Visa Interview

So, the wait was over. It was the day - it had to come. Time always flows. It was the day which would decide my course of life. It was 22nd July 2005, the day of my US visa interview for higher studies.

After having hundred different types of prasad(am)s from hundred different Gods, me and my mom were set to go to the American Consulate for my interview at 2:30 PM. I took my mom along to get some good luck.

Having reached the consulate, first step was to submit the fee receipts. I was shocked to see so many students there. There must have been 25 of them. Then, I had to go in and have my documents cross-checked. This was also the place where the visa interviews where going on. I was even more shocked as there were atleast 150 of them. While waiting in the queue to submit my documents, I saw that there was a young lady Visa Officer in the next queue. She rejected atleast 2 students in front of me. I was just hoping that of all the 8 visa counters, I don't go to her. After waiting for 2 hours, my turn came. And, I was asked to stand in the same queue where that lady was taking. My luck!

I was the third one in the queue. The first one got a reject. The girl in front of me was next. She had finished her MS in India and wanted to pursue Ph.D. in Microbiology at John Hopkins, which is a much better Univ. than mine. The VO asked her for letter from the Univ. and her resume. I had none. Microbiology, being a sensitive subject as it has to deal with stuff like biological warfare, she was asked to fill up another form and asked to come on some other day.

So, next was my turn. I was there, standing like a zombie, completely careless of what my result would be. At that point, it didn't really matter if I get the visa or not. This is how it went:

vo: hello
me: hi

vo: what are you going to study in the US?
me: i am going to study MS in computer science...

vo: which university are you going for?
me: university of minnesota, twin cities...

vo: why this university?
me: (prepared speech) my criteria for selecting a universtiy were - it should have a good computer science ranking and it should be good in the field i am interested in. Univ. of minnesota has both. that is why...

vo: what do you want to study?
me: (lied) data warehousing and data mining...

vo: ok, why MS?
me: (prepared speech) i have two reasons for it - if u look at the indian IT market there are too many people with BE. i want to have an edge over them. and, i want to have an in depth knowledge in the field of my interest...

vo: what are your plans after MS?
me: (lied) i will come back here and work at a product-based company like oracle, ibm,...

vo: you are working at oracle, right?
me: yes, for 3 years..

vo: what is your salary?
me: rs. x per annumm..

vo: have you ever been to the US?
me: yes, thrice...

vo: what was the purpose of your trip?
me: each visit was for a different reason. first one was to attend a training, second one was to implement a project and the third one was to give training(lie)...

vo: how are you going to sponsor your studies?
me: my uncle in sponsoring me, i have some saving and i am also taking some education loan...

vo: what is your uncle?
me: he has retired. he was working with bank of baroda for 35 years...

vo: ok, show me your savings proof..
me: (showed her)

vo: (she said something really fast...i couldnt understand because i knew she was saying she approved my visa...)
me: (i smiled and said) feels good

vo: (she laughed for the first time...)
me: ( i was no more a zombie)

After that, I just sat down for a while to make myself believe that I have got the visa. After coming out, I called up everybody I know to give this news.

So, that was it, the very 5 minutes which decides the fruit of one year of hard work and the future of life!