After exciting first two days in New York, we started our day with full enthusiasm. We once again had to settle with an American breakfast though this time we went to another eating joint, which was adjacent to our hotel, called ‘Deli’ and has multiple outlets in the city.
We started our journey once again with the subway and got down at Central Park. We crossed the Central park on foot and its beauty in daylight was even better. The lush green grass really looked scenic. We reached the Metropolitan Museum of Art or MET and here again the security was quite tight. Now comes the interesting part of paying the money to enter. There is no ticket as such here but 'recommended' donations of various amounts. It was 20$ for adults but 10$ for students. I fell into the student category, thanks to my International Student I-Card. We diligently paid 50$ and moved in. Later, we realised that we are NOT obliged that amount. We could have paid just 5$ each and moved in. Nevertheless, a lesson learnt :)
This museum is just amazing with art ranging from wood to sculpture to painting to musical instruments to Egyptian etc etc etc....We did not realise when did we spend time there. The most famous thing about this museum is that it houses the very first painting of Michelangelo. As expected, photography is allowed everywhere but this painting.
It was lunch time and it was more than 2 days since we tasted Indian food. Luckily, we found a good one near Times Square which served buffet and Indian tea. Our taste buds enjoyed the food to the max and feeling of freshness just entered our tired bodies.
Next destination was the Empire State Building. We bought consolidated ticket of a skyride and for visiting the observation deck of the building which is essentially the top of the building. The skyride made us sit on a floating platform which gave us a feeling that we are flying over New York skyline. Good fun! The line for the Empire State Building is quite long and one needs to take into account this waiting time. But once we reached the top of the building, the feeling is just too awesome! NY looks just so more beautiful from there with skyline kissing the sky, water on two sides, so many bridges and horizon in the backdrop :)
We started clicking pics and did not realise that we had already spent around 3 hours being up there :P and it was time to move out. We walked back to our hotel and decided to call it a day but my other two friends went out to watch a show in Broadway, meanwhile I caught up with some old friends over the phone who are in the US.
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Friday, October 23, 2009
New York continues....
The day started with an American Breakfast in the cafe just adjacent to our hotel called cafe Edison. The options in vegetarian are really limited and since I am an egg-itarian, the options increased a little. One more interesting thing we noted in US. Since all 3 of us always ate together, and whenever we asked for the bill, we were asked whether we want separate or a consolidated billing?! Initially, we felt a little awkward but then we understood the culture and started asking for a consolidated bill right away.
Today, we decided to hit the Grand Central Terminal first thing in the morning. Its the central station in the city of NY from where one can get long distance trains to most of the places. It also showcases the amazing architecture which is evident in NY throughout. There are multiple terminals inside it, just like an airport, which are made according to the direction in which one wants to travel.
We moved out and headed for Chrysler Building. The interesting fact is that Chrysler and Empire State started their construction almost simultaneously and both were trying to edge out the other one as the tallest building at that time. According to initial plans, Chrysler was poised to become the tallest standing structure, but a last minute addition by Empire State builders robbed Chrysler of this stature.
United Nations headquarters was our next destination and there is a tour which can take inside it. The tours keep happening every 20 to 30 minutes and there are tours in other languages apart from English. Our tour guide was from Peru and he took us to inform about the history of UN, how they work, processes followed etc etc. We also saw the General Assembly hall where all the countries sit during a conference. Here, we were informed that all countries sitting position is rotated after every round of talk, thereby giving giving country to sit right in the front :) We were also informed about the various programs for the needy undertaken by UN through UNESCO and UNICEF, their development goals and similar activities.
Once this was over, one of our friend took off to meet someone and we 2 decided to hit the 5th Avenue. We visited the Apple Store near the Central Park, which is quite attractively made. Its an underground store with a glass enclosed entry and transparent elevator which takes one to the basement. Of course, staircase option is also there but life gives a panoramic view of the store ;) Since, I am an avid fan of the TV series The Apprentice, it made a lot of sense to check out the Trump Tower. Its open to public for few hours of the day and houses some of the elite restaurants of the city.
Next destination was Central Park, where all TV serials and movies are shot for any scene depicting any park of the country! Its covered over a huge area covered over 50 streets in length. One can spend hours exploring the park which has vast greenlands, special cycling lanes, playing area and what not!
