A globe-trotters travel blunder tale!

After a few flights around Europe and bus journeys in USA, I was very confident of traveling abroad, until I encountered this strange situation from the Canadian Embassy for a Canadian Transit Visa. Apparently, I booked my tickets for Hong Kong through Air Canada, with a 3 hr transit in Vancouver Terminal M. I was supposed to CHANGE flights from the SAME terminal, WITHOUT getting out in the city. I had a travelled a couple of times before, with transits at the Dubai and Belgium Airport through Emirates and Air India flights. Thus, my obvious assumption, I will not need any Canadian Visa to hop on to my next flight. But, only to discover, that I made an ASS of U and ME-ASSUME !

Luckily, my elder sister-Anita recalled having a conversation with one of her friends, who had a similar itinerary booked. And he told her, that he needed to apply for a transit Visa, which came free of cost. She called me up ASAP and we looked into my flight schedule, called up the Air Canada airline, Travelocity and the Canadian Embassy to get some guidance on the matter. With no useful responses, from any of them, she decided to inquire personally at the Canadian Embassy in New York. All this happened while I prepared and gave my final presentation for the exam. I came home in the afternoon and we looked over our available options.

1.Go to the nearest Embassy in Washington DC and apply for the Visa, commute through taxi or bus, stay at a hotel for a day, or until I received my passport back. I was determined to get my passport stamped with the Visa and not return to Raleigh without it because of the time crunch.

2.Go to New York ASAP, get in line for the Visa at 8 am, travel by trains, stay at Anita’s and wait until I received my passport back., as she knew the city well.

Relieved.

We chose option 2 and I decided to take the over night Chinese Gotobus from Raleigh to New York as 11 pm and asked Vasanth my friend to drop me to the bus stop 5 miles away from home.

Relieved again. But.

Only to my amazement, it was over booked and there were no seats available now. Thus, I printed a 9:20 pm Greyhound bus ticket at 8:30 and requested Sineade, my dear room mate to drive me to Greyhound 2 miles away from home. We ran, as fast as we could, to the computer room, trying to print tickets in a jammed printer at Wolf Village. Once printed, we dashed to the parking lot and she rushed me to the Greyhound stop. I said my farewell to Sineade, as I will not see her again anytime soon :(

Relived, we reached!

But. As soon as I went to inquire about the boarding time of the bus, I heard an announcement-‘’The 9:20 Greyhound bus to New York has been delayed by 3 hrs and MAY depart by 12 midnight’’! I was shocked and cursed the bus company. I spoke to Anita and she suggested, I fly to New York ASAP at night or take an early morning flight, not to miss the Embassy, which closes at 10:30 am. If I missed the Embassy, I would loose a day and be late for my graduation on Saturday, the 13^th May. So, I called up Vasanth again to pick me from Greyhound and drop me to Airport, as Raleigh transport is not very efficient at night. We could not find night flights, so I decided to take the 6 am morning flight. Vasanath dropped me home, only to surprise Sineade of my early return!

Relived. Home finally with an early morn expensive flight to NYC.

I reached the Canadian embassy in time to submit my forms and when I crosschecked them, after submission, I found a few mistakes! My heart started pounding! What IF I get a rejection, after spending bucks on a flight to NYC, as getting a full refund on my HK Flight was not possible. I started to chant God’s name and carried on with my work for the day. I was ready for his decision and came to collect the passport next day at the Embassy.

Relieved!

Got my Canada visa to go to China !

Strange, but true!

RELIEVED!

And its time to leave again...

The MGIM program is based in 3 countries, starting from France, heading to USA, and finally ending in China. The moment you start feeling at home in a new place, its time to board the plane and jet to the next destination. You meet people from all over the wold, make connections, initiate friendships, and create a global network. The sad part being, leaving behind the people you just got accustomed and friendly to. To some, thats the beauty of the program,but for me dealing with changes, cultures, people, attitudes has been a great learning! So, while I try to make the most of my last 2 weeks in Raleigh, I am ready to move to China, traveling through Hong Kong and returning to USA for my internship. I made some great relations here, friends from India have been a great help to generate new friendships here and school friends based in USA have always given me immense support whenever I felt home sick.
thank you all.

Love America, the land of diversity.
Love France, the land of historic culture.
Love China, lets wait and watch!?

a bucket full of amul butter!

There is a famous saying in Indian academic life, 'he is buttering the faculty', or trying to impress him with tactics and sweet talk for extra marks or favour. It is a common assumption among people, 'he may want something back in favour from me, that is why he is so sweet to me'! Had I carried this misconception to the Southern State of North Carolina, everyone I met would have wanted something in return!!!

I was introduced to the Southern hospitality, while I waited by the bus stop at Wolf Village and a student cycling by, remarked “May all of you have a good day today! “! I was surprised as the comment brought a smile to my face and a sense of belongingness, to a city I recently moved. I thought to myself, ‘Welcome to the Raleigh, North Carolina, Sothern hospitality at its best’! Ever since I have taken care to wish ‘hey how are you today?’, ‘may you have a good day!’ to every driver of a bus I enter,  a coffee shop I visit, a stranger by the dinning hall and a faculty passing by the lounge. This being happened and I thought I had seen it all, but to my amazement, not!

