My Journey to US Visa Part 4

Continued from part 3: Part 3

INTERVIEW CONTINUES....

She asked me about my employer. I gave her a good answer. Then she asked me do you know the visa you are applying for and what does it mean. I gave her some confident replies. I was in my rhythm and she asked what my specialized knowledge is. I started in full flow and then she interrupted. The network was very slow and she was unable to update my information in the server. This means more interrogation and more chances and this was what I wanted. What I have learned throughout my tiny career and going through the interview process multiple times and also when the tables are turned is that more time you get more chances you create to display your best. She asked me where I will stay and gave her the location in the order of city, county and state. She just repeated state and updated. After updating my salary and location she focused again on my specialized skill. She asked me to explain to her my specialized technical skills to a non-technical person like her. This was what I was waiting for. I explained her for 2-3 minutes with most layman terms about my skillset and even asked her some questions if she understand this then I can explain it better if she can relate to and it was affirmative from her on all. I was gaining some confidence. Then there were sounds of keystrokes for a while when she was updating all my details. Next I remember I hear those 4 magical words which I was yearning for.  They were “YOUR VISA IS APPROVED”.  I couldn’t believe for a second.

I again asked if she needs any more documents. To which she smiled and said no these documents are enough. We want to go away from paper and want things to be online as much as possible. She took my passport and one set of I129S and I797 form and gave me back 2 sets of I129 and I797 along with the fraud detection fees receipt. I packed my folder and left with excitement. The next applicant called me and said you have left the receipt. I collected the receipt and again thanked the office and left. I stepped out of the premise in aplomb and could not wait to give the good news to Mansi. I had my cellphone and laptop in the hotel.

As I stepped out the auto drivers who thronged the embassy asked me to where do I want to go. Then they asked what happened, how was the visa interview? Got visa? I thought why they are so concerned. It alarmed that they will take the advantage of the situation if it slips out of my mouth that I got my visa they will unnecessary charge me more. To avoid the hassle I turned grim and irritated. I told them I didn’t get the visa. I entered one auto and he was still not convinced and asked me if passport is with me or it’s with the embassy. I told its inside and instantly it occurred to me ohh he tricked me. I said yes it’s inside my folder and pretend a search for it in my folder.  I thought good try kiddo but I am up for these games. I said I am already disappointed please take me to the hotel quickly. The auto driver assured me of receipt so that I can claim. When I asked for one he gave a receipt book and told me enter any amount. I said that’s fine I won’t become a millionaire by fudging taxi bill. I entered what I agreed to pay and got his signature.

After I reached the hotel I gave the news to Mansi and my colleagues. I paid my dues and cleared the hotel bills and checked out. Finally it was time to bid adieu to Chennai. I had a good stay in Chennai and people were warm like the climate and I was leaving a calmness which is rare in a metropolitan city. Next day I shared my happiness with my colleagues with a box of Chennai sweets.

P.S – After 3 days I went to the BKC Trade center in Mumbai to collect my passport and it had L1 visa stamping.

My Journey to US Visa Part 3

Continued from part 2: My Journey to US Visa Part 2

THE D DAY ARRIVES

It was a hot and sultry Thursday and I woke up at 7:30 AM. I was visualizing the day. Yesterday my practice head called me to provide the vital information I was seeking. He wished me luck and asked me to stay confident. I told him yes I will give my best and will be on top of my game. But he mildly chided and told me I will have to get the visa. Boy o boy I didn’t have enough information 24 hours ago and now I am expected to nail this interview where the rejection rate is close to 80%. This was preposterous. I left behind those thoughts under the bus. First thing I planned to calm my nerves was to have a good serving of breakfast buffet the hotel provided complimentary. I had good amount of cornflakes with hot milk and that’s all I had. I was not having a good appetite that day.

I had planned to stay hydrated all the time because Chennai heat and humidity is always energy sapping and taxing. I got ready and for no good reason wore the same shirt that I was wearing on my passport photograph. Yes you can’t leave any stone unturned. After Clark Kent was totally unrecognizable by just removing his spectacles and became superman. I couldn’t take risk. I had to wear same clothes matching my passport photograph. I got ready, packed my luggage and headed to hotel reception to clear my bills. The hotel manager gave some confusing number and asked me to pay them now and they will be reimbursed by my company. Well that was surprising. I thought all the payments were done in advance by my AMEX.

