South Kensington, MD

Well, according to the latest Facebook stats and some other sources, I now live in South Kensington, MD. Kensington, MD is a tiny little town that flits by when you're driving from D.C. north on Connecticut Avenue. It is not big enough to have a north and a south. First, during the real estate boom, we were called North Bethesda so that people could sell their houses at a higher price. Since we moved in to this neighborhood we've been Rock Creek Palisades-Kensington, Kensington-North Bethesda, and now South Kensington/North Bethesda. Hmmmm, I wonder if I could improve my street cred by claiming that I'm from the south side of Kensington like the south side of Chicago!!!

Visa Update

So, I got my Indian visa!! Wheee. The Indian Embassy returned my old Indian passport with "Accepted US Citizenship, June 9, 2008" stamped across the last page. This guy in line told me that I should carry my Indian passport with me just in case immigration in Bangalore asks for it. I've heard stories about immigration in Bombay and Hyderabad harassing American citizens of Indian origin for their old passports and such.

So, I'm all set to return to India. I can't wait!

The Last Frontier of Outsourcing-Tourist Visas

One of the first paper-pushing tasks for any new Foreign Service Officer of the United States is the dreaded visa circuit. This entails interviewing people who are applying to come to the United States for a variety of reasons. This also includes a lot of personality reading, cross questioning, and investigating at the interview. For example, is this person applying for a tourist visa nervous because they don't interview well, or is it because he/she plans on settling down in the U.S.? I have heard stories of new Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) assigned to the Embassy in Mexico City, which makes or breaks an FSO. People have reportedly quit after their first tour just issuing visas because the workload is so high.

The outsourcing phenomenon that began in IT, where jobs were sent from the U.S. to India, has now even effected the Indian Embassy. In an interesting twist, visas for people visiting or working in India are now handled by an outsourcing agency called Travisa India.

I think this is a great idea. I filled in my application for a tourist visa to India on Friday online in a pdf file, printed it out and hand delivered it today to Travisa India. After turning it in, I was given a receipt and told to check the status online. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I also had to surrender my old Indian passport and fill out paperwork renouncing my Indian citizenship, but the process was quick and painless.

The status reads "Documents sent to Embassy" as of 11:25 a.m. So I guess the Embassy still issues the visas but the initial collection of paperwork is done by Travisa. I'll keep you posted on the outcome when I go to pick the visa up this evening.

There's nothing like a good, quiet Sunday.

I went out last night and stayed out till 4 a.m.! So when I got back home this morning, I spent the whole day on the couch watching Spiderman 3 and doing a bit of studying. I'll be glad when the MBA is over, and I hope it will be worth it.

I've started exploring post MBA opportunities. I want to be a transit consultant and have been looking at Booz Allen and McKinsey. They seem to have interesting jobs in many sectors for people with MBAs.

The weather is infernally hot today so I'm just sitting here watching episodes of SATC and drinking plenty of ice water.

The Gulliver Bug

Au Secours!!! I've been bitten by the travel bug and am waiting to fly off into the world again. First comes the trip back to India in July. Then a week in Beijing/Xian in October and finally a week in some Caribbean spa/hotel in December. The best trip is going to be Australia for two weeks for Ed's birthday in January.

Ed turns 40 and, so far, Ed, Kevin and I are going Down Under!!! We're going to celebrate his birthday in style. We're thinking of Sydney and Melbourne or Singapore and Sydney. Should be a blast. I've already started putting money away in the Kangaroo Fund!

So, I saw the Sex in the City movie AGAIN today and loved it even more the second time around! The critics have panned it and over-analyzed it. Look, it's just a bunch of girls out having fun. It is about relationships and their highs and lows to which we can all relate, men or women. It's about snazzy Manhattan apartments and the rock and roll lifestyle and a whole lot of harmless fun and chuckles. The critics can go cry over another movie but this one is just the sort of movie you go see with a bunch of friends before a night on the town! So just go see it and laugh your ass off. I will be seeing it for the THIRD time next Friday with Jen (sorry, luv, had to see it with the cuz on opening night!)