Once it was dinner time, we decided to check out the famous restaurant called 'Hooters'. It was quite good but not much up to the hype. Since we ate a little too much, we thought of walking down to our hotel. Late into the night, my friend wanted to have some drinks and we went to two bars, found a place in one and spent some quality time there. On the way back, we saw that Times Square was completely basking in its glory with thousands of people enjoying this amazing place of the city. The best thing about Times Square is that one can sit and talk and enjoy the view and will not the time of the night. It is always so crowded, be it 11 in the night or 3 in the morning! We finally the left the place at 2 after spending like 3 hours !!!
Today, we decided to hit the Grand Central Terminal first thing in the morning. Its the central station in the city of NY from where one can get long distance trains to most of the places. It also showcases the amazing architecture which is evident in NY throughout. There are multiple terminals inside it, just like an airport, which are made according to the direction in which one wants to travel.
We moved out and headed for Chrysler Building. The interesting fact is that Chrysler and Empire State started their construction almost simultaneously and both were trying to edge out the other one as the tallest building at that time. According to initial plans, Chrysler was poised to become the tallest standing structure, but a last minute addition by Empire State builders robbed Chrysler of this stature.
United Nations headquarters was our next destination and there is a tour which can take inside it. The tours keep happening every 20 to 30 minutes and there are tours in other languages apart from English. Our tour guide was from Peru and he took us to inform about the history of UN, how they work, processes followed etc etc. We also saw the General Assembly hall where all the countries sit during a conference. Here, we were informed that all countries sitting position is rotated after every round of talk, thereby giving giving country to sit right in the front :) We were also informed about the various programs for the needy undertaken by UN through UNESCO and UNICEF, their development goals and similar activities.
Once this was over, one of our friend took off to meet someone and we 2 decided to hit the 5th Avenue. We visited the Apple Store near the Central Park, which is quite attractively made. Its an underground store with a glass enclosed entry and transparent elevator which takes one to the basement. Of course, staircase option is also there but life gives a panoramic view of the store ;) Since, I am an avid fan of the TV series The Apprentice, it made a lot of sense to check out the Trump Tower. Its open to public for few hours of the day and houses some of the elite restaurants of the city.
Next destination was Central Park, where all TV serials and movies are shot for any scene depicting any park of the country! Its covered over a huge area covered over 50 streets in length. One can spend hours exploring the park which has vast greenlands, special cycling lanes, playing area and what not!
Once it was dinner time, we decided to check out the famous restaurant called 'Hooters'. It was quite good but not much up to the hype. Since we ate a little too much, we thought of walking down to our hotel. Late into the night, my friend wanted to have some drinks and we went to two bars, found a place in one and spent some quality time there. On the way back, we saw that Times Square was completely basking in its glory with thousands of people enjoying this amazing place of the city. The best thing about Times Square is that one can sit and talk and enjoy the view and will not the time of the night. It is always so crowded, be it 11 in the night or 3 in the morning! We finally the left the place at 2 after spending like 3 hours !!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
There are cities and there is New York!
Continuing from where I left in the last post, our flight touched JFK airport albeit an hour late from the scheduled time. The feeling was ecstatic :) After traversing through countless escalators and travelators, I finally reached the immigration counter. As is the case with all the immigration counters, here also the divide was between the American citizens and citizens from other countries. And the number of people in my category was huge. A friend of mine who reached JFK few months back had to wait for one and a half hours to get passed the immigration. And looking at the number of people there, I was sure of spending that much time myself too.
After waiting for some 30 minutes or so, some of us got lucky and starting from the person just ahead of me, we were redirected to the US citizen counters which were running comparatively empty. My number came in next 10 minutes and the immigration officer. He was a friendly guy and asked some general questions. In the middle of the conversation, he asked me, "So, you doing your masters right?". I replied in the affirmative.
Officer: " Is that the IIT?"
Me (Not very suprised): "No, they are engineering institutes for the graduate degrees. I am doing my management from the Indian Institute of Management."
Officer: "Oh! You from an IIM!"
Me (all smiles): "ya"
Officer: " Which one?"
Me: "Calcutta"
Officer: "Good!"
This made me even more happy :D After this, he gave me some random gyaan on body building tips so that I am able to impress Kareena Kapoor and Preity Zinta. To which, I told him that I am not interested in them ;) The conversation ended there and I moved towards baggage area. My suitcase came in quickly and I made my way out of the airport expecting my friend to be there.
But as the case most of the times, he was not there. I searched for him in all the possible places but no use. Finally, I decided to call him but pay phone there accept only quarters for which I needed change. Before making the call, I decided to look for him once more and this time, I was lucky :) He justified his arrival time by considering his immigration wait of one and a half hours :P
Well, we made our way out for the city and took a train from the airport to the nearest MRT station. From there, I took the underground train for Times Square, where my hotel was. It was a long long journey to Manhattan from the Airport and took it me around an hour or so to reach there!
