SJM Towers, near Majestic. He came to me saying this thinking that my application also would have got approved and that we could go together. I humbly informed him that I haven’t yet received any mails and that it'll be unable for me to accompany him. He was surprised at first and so was I. I called up the concerned person at the VISA cell and enquired to him regarding the same. So he told me that I had applied for L1B Individual, because for me unfortunately while choosing the branch for applying for engineering I applied for a branch for which the demand was high. If I had know it then, i.e. around 5 years back, I would have taken Computer Science or Information Technology just because the Americans gave special treatment to guys who learned CS and IT over guys who preferred to study other things which they thought would be demanding in the market, but it happened otherwise.

But to my glee, I got a mail from the VISA cell the very same day, towards the evening. I didn’t read its subject, opened it thinking that mine also would have been pushed through and I might have gotten lucky. But infact I was getting more and more unlucky. Now think about this, a person who waiting for 7 months to know that nothing happened about the application he had submitted and that he will have to start from scratch again, a person who was ready to start all over again for the sake of it, a person who waited for more that half a month for his colleague to prepare his documents so that they can apply together, being optimistic about lot of other things, now gets a mail saying that his petition cannot be applied now as I need to provide documents regarding the TCS propreitary tools that I'm supposedly using. I was certainly irritated and pissed off to know about this. I called up a lady in SJM regarding the same. She said that this procedure was introduced recently and that if I had applied 1 day before, I could have skipped this exercise. She asked me regarding when I was planning to submit the remaining documents. I was goddamn screwed up and I lost my mind and said that I was least bothered about it now and that I'm leaving for my native, which infact I was, and that I will not be able to render the required documents unlike next working day, supposing it to be coming Monday.

Indeed I was really disappointed and upset. I was feeling really let down by GOD. GOD the creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible, had decided to delay my VISA proceedings. But in midst of the delay that GOD wanted me to endure, he also send an angel, the VISA representative in SJM. She was so helpful that, she forwarded me the writeups for the TCS properitary tools on the same day and when I checked my mail on Monday, I realized that GOD is not so cruel to me. I forwarded the rest of the documents to the VISA cell on the same day so that it can be processed at the earliest.


Someday, January, 2007
Sometime

I opened the Outlook to check my mails, and then I notice a mail from the VISA cell. To be frank, I was pretty uninterested in opening the mail as I was in a state like 'Once bitten Twice shy'. But I mustered my courage and opened and to my glee came to know that everything is fine and that I'm required to appear before the consulate on February 15th. Now when I think of that, it is just like taking the vehicles before the insurance agent for taking a new insurance. Without seeing the vehicle, the companies won’t grant insurance. Even getting a US VISA is similar to that.


Thursday, 15 February, 2007
0800 hrs

What do you think? With such delays and blocks associated with the process of getting my VISA processed till the PA point, I was eligible to think that GOD may be, doesn’t really want me to get the VISA and this is the bleak possibility of my VISA getting rejected, that I was thinking about at 0700 hrs. So, I had the right to be doubtful and I indeed was, but I wouldn’t waste a chance even if there was no possibility at all. I was famous at college and office to take risks and I had to live up to my reputation.


Thursday, 15 February, 2007
0900 hrs

So here I was, sweating in the queue outside the gate of the US Consulate. I just had to wait for 5 minutes before I reached the counter outside the gate. He took my passport and my appointment letter. He verified the same and reminded me that I shouldn’t be carrying any electronic gadgets or metal objects inside the consulate. I brushed that advise aside coz I knew it before and had taken care of all that. Leaving behind the mobile at VR Home was an issue, but getting a VISA was more important to me now, than retaining a mobile, which was eligible to be put up in a museum.

Another security guard rushed me inside the consulate's heavy metal door. I was damn sure that the metal door was heavy enough to crush at least 10 people. Okay I'll be more realistic; maybe it was enough to crush some 3 guys. I went in that heavy door and there was a lady who collected my files and checked whether I'd kept some sharp items inside those. Once I cleared that, I went through a metal detector and it didn’t utter a sound, as I was all clear. So the final barrier that I had to pass was a body check done by yet another guard. He did it pretty fast and he also was unable to find anything dangerous on my body. There was another bullet proof door which lead to the lobby and then later on to the lawn which took me to the building where the PA had to take place. There was a small queue here also, which got over very fast. I went in the building and handed over the green folder to the receptionist. She tore the pink receipt with utter disdain and handed it over to me and told me that that it is my copy.

I was returned the green folder along with a new brown sheet and was asked to proceed to the counter number 2 for finger print scanning. I noticed that I was sweating a lot and I was finding it hard to wipe it all out with the unusual handkerchief that I carried this day. I generally don't carry any handkerchiefs or watches or extra things which would make me feel heavy during the day to day activities. So here I was today, inside an Air Conditioned building, sweating like someone I never knew even while standing in front of the mirror.

