Its strange how getting a visa to the USA has become this torturous and traumatic process filled with uncertainity. People worry about it for weeks before going for the visa interview and one is constantly worrying about what to do and more importantly what not to do. People take with them their entire life histories, proof of all the money and land they own to prove that they have adequate reason to return to India.
That said, this was my second visit to the consulate and both sets of visa interviews have been very pleasant. This time, the consular official asked me what I worked on, when I told him I worked on chronic stress, he said "does interviewing 120 people for a visa everyday qualify as chronic stress". In that instant, I felt immense sympathy for him and the rest of the 'firangs', it cannot be an easy job talking to a hundred people everyday and trying to figure out who have legitimate reasons for going and who don't.
In a country like India going abroad, especially the west is often considered to be a status symbol. I've heard of people commanding higher dowries as they are US-returns :( or Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The last time I was in the US for a course, my parents had gone to their hometown in north-Karnataka and someone there congratulated them on my rise to fame in going to the US. I bet I could have gotten a really large dowry (thankfully I am happily married and dont believe in the practise of dowry - more about that some other time).
Its kind of strange as its not like living abroad gives you something special as a human being apart from maybe a greater exposure to the rest of humankind. Strangely enough, most of the NRIs I know are as orthodox and conservative in their views as they were before they left, in many cases more so. I think being far from home makes them hold on to their culture even harder.
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