A travel freak takes the journey to bschool

My Visa Experience

2005-06-11T16:44:00.000+05:30

My appointment at the Chennai consulate was at 1-30 pm. Along with the Mrs, I landed there 15 minutes in advance. I had heard horror stories of candidates waiting outside in queues for hours and I was mentally all prepared to be roasted in the hot summer sun for a couple of hours at the least. To my pleasant surprise, there was no line! We were allowed in immediately.

After some security checks (they don't allow sealed covers inside, so remember not to carry any), We were led straight to the counter where I had to pay the fee. Again, no line. After paying the fee, we stood at one of the many counters to submit our visa application. There was just one guy in front of us in the line. Within minutes, our applications were scanned and we were led into a room with a zillion counters manned by visa officials.

By now, we were a tad greedy and hoping that there would be no line here too. Well there were scores of lines and scores of people waiting to get into line too. They have a token system which ensures a first-in first-out fairness. So after a wait of about 30 minutes, our token was called and we got in line behind 4 people at one of the counters.

5 minutes later we were at the counter. The visa official was very courteous, and asked us to have our fingerprints scanned. He then started asking us questions.

VO: What is your educational background?
Me: I have a ***** degree in ***** field.

VO: May I see your certificate?
Me: Sure.

VO: You work for **** ?
Me: Yes

VO: Why do you want to quit your job?
Me : {My "why mba" answer}.

VO to the Mrs: Ma'm, you plan to quit your job and intend to be in the United States for the whole period?
She: Yes.

VO: You will receive your visas by mail in a couple of days. Enjoy your stay in the United States.
Me: Thank You.

Sachem, Here I come

2005-05-29T14:39:00.000+05:30

Yep, I lucked out. Turns out the housing dept was able to find me a place after all. Though I would have preferred a 2 bedroom apartment, I wasted no time in accepting the offered 1-bedroom unit. The advantages of staying at Sachem are enormous. I am going to be living in a community of Tuckies. I hear that the Tuck wireless coverage extends all the way to Sachem. And the place is close enough to cycle over to class when I want to. So I am delighted!

Among the other housing opportunities I explored, Stone Farm stands out. It has a great number of Tuck students living in the apartment complex, both first and second years, and is great value for money. At 5 miles, it's a bit far from Tuck, but I have heard that students go farther than that. I had almost leased an apartment here when my Sachem village offer came through. But in the end, all's well, and that ends well.

Housing Blues

2005-05-18T14:02:00.000+05:30

Waiting in my inbox today was a mail from the dartmouth housing folks saying that because of renovation work at sachem, they have just 30 units for allocation this year. Preference is given to applicants with kids, and they have plenty of couples with kids waiting for the 30 units. So they regret not being able to offer me accomodation.

I was looking forward to living in Sachem. Now I have to start looking out for housing from here, which needless to say, is not easy. Going by some of the ads availble online, renting a house in Hanover is not exactly cheap. This does throw a spanner in the works (not to mention the pocket). I probably will need to advance my flight dates to account for time to search out a house. Basically plan things all over again. Darn and double darn!

2005-05-18T13:08:00.000+05:30

Hot Sulphur Spring

2005-05-18T13:06:00.001+05:30

Road to nowhere?

2005-05-18T13:06:00.000+05:30

The Himalayas-2

2005-05-18T13:05:00.000+05:30

The Himalayas

Talk about timing

2005-05-18T12:44:00.000+05:30

I headed home early last evening with the intention of calling up hanover to figure out the latest on my I-20. There was a UPS package waiting for me when I got there. No prizes for guessing what it had.

Welcome to the class of 2007

2005-05-17T14:03:00.000+05:30

Got my welcome box from tuck yesterday. Reams of stuff to be read before the start of proceedings in August. And here i was, planning to take it easy till then.
A worrying factor is the non-arrival of my I-20. I am planning to call up Hanover today to check why it is AWOL.

Ping vold

2005-05-17T14:02:00.000+05:30

Vold is alive.
Just buried under mountains of work. Also writing up a trip travelogue. No, I will not be inflicting it upon you, it is meant for private consumption only. However, I will be posting some pics on here, so stay tuned.

Off to the mountains

2005-04-08T10:05:00.000+05:30

No, I am not renouncing the world. Yet. Just my cubicle. And only for 2 weeks at that.

Less than 8 hours away from the start of my vacation and I am totally swamped at work. Sigh! Am I looking forward to the mountains? You bet! But along with that, I am looking forward to the journey as well. I just love trains. Swaying to the motions of the train with a good book in hand would be my ultimate de-stress therapy.