One day, I walked by a car wash near the Catham square in between the neighboring town Cary and Raleigh as I was trying to reach the nearest Triangle transit bus station to head back home. I noticed a young boy, who was washing a car. The moment I made an eye contact with him, he shouted aloud-‘’hey, how are you today?’! And once again, I smiled and walked, as I experienced the real USA today. I sensed what I had heard or seen only in the movies, where passer-bys greeted or wished you morning, the teachers spoke to you with Pleases and Thank yous in the class and shop keepers wished you a good day.


Being said that, I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend! J

PS: Its not amul butter, but southern tea here! :P

judge me not ! Connect 4 !

Canada born-Ottawa raised-Boston studied and New York based Indian percussionist: Rohin Khemani,
was my discovery of the night for 2 hours at the Busy bee cafe in down town Raleigh, after we witnessed a foot tapping performance by the band Red Baraat at the NC State Stewart theatre. As a young child, my father scolded me if I made fun of obese or short people, teaching me NOT to judge anyone by their looks or clothes they wear. That said, coming from a Fashion School, judging people on their clothes or observing them is my time killing task at school and in the wolfline bus I ride everyday.
So while, the lead singer at Red Baraat: sunny jain took the audience's attention with his Dhol and strategic lead positioning, Mr.Rohin was playing his little instruement in the backdrop of the band, easy to miss anyone's eye. I did not care to take a picture with him, when I walked up to the band for a group picture, as he sat far away from the len's frame. I greeted him faintly when we entered the bar, but tried to stick around the lead singer, as he was the lead!!! But birthday for Sunny changed positions as Mr.Rohin vanished in the space and I overtook his seat, little did I realize that he will be back. A gentleman, he let me sit and we started out our conversation with general Indian American upbringing, school, career discussions leading to my family and his, parents, house, travel, etc. etc. until I told him I was looking for internships in the Fashion industry. Instantly, he suggested me to get in touch with his dear friend, Namrata Joshipura, an Indian designer based out of Delhi and take some guidance or talk for internships/job opportunities. I was surprised and amazed to the level of courteous good doing a person can do, to someone he met an hour ago. It made me think of our MBA case studies, where a lady is involved in various friend circles did good all the time, no matter who it be. Our conversation revolved around his life in Pune learning tabla and the band's will to tour India. The good doing syndrome had got a toll on me and I suggested them to start playing in India with my will to connect them to someone at Blue Frog, Mumbai's happening gig place for international/national bands. He instantly wanted to connect to me on Facebook, but ended up jotting my e-mail address, as we discussed about the amount of time people wasted on facebook. We grabbed some drinks, and danced on the first floor of the cafe, but our vocal chords were more active than the shin muscles. Thus, we ended up in the outer Portico at the cafe, but rain god did not want us to hang around in there, bringing us back to the ground floor to talk, rather than dance. Our next destination: The architect, a dance bar near by. Situation:a long line outside. Conclusion: back to square one at the busy bee, until it closed down at 2 am and Kruti drove us ALL back home through the Dollar Tree Hotel, past Wolf Village Way and the Indian guy's house. Thus, connecting 4 people-Namrata, Blue Frog, Ritu and Rohin through one glass of whisky and water.

o' balle balle!

Potatoe day

When groceries are cheap at Food Lion or the Around the World Market in Cary, one tends to get tempted to buy bigger packs for good deals, only to realize that a 5 pound Potatoe bag for 2 people is way more than potatoes needed for a month. So, when C cile and I saw that our potatoes were germinating in the black net bag, we decided to call it a day and set the pan on stove to bring out some carb delicacies. I tried to look for French preparations, but quick Indian recipes caught my eye on youtube. We dished some cumin seed potataoe, potatoe in tomatoe curry to last us for 2 days of lunch, and some baked potatoe wedges for a midnight snack.

See below are the before and after pictures of our versatile vegetable: POTATOE!

when they started germinating !
and then we laid out some sustainable varieties ! :P

 

Whats your game?!

The smell of chlorine and splash of water, swimming pools take me back to the memories at Ellisbridge and Sports. Basket ball, badminton, racket ball, squash, gymnastics, mountain climbing, aerobics, you name it and NC State has the sport. I am lucky enough to practice badminton and meet new people at the game. The chinese are extremely talented and down to earth, while French curse at every lost point, I encourage my partners and liven up the atmosphere! The body ache after a game, gives me immense satisfaction of exercise and pleasure of guilt brownie !

Have time, will play a sport.

Friends?!

friends?!
with 1574 friends on Facebook, I had almost lost the value of the close ones.
sitting 1000 miles apart and connecting people in another world, is truly a good deed through Gtalk.
Thank you Sharan Goel!
No thanks Facebook !

                            V/S