My Tourist visa for USA granted

13 July 2011: My visa interview date

I wanted to run one of my marathons in the United States and hence I made an application for a tourist visa in the month of May. The procedure was quite simple I must say. All instructions were clearly laid out on the US Chennai consulate webpage. This is the procedure I followed:

1. Filled out the D160 online application form. This is the new form implemented recently. Previously it was the D156 form.
2. Then I asked my mom to pay the visa fee at the HDFC bank.
3. Next I had to schedule for an appointment at the Chennai consulate via the VFS website. 

I had completed the first two formalities in the month of May and thought that dates in July will be available right away. However I could see interview dates available only for the next three weeks. Hence I had to wait for almost a month to book my interview date. And finally I made an appointment for my visa interview for 13 July 2011.

I gathered the necessary documents required for the visa interview. Someone had told me it will be very tough to get the visa if one doesn't have a sponsor in the States. Hence I asked my close friend Praveen to send me the required documents. He was very kind to send me whatever I needed. I also bugged my brother for getting all the printouts from his office. Then I borrowed a folder from my friend Alex to keep those documents.

On the day of the interview I dressed up in neat formals and asked my mom to drop me at the consulate. I reached the consulate @ 9:45 hrs for my 10:15 appointment. The procedure at the consulate is something like this:

1. Wait in the queue outside the consulate for your turn. Then handover the appointment letter and your passport at the counter. You will then be given a coupon with a number on it.
2. The guard will then check you before letting you inside the heavy door, which is operated by another security officer sitting inside the counter.
3. Once inside the first door your file will be screened through an X-Ray machine and you will be checked once again by the security. The security will again ask you if you have any pen drives, CD's or any other prohibited items.
4. After that you may proceed through the door and get into the waiting hall and wait until your coupon number flashes on the screen. Then you proceed to the respective counter and present your documents to the officer behind the the glass window. He will check the CEAC letter and read the barcode printed on it and then put the HDFC barcode on your passport. This happened at counter no.8. While waiting for my turn suddenly there was a power cut and all fans and other equipments shut down (except computers).
5. Next I was asked to proceed to counter 12 where I was given a file to keep my CEAC letter and passport. My thumbs and all my other fingers were scanned too.
6. Next I was asked to proceed to the visa interview hall where I had to wait patiently with many others for my turn. Then my number was displayed on the screen and it was on counter 19.
7. The visa officer asked me the following questions:
• Have you been to the States before?
• Why are you going to the States?
• What do you study in the Netherlands?
• How long will you stay in the States?
• Are you married?
• Will you be travelling alone?
• Do you own any property?
• And lastly he asked me if I was going to run the marathon to win some prize money for which I replied that I was an amateur and stood no chance. He said that he was just checking and that one should not earn money in the Sates with the B2 visa.

I was thrilled that i got my visa and now I can visit my friends in California too. All that remains is I have to get back my passport.

80 km cycle trip to Keukenhof (Holland)

Well for a long time I wanted to go on a long bike ride, travelling through the fields and meadows of Holland and yesterday (17 April 2011) provided me an opportunity to do so. My class mate Anand Teke is a couch surfer and he got to know via the couch surfing website that a group will be going on a bike tour to keukenhof starting from Leiden Central station. So I was very much game for it and excited, quickly agreeing to cycle all the way to Keukenhof from Delft (the place where I currently live).

So I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, had my headbath, finished my breakfast and packed my lunch and other drinks in my backpack and reached Anand's place at 7:45. From there Anand, Pavan, Kaushal and myself started at 8:15. Vignesh and Vishwesh, the twins in my university were also supposed to accompany us but they said they would be joining us at Leiden (they would bring their bikes on train). We followed the road besides the canal for 16Kms. By the way Leiden is about 25 kms from Delft. We did biking for about an hour and then took a short break to stretch our legs. We reached Leiden bang at 9:45.

At Leiden central Vishu and Viku joined us and we also met with the tour guide Roman, who was going to take us through the Tulip fields on our bikes. I had never done a bike tour before and this was all making me more and more excited.

Just a small note for the readers who do not know about Keukenhof. This is place where the tulips in Holland are grown in large numbers and exported worldwide. Its world famous and people from all over the world make a visit to Keukenhof if they tour Holland during spring time. This place is akin to the rose garden in Ooty, India or the Lalbagh at Bangalore.

We started our tour at 10:15, at snails pace and few kilometers down the trail we had three people who reported flat tyres. Hence we took an emergency stop for some time and our guide made arrangements to fix the flat tyres of the people's bikes. There were about 25 to 30 people in the whole group, from various nationalities- Iranians, Indians, German, Canadian, Dutch, Singaporeans, Chinese. So diverse was the group that it was amazing that so many people were there together. Roman, our tour guide took us through the Tulip fields and all of us were enthralled by the Tulips and the Daffodils growing in those fields. To put in simple words it was mind blowing and sooperb.