I am hoping that the trusty old konika that I am carrying will do the job of capturing my vacation on film. (I have not entered the digital camera age yet). So, I will be off soon (hopefully). See you folks in 2 weeks.

PS: What on earth is wrong with blogger?

Onward ho!

2005-04-06T12:25:00.000+05:30

This was what was waiting in my inbox today.

Dear Vold:
All your documents are in order. You will receive your I-20 by the end of the month.

So it's time I started working on getting all the documents for the visa in order. The date I booked does look a bit far now, but I am not complaining about the extra time.

A speed bump

2005-04-03T15:39:00.000+05:30

You know, just when you think things are rolling along just fine, there is that gnawing feeling at the back of your mind that says things are rolling along a bit too smoothly. I normally ignore such warnings to my own peril. And so I did last week when I sent in my form for the I-20. Turns out I should have paid more attention to that gnawing feeling.

I had sent in my passport to be updated with the name of my spouse, since this facilitates dependent visa processing. What happened instead, was that the passport authorities cancelled my passport and issued me a fresh one with my wife's name on it. That is not a big deal by itself. But my I-20 form had already gone out with a photocopy of my older passport to Tuck. A phone call to Hanover did sort matters out. But these are the sort of things that you want to avoid.

Now, new and improved!

2005-03-30T14:18:00.000+05:30

I am a foodie of the worst kind. I like all kinds of food. As you can imagine, I have been carrying a couple of kilos more than recommended. You would think that this would help some muscles somewhere in the body (hey, isnt carrying excess weight exercise?), but apparently, it doesnt. I had been finding it difficult to shed the extra Ks.

So this dental problem was like a boon. It meant that I could not chew for a week. Its amazing how much weight you can lose in a week if you are subsisting on liquids (strawberry milkshake rocks!). With the weight loss, my wardrobe has expanded significantly too. I can now fit into all my old clothes. Clothes that I haven't worn in years. The challenge now, is not to pig out and gain all that bulge back.

Update

2005-03-30T14:06:00.000+05:30

Been a while since I was here...

The last few days have been quite eventful. I managed to get some stuff done. Stuff like travel bookings for my vacation. Getting a copy of a lost certificate (those of you who have your certificates, it is recommended you dont lose them. Getting a copy is not exactly easy or fast).

On the I-20 front, I took some time to get the financial docs arranged. This being the financial year end, banks had things more important than customers to worry about. But my form is now in the mail, enroute to Hanover. I hope Tuck finds the financial documentation to be satisfactory.

I am looking forward to my vacation next week. The next couple of months promise a significant amount of travel. Hopefully, travel is one item I can put a tick against on my list of things to do before Tuck.

My Word, it's excel

2005-03-14T18:37:00.000+05:30

I now find myself in the unenviable position of having to brush up on my Word and Excel skills. Why? Becuase I know practically nothing about them. I mean, I do know how to enter text, count words (I learnt that during my essay writing days), etc etc. But that's not gonna be enough, is it? I know a current Tuckie who can draw maps in excel. I dont mean some crude map, but an excellent road map to his house, no less. And this was in his pre-Tuck days.

When I am going to be stepping into those same halls where the denizens can make monkeys out of spreadsheets, I'd better know a few tricks myself. So I am not really looking for a Word-101 or Excel-101 here. More like a tutorial on stuff like V-lookups (I just learnt today that something like this exists in excel, so dont ask me what it means).

This was what I supposed to do in my spare time over the weekend. Instead I wasted time poring over Excel Hacks :). (HBS, hold your horses, this is legal and ethical). A case of trying to run before learning to walk? Yea, I agree. But hey, I learnt more cool terms like Pivot tables :). Now I know how to use a zillion excel backdoors to all these features. Just need to figure out where the front door is ....

Buck, Buck, Buck

2005-03-13T13:07:00.000+05:30

I got my financial aid letter from Tuck. A pretty comprehensive package which should see me through the first year (at least) comfortably. The aid is spread across the International Tree Loan Program and the Tuck 5% loan program.

The next step is to fill in an international student information form and send it to the admissions office. Once I send it in, Tuck will start processing my I-20. The form needs to be sent along with "original proof of documentation". Now what does that mean? Do I need to send back the nice $$ letter I got? (I was kinda beginning to like it). I have written to the admissions office for a clarification.

I am planning to visit the kind folks at the US Consulate late May or early June. I figure it will take about a month to get my I-20 once I send in my form. Once I get that, I need to pay up a SEVIS fee online. It will then probably take 2/3 weeks for the I901 fee receipt (receipt for the SEVIS fee) to arrive. If I mail my form at the end of this week, I will probably get my I-20 late April. And the I901 mid May. (They send it faster for an extra 30$). With a couple of weeks of padding for good measure, early June seems a good time to schedule a visa appointment.