To put things back into the focus and not distract my thoughts on monetary issue, although that’s a tough ask, I held the payment and kept my luggage there. I promised to clear the due upon return. This time I booked an OLA and kept enough paper bills of Indian rupee for my return trip from consulate to the hotel. The OLA driver came on time and I reached at 9:45 AM. My appointment was at 10:45 AM. Now I could understand what the guy at finger printing was saying. Don’t come early or late just be on time. To stand in a long queue without a shade in such humid weather would take a toll on me. It was bus stand and they placed placard of all time slots on left and right sides towards the end of the bus stop. This was done to maintain two queues. If one queue was for 9:30 AM the other one was for 9:45 AM. As soon as 9:30 AM appointees have entered the queue a fellow would remove the placard and replace it with the next slot placard. This ensured there was no chaos and queues were properly managed.

I got to cross the queue at 10:30 AM. Then a person was checking appointment confirmation and passport and directing people for next step. I proceeded and it took me to circumambulate the entire building to reach the destination. The officers were repeating “no cellphones beyond this point”.  There came a final entrance where again frisking was done by metal detector. At this point of time again I felt the need to quench my thirst.All of us who were in the queue were directed to another building inside the main building. This time an officer shouted for any L1 visa candidates. I came out of the queue and ran where he was directing us to. I was guided towards a shaded tent kind of stall where one consulate helper was sitting and was giving candidates a card (laminated a postcard sized printout) which described how to arrange the documents. I was doing the arranging the documents stuff from last one week. My expertise rose to such level that I could do that in my sleep. I handed back the arranged stuff back to the helper. He took out 80% of the documents and gave it back to me. I was astonished that why was I carrying this gibberish the whole time when there are no takers.Once I was done with document sorting for the nth time. The helper told me to proceed ahead. There was a big queue inside but again my L1 B application put me in advantage. Within 10 minutes of entering the premises I was done with submission of demand draft and one more set of finger printing where obviously my curved pinky finger again made a mess of the process.

All the processes were completed but the interview. It was still a long queue and here there was no advantage for L1 candidates. The queue was moving in a snail pace. B1/B2 applicants formed a major chunk of applicants as well as the queue. Some sisters were trying to meet their brother in California or some old parents wanted to meet their only son in San Francisco. The embassy duly provided translators for B1/B2 applicants if they are not comfortable with English. I could sense elation in the voice of those old uncle and aunty when the officer approved their visa. They could finally meet their son. I could sense a milieu of anticipation, anxiety and excitement among the H1 and L1 applicants who wanted to move ahead in their careers, make more money, prove their mettle by competing with the best.

I saw much heartbreak and many smiling faces. I could not fathom how much a visa mean to people who flocked the embassy as if it was an Indian idol or roadies audition. In both the places the real talents are discarded. My analytical mind jumped into the action. I started counting the number of selections and rejections in each counter. In half an hour I figured out the center most counters has most acceptance rate and I badly wanted to get interviewed in that counter. Finally my turn came and I was about to be guided to some other counter but some people forgot to bring required documents and the counter which was about to be assigned to me was allocated to someone else. As God was on my side that day I was actually in the counter where most approvals were happening.

This was the moment I had to nail. There was a lady in front whose interview was still going on. Meanwhile I was taking deep breath to sway away last bit left of anxiety and nervousness. Though I was hungry I wanted to eat like a king after a good news. Finally my turn came. I greeted the officer and noted her facial expressions. She looked like no nonsense but still a candid person. She greeted me back.

To be concluded in Part 4.