After few hours of bike riding, when we were in field we realised that one of the girls in our group was missing. I don't know who or how people contacted her. We just moved on to go to the Keukenhof park.

But to my amazement I saw that girl at the park. God only knows how she managed to get there or may be someone went in search of her.I am sure without any guiding or GPS device with you one will surely get lost in the biking lanes of Netherlands.

The entrance to the park cost us 12.5 euros each but it was worth the buck. We had our lunch inside the park and then decided to go around the park in small groups. We were asked to report by the fiets stand (fiets=bike, the Dutch word for bike) by 18:00 hrs. So our Indian group separated and we went around the whole park, enjoying the Tulips, appreciating its beauty and clicking lots of pictures. each tulip was unique and  exquisite. They were available in all colours and shades possible.

My favourite ones were the bright red Tulips growing, they were looking absolutely stunning. Pavan, Viku, Vishu and Kaushal were very busy clicking pictures and I believe their camera's memory must have been almost full.

We saw the tulip fields and the windmill, the place where 'Kumari' song of the tamil film ANNIYAN was shot. I was told that during the shoot the filmmakers got special permission to get into the fields.

After about 2 hours of roaming round the park and shooting pictures we all were tired, partly because we hadn't packed sufficient food but our moods were quite high. After quite an intense search we managed to find 'Tulip Aishwarya' and Vishu was the one who got close enough to her. There were other tulips named aftre prominent people, grown along the patch of grass termed 'Hall of Fame'

We gathered at the fiets stand at the said time but the Iranian group was missing. We departed the park at about 18:15 hrs and slowly cycled down another path. Many of them were not used to such strenuous activity and were quite exhausted. Finally we reached Leiden at 20:00 hrs.

I was always in for the whole cycle trip and so was Pavan. But Anand was a little frustrated and wanted to get back to Delft via train, partly because he was not on his bike (a really good road bike) but was on a bike that he borrowed from his friend. But finally we decided to get back to Delft by cycle. We followed the GPS all way through till Rijswik.

At 21:30 hrs we reached Delft safe and sound. Oh my God, biking for 80 kms that was too good. The only thing is that my A** hurts a little and I am getting crazy to get a new bike for myself just for going for these kind of cycle tours.

Hollland- too good a place to bike and Keukenhof hats off to that place

‘The Earth Hour’ and no buzz about it around the campus:

Yesterday the 26^th of March 2011 between 20:30 and 21:30 hours was celebrated as the ‘Earth Hour’ worldwide. The ‘Earth Hour’ began as a show of solidarity against climate change and today has evolved into a major global movement.  It brings together people from all walks of life from different parts of the world to unite together in a mission to save our dear ‘Mother Earth’.

 I received a number of emails from companies and organizations from India with whom I had acquaintance that they will be celebrating ‘Earth Hour’ by switching off all lights on their campus during that designated hour. I study ‘Sustainable Energy Technology’ at TU Delft and this is a highly reputed master program. There is so much buzz and talk around the campus for developing sustainable energy technologies, to make the campus more greener and to make it more sustainable but sadly there was neither a news feed on the blackboard about the ‘Earth Hour’ nor any posters around the campus shouting out loud that TU Delft will be celebrating ‘Earth Hour’ to show its commitment against Climate Change. I began to wonder how TU Delft could miss out on this major event.

Well celebrating ‘Earth Hour’ is not a compulsion but we all can make small contributions to protect our dear planet by engaging ourselves in activities such as this. TU Delft has a completely dedicated organization ‘Energy Club’ to help coordinate projects/activities related to sustainable energy and climate change. No mention of this global event was mentioned on its website too. That is quite disheartening.

I celebrated the event by turning off all lights in my home and putting my laptop in sleep mode for that designated one hour. This event which started off in the city of Sydney in Australia in the year 2007 has become a major event worldwide since then with many countries/organizations embracing it worldwide and celebrating it, to show their responsibility towards protecting the environment.

Celebrating and embracing events like these would showcase to the outside world the university’s total commitment towards sustainability and care for the environment and such events must receive more attention around the campus.

I am a marathoner

Marato de Barcelona (6 Mar 2011)

Well after completing 8 half marathons (including the recent Amsterdam half marathon) so far I felt I have to progress to the next level to test my physical endurance- to participate in a full marathon. The leaflets kept inside the envelope that I had received as part of my registration for the Amsterdam half marathon had one particular leaflet on the Barcelona marathon 2011 and that particular one caught my eye.