I am making a list of documents required for the visa, stay tuned....

Shangrila

2005-03-08T21:14:00.000+05:30

I have been in music paradise the last few days. Yesterday I attended a Mark Knopfler concert and it was mind-blowing! It started with "Why Aye Man" from the Rag-Picker's dream. Followed by Walk of Life. Knopfler then slipped into some slow numbers from Shangrila and Golden Heart. Then played "Sailing to Philadelphia" (which, BTW, I was playing on repeat mode when applying to W). Then came So Far Away From Me, Speedway at Nazareth (finished with a amazing guitar piece which is not there in the canned version), followed by Sultans of Swing. It was worth the price of the ticket to hear him play "Money for Nothing" alone. The concert wound up with "Daddy's gone to Knoxville" and "Going Home" (theme of local hero). But for some reason, he didnt finish it. The number starts slow, the pace dipping down further and then explodes into a crescendo. The crowd started clapping when the pace dipped, probably thinking that was the end of it. And Mark just stopped it there! I was a bit disappointed he didn't play "Calling Elvis". But Knopfler, you are a Guitar God!

Last weekend, Jagjit Singh and Ghulam Ali came together for a 4 hour musical extravaganza. The show started with Ghulam Ali singing the "Chupke Chupke" ghazal. Amazing! Went on to play some of his greatest hits, "Awaargi, Hungama hai kyon" etc". The crowd went mad when Jagjit Singh stepped on stage. Starting with "Tera Chehra", Jagjit Singh had the crowd spell-bound for the next two hours. He wound up the concert with some of his Punjabi songs, and the crowd went "Balle-Balle". The concert was terrific, despite bad organzation. The seats were sucky, parking/traffic arrangements terrible, and the sound system was pathetic. But the music, it was awesome! I'd go anywhere to hear Ghulam Ali and Jagjit Singh!

Viva la music!

Wish you a happy World Jump Day?

2005-03-04T16:08:00.000+05:30

http://www.worldjumpday.org

I am hoping this site is a joke. An extract from page 1

"Scientific Research has proved that this change of planetary positioning would very likely stop global warming, extend daytime hours and create a more homogeneous climate"

I fell off my chair laughing. Or wait, was it due to the vibrations caused by people on the other side of the globe jumping? I am gonna get you, you #$@!^%#

The things that scientific research can prove these days is amazing. Makes you wonder how they proved these things, doesnt it? and what if they were wrong? You know, like "Oops, we forgot to divide the answer by pi, so we actually get longer nights, hotter summers and crappy climate. But dont worry, scientific research has proved that we can reverse the change by getting people to jump into the pacific ocean at the stroke of midnight." If it aint broke .....

I like my planet very much the way it is, thank you. I am not jumping at all from now on, just in case ...

Away for a while

2005-02-23T15:47:00.000+05:30

I will be away from my blog for a while. In no state to blog. If you know me, you already know why.

Believe it or not

2005-02-17T20:22:00.000+05:30

This is an actual farewell letter that some one in my organisation sent.

"
Subject: Last Day

Hi Team,

I am apprehensive-ecstatic to say that today is my last day. I did enjoy my stay here and it was nice to work with the team amidst tight schedules.

There is always a room for techno-engineering refinements and I do sincerely feel collaborative engineering support from conceptual design will yeild maximum performance with outstanding efficiency.

I wish the team every good fortune and I would like to thank Y and the team for the earnest guidance and co-operation bestowed on me.

Yours Sincerely
X
"

Yea, seriously. No Kidding.

Now someone took the effort to google some of those key words in the mail. And voila!
Search for "maximum performance with outstanding efficiency" and "collaborative engineering support from conceptual design" in the following article :)

http://www.national.com/news/item/0,1735,997,00.html

When I started working, I wondered why Dilbert was so popular. Now I am a big fan.

To Do

2005-02-04T15:39:00.000+05:30

Ever since I received an acceptance from Tuck, life has passed by in a happy blur. I dont really remember doing much these last 2 months. I think it's time to get out of the reverie now. Since I work mostly by making lists of things to do, I decided to make a list of things I want to do before Tuck. So here goes...

1. Sleep
I am told this commodity will be scarce the coming year. Hence it should get top priority. (I like my list already).

2. Improve fitness level
Execution underway. But has to be ramped up in a major way.

3. Travel
I have a bunch of travel plans. Wonder how many of them I am actually gonna go on. My first priority is a 2 week vacation next month. I need to get the travel bookings done etc etc.