My Journey to US Visa Part 2

Continued from Part 1: My Journey to US Visa Part 1

I thought I cannot bring mobile, wallet and other stuff to the finger printing center. So, I took out some paper cash and slipped into my trousers’ pocket. I was such a doofus I forgot I could book an ola cab before leaving and could pay through ola money or cash I was carrying. I urged the lobby manager to book the ola for me and send me the invoice. But he looked less interested but lacked the courage to say no to me. With a hint of indifference, he booked the cab, but it was cancelled by driver itself. It was already 2PM and I analyzed the situation. Just because I need to get a bill for my travel to US visa center so that my company reimburses it I couldn’t jeopardize the entire visa process for me. I went out and took an auto. He made me reach the center well on time.

It looked like newly developed building. The security guards guided me toward the entry. On the basement there was a photocopy shop cum cyber café. I went to 1^st floor. There were 3 queues for 3 consecutive time slots. I had a 2:45PM slot. The queues were having a signboard at the front saying 2:15, 2:30 and 2:45PM. I jumped in my queue.

Paranoia returns

In the queue we were asked to proceed for metal detector body checkup. I went ahead and get it done. Post that there was the entrance table where a designated officer was checking the DS 160 form of candidate, appointment confirmation and passport. When my turn came the officer tallied my information against the passport. In my DS 160 form my name was written was UPADHYAY, ADITYA UPADHYAY and in my passport it was UPADHYAY, ADITYA. He told me please get this corrected and get back to me at 4:30PM. For a moment I was completely blacked out. My profile was not strong enough to crack the visa interview and now this hurdle. I had my appointment at 2:45 PM and I was surely not going to miss that. I asked him but I have not brought the mobile how can I update my DS 160. He told me there is a cyber café at the basement. It will help you but they will charge.

I hurriedly ran towards the basement and reach the cyber café. There was a small queue there and I was seeing perplexed faces in tension trying to get their DS 160 form corrected.  Even I joined the queue. When my turn came I told the counter lady that how can I retrieve the form it is already submitted? She assured me in Tamil, English and Hindi when I was clueless on what she was trying to say. She asked me my details and took passport from me and started correcting not only the name but each and every field under the form. I was blown away by her confidence, speed and efficiency. Then she uttered those three words which I was definitely not eager to listen. She said “ SAAR 200 RUPEES”. I was totally dumbstruck. She told me this is the fixed charge for form correction. I regretfully gave her the money. The correction burned a big hole in my already light pocket. I was worried if I would have enough money to return to hotel. Again I reinforced my focus on the process. I hurried back to the queue. Then told the staff I am already late and went for correction in the form. They cordially supported me and permitted me to break the queue and directly go for metal detector body checkup. This time I passed the DS 160 form verification test.

I was asked to proceed towards another table where again I showed the passport. This time I was given a token number. The LCD screens were displaying the counters and token number in tandem. After some 10 minutes of wait my name came and went to the bio metrics. He asked me for 4 fingers print of each side. Naturally my pinky finger is away from my ring finger when spread my palm. This fact was not helping in completing the finger printing. With some efforts I stuck the fingers together and finished the finger printing. It was following by thumbs and a photograph. The gentleman at the counter asked me to go back a little then asked me to straighten my shoulders and lower my chin.  Naturally my shoulders are not at the same level. He was unable to understand this. After some 5 minutes of effort the photograph was finally taken. The day’s proceedings were finally over. I happily collected all my documents and arranged my folder and left the place.

I reached the hotel in 30 minutes and changed back to my casual wears. After some rest I stepped out of the hotel to amble across the streets of Chennai and have some local street food. I had decent tea which was followed by humongous and super soft idlis. The idlis were very scrumptious and very light to the pocket. 

I roamed around for half an hour more and walked back to the hotel. Somehow the tension was not going away for the interview. I watched some comedy shows like The Big Bang Theory and Tom and Jerry to alleviate my mood. I didn’t have dinner that day. I started focusing my energy to calm my nerves. I gave a first mock interview to myself facing the mirror. I noticed my mannerisms, my rate of speech, my voice clarity and my confidence. I tweaked the content and again gave a second mock interview. By the third interview I was sure of myself. I was not sure about the result tomorrow but I knew one thing I am finally in the best state of my mind. I can deliver my best tomorrow. If that is enough to crack the interview I left to almighty to decide.

THE D DAY ARRIVES

To be continued in Part 3...