Finally, I alighted at the station and came out in Manhattan.
The feeling was OVERWHELMING!!! The city just hits you! It seems that one is inside a video game where one is surrounded by people and tall buildings and taxis and what not! Its just so so so difficult to explain the feeling in words.
On the way to the hotel, I saw Times Square, NASDAQ and world headquarters of Morgan Stanley. After a bit of rest and freshening up, all of us planned to go to Statue of Liberty.
We took the Subway as that is best way to commute in New York. But the subway network there is not so easy to understand. There are multiple lines and they change over the weekend. Sometimes, there is repair work and regular maintenance going on which adds to confusion ;) But at the same time, very detail maps are available to understand the network. Also, the fare is uniform of $ 2.25 irrespective of boarding and destination station.
We reach the downtown area and walked to Wall Street and saw the stock exchange - NYSE, memorial hall and other bank buildings. Also got a chance to see the famous Merrill Lynch Bull :) From there, we moved to Battery Park which is the place to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Since, we were a little late in the evening, it was not possible to cover Ellis Island too. If one wants to cover both, one should reach there by 2 in the afternoon. Nevertheless, we took our tickets and headed for security check, which was equivalent to airport level checking :P
Finally, we were on the ferry and the view is alluring when one is on the ferry. Downtown skyline, Jersey skyline and Statue of Liberty - all 3 together give a view which is out of this world. The journey was spent in clicking pictures and same activity once we reached the statue too! Moreover, the return journey was made more enjoyable with the setting sun and the cool breeze.
Once back on land, we decided to visit Macy's, the famous 7-floor shopping store, though did not buy anything. Since, it was dinner time now, we tried out Sbarro's pizza which were quite good and the dining area was underground. The interesting part was that this dining area directly opened into a Subway station :D
We reached back our hotel, after spending some time at Times Square. Any amount of time can be spent at Times Square, especially in the night!
Not a bad start to the tour, I thought :)
P.S. - I know I am very late in posting all this but I will cover my complete journey for sure in the coming days.
After waiting for some 30 minutes or so, some of us got lucky and starting from the person just ahead of me, we were redirected to the US citizen counters which were running comparatively empty. My number came in next 10 minutes and the immigration officer. He was a friendly guy and asked some general questions. In the middle of the conversation, he asked me, "So, you doing your masters right?". I replied in the affirmative.
Officer: " Is that the IIT?"
Me (Not very suprised): "No, they are engineering institutes for the graduate degrees. I am doing my management from the Indian Institute of Management."
Officer: "Oh! You from an IIM!"
Me (all smiles): "ya"
Officer: " Which one?"
Me: "Calcutta"
Officer: "Good!"
This made me even more happy :D After this, he gave me some random gyaan on body building tips so that I am able to impress Kareena Kapoor and Preity Zinta. To which, I told him that I am not interested in them ;) The conversation ended there and I moved towards baggage area. My suitcase came in quickly and I made my way out of the airport expecting my friend to be there.
But as the case most of the times, he was not there. I searched for him in all the possible places but no use. Finally, I decided to call him but pay phone there accept only quarters for which I needed change. Before making the call, I decided to look for him once more and this time, I was lucky :) He justified his arrival time by considering his immigration wait of one and a half hours :P
Well, we made our way out for the city and took a train from the airport to the nearest MRT station. From there, I took the underground train for Times Square, where my hotel was. It was a long long journey to Manhattan from the Airport and took it me around an hour or so to reach there!
Finally, I alighted at the station and came out in Manhattan.
The feeling was OVERWHELMING!!! The city just hits you! It seems that one is inside a video game where one is surrounded by people and tall buildings and taxis and what not! Its just so so so difficult to explain the feeling in words.
On the way to the hotel, I saw Times Square, NASDAQ and world headquarters of Morgan Stanley. After a bit of rest and freshening up, all of us planned to go to Statue of Liberty.
We took the Subway as that is best way to commute in New York. But the subway network there is not so easy to understand. There are multiple lines and they change over the weekend. Sometimes, there is repair work and regular maintenance going on which adds to confusion ;) But at the same time, very detail maps are available to understand the network. Also, the fare is uniform of $ 2.25 irrespective of boarding and destination station.
