Since the school times I was fascinated by the idea about going abroad and studying there. I wanted to do post graduation in Engineering in USA. At that time, I did not know the post graduation in USA is called Graduation and one does not get Master in Engineering but Master of Science. Then 10th grade exams came to the doorsteps and then 12th grade exams and then I got tangled up in Bachelor’s Degree course. Somewhere at the hidden parts of brain this commitment I made to myself, started voicing slowly as I was close to finishing my Bachelor’s Degree course. All a sudden I thought may be I need to join a coaching class (external tutoring) where I will study for GRE exam. But, my routine at that time was such that, I would spend almost whole day working for plays. Even though I knew at that time that theatre is not the profession I want for myself, still anyone who has worked for the theatre will admit that it’s attraction is worse than most of the drugs. For a theatre person you can live without food or money but you can’t live without the theatre. Joining the coaching classes was essential because none of family members or friends had any idea about the exam. ‘I must confess that I did not go to the classes for GRE and attended the classes. I feel somewhat guilty for the fact that my parents paid the fees and I never attended any of the class.’
With all what was going on in my life, somehow I gave lesser importance for studying for GRE exams. May be, I was overconfident, but, ‘if you are an aspirant to study in USA please do not take this exam for granted.’ Fortunately I was good at Mathematics as such and unfortunately other section of this exam was English where I performed poorly. Still I managed a good score. I remember the day of the exam. There’s no GRE exam center in Pune (India) so I had to go to Mumbai. Before, this encounter with GRE exam, I really went to Mumbai to stay at a strange place, because me and my father did not want to go to some relative’s home. Yes, my father accompanied me to Mumbai. He is a caring father and I also felt somewhat comfortable that, I am with somebody who knows the city and places. We stayed in a clumsy lodge the day before the actual exam day. In Mumbai that’s the only place you can afford if you don’t to spend thousands in rent for a night. Today I find it funny that even if I had done no preparation for exam I was not tensed on the night before. Next day we went to the examination place. One thing I like about GRE exam is that you get the score exactly after you are finished with it. I managed to get a decent score, which I sometimes think could have been better. But, then would I have had the same life? I don’t know but first step was cleared.
The next step was to apply for TOEFL exam. It is an exam you have to appear for if your country’s native language is not English. Indians have to appear for it even if there more English speaking people in India than any other country. Which I feel is an irony. I wanted to apply for the US Universities just after my graduation (which is called Under graduation in US). But, because of my busy schedule which I mentioned earlier, engineering exams and also some laziness which I am born with, I did not appear for TOEFL in time. During all this mashup I managed to get hired in TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) in Mumbai. So, I thought I will work in TCS, Mumbai till I will give TOEFL and apply and leave TCS. I won’t go into too much details about my life in Mumbai, may be , I will write it sometime later. But, just to give an India I used to in Andheri East, in a 6×4 ft room with a single bed and this location was at 35 minutes of walking distance from TCS office. I was sent to Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu, Southern state of India) for the training. I spent around 2 1/2 months in Coimbatore, which can also be a good topic for writing; but, I will stick to the subject for now. I appeared for TOEFL in Coimbatore. The only difference this time was that, I studied for 3 hrs the day before, which is more than the efforts I took for GRE but still I feel I could have studied better, even though I don’t know whether I could have got better score or not, because, I got a good score in TOEFL. Again, for aspirants I will recommend to study hard for this exam as well. And the second step was cleared.
Now, came the question for applying for the Universities. I think I applied for around 10 universities, out of which I got admit from Wayne State University, Detroit and Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla (MO). I took up admit by Missouri S&T. One thing which I would like to mention that while applying for the universities, candidates are supposed pay the application fees only through a credit card. Unfortunately, many of the people in India do not use credit card. Even if they do the expenditure limit is not that high (because 1$ ~ 50 Rs at 2008 now it is around 68 Rs per 1$). So even 200$ doesn’t sound big 200×68=13,600 Rs is a big amount in India. However, my aunt (father’s sister) and uncle were gracious enough to let us use their credit card for application. When I received I-20 form the step three was cleared.
For people living in US, the application process and other processes international students especially Indian students go through are tough, both physically and financially. The natural next step was to apply for the visa. Fortunately I had the passport so only thing remaining was to apply for the visa. But, this process is not as simple as it sounds. These days, there is a two days process. You have to submit the bio-metric data and documents at least 24 hours before the visa interview time. When I applied for the student’s visa the F-1 visa (F 1 sounded kind of cool at that time!) the it was a one day process. You take the photo, give the bio-metric data and off you go to the interview. For me interview lasted 5 mins at the most. I thought at that time and still think that I was lucky to get visa that quickly without any fuss. I will explain later on why I say so. One, thing which I found disturbing is that, it the interviewing officer who gets to decide who gets visa and who does not. This to my mind does not sound just at any moment till today. An officer with his personal will can let you in or not into US is a disturbing thought. This consulate was in Mumbai. It was at Nariman Point (Southern Mumbai) and this time also my father accompanied me. Sometimes I feel, I owe a lot of what I have right now, to my father. He always stood with me when it counted, always there to support, never said no to any of my aspirations and never made me feel down. Back to the visa interview. I got my visa approved in 5 mins and step four was cleared.
After getting the visa approved, the only things remained were, resigning from TCS (many of my colleagues thought I was committing a mistake), visiting various temples and sacred places (which I feel is a very important part of my life. I am a theist and I do believe there is god), meeting relatives, friends (it is important because lot of them will give you advises even though none of them have ever went to US, not even outside India for that matter), calling relatives to your house so that they can congratulate you (some of them cry as if I was going on a war-front and won’t come back in near future), going to favorite restaurants and roaming around the town almost every time you get an opportunity. I did all of those.
I love Pune as much as I love Cincy (Cincinnati). Buying the ticket and going to airport is not a big deal but watching your parent and sister cry while you are entering the airport is a heartbreaking experience. Yes, in India no one is allowed inside the airport except travelers! It took a lot of effort, not to cry. For the first time I thought ‘Oh my god! I am going away from my family!’. That they I saw my father cry for me for the first time. For a moment I thought, run outside this, go back to the family and embrace them and say I wan’t go away ever from you. I didn’t do so because, in my father’s tears I was seeing dreams he saw for me and the blessings. That gave me some comfort in that emotional time. Finally I went inside, from where I couldn’t see them anymore. It was the most emotional moment in my life. Just like any other first timer my bags were overweight and I had to throw away many of the sweets to reduce the weight. For the first timers.. do not take a lot of food with you. You get almost everything in US including dals. Don’t need a rice cooker, you can cook rice in a microwave. Don’t take wheat/jowar flour, you will never get time to make Indian bread. Nowadays you will get almost everything in US except if you live in the countryside like Missouri. I had already made arrangements for the pickup from St Louis (MO) airport to Rolla. I checked in my bags and was sitting in the lounge thinking..
“I had left my previous life outside the gate of the airport and was waiting for the flight that will take me to the future!”