My Journey to US Visa Part 1

Disclaimer: 

This blog is written with some facts and a figment of imagination. People who are trying to seek valuable information here needs to get their brains checked from a neuroscientist (obviously not from someone who got into a college on management quota) and those who are trying to find humor here the possibility is same as meeting some extra-terrestrial life in our life time. Although unintentional humor may appear from time to time. But if you are still looking for humor, here is an immigration joke I borrowed from google.

Q: What is the difference between an illegal immigrant and E.T.? 

A: E.T. eventually went home! 

Part 1: 

First, a little bit about my career journey and then we can come back to visa stuff. If you are still reading it means you have enough time to waste. So, let’s press the pedal and start this journey. I started my journey 8 years ago with IT and like every Upadhyay, Tiwari, Mishra and Bansal I had the dream of working onsite in a client location and client location must be outside of Indian Subcontinent. In fact, during my college when I got placed in an IT company which was about to get scam tainted in near future, my father was more excited than me and he bought me a Samsonite laptop cum travel bag. Not only that he made me rush to complete the passport application. As if on my first day they will ask " Sir are you ok to travel to Denmark and ready to earn in Euros as we are seeing a strong euro soon? We will try to send you to USA once you feel a tad comfortable in working in first world countries and can live without pollution."

If you are working in this industry your relatives and family (yes in that order only) will consider you a failure if you have not crossed the sea. And yes, Indian clients and working in their office does not count. In fact, you will be shown pity and many of your relatives may console you and may also judge your caliber. Your relatives will not listen to your bragging if you sit in Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board office and developing technology solutions for the clientele. But mental strength has always been my forte. I crossed 8 years of listening to taunts without blinking an eye like a true mard. In fact, if you think of me as Geeta Vishwas (knew it’s a bad example but deal with it as I am a "90s kid" who had Doordarshan as the only source of entertainment) my relationship with onsite travel is same as of Shaktiman and Gangadhar to her. Both cannot meet her at the same time. After completing more than 3 years of my career in the scam tainted company I finally had the courage to put papers and moved to a better company.

But yes, we do have a ritual where the manager discusses with his employee and asks why he is leaving the organization and the employee is equivalent to a LAN without whom company literally cannot work. He is the best developer seen on earth and in fact the spot he is leaving will remain vacant till the sun goes supernova and at last he is asked to pull back his resignation and he is assured he will travel to a client location. This is said for each employee leaving the organization. My manager told me he will raise my UK visa. But I knew it was merely a lip service and I didn't want to relinquish the joy of rejecting something. In fact, when in initial phase of your career all you have done is begging for projects, allowances, leaves etc. the one moment of glory where you can refuse your manager's plea can never be missed. This is orgasmic happiness.

Part 2:

Done and dusted with last organization and joined a Big 4 company with more than 100 percent salary of my last company. I did not see any opportunity of travelling in this company. In fact, they teach you to crush your soul with money and smoke it like a coding error you never committed. Here the initial struggle was to survive in a pool of highly talent, charismatic and dynamic people who could sway you away technically, personally and of course politically. It was a circus where everybody was playing their parts and I was the clown. But the money was too good to leave the company. In fact, I endured the company for 3 years and put my papers. Ironically this time I resigned because I was forced to work on a client location in Goregaon yes that’s Goregaon not Oregon. I could imagine my relatives bitching about my work location and consoling me with blessings that something good will happen.

My family, they did not know what I was working and were happy that I used to come home every 3-4 months. In fact, when I explained my father what I do he smirked and ridiculed me that I am paid for doing this. Then I had to shoot some technical and corporate jargons like business continuity planning, business problems solving, Oracle, Cognos, stakeholder’s management, stored procedures, database designs etc. to him to keep him quiet and elevate my work at home. Boy that was some hush work and I am proud of my spontaneity!!