It was then that I decided that I will definitely run the Barcelona marathon in March 2011, mainly for two reasons. The first one being it was scheduled on a perfect day 6 Mar 2011 and that meant no exams, and other stuff coming my way and the second one being that the Barcelona is a lovely city to visit. I began my four month training program starting from November 2010 until February 2011 for this particular event.

The whole training program was a wonderful journey. The excitement and the desire to run 42.2 kms or 26.2 miles kept getting stronger day by day. The months of December and January were particularly tough as afar as training was concerned. This is because it was snowing heavily during these two months, not the ideal weather to just go out and practice your run. But I was determined, I had to get my weekly mileage so that my body gets tuned to the arduous long distance journey. I did not have the wind cheater jackets nor the skin tight full length track pants as the regular Dutch runners in Delft. So what did I do? I just wore three layers of clothing on top and pulled on my half running trousers and dashed out in the snow to do my weekly runs. I had spent my Christmas vacation, a full 11 days travelling across Paris and Switzerland and even during these times I made sure I had my running gear with me. I just could not afford to miss two weeks without doing my runs. Crazy isn't it? Thats what I am 'A Crazy Road Runner'.

Now there was slight twist in the story in the month of January, after completing one of my practice runs in the evening I had slight pain in my right knee. I just ignored it thinking that it just a muscle strain but it kept getting worse until I had to abandon my practice for a whole week in January. Complete rest was essential if I had to run in Barcelona. I experienced pain whenever I got down from the staircase, things were not looking well and I panicked. I feared that I might not be able to run in Barcelona and was also calculating the monetary loss that I would incur if I can't make the trip- The flights to and fro were booked, hostel accommodation reserved and other miscellaneous stuff confirmed. But by God's grace and some medication and stretching techniques my knee pain subsided a little, I could run once again but was averaging at a pace way below my normal speed. My normal speed is 6.2 mph but I was able to hover around 5.6 mph. So I though some running is better than no running. I kept practicing, running slowly and making sure not to strain my right knee.

Finally in the month of February I learnt some knee and lower back strengthening exercises. This helped me a lot in getting back on track with my usual running pace. I was convinced that I can complete the marathon in good condition but just to confirm my confidence I had to make sure that I had the stamina and the strength. So on the 20 Feb 2011 I did a 35 Km practice run and my dear friend Ershad played a major role in it. He was kind enough to carry all my bottles and other foodstuff and patrol me on his bike for the entire duration. I really owe him a lot for his kind hearted gesture.

So I finally departed for Barcelona on the 4 Mar 2011, taking the direct flight from Amsterdam-Schipol to Barcelona-El Prat. The plane landed safely and I comfortably made my way to the hostel. The next morning I woke up, had my breakfast and walked down the street to the 'marathon expo' from where I got my BIB (running) number and the runners goodie bag. There was a pasta party exclusively for the runners, to pump in some carbs into us so that we all run the marathon in good condition. I just roamed around the city in the evening and enjoyed the carnival that was happening that evening.

Finally the D day approached. I woke up at 6:00 hrs brushed my teeth, washed myself and changed into my running gear. I packed all my stuff and kept it in the luggage room of my hostel and walked down the road toward the starting point. There was a sea of runners pouring in from all directions to converge at the starting point 'Placa Esapanya'. I felt great and excited that I was finally going to do my maiden full marathon. The whistle was blown and the elite runners kicked off in the blazing speed. I was positioned in the four hour plus runners category so I crossed the starting line 10 minutes after the official start time. I kept treading along with my usual pace, enjoying the city also. The route was almost flat and covered almost the entire city. The marathon organizing committee had done a wonderful job, water stations, fruit points, sponge points all were perfectly organized. I had no worries about nutrition and drinks along my way, they were in plenty. After the 30 km mark I slowed down a little. It was more of a mental game now rather than the physical one. My body was strong enough to got he distance but my mind was plying games. But I had trained for that too I kept my composure and took one mile at a time after mile 19. Finally I reached the finish line in a time of 5 hours 4 minutes and 4 seconds (5:04:04). Wow that was amazing I had actually completed my maiden full marathon, there were tears of joy in my eyes. I had actually run 42.2 Kms, Oh My GOD!!

After the run I went back to my hostel, had my shower and headed back to the airport to travel back to Amsterdam and to Delft from there. Oh man, this was one wonderful experience I will never forget.

The 'Design Challenge' that we won

Well, it all began when I registered for the 'Design Challenge' in August. This particular course is a 12 credit course spread over the whole semester. I was in a team of six students out of which two were Indians, three Chinese and an African. The project given to us was on 'Intelligent Street lighting'. Our client was another Indian who had graduated from TU Delft about 4 years ago.

This being a 12 credit course involved a lot of work and took most of the time during the week. The challenge was to come up with the live working prototype of 'intelligent street lighting', which till that time was just a concept on paper. We as a team gelled in very quickly and made up a timetable and schedule to which we adhered ourselves. We also had minor team clashes (which team doesn't); it was great fun and a learning experience to solve all those minor hurdles, meet deadlines, complete weekly tasks and update our progress with the coach.

