This was my first visit to US. So obviously very excited about it. Since its a business trip, there wasn't much worry in my mind about getting the visa. The pebble of worry though was whether i'll get a 10 year multiple entry visa or will be shoved away with a 3 month one. The thing about visas is that if you really have no intention of staying there, then i guess they're happy to let you come and go.

For a business visa, the main forms to fill are DS-156 and DS-157. There are very detailed instructions on how to fill it, what to fill, what to do if you have difficulty and so on. Something i noticed when i was at US too (hint: i did get the visa :)). Oh the vfs site doesn't work on mozilla, something that i got to know after i called up their help site.

The scene at the visa consulate is one of confusion. There are lots of people (always) waiting in line for a lot of reasons. There's a sense of oneupmanship i think where everyone's trying to show the other that he can get a visa. I don't know how that translates to a sense of pride (its just a visa guys). Well anyway, everything is so well organized, all you have to do is follow directions.

So the main thing about the visa is the interview. Just be straight and you don't really need to have all the documents at the tip of your finger so you can show it immediately. Just keep it there and show it if it is asked for. They're polite, so be polite and chill.

P4C rediff test

Ok this is a new post to test P4C tags.

I read this book recently and its truly a wonderful book to read. It brought to light the contrast of Western and our own Indian societies in such a beautiful manner, I was amazed. In India you are born into expectations. People know who you are and so therefore you are suddenly supposed to do something. Why... because thats what brings honour, dignity and other such things. So whats different in USA.... well for one thing you are what you are. Plain and simple. A tree is a tree and a rock is a rock. But in India every tree and every rock has some significance and a history. The fact, according to the author is that Indians live by their past with a simple belief that the future will never be like the past and so everything that gets written in history is to be such that it will be remembered with honour. But USA, its a different ball game.

Everyone is so obsessed with living 'The American dream' that they're always hurling themselves at the next tornado to reach it. Everyone start out equally and as they move in life, the rat race they are pushed into, they try ever risky ventures to reach that dream too early too fast. And people fall and break their hearts, but they pick it up, dust it off and try again. Its the accepted way of life. So accepted that its quite shocking how lightly americans treat the most serious of topics.

So what becomes of this dreaming outrageous american, do they ever get to that dream. I dont know. Maybe few do and they are treated like icons of society, praised and heralded anywhere they go. What about the rest of the population, do they find their dreams too or do they just shut away the past never to be opened and lie as those who tried. Is that a better dream to follow, to try to be admired in the eyes of millions if only, for a few years, or like Indians tread a safe path that leaves you unknown to everyone, except those you care about.

Do read that book. Its written by Anurag Mathur and buy a copy.

Karthik.

Hi all,
Its been a while since i blogged. Mainly because i didnt care enough to let anyone know what the world was upto or me for that matter. Anyway I am in Mumbai now. its a great place with lots of eating joints and places to visit. Ok mainly the attraction is in the place itself. What have i been upto... well nothing much... Meeni aunty's place, gang meets (on the weekends), with venka mainly, Rediff.com, and thats that.

Started work at Rediff.com. I used to look up at this site and wonder how cool it would be if i could work here and guess what, I am now. :) But things have changed since then, the site has lost a lot of its charm. But then again there's a whole load of opportunity and stuff waiting to be captured. So lets take that and kick some life into it.

Its been a month in Mumbai and yeah Ive taken a long time to settle (as usual). But now i think its time to start the music. I stared gymming yesterday. Lets see if i can keep up a good workout.

Cheers,
Karthik.

We went to BarJuman today. Its a really cool mall and was host to ChocoLatte. Its an exhibition celebrating chocolate and coffee. Wow. Now isnt that a treat. Firstly the mall itself is a treat to the eyes. The exhibition has all sorts of designs in chocolate, it has chess boards, cups, potraits and all that. Although they used only brown and white colours. I was hoping more colours would be used since chocolate's been around for so many years. Here's how the mall looks like. Some really neat artistic pieces (although they just sit there doing nothing). Still, its something to show visitors.




Here's the actual chocolate exhibition. Well there are more, but you gotta go there to see it.



Anyway we finished off with some great pastries from BreadTalk.



Just check out the quality of the snaps. I used the macro function for this one. Pretty neat isnt it.

Today we visited IKEA. They're a Sweedish home decorators and they moved to their own facility recently. Here's the front of the store. It's huge.



I was telling Kanwal to go check out some of their stuff, since he'll be starting a home in Bangalore. Simply wonderful stuff. They have created house plans for 24, 36 sqaure meters. Totally awesome. Picked up some good ideas from there and some stuff. Hope they come to India soon.


This is how it looks like on the inside. They're creating another mall out there it seems, but this time they decide how it looks. Nice strategy considering they know how to decorate places.


Here's another shot of the place. They have this huge supermarket there, though I think it doesnt get many customers. Anyway, it was a great place.