My mom used to talk about my company with other relatives. In fact, it was an epiphany for her that my current organization was way bigger than Infosys and TCS. She used to take pride and ask me if she can send my profile to some girls for marriage perspective. I used to avoid that topic as I was too much enjoying my financial independence, my opulence and my pestering free life. As a matter of fact, when resigning was on the cards for me she scolded that why I am leaving such a good company. I was flabbergasted to this reaction. 3 years ago, she was not aware of IT and now she was upset why I am leaving a certain company. I felt like Farhan from 3 idiots whose Abba never agrees on anything. Eventually I did leave the company.

Part 3: 

Finally, I am at my current company. This company is great as I am only of the two developers of my technology stack. My previous company's single office had more employees than my present company total India's workforce. It feels great to live in an ecosystem where you do not struggle to survive but instead dominate and thrive. Fast forward to 6 months I got my first big project here and it went good for next 1 year. It fetched me few accolades from my client and award in my firm. I developed a reputation of dependable, good and adaptive employee. My practice head called me and gave me the news that the company has decided to raise US visa for me. I was chosen for L1 B visa. A visa that is intra company and is for specialized knowledge. I was overwhelmed by this gesture and later shared the news with my wife. She was happy too. In my mind I had already imagined movie Swades and pledged that I will come back to India like Mohan Bhargav and serve my mother land.

No matter what the company offers but I will never sell my gratitude to my mother land for a piece of silver. This ephemeral mental melodrama came to a halt when my colleagues called me for a tea break. I was back to my materialist beast mode. All I could sense was an opportunity to earn some good money and a silver lining of clearing my debts. This ends my career journey. Let’s move ahead and understand the US visa process.

Step 1:

First step was my manager raised a work permit request on my company's mobility portal. His job ends here, and I had to take forward the case from there. I filled in all the information to complete my profile for the work permit request. Then the realization came that my passport which was travel virgin for almost a decade is about to expire next year. I made the passport lose its virginity to Indonesia when I traveled to Bali last year. When others proceed to Step 2 I had to go back to Step 0 and applied for passport renewal. Those who have the passports can skip the below part of the blog.

Passport renewal in a nutshell:

1) You need to login to passport portal and complete your details Passort renewal

2) Select nearest Passport seva kendra and book an appointment with all necessary document mentioned in the portal.

3) Visit the passport seva kendra on the appointment date and submit the document to first counter and take a token.

4) You will enter another waiting hall and check for your token number and the corresponding counter (verification stage) for finger printing, retina scan and photograph on passport (make sure you look dashing/ravishing (based on your gender) because this photograph will appear in your passport.

5) Once you are done with this process you will enter another, or same waiting hall based on the space available and wait for your token to appear with the counter (granting stage) number for the last set of verification.

6) Here the officer will review your documents and ask for further photocopies in case of any missing documents.

7) Once step 6 is completed you will be asked to leave from the specified exit.

8) Your passport is subjected to Police verification now and make sure you have selected the nearest police station while filling your profile in step 1.

9) You will have called by the police station for verification or the policeman may come to your house. Once police verification is done, it is cleared from the police station.

10) Your passport will come to your correspondence address through speed post.

My passport came in a month finally. I went back to step 1 and uploaded the new passport copy to the portal and submitted my assignment request.

Step 2:

 Once my information was updated fully in my company's mobility portal, my company's travel desk team raised L1 B blanket application to a designated law firm to create my petition. You must be wondering what are these 2 words blanket and petition?

Blanket: Blanket visa allows a company to file L1 visa for multiple employees under a single petition. The advantage here for the company is they don't have to file individual petition for each employee they are planning to send instead all employees can file individual applications under a single petition.

Petition: A petition is a formal request by an employer in US for the employee residing in India to the US Citizen and Immigration Services to allow them to work in USA.

I hope these 2 visa lexicons are clear. Let’s move ahead. Now from here onward the employee directly deals with the law firm.

Step 3:

1) We get a welcome mail from the law firm and we need to sign a consent form and authorize them to create our visa application on the blanket petition.

2) I went to the firm portal and updated my details and uploaded the education and employment documents.

3) I submitted the details and informed the firm to proceed.

4) They prepared my petition package and couriered them to my office.

5) I had a visa interview preparation call with the firm and then it was over from their side.