The project began taking shape during the final two months (later half of the first semester). We believed that to come up with a great product extensive testing of the same was a must. We spent considerable amount of time doing field trials and carrying out tests of different permutations and combinations. Finally we were ready with the product and the system as a whole was working in exactly the same way as we had visualized.

But to get the credit points we not only had to make the live working demo but also a poster, a report and a final presentation in hall filled with people from various disciplines and potential investors. There were two Chinese girls in my team and both were from the Faculty of Industrial Design. So they could make really cool animations and visualizations. One of the Chinese girls made the poster for our project and mind you in was awesome. I took on the responsibility of doing the final presentation. There are two reasons for it first I am not afraid to speak in front of a large audience and second my three years of work experience has made a quite a good public speaker.

The final D day was about a week ahead and I still had not finalized the presentation. I revised it completely just the day before the D day and practiced it just once in front of my room mate ( he being a Chinese too). On the D day I was the last one to give the presentation, competing against the other four rival teams for a prize and possibly for a trophy too. I was dressed in plain grey trousers and normal white half shirt. I started off quite well and I kept on improvising with the flow. At the end of my 15 minute talk I was given a thunderous applause and congratulated by many for such a lucid and simple presentation.

Later during the drinks party our team was announced the winner, with the most investments. My joy knew no bounds. All hard work that we put in finally paid off and I was on cloud nine, dopamine levels shooting in my brain.

How to make 'Addai'

Ingredients Required:

Rice - 1 Cup
Urad dal+Moong Dal+Tuar Dal- 1 Cup
Green chillies
Big Red chillies
Salt

Procedure:

1. Soak the rice and the dal mixture in water for minimum one and half hours.
2. Drain the water from the rice and dal mixture and grind the whole mixture along with green chillies and big red chillies in the blender (mixie). Add water accordingly while grinding, depending on how thick the paste should be. Add more water if you want thinner 'addais'.
3. Add salt according to ones taste.
4. Heat a flat pan and grease it with oil. Use a ladle to spread the 'addai batter'. Allow it to get cooked and turn it upside down, allow this side also to get cooked. Spread little oil around the periphery of the addai, while it gets cooked.
5. Repeat the step 4 for 'n' number of addais.
6. Your addais are ready to eat. Enjoy it with either 'avviyal' or 'onion chutney'.

Liverpool muscles out Chelsea

Liverpool vs Chelsea (7 Nov 2010)

Two big giants of English football took to the field on Sunday evening for one of the important games in the Barclays Premier League. Chelsea, the league leaders with 25 points in their bag travelled to Anfield, Liverpool to take on the merseysiders. Liverpool's form this season has been disappointing, losing home games to Blackpool and the one in the league cup. But with back to back wins against Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers the mood in the team was quite upbeat.

Roy Hodgson had put out his best team to take on Chelsea. Chelsea kick started the first half and were control of the game till the eleventh minute. Liverpool's best striker, Torres struck form at the right time. A superb pass by Dirk Kuyt was neatly put into the back of the net by Torres. Terry was beaten for pace and so was the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech. Twelve minutes gones Liverpool were in the lead, to the surprise and astonishment of the players and spectators alike.

The Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelloti had kept his best striker Drogba on the bench. Chelsea looked dangerous even though they were a goal behind. Just before half time superman Torres gave the merseysiders another delight with a sublime curl, the ball gradually curving into the back of the net. Liverpool were up by two goals and the mood in the bench was upbeat.

Anfield erupted.

At half time Drogba was brought in for Kalou because the Chelsea manager felt that being two goals behind to Liverpool at their home turf was not to be taken lightly. Lucas, Mereilles and Gerrard all played their roles well, passing and moving forward and trying to score another goal to put the game beyond the reach of the Blues. Young boy Martin Kelly was plying his first major game of the season for Liverpool in the right fullback position. Carragher and Skrtel taking care of the central defence.

Chelsea were unlucky when Anelka's shot scrapped Reina's gloves and hit the crossbar. The ball was till open for Drogba to put it into the net but Jamie Carragher ensured that Liverpool maintained a clean sheet. Just 15 minutes before half Kuyt made a good run with the ball before passing it to Rodriguez who almost finished the game for Liverpool but Cech's outstretched leg denied them the third goal. Full time gone Liverpool could hold off Chelsea with a two goal margin.

The Barclay's premier league is still wide open for anyone to win. Chelsea weren't allowed to run away with the points. Liverpool's classic performance on Sunday will definitely be an eye opener for them and other teams as well. They now sit at the ninth place with 15 points in their kitty.