OUR TRIP TO
USA… LEFT India ON 15TH OCTOBER, 2007
BY AIR INDIA +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FLIGHT....FROM CHENNAI AIRPORT..
PARAMESWARA IYER VIJAYARAGHAVAN
AND HIS SPOUSE
BRINDHA LAKSHMI VENKATARAMAN…
I had visited the
UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA IN 1993 accompanying my younger brother DR.P.NARAYAN who is a Radiation Oncologist at Hazard, Kentucky
It was a tour
for 4 months and over and I got
opportunity to visit places like Singapore,
Canada, and many places in USA. Some
places I have visited are Niagara falls,
New York, new Jersey, Florida, Universal studio, Wall
Street,Kentucky,Cincinnati,Washington,Lexington,kings island, Louisville,
etc. I have prepared a report or database of my previous
visit and used to write letters
to my children Rajesh Parameswaran
and Chitra and their mother Brindha
explaining various places
and things in
America
My son,, Rajesh Parameswaran and daughter
chitra where at Tiruchirappalli.Tamil Nadu and
were studying in various grades in school…..RSK
School,BHEL, and thus couldn’t accompany me. They used to be contacted over telephone once
in a week through the telephone of neighbor at Thillainagar where we were
staying…
Now my son Rajesh Vijayaraghavan
is at Austin…he came to USA 7
years back for his MS at Texas
Tech University and daughter Dr.Chitra came to United
States of America a month back
for appearing for Medical admission for MD…Residency…at various Medical
Universisties in USA.. and is at Hyden..Near Hazard...in KENTUCKY STATE..
.....
.....
It was very nice for
me during my last trip as I had
visited various places like Singapore …en route and
other places like New York, Niagara falls, Florida, Chicago,
Cincinnati , Canada etc and mainly staying
at Hazard KY. With my brother ,
sister in law Indira and children Divya,
Nithya and Ram... I had stayed in United States
of America about 4 months and returned home
in November, 1993. Years have elapsed and
have come back to United States of
America with the spouse to
join other family members including
the son daughter in law Shwetha and daughter.
I shall try to narrate
various episodes starting with expiry of
previous passport ,obtention of new
passport and visa etc and so on and
so forth and feel glad it it shall be
felt a matter of interest to
those who read it.
Now we have landed
at Austin the capital of Texas
state one among the fifty states forming
the united states of America. 0n 15Th
October, 2007
A FLASHBACK
..........DREAM COME TRUE..............VISITING
AMERICA.......MORE BY MY WIFE BRINDA
LAKSHMI....HER DESIRE TO HAVE OUR FAMILY
CONVERGED AT THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA....
We were
married 3 decades ago on 4the
Sept, 1974 at Chennai.. and as
it occurs we had marriage at
perhaps an early age as she had
just become a major and was
thus having the characteristics and
features of a minor girl from
Tamil Nadu ..Incidentally she was staying and studying at Andipatti in Madurai at
the time of marriage and we
used to welcome her to house as
bahu...Andipatti rani....Whether by coincidence
or on account of astrological
importance Andipatti became and important
place in Tamil Nadu...the constituency from
where some noted chief ministers got
elected like the demagogue MGR
and later his successor Ms.Jayalalithaa Jayaraman
under the support of the Dravidian
party...AIADMK....BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN
THERE IS A WOMAN ..IS IT
TRUE....?
It was an eventful
year 2007 as I had completed
40 years of service in Bank of India and getting ready to
retire from Bank of India where
I have been working as a senior manager
and also our schedule to leave
for USA comprising .three
of us....my wife Brindha Lakshmi daughter
Chitra and myself. we had our
applications for passport submitted in
2005 while I was working at
Dharmapuri Branch of Bank of India. Chitra
had come to Dharmapuri on a holiday from
her medical college internship period and
although I had office and was on
duty went to the Collector's Office at
Dharmapuri and submitted our passport
applications with some requirements such as
proof of address date of birth
etc and pasting photos in correct places
in the passport application and enclosing a
bank demand draft for Rs.1500 fvg Regional
passport Officer, Chennai
I REPEAT SOME REQUIREMENTS
/ PRECAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED WHILE APPLYING
FOR PASSPORT.
HAVE CORRECT PROOF
OF ADDRESS......LIKE RATION CARD...WITH YOUR NAME/ADRESS
SPELT/INCORPORATED PROPERLY
HAVE AN EVIDENCE OF
YOUR DATE OF BIRTH ...RECORD....YOUR SS LC OR +2 MARK
SHEET RECORDING YOUR DATE OF BIRTH
THEREIN
Obtain Passport
APPLICATION FORM.....GO THROUGH THE INSTRUCTIONS
GIVEN IN THE ANNEXURE.... SUBMIT THE
APPLICATION ALONG WITH THE DD FOR
REQUIRED AMOUNT.....
BE CLEAR AND CERTAIN
FILING ’ FIRST NAME , SURNAME, FATHER'S NAME
........ETC........
AFFIX THE PHOTOGRAPHS AS
REQUIRED IN THE APPLICATIONS......
GET IN TOUCH WITH
POLICE OF LOCAL POLICE STATION FOR
ANY POLICE VERIFICATION...