We reach the downtown area and walked to Wall Street and saw the stock exchange - NYSE, memorial hall and other bank buildings. Also got a chance to see the famous Merrill Lynch Bull :) From there, we moved to Battery Park which is the place to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Since, we were a little late in the evening, it was not possible to cover Ellis Island too. If one wants to cover both, one should reach there by 2 in the afternoon. Nevertheless, we took our tickets and headed for security check, which was equivalent to airport level checking :P
Finally, we were on the ferry and the view is alluring when one is on the ferry. Downtown skyline, Jersey skyline and Statue of Liberty - all 3 together give a view which is out of this world. The journey was spent in clicking pictures and same activity once we reached the statue too! Moreover, the return journey was made more enjoyable with the setting sun and the cool breeze.
Once back on land, we decided to visit Macy's, the famous 7-floor shopping store, though did not buy anything. Since, it was dinner time now, we tried out Sbarro's pizza which were quite good and the dining area was underground. The interesting part was that this dining area directly opened into a Subway station :D
We reached back our hotel, after spending some time at Times Square. Any amount of time can be spent at Times Square, especially in the night!
Not a bad start to the tour, I thought :)
P.S. - I know I am very late in posting all this but I will cover my complete journey for sure in the coming days.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A journey of thousands of miles began with a well....a small chat!
As I had mentioned it here that 3 of us planned to go to the US for a trip. Now, a little background of how this trip happened! My one friend and I were just discussing over gtalk that it has been a long time since all of us went out together somewhere, the last trip being to Kerala in December 2007, where we celebrated the new year too!
We continued talking and discovered that both of us are free in the last week of August and our third friend is also planning to take a leave that time around. Both of us thought of some options like Andaman or North East and similar stuff.
He suddenly said that we should go to the US! I was like, come on...thats never gonna happen. He said if he give ourselves 2 weeks instead of a week, we can surely cover US. With one of another very close friend in San Francisco, it was workable and he can also join in. I could see the feasibility of the plan and ended the conversation by gaining some time.
After contemplating options, financial considerations etc, we planned to go ahead the US plan. We planned to cover 5 cities - New York, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The list was finalised after many talks over the gtalk and phone calls and google search and what not! Same was the case with flight bookings, hotel bookings, car booking (we planned to drive from LA to SFO) amongst other things. Also, both of my other friends were flying from Delhi and I was to fly out a day later from Kolkata as I had my end term exams for the 4th term.
Finally, Aug 22 dawned and I had my one of the toughest paper! In the evening, I was slated to leave for New York via Dubai as I took Emirates. As per convention, I reached the airport 3 hours prior to departure but this was really not needed. The check-in was through and through till destination and was smooth. There were very few people everywhere and so was the immigration.
The immigration officer asked very routine questions about why I am going, whats my current status etc. After all this routine stuff, I reached the waiting lounge. Since I had 2 hours to my disposal, I decided to call my family and folks and friends.
When I was done with my talking, I looked around the airport (and thought about the preceding areas) and felt sad at the pathetic condition of our airports. I still wonder why other countries have such amazing airports and why cant be the same with out own airports??!!
Well, finally the boarding was announced and it was a small aircraft for the Kolkata-Dubai leg with 2-4-2 configuration. The economy of Emirates is good! And I was pleasantly surprised by the leg room offered by them.
The flight took off and thanks to my Asian Vegetarian meal option (it was a special meal), I got my dinner pretty fast. In the meanwhile, I enjoyed the entertainment system by watching a movie and listening to some songs. Moreover, it was just 5 hour journey and I had planned not to sleep on this leg of the journey so as to tire myself for the next one, sleep there and reach US absolutely fresh! Moreover, the food is pretty good by any standard and the quantity was adequate.
We reached Dubai before time and it is just amazing to see the area over which the Dubai airport has been built. There are atleast 4 runways there and I saw another aircraft just landing besides us and another one taking off at the far end when we ended taxiing. A bus carried us to our terminal which seemed to be like in another world. We kept moving and moving passing infinite aircrafts parked at the airport. It was a good 15 minute drive before I entered the Emirates terminal building. The building is a massive structure and equally neat and clean. The unique point about it is that it has only Rolex clocks and that too one after every 200 m.
Now, this was the arrival departure and nowhere I could see the sign for transit or departure passengers. I almost reached the immigration and here I finally saw an Emirates help desk. He guided me to take the lift and go to the next floor and then directions could help me to reach my gate for the flight to NY.