4. Finish at least one more level of French certification.
Mais quand? If I travel all that I want to, this may prove difficult. Zut Alors!

5. Learn Golf?
Highly recommended by many people. Golf is apparently a useful sport to know in the US, and expensive to learn there. The problem is again "mais quand?".

6. Learn to Dance Better?
With my dance instructor waltzing her way into married life, this may not be possible. It may also not be possible because I was born with two left feet. I can always look for a new teacher, but I kinda like the old one. (Maybe because she didnt charge a fee? ;) )

Outward Bound

2005-02-02T16:57:00.000+05:30

Before the beginning of the academic program, Tuck students have the option of going on The Hurricane Island Outward Bound program. I am really excited about being on this week long sail boat trip. I love boats. And I love water. Though I can barely swim, a week with both boat and water sounds just heavenly.

BTW, dont they run those huge passenger steamers (the titanic kind) anymore? Google doesnt seem to think so. I wouldn't mind sailing to the US instead of flying, however long that takes. (Most people look at me like I just escaped from the lunatic asylum when I tell them this). My S/SO (Spouse/Significant Other) already told me that she is flying, I can swim over if I want to.

Here is a description of the outward bound program last year by Tagad. Unfortunately, OB is for students only. That means no S/SOs. Hmmm..... It's gonna be tricky selling this idea to my S/SO.

To Kill A Mocking Bird

2005-02-02T11:53:00.000+05:30

I just dont know how I missed reading this book before. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee is a great read. I wanna watch the movie now. It would be interesting to see how Lee's magic with words in capturing life through the eyes of an eight year old is translated on screen.

I think I will be saying "yessome" and "nome" like Scout Finch for the next couple of days :).

The best laid plans of mice and men

2005-02-01T16:18:00.000+05:30

All good things come to an end. So have my plans of keeping my school plans to myself. Last week, we had a farewell party for yet another departing colleague on our office patio. And the chap who is my project manager looks around casually and says

“Well, we are 25 people now”.

Then he points to me and says

“So when this guy leaves, we will be 24”.

What the????

Unquestionably, that was a fantastic display of mental arithmetic. I felt the air swoosh by as 23 other heads turned in my direction. And I felt like a heel, because some of my best friends at work had not known about my plans. Is this unprofessional or what? I mean, the only reason I told this guy, was that I wanted him to plan ahead. Not to announce it to the goddamn public.

The rest of the evening was spent explaining where I am going, and why. Now the whole world knows. Thanks dude. Just what I wanted.

A techie to a tuckie

2005-01-25T14:52:00.000+05:30

Dear Vold,



Your seat for the Class of 2007 has been reserved.

Yep, it's official now. My deposit has gone in.

Tuck has an option where you can pay the deposit by credit card. Very convenient. But I do not have a 3000 USD limit on my credit card. So I called my bank to request a temporary increase in the credit limit.

"Just a minute sir, let me check your current account balance".

My hopes immediately fell. If this was going to be based on the amount of money I have in my account, I did not think much of my chances. Unsurprisingly, the customer support guy seemed to be suppressing a laugh when he came back to the phone.

"I regret we cannot offer you an increase without a proof of income sir. If you could send in your income documents, we will process your request and get back within a week."

A week? I dont have that kinda time.

"Sorry sir, thats the best I can do for you at the moment".

What if I fax you the documents immediately? Can you process it within two days?

"That would be difficult. Moreover, we cannot guarantee that your request will be approved"

Sh*t!

Luckily the good folks at Hanover were more than understanding. They gave me a zillion options (check, demand draft, wire transfer). I chose what I thought would be the fastest, wire transfer. After a few more minor hiccups (where the wired money could not be located for a while), I finally got a confirmation today. Wheeeeeee!

Blogger heroes

2005-01-20T22:34:00.000+05:30

What a day! The people who have been a source of inspiration at various stages of the application process all made it to fabulous colleges. Poweryogi, Wakechick, Megami, TDC got their good news today. Congratulations to you all!!

We should christen Jan 20 as the Day of the Blogger. :)

If Chicago does not have a bloggging culture yet, you can bet they are going to have one now!

Where are my comments?

2005-01-19T13:41:00.000+05:30

I seem to have lost all reader comments on my blog! Damn you haloscan!

My big fat Sloan ding

2005-01-19T13:01:00.000+05:30

The omens foretold it. Sloan was nevertheless kind enough to send a mail to confirm them omens. :)

So what went wrong? I dont know. This was my last app, and my best one. It sure was the most balanced, covering all aspects of my candidacy. Obviously Sloan thought otherwise.