I was looking smart today, that is not so unusual as I generally am smart unless I get a mood shift because of any stupid stuff that would have happened around me. With my hair neatly brushed sideways and black ties with grey, white and bright red stripes over a medium light blue colored shirt, I looked like the best I would look for some couple of months to come. My chance had come to do the fingerprint scanning. I went forward and greeted the person behind the counter as 'Good Morning Officer'. He greeted me back and asked me how I was. This was unexpected, but gathered my wits and answered in one word, 'Fine'. I got both of my fingers scanned and he gave me my passport back, thus made it clear that it was done and that I could move. I was asked by some Indian employees at the consulate to stand at the end of the BEP queue which leading to counter no.7. I was kind of 20th person in the queue (little bit exaggerated) but still was the last person of the queue.


Thursday, 15 February, 2007
1045 hrs

I don't know how time passed and I didn’t even bother to know it as I was all nervous and mixed up inside. I had tried to by heart some of the answers to some general questions that the TCS VISA cell guys had mentioned during the briefing session. Now, when I tried to recall all that I had memorized, I was unable to do so. In the midst of the confusion over there, they opened another counter no.9 for the BEP associates and all those who were standing behind in the queue were asked to move to the new counter and I was one among the lucky few.

I was watching the proceedings from the back of the queue, one guy from NIT, Kozhikode was now at the counter. The officer was a lady and looked pretty pleasant. She asked him some questions like, "Why are you going to the US?", "What kind of work are you going to perform over there?" and many more like this. He was looking fussy and confused and thus he made himself good enough to get his VISA refused and so it happened. The officer returned his passport along with a pink form and he look dejected and disappointed. And he left the place as quietly as he had come. What else could he do? I could feel my heart all the way at my throat. I was very tensed and I was going to be in before the Officer in less than a minute.

And thus came, the great moment. I was standing in front of the counter and I offered the Officer the green folder that I had with me. She accepted it gracefully while I greeted her with a 'Good Morning, Officer' that was the beat of the day. With answers like 'I'm traveling on an intra-company transfer', 'Once I get my VISA, my BRM will arrange my accommodation' and 'SEI is a asset management and investment technology solution provider to banks and high profile individuals.' my mind was full and growing with new ideas and answers to questions that were bound to be asked by the officer. She never looked at my face. She was going through the documents that I had submitted and still deciding over how to screw me up, little did she know that I was already screwed and down. She started with the most obvious question.

Officer: What are you going to do in US?
Me: I'm going on an intra-company transfer to SEI.

Officer: What do you work on?
Me: (I was supposed to list out all the tools that I had provided in my CV, but I decided against it.) I'll be working on TCS proprietary tools like ADEX and OMGEN. (I expected her to follow up this question with some question asking me to explain all the tools that I had mentioned. But, she failed to rise up to my expectation.)

Officer: Who is your client?
Me: SEI, Simulated Environment Incor- Incorporated

Officer: Simulated Environment Incorporated! So what do they incorporate?
Me: (It was a funny question. I thought I was trapped. But my colleague had said that I could seriously bullshit the Officer, if and only if, I was confident in my answer.) SEI mainly provides consultancy on asset management and investment technology solutions to Banks and other high profile clients.

Officer: Why are they sending you?
Me: I've been working on the TCS proprietary tools for quite sometime. ('Quite sometime', What, what did I say just now? Did I expect her to convert my 'Quite sometime' in terms of experience, thus, I continued.) for the last 1.6 years!

Officer: What is your qualification?
Me: Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communications Engineering.

Officer: Your VISA have been approved. Have a nice journey.
Me: Thank you, Officer.

I wanted to tear down the hallway, shouting that I had done it, I had stamped over the bleak possibility of the refusal of my VISA, thus I emerged triumphant over the clouds of doubt that I had over my thinking process.

I walked slowly towards the exit of the building, then towards the exit of the lobby that I had come through initially and then the last heavy metal door, which would set me free at last of the bondage I was experiencing inside the consulate. In fact, I was feeling great and my face was blank. I opened the door slowly and the Chennai heat and sun hit me directly on my face. I was greeted by curious eyes rooted on me and my reaction. I pulled out my great acting skills that was gifted to me by the GOD Almighty and started my act. I pulled out my tie with such displeasure that many would have then and there felt that this is a possible rejected candidate who is walking out and this I followed it up with an equal opening of cuffs and the first button from top of the shirt. Yahoo, I was successful at both, getting a VISA and brushing up my acting skills on the road.

I hope this provides an insight what all a simple person endures on his way to securing a US VISA. All the best for you too. Bye