When I went inside the lift, man...it was huge. The lift was designed to carry 120 passengers at one time and here I was alone in it. Its amazing to see the engineering marvels in Dubai. Upon reaching the floor, I could see the departure gate signs but since its a massive airport I reached my gate after a 20 minute walk. Before hand, I knew that Dubai Airport offers free Wi-fi and I thought of updating my folks about it. Since it was just a 2 hour transit, there was nothing else which could be done. Ya, I did check out some duty-free shops :)
My boarding was announced on time but the flight was delayed by 45 minutes due to an incoming connecting flight getting delayed. The moment I hit my seat here, I slept off; only to be woken by the hostess to offer me my another meal. I ate a little bit and slept off in deep sleep.
Bad weather caused some bad jerks and I woke up at that time. The view inside the aircraft was night like. The aircraft was pitch dark and they even simulated night by lighting up stars in the roof! Since, I was too tired, I slept again but the hostess woke me up again, this time for the breakfast. Now, in the breakfast I got the least expected item - 'Poha', a rice dish which I just love to eat.
In an hour or so, I heard the announcement by the pilot, "We are going to land at the JFK, New York in some time now." Yippee...I was finally here! :)
We continued talking and discovered that both of us are free in the last week of August and our third friend is also planning to take a leave that time around. Both of us thought of some options like Andaman or North East and similar stuff.
He suddenly said that we should go to the US! I was like, come on...thats never gonna happen. He said if he give ourselves 2 weeks instead of a week, we can surely cover US. With one of another very close friend in San Francisco, it was workable and he can also join in. I could see the feasibility of the plan and ended the conversation by gaining some time.
After contemplating options, financial considerations etc, we planned to go ahead the US plan. We planned to cover 5 cities - New York, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The list was finalised after many talks over the gtalk and phone calls and google search and what not! Same was the case with flight bookings, hotel bookings, car booking (we planned to drive from LA to SFO) amongst other things. Also, both of my other friends were flying from Delhi and I was to fly out a day later from Kolkata as I had my end term exams for the 4th term.
Finally, Aug 22 dawned and I had my one of the toughest paper! In the evening, I was slated to leave for New York via Dubai as I took Emirates. As per convention, I reached the airport 3 hours prior to departure but this was really not needed. The check-in was through and through till destination and was smooth. There were very few people everywhere and so was the immigration.
The immigration officer asked very routine questions about why I am going, whats my current status etc. After all this routine stuff, I reached the waiting lounge. Since I had 2 hours to my disposal, I decided to call my family and folks and friends.
When I was done with my talking, I looked around the airport (and thought about the preceding areas) and felt sad at the pathetic condition of our airports. I still wonder why other countries have such amazing airports and why cant be the same with out own airports??!!
Well, finally the boarding was announced and it was a small aircraft for the Kolkata-Dubai leg with 2-4-2 configuration. The economy of Emirates is good! And I was pleasantly surprised by the leg room offered by them.
The flight took off and thanks to my Asian Vegetarian meal option (it was a special meal), I got my dinner pretty fast. In the meanwhile, I enjoyed the entertainment system by watching a movie and listening to some songs. Moreover, it was just 5 hour journey and I had planned not to sleep on this leg of the journey so as to tire myself for the next one, sleep there and reach US absolutely fresh! Moreover, the food is pretty good by any standard and the quantity was adequate.
We reached Dubai before time and it is just amazing to see the area over which the Dubai airport has been built. There are atleast 4 runways there and I saw another aircraft just landing besides us and another one taking off at the far end when we ended taxiing. A bus carried us to our terminal which seemed to be like in another world. We kept moving and moving passing infinite aircrafts parked at the airport. It was a good 15 minute drive before I entered the Emirates terminal building. The building is a massive structure and equally neat and clean. The unique point about it is that it has only Rolex clocks and that too one after every 200 m.
Now, this was the arrival departure and nowhere I could see the sign for transit or departure passengers. I almost reached the immigration and here I finally saw an Emirates help desk. He guided me to take the lift and go to the next floor and then directions could help me to reach my gate for the flight to NY.
When I went inside the lift, man...it was huge. The lift was designed to carry 120 passengers at one time and here I was alone in it. Its amazing to see the engineering marvels in Dubai. Upon reaching the floor, I could see the departure gate signs but since its a massive airport I reached my gate after a 20 minute walk. Before hand, I knew that Dubai Airport offers free Wi-fi and I thought of updating my folks about it. Since it was just a 2 hour transit, there was nothing else which could be done. Ya, I did check out some duty-free shops :)
My boarding was announced on time but the flight was delayed by 45 minutes due to an incoming connecting flight getting delayed. The moment I hit my seat here, I slept off; only to be woken by the hostess to offer me my another meal. I ate a little bit and slept off in deep sleep.
