Shyam's Blog

I was putting on my shoes this afternoon and I recollected the days in one of the schools I studied. It was in Tumkur that students had to carry a pair of shoes in the bag every day. In the morning session, we had to wear the black shoes. After lunch, it was required for us to wear the white canvas shoes. This was for PT or games period. Few kids used to bring the shoes along with lunch box carrier. I really feel that it was a stupid rule to carry an extra pair of shoes to school every day.

Documents to take for H4 visa 1) Form 156 and 157 and one photo. 2) Appointment letter mentioning the time and date for interview 3) Notice of Action I-797 (Original) 4) H1-Petition Copy of husband 5) Marriage Certificate (Original) 6) 30 (max) Photos of wedding (must include samples of all events) 7) Wedding Invitation 8) Recent (2 months) pay slips of husband 9) Letter from husband's employer which states that he is employed in that company 10) W2 and copies of Tax returns filed in the last couple of years Not all the above documents might be seen or verified at the time of interview. But, not having them might harm the applicant. For Marriage Certificate, here are some of the documents required 1) Wedding invitation 2) Driver's License (address proof) of both 3) SSLC (10th) Marks card (name and DOB proof) of both 4) 5-6 copies of double-passport size photo having husband and wife in the picture 5) Three eye witnesses - their full details with signature of them 6) Application

Back to Utah! Back to work! Snow is back! Landed in SLC on Friday night. Weekend was filled with meeting people and doing a bit of shopping. Today is Monday and it is snowing heavily outside. It was perfect picture to stay home and drink coffee watching the snowfall outside sitting besides my wife. But, work is worship.

We are starting in few minutes from Sarayu (residence), Bangalore. It had been a great tour. With lots of shopping and roaming. One thing I missed (missing it for 5 years) is Davangere Benne Malase dose. Few more things I could not complete... 1) wanted to buy gifts for friends 2) wanted to watch 'taree zameen par' 3) wanted to go for small picnic Few things I saw and still think: 1) Traffic in Bangalore 2) Some public services and their systems of working etc etc

We are finally flying today. It is a successful story after all the thrillers. First, visa/passport not arriving; second, both falling badly sick. Passport story first - Interview was held on 7th (Monday) January and passport was expected to arrive in 3-4 days. It was 11th (Friday) night. We checked the status online to know the reason of the delay. The message read, "Your passport has not been handed over to VFS." This means, the passport is still on the desk of US Consular and has not left their office. Once it leaves that office, it has to be handed over to Courier and that will again take 2-3 days for delivery. We saw the calender of US Consulate, Chennai and it mentioned, "Tuesday - Holiday for US Consulate on the occasion of Pongal". So, if they take action on Monday (14th), we might (50% chance) have a chance of receiving it on Thursday morning/evening. Monday was the action day. We first called Call Center Number. We got the same information, "Passport

Driving on Bangalore roads is very easy. This is IF you drive the car yourself. For passengers, it might be confusing though. Only one rule to know - Just squeeze in your car whereever you find some gap and you are the leader! If you don't follow this thumb rule, you are sure to stay where you are forever.

Yesterday, we were driving in one of the galli-s (small road) and I was surprised to see many IT related boards. A board read, "Call Center training and placement". Another read, "bla bla bla Tech Training Center, Specializing in C, C++, Java, Unix, Oracle." It was such a small road that nobody can expect to see such boards. In future, if people ask me, "What language do your people talk back home?", I might say, "They know "C, C++, Java, apart from our mother tongue, Kannada."!!!

My India visit is going good. First week was hectic because of wedding parties. Next The second week was more a recovery week. This week is packing week. Next week is, 'good bye' week. There is so much to do and so less time. One thing I am not "following the rules" is visiting people for dinner/lunch/tea/coffee. Most of my relatives and friends have verbally invited me and my wife to visit them. If I start the list, it grows a bit longer than expected. So, 'total cancel' of visit plans. A few lessons to be written to all those who visit India. Mainly, for their own wedding. This includes all the paperwork which needs to be done to get a visa. One thing is for sure, don't use the 'checklist' given my US visa consulate. This checklist is available once you complete the visa forms (156 and 157). If one follows that list, he/she is sure to get a rejection at the visa interview. Because of inputs from people around, I had all the documents for the inte