YOU CAN ASCERTAIN
THE POSITION OF PASSPORT APPLICATION THROUGH
WEBSITE.....HAVE THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SHEET WITH
NUMBER OBTAINED AT THE TIME OF SUBMITTING
PASSPORT FOR FUTURE REFERENCES/QUERIES.
PASSPORT IS AN IMPORTANT
DOCUMENT.....ALL DETAILS THEREIN SHOULD BE
TRUE....AND YOU SHOULD KEEP SAFE CUSTODY
OF THE PASSPORT ALWAYS.
GENERALLY PASSPORTS ARE
ISSUED NOW FOR 10 YEARS VALIDITY AND
HAVING 16 PAGES/32 PAGES ATTACHED THERETO.
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MAY BE THIS WRITE UP
PORTION A REPETITION OF CERTAIN
INFORMATION ALREADY INCLUDED.....KINDLY EXCUSE.........
It was one of
the cherished desires expressed by
Brindha at the time of our
marriage that we should lead happy
life with a small family and
live in a foreign country with our
children taking care of us
after their getting good
education in India. in this it
is worth mentioning that
Brindha was helpful in all
matters right from getting application
forms at schools, meeting authorities at Universities in getting
the convocation degrees obtained. She had
the rare opportunity of meeting the
college faculty of her son Rajesh and
daughter chitra at Shanmugha Eng
college,Tanjore and Perundurai medical
college .There were occasions when
she approached the Dean of the Medical
college enquiring the state of
studies of her daughter chitra
etc.....She used to visit Chitra at the Women’s Hostel of the Medical College
now and then and had taken me also once or twice as men are not allowed inside
there. I could not meet Chitra regularly but used to send her Mess expenses, College fees, Examination fees, etc by DD now and
then. She used to be contacted through a common telephne of the Medical College Hostel about such remittance etc. Her Medical Books etc as required were brought from some Book shop in
Avinasi by her mother and delivered to her at the college including some White
Gown or Apron bought from General Hospital Madras. Ofcourse while she was in 3rd or 4th year MBBS I got her a cellphone from RS Puram, Coimbatore so that I could contact here now and then and know about her studies, health,etc,,Once during the last yer of MBBS she was laid up with some measles like contageous disease, her mother rushed to the Hostel , brought her home by Taxi and she after remaining in our house at Vadkovai, Coimbatore for a week under food, care,control, pathyam, etc ( and no medicine )returned.. to Hostel later.
At the fag end of
my career in Bank of India
I was working at Kurichi Ind estate
branch ,Coimbatore of Bank of India .Chitra
was in the Medical College since 2000
and Rajesh having come
to USA at the same time after
his graduation in Engineering Subjects...ECE... in
2000 ....we had planned of our future
trips including visiting the united states
of America...chitra as a studious
girl with determination to master some
parts of medicine was interested in
pursuing her medical education and incidentally
had the inclination and continue her
studies at USA after finishing her
medical graduation at Perundurai Medical
college. With this in mind she had
finished her MB BS course followed by
internship.. coinciding almost coinciding
with the final year of my
service at the bank in Coimbatore.
Although I had
a passport issued by the Regional passport
authority Chennai in 1993 after my
visit to USA in July 1993 it
was never used again and got expired. Hence
during 2005 while I was at Dharmapuri
we submitted our applications for
passport...all the three of us chitra
, amma and self....the initial step in
going to USA.
There were some
discrepancies needing rectifications in the case
of my passport and that of
chitra.. Chitra's passport showed father's
name as vijayaragavan.....not
VIJAYARAGHAVAN and her name in
her college/academic documents showed father's
name as vijayaraghavan and thus it
was case of getting the
original passport cancelled and applying
and getting a new on with correct spelling as it was required for her appearing for USMLE ( United States Medical Licensing Exam ) tests, TOFEL, and further admission for MD Residency at USA ..etc.. Incidentally her name used to be mentioned as CHITRA in all College records as it appeared in her Birth Certificate which I had obtained at Chennai in 1983 when she was born while we were at Besantnagar, Chennai. similarly in my passport the place
of birth had to be correctly
mentioned as TRICHUR and
not Tiruchirappalli appearing in earlier Passport which ws applied and taken through Passport Ofice, Tiruchirapalli.. Hence
in the matter of above rectifications being
done we had to go to the passport
authorities Chennai more than 4 times
and finally got the passports issued
properly. Amma's passport was issued during
2005 itself and being resident of Coimbatore
in 2006 amma had to go
to Dharmapuri Post Office to collect the passport
since the address of Dharmapuri was
appearing therein and she had applied for it
at Dharmapuri. so with some hurdles and
official requirements complied with such as
swearing in front of a notary public
and submitting the sworn affidavit
to passport authorities we were able
to get the passports in order for
all the three of us........this is
the beginning of trip to USA.....shall
continue after sometime.
Note......
That is part of the story or
history...... written in 2008 ..earlier pubished in the same blog...reproduced again...My subsequwnt visits, etc ..some pieces already posted in some blogs..unable to remember...shall recollect, co ordiante, arrange and post again as many of them may be informative containing Geography, Mathematics, Comedy, Science, Accountancy, Poems,Law,etc..and would be useful to me for reading and feeling happy.....Hope the blog is read by some and is useful..... Thanks
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