Bad weather caused some bad jerks and I woke up at that time. The view inside the aircraft was night like. The aircraft was pitch dark and they even simulated night by lighting up stars in the roof! Since, I was too tired, I slept again but the hostess woke me up again, this time for the breakfast. Now, in the breakfast I got the least expected item - 'Poha', a rice dish which I just love to eat.
In an hour or so, I heard the announcement by the pilot, "We are going to land at the JFK, New York in some time now." Yippee...I was finally here! :)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
And finally got it...
After interviewing for the US visa, the wait for passport delivery begins. Now, the embassy gives us 2 options to collect the passport. One is to collect from VFS office (the agency handling the operations for them in the city) near Park Street or get it couriered to one's place by Blue Dart. Since, IIM C campus does not fall into the delivery zone of Blue Dart, the second option was ruled out and instead I could collect it from Blue Dart office at the Airport!
Moreover, collection is possible from VFS only the next day of the interview and that too from 1400 hrs to 1600 hrs; else they will send it to Blue Dart office. I called up VFS office in the morning and inquired about my passport. They checked their records, had no information about my passport and advised to call at 2 pm. I was scheduled to meet a company official for a project near the airport and so I left for the same.
Once my interview was over, which went quite fine, it was 3 pm and it suddenly struck me to call VFS office. I tried their number multiple times but the sad Airtel connection did not allow me to connect. And even if it did connect, the call dropped multiple times. I decided to use the SMS service, but as the luck had it, the message was not getting delivered! After more trials, I finally got to speak to VFS operator and indeed my passport was lying in their office and I had just about 50 minutes to reach their office from the Airport.
I hired a cab and he very confidently told me that even with traffic, we can make it in max 40 minutes to the destination. Little did I know that Calcutta Metro would have been a convenient, cheaper and faster option. Trusting him, I jumped into the cab and thus began the journey. Luckily, he took me through the by-pass route which promised no traffic which was indeed true. But, nothing comes for free and I could see the taxi meter moving like Akhtar's deliveries!
While in the cab, I received an SMS that my message for passport enquiry has been delivered and Airtel 'thanked' me for using this tracking service. I was amazed to read this but when I read the next line, I was shell shocked! I was charged Rs. 10 for this service !!! The point is that it was never mentioned that I will be charged that amount for the service. I thought it will be a normal Rs.3 SMS charge for a service when a message is sent to a 5 digit number. Moreover, somehow any visa activity seem to give license to everyone in the world to charge any amount of insane money. I experienced this when went to my photo clicked for the visa form. The US visa have strict photo specifications and everyone has to get them clicked, come what may! When I went to the photographer and asked rate for photos, he told me its 50 odd for normal passport pics. I asked photos for visa and rates skyrocketed to Rs. 300 for 4 pics. I was dumbfounded. That's daylight robbing going on! I negogiated and finally managed to bring it down to 275, but still it was too much to pay.
Nevertheless, no point in thinking about this now. The taxi had beaten a majority part of the traffic but finally I could not escape the traffic moving at snail's place. It was 1540 and cabbie assured me of me making it there in max 10 more minutes. But the traffic refused to move and if it did, it was not more than 50 meters in one shot. I still kept my cool as I had a buffer of 10 minutes. The traffic moved, albeit slowly and steadily but in some time I realised that I am going to be late for sure. The cabbie was also helpless as there was just no space to move. I decided to call the helpline and inform them that I will be late by 5-10 minutes and if possible, please consider my case. But as the Murphy's Law exists, it was bound to happen. I just could get through the helpline at all :(
Amongst this crazy setting, we moved out of the traffic area and then the cabbie rammed the accelerator and we were moving at a frenetic pace. But alas, I was late and reached the building at 1607. I was late but I still wanted to take a shot. I paid the cabbie and ran into the building. I asked the guard the floor of the office and it was on the 14th floor of this 14 floor building. Why the top floor only?! Well, I went inside and saw that first lift was meant for first 7 floors, moved on to the next one to discover that it was for 7th to 14th floor but was out of order. Grrrr!!! Saw the third lift, it was for all 14 floors and was working too. 2 more people were waiting with me for this lift. The lift arrived and all 3 announced "14" as the destination floor to the lift-man. He closed the door but another guy stepped in by putting his foot between the closing doors, which reminded me of Amitabh Bachchan doing it in Deewar :D He had to go to the 12th floor, which meant some extra seconds for me!
