This was the life changing trip for me.
When I was applying for my Master in the US, I was considering going to the Louisiana State University, but, after talking to then-current students and researching about other universities, I narrowed my choice to University of Connecticut. LSU and UConn were the only two universities which gave me admit for their Data and Analytics program and I am forever grateful to these two institutions for that.
After securing the admit, the next big hurdle was to secure an Education Loan. I had not amassed a large fortune from my parents and didn’t have enough savings from the 3 years of work experience in Bangalore, so I had to rely like everyone else on the Education Loan. After applying to countless Nationalized banks and a few private banks and getting rejected, it was Prodigy Finance, which came to my rescue. My joy didn’t know any bound the moment I received an email from Prodigy and I read the subject line of that email. The most amazing thing was how smooth the process was and I didn’t need to meet anyone in person and the whole thing was taken care of online. It was an amazing experience and I am forever grateful to Prodigy Finance too.
And the last step before booking a ticket to the US was securing my F1 visa. This was the most exciting “interview” I gave in my life and I would remember till the end of my times. To prepare for this interview, my fellow future-colleagues from UConn helped me a lot and answered many questions that I had before appearing for the visa interview. The awesome thing about all this experience is how well we used the social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp to help each other with anything that they needed and came to rescue when anyone was not feeling that confident.
After all this blabbering, it brings us to the day of my flight to New Delhi. One more thing that my UConn colleagues helped me with was the current/real-time information about which Visa Center was processing visa applications faster as compared to other locations and which were approving it faster and smoother than other offices. I, initially, had scheduled my visa interview at the Mumbai Consulate and for a much later date, but, after someone telling me that Delhi Consulate experience is much smoother and easier, I decided to modify the location to Delhi with the earlier date than the Mumbai Consulate. It was a risk that I had to take to secure my student visa on the earlier date.
Once I booked the date, it was time to book flights and logistics. It was during the startup age in India, so I opted for Oyo to book my hotels and got the best deal ever. I think, I just paid 400-500 INR for a large room with the attached bathroom, for which you generally had to pay around 1,500 INR. Flights were cheap too, so I decided to fly to New Delhi from Bangalore and stop on my return journey at Mumbai for a few hours before returning to Bangalore.
Here’s me boarding my flight to New Delhi from the Bangalore Airport.
After reaching New Delhi and checking into my hotel, I decided to explore the beautiful city and their Metro, and a possible distraction from my tense Visa Interview.
I asked the receptionist for the closest spot to see in the city and she helped me a lot figuring out walking would be the best choice as most of the spots that I could visit on a Sunday were 20 minutes by foot.
As you can see in the title picture, the first place I visited was the Lotus Temple. Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, it was closed and had to just check it out from the outside and I made my peace with it. After that, I explored some of the local attractions, which I am having a hard time right now to remember.
The last thing that I remember visiting was a local temple. Back then, I was not that much atheist, but when it comes to realizing your dreams, I didn’t want to leave any stones unturned. I remember asking the deity to grant me the visa so that I can go to the US and live my dream life that I had always dreamt.
The next day, it was my visa interview and I remember being nervous. As we were not allowed to take any electronic instruments, I remember keeping my phone at the hotel and ubering to the US Consulate. The moment I reached the consulate, I was greeted with a long line of the visa aspirant and I went and stood in line as well. That’s when all of my worries vanished. I met a guy who was also appearing for his visa interview and coincidently he was also admitted by UConn, but for MBA course. Talking to him, made me realize how nervous he was and the only thing that I wanted at that time to stop talking to him and focus on my situation. That moment helped me realize that I might be acting like him and should get it outside myself before I screw up my interview. So, I politely bade his goodbye and started focusing on some positive thoughts. I started imagining all the cool things about US and how good my life would be there and within a few minutes, I had my confidence back and was happy with it. I had my smile back on my face. It is very important to have a positive frame of mind while doing any important thing and this was by far the most important day of my life and I didn’t want to screw it up because of some random stranger.
I had my confidence back and was ready to face any tough question that the interviewer had up his/her sleeve. I stood in line, was moved to inside the building and then was assigned a random window for my interview.
Before my interview, a couple people gave interviews in the adjacent windows to mine and based on their faces, I discovered that their visa was approved. I so wished I would get assigned those windows instead of the one that I was assigned to.
To my dismay, there was an old guy at the counter and I started cursing my luck at that moment. Before I knew it, the interview was already started and I was presented with a flurry of questions. He started off with asking the university name, followed by why, and what was the major of the university and how much I made at that time. These were the only four questions that he asked and within 30 seconds, I heard those four beautiful, awesome, amazing, and sweet words – “Your visa is approved!”. I was surprised and asked him again and he told me that he would keep my passport for stamping purpose. I couldn’t believe my ears and was smiling from ears to ears.
I came out of the building and unfortunately, there was no one I could hug tightly and express my happiness. I remember taking the auto to my hotel and was greeted with a smiling receptionist. She was quick to realize that my visa was approved as I was smiling vividly. I thanked her for her wishes and continued with my day. By the time I reached my hotel, it was 9.30 AM, so I had breakfast at my hotel and once I took care of everything, I went straight to the airport to catch my 1 PM afternoon flight to Mumbai.
The reason I decided to stop at Mumbai was to meet a friend and experience the same feeling that I experienced during my last visit here at the Nariman Point. You can see here I clicked the similar picture. I was immediately reminded of my last time here and enjoyed quite a bit here.
Once I was done exploring and talking to friends, it was almost time for my flight to Bangalore. The below is the picture I took when I was boarding my Bangalore bound flight. From this moment onwards, I was treating everything and everyone that this is the last time I was seeing them and don’t know when I would get another chance to visit them and see them.
Cheers to some of the most amazing places I am going to visit!
stochasticity 