PARANOIA

The mobility team did give me some sample questions which are expected to be asked during the interview. I received my petition package from the law firm and found some vital information missing. I had an interview in 5 days and it was total chaos. I contacted the law firm and they declined any help. My practice head had no idea what had to be written. On top of this I had no preparation interview with the mobility team about how the visa process would follow. There I go, out of the frying pan into the fire.

I was searching for some colleagues who had aced the L1 interviews. Finally, I did find a couple of them. One gentleman was nice enough to help me out during a coffee break. Here a thing about people when you seek help from them. If they are in a coffee table even their sidekicks chip in with their unsolicited advice. The sidekick was more disappointed with my profile than the actual gentleman. Everybody was like you can only crack the visa interview if you can showcase you are irreplaceable. If they can't hire anybody in US, then only they will look for you. You should hold that level of expertise in your field. I wish I hadn't meet these people. The cranky bunch dented my confidence more than I had expected but I did take couple of learnings from their experiences.

On the other hand, I was relentlessly pestering my practice head, mobility team and eventually the leadership team to seek out the required information for my visa interview. The day before I had to fly to Chennai the mobility team came out of their slumber. They asked me to join them for a mock interview to boost my confidence, body language and alertness for the actual interview. I went and was trying to heap confidence. Out of nowhere the interviewer told me he will be recording this interview and it would be played to everyone in future who will apply for L1 visa. Do they have anything left in their Pandora box to baffle me? I took a deep breath and controlled myself. Generally, I don't sound crystal clear on phone or any electronic device and this made matter worse. He explained me the entire L1 visa process, its purpose and its limitation. It was followed by a set of questions and my feedback on the answers I gave. Even though I got a good feedback I felt mumbled during some answers and spoke a bit faster. Anyway, I didn't want to carry any baggage. I was done for the day. Rest of the day was spent in arranging the documents folder I needed to carry for interview.

Chennai here I come!!!

 Chennai a city where half of the places have names end with salai or bakkam. I was eager and anxious not only for visa interview but also for Chennai. It was the first time I was entering Chennai. I still have vital information left to obtain and tomorrow I had to fly. This didn't help me in having sound REM sleep. It felt as if I had just rested my head on my pillow and in 5 min it was 4:30 AM. I casually checked, and the airport was in one bakkam and my hotel in another.

Wednesday

I fly as often as India wins medals in Olympics. Our frequency matches I guess that's why I feel so associated to sports. Anyway, I forgot what the procedure was. Mansi again explained to me, this time without losing her cool. I started for airport in OLA cab. I reached way before time. The flight was scheduled at 7:30 AM and I was into the airport at 5:45. As the documents, laptops and clothes stacked up my luggage I had to bring two bags. I wanted everything to in cabin luggage. I was feeling the bags were heavier than usual. Then I laughed it off thinking it might be due I didn't have proper food for the last 2 days. I might have lost some weight and that had resulted in some weakness. 

The happiness was ephemeral. I confidently went to the baggage check in counter. I told him keep everything in cabin luggage no check in baggage please. He told me are you sure its 7kg. I confidently told him its less than 7kg. Come on !! you can only carry the confidence in interview if you have that attitude from at least 48 hours. He widened his eyes and gazed at me. "Could you please check the weight on display"? It was 8.4kg and I lost the dual.

Well it was a crazy morning. I was very apprehensive of my bag which I could see was dancing its way to conveyor belt. The bag had all my marksheets, degrees, passport. Basically, all the original documents I earned myself or I can say all my possession which were not on credit. I went to the security for quick clearance to save time. As I approach the queue I put my mobile wallet, charger and laptop on a tray. When my turn came the security personal asked me to remove my shoes and put it on the tray for separate clearance. This was the first time I was asked to remove shoes in an airport frisking. Fortunately, I didn’t have diamonds, gold, silver or drugs in my socks otherwise the trip would have been in jeopardy, I would have been detained in airport and USA would have missed a brilliant engineer. Ok enough of melodrama and day dreaming. Security clearance was completed and I waiting near my designated gate. The flight took off on time. Again, I was frightened as the plane started to roll on the airport and I controlled my squeal when the Boeing airbus took off. I resorted to watching movie to divert my mind. The only movie I had on my mobile was Bahubali. I watched it for some 15-20 min and slumber took over me. I dozed off quickly and woke up just minutes before landing. An airhostess came and offered me box of cashews and a Paperboat juice tetra pack. Since it was a corporate booking I was given this small refreshment. I slipped them inside the bag and focused on completing the rest and enjoying the landscape. I could not figure out the exact landscape. Cloud were not there so we were not at a high altitude, but I couldn’t see human colonies as well. It means we were somewhere in between of nothing. When the plane started to take its final descent, then it hit the scenery I was enjoying was nothing but mighty, beautiful and serene Bay of Bengal and to be more precise it was Marina Beach. It seemed the airplane caressed the sea while landing.