Thankfully, lift was a high speed lift and I reached the VFS office at 1610. Now the guard did not allow me inside as officially the time was over. He was doing his duty and he was right in doing so. I pleaded him saying that I am a student of IIM Calcutta, and will need to go to airport to collect it from Blue Dart as Joka is not in the delivery zone. He was not budging at all and I told him to allow me to speak to someone, to which also he did not agree. I gave him my IIM Caclutta I-card and requested him to speak on my behalf to the officer. He agreed to this proposal and went inside. He came out after 2 minutes and allowed me in. I showed the required identification and collected the passport. I must have thanked that officer some 100 times for considering my case.
I opened to check my passport and was delighted to see a 10 year, multiple entry visa stamped! I came out and thanked the guard again and again :) :)
As it is said - All's well that ends well!
Moreover, collection is possible from VFS only the next day of the interview and that too from 1400 hrs to 1600 hrs; else they will send it to Blue Dart office. I called up VFS office in the morning and inquired about my passport. They checked their records, had no information about my passport and advised to call at 2 pm. I was scheduled to meet a company official for a project near the airport and so I left for the same.
Once my interview was over, which went quite fine, it was 3 pm and it suddenly struck me to call VFS office. I tried their number multiple times but the sad Airtel connection did not allow me to connect. And even if it did connect, the call dropped multiple times. I decided to use the SMS service, but as the luck had it, the message was not getting delivered! After more trials, I finally got to speak to VFS operator and indeed my passport was lying in their office and I had just about 50 minutes to reach their office from the Airport.
I hired a cab and he very confidently told me that even with traffic, we can make it in max 40 minutes to the destination. Little did I know that Calcutta Metro would have been a convenient, cheaper and faster option. Trusting him, I jumped into the cab and thus began the journey. Luckily, he took me through the by-pass route which promised no traffic which was indeed true. But, nothing comes for free and I could see the taxi meter moving like Akhtar's deliveries!
While in the cab, I received an SMS that my message for passport enquiry has been delivered and Airtel 'thanked' me for using this tracking service. I was amazed to read this but when I read the next line, I was shell shocked! I was charged Rs. 10 for this service !!! The point is that it was never mentioned that I will be charged that amount for the service. I thought it will be a normal Rs.3 SMS charge for a service when a message is sent to a 5 digit number. Moreover, somehow any visa activity seem to give license to everyone in the world to charge any amount of insane money. I experienced this when went to my photo clicked for the visa form. The US visa have strict photo specifications and everyone has to get them clicked, come what may! When I went to the photographer and asked rate for photos, he told me its 50 odd for normal passport pics. I asked photos for visa and rates skyrocketed to Rs. 300 for 4 pics. I was dumbfounded. That's daylight robbing going on! I negogiated and finally managed to bring it down to 275, but still it was too much to pay.
Nevertheless, no point in thinking about this now. The taxi had beaten a majority part of the traffic but finally I could not escape the traffic moving at snail's place. It was 1540 and cabbie assured me of me making it there in max 10 more minutes. But the traffic refused to move and if it did, it was not more than 50 meters in one shot. I still kept my cool as I had a buffer of 10 minutes. The traffic moved, albeit slowly and steadily but in some time I realised that I am going to be late for sure. The cabbie was also helpless as there was just no space to move. I decided to call the helpline and inform them that I will be late by 5-10 minutes and if possible, please consider my case. But as the Murphy's Law exists, it was bound to happen. I just could get through the helpline at all :(
Amongst this crazy setting, we moved out of the traffic area and then the cabbie rammed the accelerator and we were moving at a frenetic pace. But alas, I was late and reached the building at 1607. I was late but I still wanted to take a shot. I paid the cabbie and ran into the building. I asked the guard the floor of the office and it was on the 14th floor of this 14 floor building. Why the top floor only?! Well, I went inside and saw that first lift was meant for first 7 floors, moved on to the next one to discover that it was for 7th to 14th floor but was out of order. Grrrr!!! Saw the third lift, it was for all 14 floors and was working too. 2 more people were waiting with me for this lift. The lift arrived and all 3 announced "14" as the destination floor to the lift-man. He closed the door but another guy stepped in by putting his foot between the closing doors, which reminded me of Amitabh Bachchan doing it in Deewar :D He had to go to the 12th floor, which meant some extra seconds for me!