Maybe the forces dont trust me with a choice :).

Goodbye and farewell.

2005-01-18T19:15:00.000+05:30

It's happening a bit too often now. At work, I mean. Through out this prolonged downturn, my company refused to pay based on performance. Everybody got the standard raise, and it was much like working for a government company. This, when the CEO of the company went around saying "If you pay people for turning up for work, you will get what you pay for".

The job market in the meantime had gone ballistic. Obviously you cannot retain top talent if their friends are making at least twice as much. Over the last 12 months, I have seen some of the best people I have worked with say goodbye. The pace has just increased since then. This month, we have lost two people already. And there is a no hiring policy in place as well. I hope I am not alone here by the time I put in my papers. It will not be funny if they tell me "You are the only one on your floor, turn on the lights when u get to work and turn them off when you leave.

It's that time of the month again

2005-01-18T15:19:00.000+05:30

So Stanford has started sending out decisions, and Sloan starts today. I have not applied to Stanford, but am sure a ding from Sloan is on it's way.
Good luck everyone. I hope you all make it to your dream school.

Oh Bangalore!

2005-01-13T14:34:00.000+05:30

Bangalore, my home. I was born here. While a great deal of my childhood was spent flittting across the country, Bangalore was always where home was. Where I always spent the summers. This was where grandma lived. The tree lined streets, kiddy train at Cubbon Park, the fog in summer, Chaplin and Laurel-Hardy movies at Opera theater, these are my childhood memories of Bangalore.

I have seen this city change before my eyes. The summer fog has been replaced by smog. Opera theater became a haven for drug peddlers. Cubbon park is a hang out for anti-socials. And the trees are becoming the last to fall.

In the name of development, the city administration is building flyovers at every major intersection. And my favorite roads are losing their crowns. Sirsi Circle. Then Residency Road, I cant even recognize that road without the trees. Then M. G. Road.

Today we lost Race Course Road.

Give me back my city.

Waves of terror

2004-12-29T16:29:00.000+05:30

The last 2 days have brought horrifying images of death and destruction to our living rooms. The devastation caused by the tsunami in Asia will leave its scars. Britchick has an excellent compilation of ways in which you can get involved with the relief efforts. Please do consider supporting the efforts.

At work, most of the last 2 days have been spent organizing relief. I am thankful that I work in an organization which is aware of its commitment to society.

The last time a major earthquake affected people in India, tons of relief material was wasted because of lack of delivery systems. I hope the lessons learnt have not been forgotten.

Media coverage of the disaster has been irresponsible to say the least. Scrolling death tolls like poll results and coming up with cute headlines like "Shock and awe from the sea" to boost circulation and TRP ratings is sickening. When a disaster of such magnitude strikes, the least the media can do is respect the sanctity of those whose lives were lost. Is this is a sign of the times we live in?

Whartonitis

2004-12-24T13:19:00.000+05:30

is the name for the after-affects of a negative decision from Wharton. Symptoms include mild fever, a throbbing head and a sore throat. Yours truly is the second to be down with the curse after poweryogi.

The Day After

2004-12-22T16:37:00.000+05:30

Doesnt hurt so much now. :)
Goodbye Wharton, and thank you for S2S, where I have made many friends.

Colormix and Dbee, congratulations and hats off to you. Having met you guys, I know that Wharton is lucky to have you. I have no doubt you will be in a position to choose over the next few days.

Onmyway, keep the faith. You may not be on your way to W, but you sure are on your way to an MBA. On that, there is no doubt.

Wharton

2004-12-21T19:33:00.000+05:30

Ding!

Performance Reviews

2004-12-21T11:02:00.000+05:30

I am a lot better at filling in job performance reviews after all those apps. My last review took 2 days to finish. I finished the current one today (it was the last day) in under 10 mins :).

Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door

2004-12-20T19:19:00.000+05:30

Wharton R1 results tomorrow.

Good luck, all R1 applicants. May the force be with you.

Milestones on the road

2004-12-18T06:11:00.000+05:30

Its been over a year since my journey to get into a MBA program began. While I have always wanted to blog, I found enough excuses not to until now (too much work, essays to write, blah blah). But finally, I have decided to start one. If I will have the energy and inclination to keep it updated, one can only wait and see.

I was quite apprehensive when I started the whole process. My goal was to get one admit, any one would do. Having achieved that, I do not know how I am feeling right now. More relieved than anything else, I think. The best part of the journey, however, has been sharing in the joy of the admits of my fellow passengers. Attagirl, Colormix, great going! I am really happy for you guys.