First thing I was worried about upon landing was not one thing. It was a cornucopia of thoughts. I was fretting over my check in baggage, at the same time I was hungry and on top of that I was getting an urge to use the restroom. Well the checkin baggage took the priority and I headed towards the conveyor belt. I was elated to find my precious bag. It was already 9:35 AM and I had to reach hotel and reach the center for finger printing at 2:45PM. Being a first timer in Chennai, I could not take my chances.

As I moved out of the airport I noticed the metro rail going above my head. The city was well planned and had proper public transportation for modest income group as well. Now between my appetite and hotel I chose to reach my hotel as soon as possible. The dedicated OLA point helped in speeding up the process of booking and boarding the cab. The first person with whom I had a decent interaction was Gopinath the cab driver. When the trip started Gopinath hinted that he is indifferent to me, my language and my appearance but that didn’t stop him from initiating the conversation in Tamil. I suggested I know a bit of Telugu and we can have half-baked conversation in Telugu. Gopinath nodded positively. I was mumbling Telugu words and was hoping they would connect to form meaningful sentence. Gopinath was replying in Tamil. We spent the next half an hour making each other linguistically uncomfortable.

The city had a peace in itself and the traffic was also lesser than Mumbai. I could imagine at some point the city was planned and built in a structured manner. In between Gopinath missed a turn and the journey became longer which meant the language barrier stayed for a longer duration. By now Gopinath was sure I was here for visa interview. His English efficiency and my Telugu efficiency were exactly matching. Broken English and hand gestures were his true allies. He taught me some tricks. E.g. go by ola auto only if you have cash as auto drivers don’t accept ola money. Also, if I am Chicken lover he suggested a place which I don’t remember now. It was very near to my hotel and to his heart as his lip smacking gesture and two thumbs up suggested. I was more concerned about reaching the hotel early and calm my nerves and was mostly ignoring his jibber jabber.

But since the trip was anyway going to last 30 more minutes. I asked about the places I can visit as a tourist while I am here. He suggested Marina beach and Mahabalipuram beach. Mahabalipuram beach will take 2-3 hours to reach. He asked me till when I will be staying here. I told him by tomorrow evening I will leave. He felt he wasted his precious energy on explaining me tourist destinations when I do not have enough time. He responded with a big huh and slapped his forehead. For the rest of the trip he did not know show any enthusiasm. I got off the cab and checked in to the hotel.

THE KINGs HOTEL

Well nothing tires me out more than speaking and the trip with Gopinath had taken a toll on me. I wanted to complete my sleep and eat in no order. Well I had very low expectations from the hotel as it was a 2-star hotel. The hotel did look shady. I was apprehensive of the security. The horses of my imagination started running wild again. I was just hoping police does not raid this place and I am taken to nearby police station with my head masked in black cloth on the charges of smuggling, adultery, drugs and what not. Fortunately nothing of that kind happened. The manager was polite and started my check in. I checked in and there was no concierge to accompany me to my room. The room was small and the bed sheets were smelly and dirty. I didn’t want to divert my mind from such things. I changed and freshen up and slept for some time. When the clock ticked 1PM I ordered lunch. The concierge waited for some time after he delivered and presented the lunch on table. I was not going to tip him anyway. The wait was a futile exercise. I had full meal and started arranging the documents folder for one more time. 

To be continued……….