Thankfully, lift was a high speed lift and I reached the VFS office at 1610. Now the guard did not allow me inside as officially the time was over. He was doing his duty and he was right in doing so. I pleaded him saying that I am a student of IIM Calcutta, and will need to go to airport to collect it from Blue Dart as Joka is not in the delivery zone. He was not budging at all and I told him to allow me to speak to someone, to which also he did not agree. I gave him my IIM Caclutta I-card and requested him to speak on my behalf to the officer. He agreed to this proposal and went inside. He came out after 2 minutes and allowed me in. I showed the required identification and collected the passport. I must have thanked that officer some 100 times for considering my case.
I opened to check my passport and was delighted to see a 10 year, multiple entry visa stamped! I came out and thanked the guard again and again :) :)
As it is said - All's well that ends well!
Monday, July 27, 2009
US Visa Interview experience
Two of my friends and I are planning to go to the US in August end/ Sept first week. Now, how this plan was made will be covered in another post soon. We booked our flight tickets first and then took the visa dates. I was given the 9 am slot for today July 27 in the Kolkata consulate.
Before taking the date, I had to do a lot of groundwork for the same. Applying for a tourist visa calls for a groundwork. Since, I had already booked my tickets, I felt rather peaceful about the whole thing. Then I needed to show my bank statements, Income Tax returns, got a bonafide certificate from my college, PAN card copy, Credit card copy etc.
It is advised to reach the consulate 15 minutes prior to the appointment but I reached at 8 30 only. The appointment letter and HDFC bank receipt (used to pay the visa fees) are checked. No mobile phones and bags are allowed inside the consulate, so it is better not to take them in the first place.
After a brief security check, a queue is there to see the basic forms of the visa. Once the verification is done, one is asked to wait. The name is called out for fingerprinting record. After that, starts the wait for the interview call.
I was called quite quickly for my interview. I greeted the lady across the counter and the interview started.
She: Why are you going to the US?
Me: Sightseeing, leisure
She: You know anyone in the US?
Me: No, all my relatives and family are in India
She: What are you right now?
Me: A second year student in IIM Calcutta MBA Program
She: Who is funding your trip?
Me: I am, from my savings.
She: When did you graduate?
Me: 2004
She: Where and how long you worked?
Me: HCL Technologies for 3 years.
She: How much was your salary?
Me: Told her...
She: How long you have been in IIM?
Me: Joined in last June
She: What all subjects you studied last year?
Me: (stumped, not prepared for this one) umm..marketing, marketing, stats, marketing.....(long pause) strategy, economic and political history, risk management..(took some more names)..(she looked little suspicious)....should I tell my subjects in this year?
She: Its fine.
After some data entry and paperwork, she looks up again and says "Your visa is APPROVED. Com after 4-5 days to collect it."
The whole thing took max 50 minutes. Surprisingly, no one checked any of the documents taken along but it is always better to take them.
Before taking the date, I had to do a lot of groundwork for the same. Applying for a tourist visa calls for a groundwork. Since, I had already booked my tickets, I felt rather peaceful about the whole thing. Then I needed to show my bank statements, Income Tax returns, got a bonafide certificate from my college, PAN card copy, Credit card copy etc.
It is advised to reach the consulate 15 minutes prior to the appointment but I reached at 8 30 only. The appointment letter and HDFC bank receipt (used to pay the visa fees) are checked. No mobile phones and bags are allowed inside the consulate, so it is better not to take them in the first place.
After a brief security check, a queue is there to see the basic forms of the visa. Once the verification is done, one is asked to wait. The name is called out for fingerprinting record. After that, starts the wait for the interview call.
I was called quite quickly for my interview. I greeted the lady across the counter and the interview started.
She: Why are you going to the US?
Me: Sightseeing, leisure
She: You know anyone in the US?
Me: No, all my relatives and family are in India
She: What are you right now?
Me: A second year student in IIM Calcutta MBA Program
She: Who is funding your trip?
Me: I am, from my savings.
She: When did you graduate?
Me: 2004
She: Where and how long you worked?
Me: HCL Technologies for 3 years.
She: How much was your salary?
Me:
She: How long you have been in IIM?
Me: Joined in last June
She: What all subjects you studied last year?
Me: (stumped, not prepared for this one) umm..marketing, marketing, stats, marketing.....(long pause) strategy, economic and political history, risk management..(took some more names)..(she looked little suspicious)....should I tell my subjects in this year?
She: Its fine.
After some data entry and paperwork, she looks up again and says "Your visa is APPROVED. Com after 4-5 days to collect it."
The whole thing took max 50 minutes. Surprisingly, no one checked any of the documents taken along but it is always better to take them.
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