India fights back!

Assuming you read my last blog of the big goof-up that USCIS commited harrassing the thousands of desis in this country. Well, the loss was tremendous. People cancelling their holidays, paying those exhorbitant cancelation charges, cutting short their trips and heading home to prepare the papers. And with the sudden revokal by the govt, Indians were furious. And guess what the desis did this time, they fought back. And this time, they adopted the Gandhi approach. Inspired by the recent movie, Lage Raho Munnabhai, they sent flowers to the USCIS office. Everyone knew this would not change the decision, but atleast it would catch the attention of the powerful media. And did this Gandhigiri pay off?

 

IT DID. Yes, there were rallies too, and other protests, and the Gandhigiri. The other lawyer foundations were ready with their lawsuit. What really worked we don't know. But, the govt took back its suspension, and opened up the doors once again to the ever-so-green card. I am just glad that this time, we just didn't sit idle, as is the underlying nature of Indians. We fought back and we got results.  

Popat banaya

USCIS ne popat banaya. They literally took millions of GC-aspiring immigrants for a ride. To spare you the details and give you just a gist, there are three stages in the Greencard process. We have finished two. They had stopped accepting the applications for the third due to their backlog. In June, they announced they are opening all of it up from July. Chinkus, desis, makkus, all made a beeline at the doctors' to get their medical clearance, spent precious dollars on getting vaccinations, fedexing documents overnite, getting birth certificates in order, etc etc.  And comes July 2nd, (1st being a sunday), they issue a bulletin announcing they have temporarily suspended accepting applications for watever BS reasons they give.

 

Sometimes, we really feel, damn this US govt, who is keeping us legal tax-paying immigrants submerged in their bureaucratic paperwork, while legalizing all those who have just run across borders. What if the entire H1B community just left this country at one time? That would really shake them off their BIG ass (sorry for the language but you can judge our frustration). Well, obviously you would question me, then why are you staying here? Why don't you go back? It is way too complicated to just leave and go back. Maybe i could explain this in another blog.

 

Well, as of now, everyone is disappointed on all the time and money wasted. A lawsuit has to be on its way. And our freedom, freedom from the paperwork, restrictions, portability, layers of bloodsucking middleman is again a distant dream away.

SFO (continued from the california trip)

SFO city, another gem in the country of great cities. The Golden Gate Bridge stands tall to welcome you; and not only was i enthralled at the size of it, but was blown away, literally, with the breeze. I thought it wuld be a nice sunny day; it was sunny, but with a mild chill and I had nothing more than a light jacket. Anyways, the view was amazing. The Alcatraz, lonely island, staring at the city's downtown, the hills, the vast ocean, the sailboats, the cargo boat, everything was mesmerizing. I immediately fell in love with the city.

 

The downtown was equally interesting, needless to say, inspiring. The ups and downs, the crooked streets, the slanted cars parked up on the angled paths, I loved it. Will definitely post pictures here. Beautiful downtown, I must say. And there were actual people who lived on the "Crooked Street." I found that a bit hard to believe, god knows why.

 

Headed to my friend, Kiran's place in the evening. Stayed with her and her very adorable son, Aryan, who happens to be just one day older than Anushka for two fun days before heading back to the East. The kids had a blast, and so did we. Giggled, and talked, and shared, and cooked. Fun, fun and fun.

 

A fun holiday that was.

Eulogy

I wish to dedicate this blog to my computer, who was just not a home pc, but a friend, guide and philosopher....and googler, and chatter, and a music box and ...well the list goes on and on. There was a flicker and my comp breathed its last. Though I admit I did rave and rant when it just refused to boot up, but the network guys informed me well, that it had lived its life and it was time for it to go. I shouldn't really complain. Instead, I should give it a well-meant farewell.

 

I stayed without a PC for a fortnight, which guys, is not a short time. The internet is your window to the world, isn't it? One day you don't connect to your messengers, and you feel so lost, don't u? I couldn't voice chat with my family, I couldn't listen to my music, I couldn't check my orkut,  and my message boards. Though I have to say my berry saved me from just tearing my hair away. I could atleast check my mails and read Bombay Midday. Berry was the blessing that kept me alive and helped me get thru this teary, lonely 15 days.

 

Jignesh has now left his laptop with me until we get a new desktop. Yes, the PC did get its replacement, but I just wanted to write a few words so that I don't delete my old PC off my memory.

Sunny California

Whom am I kidding? I loved it. I loved California......or should i say Kaaliforrnya (as Arnold says). The state has it all. Ocean, mountains, lakes, green verdant pastures, technology, and tech companies. And yes, the paper green too. And lots and lots of desis, with come hand in hand with a deluge of indian restaurants and stores. I wouldn't mind moving to Calif, only if it were affordable. The houses, the rents, the gas, everything is super expensive. Yes, I know the salaries are better too, but i don't think its proportionate.

 

Sacramento was affordable. Lovely city. Cheap, nice, and california.

 

Lake Tahoe was a 2 hour drive from Sacramento and absolutely breathtaking. If I may, let me jot down a few statistics here. The lake is 6K plus feet above sea level, 22 miles in length, 12 miles wide, 72 miles of perimeter, 99.99% pure. If you drop an object like 70 feet deep, you can still see it. We drove around the entire perimeter, and clicked a dozen pictures. It was beautiful, calm, and serene, and picturesque.

 

San Fransisco, to be continued.

The Blackberry season

It is certainly the time for blackberries. Everyone you see, is carrying blackberries. And By blackberry, I don't mean the fruit. I mean the blackberry fone. Wonder how they come up with names Blackberry, and you have the latest Chocolate by Verizon......whooaaa!!!

 

So as I have to try to live up with the Joneses, I bought myself a Blackberry too. I can't truly say I bought one, coz they are giving it away for free on the Internet. Infact, its not only free, I am getting $75 cash back. How better can it get? Well, I have to say, the Joneses had nothing to do with me getting a new fone. My old fone had lived its life, the charger had given up hope, and out of desperation, I keyed in to look for new fones. And I love it. It's sleek, and sexy and I am handling it like it were made of glass. Its funny how precious things are when newly purchased. And as it loses its "new" charm, its going to be lying around waiting to be picked and tossed by my girl and I won't even bother.

 

I am seriously impressed with the way these Americans run their business. They give away the best fones for free, only to get you hooked to their montly plans. Its an excellent strategy and I would love for India to follow suit. Its best for both, the company as well as the customer. The customer gets the coolest fones for free, the company gets a contract.

 

Anyways, I am gonna go enjoy my fone and sms my new number to "MyCircle". ;)

Fly In Fly Out

Fly In Fly Out has become a pseudo culture for the immigrant consultants (yes, i know, there can be american consultants too) in US of A. Have to stick to the same company for the never to fade desire of a Greencard ( ever wonder why green, and not blue and red that we are so used to seeing here). A consultant, I would describe, is a nomadic, highly skilled IT professional jumping from one client to the other, hopping from one flight to the other, all inorder to reap the dollars/hr.

 

Jignesh is off to California for a short project. Will come home not every weekend, every other weekend. I am bored. Anushka misses him terribly. Poor thing!!! And surprisingly, I miss him too.  With more green, comes more blues, wat can i say??