The visa brings in hope along with worries as to what one can do if they dont get it! After paying an insane amount to the HDFC bank to pay for the visa appointment, btw this amount is not even refundable if you dont get your visa as i think it goes to the poor HDFC bank or the US govt. I think they wont refund your visa appointment money to teach you a lesson for planning to go to an overly-populated-by-immigrant US.
After the HDFC part, came some 100 step procedure to obtain a visa appointment. Right from taking the pictures for visa and saving them in a CD to getting all your documents in place. The thing is you never know what documents the visa officer is gonna ask you. Hence my struggle to get a 4 week leave started in my office. I had to plead my boss, my super boss and the AVP to grant me a 4 week off. After i got the permission to take 4 week off, i had to plead the HR team to send me a letter stating that the company has granted me off and i'll be coming back to India after 4 weeks. This is a crucial piece of document which a tourist visa applicant will require.
After getting documents which state that you have loans in India, property and a job, i headed to the Chennai US Visa Consulate. I reached a day before and had my worst experience of the chennai auto wallas. They are rude and crude and behave like parasites to extract as much money as possible from you. Suddenly i had new found respect to the Bangalore auto wallas. My visa interview was at 11:45 am and i was sure of dying in the Chennai heat. The thing is that Bangaloreans are such spoilt brats for weather, hence we cannot survive in any other weather apart from Bangalore. My future mother-in-law insisted that we reach the US visa consulate by 10 am. To my shock they refused to allow us to stand in the line unless our specified time came. Finally i stood in the line at around 11:30 am.
Standing in the line i realised that there are so many Indians who are waiting outside the US consulate to get visa. Suddenly i felt immense patriotism and didnt want to stand in this line and beg a visa officer to give me visa to go to US. But my future mother-in-law ensured that i stood in the line and we went inside. In the line, my future mother-in-law spoke to many people and expressed her joy in meeting her son. The other visa applicants expressed their hope and their dreams when they get visa. A girl, may be a 22 year old, was expressing her desire to reunite with her husband whose job was just finalised in US. it made me wonder if 2-3 years down the lane i'll be one of those girls.
finally after dealing with a rude and through security check we were allowed to go inside. Then we had to wait for our token number to flash on the screen to know which counter number we had to go to. My first initially thought was that the interview time had come. But later got to know that a woman cross checks our appointment and passports and then sends us to to scan our fingerprints. Then we are kept like lab rats in a small cell for some time. Then we are allowed to go inside the "American land in India" to give our interview.
There were about 30 counters inside the building where all the American officers were sitting inside a bullet proof glass and questioning the applicants via a mike and speakers. The applicants are expected to answer loudly and clearly in the mike, hence ensuring that everyone seated in the building can hear them crystal clear. I witnessed one of the 8th wonders of the world - Indians followed the rule of "Silence" inside the consulate! Me and my future mother-in-law sat in our places and again waited for out token numbers to flash on the screen.
During my wait, i witnessed the "American slice of law". A visa officer, who was in her early 20s, was interrogating one of the applicant in booth number 25. A child, which looked like was in LKG or UKG, was playing around. It was the only life thing which moved according to its will and spoke. This visa officer was angry at the child and its mother for creating a ruckus in the building. hence, she called the mother and warned her saying, "Your child is torturing the applicant here, you should teach your baby manners on how to behave in a consulate". I was shocked to witness this, as i really donno if anyone in this world can make a child understand the code of conduct in a consulate and the repercussions of irritating a visa officer. For all the child will care is its toys and friends.
After his incident i prayed to God rigorously that i should not be interviewed by that PMS suffering woman. Finally my token number flashed and to my happiness i was to go to booth number 17. A cheerful, fat and sweet looking Asian woman sat in the booth welcoming me and my future mother-in-law. She asked for our passports and cross checked the application. She asked me few questions such as: For how long have you been working, why do you want to go to US, when do you plan to marry, what course has your fiance completed and in which university. Then she asked my future mother-in-law as to why her husband is not traveling with her and how many children does she have. Then she said the magical words: Your visa is granted and your passports will reach you in 7 working days! I couldn't believe my own ears! After we celebrated a little and didnt care about the "Silence" law... we walked out beaming with joy and looking at all the other applicants with hope.
What really bothered me after this interview is that the visa officer didnt check even one of my documents! Even after putting insane amount of energy in getting everything in place, I wish she would have checked at least one document. But like the saying goes - Whatever happens, happens for good - i kept my mouth shut. It was time to call everyone and share my happiness with them. this lasted for about an hour and finally we went to have our lunch.
When my passport reached home, i was shocked to realise that i have got multiple entry visa for 10 years! It came as a shock to me because right from my travel agent to aunties who have been to US before had told me that my age people will usually not get visa or the lucky ones who get the visa will get it for about 6 months max. When i told all these people about my multiple entry 10 years visa they were truely shocked!
Thus started my US journey and i'll be flying on may 6th 2011. More about the journey and its preparations in the next blog.
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