Aqa Moula TUS's historic visit to Taherabad (Galiyakot)

Lake Moraine, Alberta Canada

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

Canadian Tourist Visa at Detroit Consulate.

Would like to share my experience of obtaining Multiple-entry Canadian Tourist Visa at the Detroit consulate.

The consulate is located at the Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit. Arrive early as there will be a lot many people. They dont care if your visa has expired as long as you have a valid I-797. Many people I found were applying for the visa to either go for US H1-B visa stamping or visiting Niagara Falls.

Arrive early, on the first floor itself they will take your application ( check all your documents) and then ask you to proceed to the 11th floor to pay. The part where they check your documents takes a little longer. Many applicants were sent back at that stage because instead of filling in the visa application and then printing it, they printed the application and then filled it with pen. Completely wrong, as it is clearly mentioned on the site. The document has a bar code at the end, hence they are trying to obtain your record (your entries in the application) with the bar-code. Doesnt make sense why would someone, print the form and then fill it pen. So please dont do that, keep two passport sized photographs.

For the list of documents if you are in the US on H1-B visa ( or work-status) you must carry -
1. Approved I-797
2. Valid I-94, if it is expired thats ok. Your extension (i-797) will have the extension of the same I-94.
3. Pay-stubs and an employment verification letter.
4. Proof of funds - i used my bank statement.
5. You might want to carry your college degree incase.

I suggest parking your car at the Greektown Casino (free parking) and then take Detroit People's movers for 50 cents one way and within 5 minutes you will be at the Renaissance Center. This way you will easily save 12-15 dollars in parking at the Renaissance Center. You can take the same train back to the GreekTown Casino for another 50cents.

After you pay the fees on the 11th floor, they will ask you to come at 2:30 PM in the afternoon and collect your passport. They will not tell you the decision then, you will know when you get your passport at 2:30PM.

These are my personal experience, and in no-way do I take responsibility of the various requirements. All the information is available at the cic website. Check it out.

"Thou shall love thy neighbour as Thyself"

It is a famous quote that people have used over many years. They have used it so often that seems like its true meaning has been forgotten.

It so happened that on Wednesday - 25th of May, Columbus, Indiana was under severe weather threat. In fact few tornadoes did make a touchdown and uprooted few trees, gave us a scare, we lost power etc etc.

What happens when calamity strikes ? Simple it brings people together, and so it did. In my 6 months of living in these apartments, I had never spoken to any of my neighbor until that fateful day.

I was sound asleep and I had no idea of what was going on outside. I was woken up by a thunderstorm and heat due to no power. I walked outside to breath some air, and guess what I found ? My whole neighborhood was out in the hallway preparing for the storm.

The real severity of the situation struck to me then. It was then that we all got together shared few memories and personal likes and dislikes, while monitoring the radar like hawks look at their prey. The best part was since most of my neighbors had prior experience with tornadoes, they knew exactly how to take the necessary precautions, and I followed like a child follows its parents.

While discussing our likes and dislikes, my neighbor mentioned that she was a musician. And myself being a connoisseur of music, hold musicians at a very high esteem. I was impressed at her talent, just by her experience with different 19th century instruments. She mentioned to me that Columbus, IN and Bloomington, IN are a short of heaven for music lovers.

All said and done, the sever weather passed-by, luckily there were no calamities. It was I feel a sign from God, to one show his fury, then show is mercy on those unharmed, and may be to bring people together. Under fear people seem to forget the petty differences of caste, creed, race and color.

So the friendship I made was solidified today, when I came home and found a gift from my neighbor hidden under my doormat. She has slipped in a CD of her compilation for me to hear. This was indeed a very harmonious gesture, and it really goes beyond everything else. I sure am not materialistic but the CD she left was something very melodious.

It was her compilation, something in which she must have put immense hard-work and commitment. And she decided to share it with me. I am so glad that in this world where humanity is taking a beating, there exist people who still value it. They rise above everything else and prove it to you by their behavior that not all is lost.

I will treasure this note and the gift for lifetime.

"Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"

Here is a very inspiring speech from whom I believe is the greatest inventer of our time - Steve Jobs, founder and CEO of Apple, Inc.




Few of the excerpts from his speech that I was able to jot down:

1. On Connecting the Dots.
You cant connect the dots, looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - life, karma, fate, destiny or whatever. Because, believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even if it leads you off the well-known path, and that will make all the difference.

Jobs was relating this to the Typography class he took in college. The class he enrolled for after dropping out of college. The class he took because he loved different fonts style. He loved it and didnt care about how this class was going to help him in the future. But it became evident when he invented the first Macintosh, the fonts ( about which he learned in his Calligraphy class) were made a part of the software.

I have a similar experience to relate to as well. After graduation as a computer engineer, my first love was embedded software engineering. It was a difficult road ahead. Neither was I aware of what future lay ahead of me, nor were the circumstances conducive for me to pursue my interest. Hence, I couldnt connect the dots - looking forward. I trusted my life, that it will work. I went with my love, took me sometime, and things began to work out eventually.
Today, after so many years being in the field, I feel satisfied, I look back and connect the dots and realize that it has made all the difference :).


2. On Love and loss.
It was an awful medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometime life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, dont loose faith. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for your work, as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be fully satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work, is to love what you do. If you have not found it yet, keep looking and dont settle.

Jobs was discussing, on how getting fired from Apple ( a company he started) helped him learn from his loss, and further develop love for what he loved the most. He relates that experience in his career, to personal lives of people around. He says that what you love ( work or your close ones) grows, like relationships grow with time. Moreover, he mentions that if you dont love what you do, you will never be good at it, so go and look out for something you'd love doing.

Very much applies to me, loss of something so precious, as definitely taught me to love it even more intensely. They say you miss the water when its gone. But I am learning from it and the way Jobs came back successfully as CEO of Apple, I too will make a comeback. And of course my quest of finding that job that I'd love doing continues.

3. On Death
If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you will certainly be right. Remembering that you are going to die, is the best way, I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to loose. You are already naked, there is no reason not to follow your heart.
No one wants to die. Even the people who want to go to heaven, dont want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped , and that it as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. Its life change agent that clears out the old to make way for the new.
Your time is limited, so dont waste it living somebody else's life. Dont be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Dont let the noise of others opinion drown out your own inner voice. And most important have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

This is something I need to ponder upon. Take a cue from this and shape my life accordingly. I am going to follow my heart and intuition, because they already know what I truly want to become and where I want to be, with whom I want to be. And yes I will forever:

"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" !!

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

This place truly is a heaven on earth. And, there is no way you can capture the beauty of nature through a camera. Its just not possible. Well, anyways enjoy this video.

The video features the soundtrack "Beautiful Day" by U2. This road is while coming back to the Rocky Mountain Trail from Lake Moraine.

Freak Incident

Okay, so yesterday at the gym, I was going to the swimming pool. And to get to the swimming pool you have to go through the men's locker room. In the men's locker room there are showers, and one for handicapped people.

So when I went I saw a walking crutch with wheels and presumably someone was taking shower. After an hour or so, when I came back the crutches were still there. Along with me an another person too noticed the same. We were both thinking if the person sitting inside had a problem or something. I thought may be there was nobody inside. So I bended and saw from under the door, and I did see somebody's legs.

We knew something was wrong, but didnt know what to do. I didnt want to get involved in the first place, because if I did report something, and if there was an incident, then I would be the first responder or probably an eye-witness. Now you know what that means - going to the court and I didnt even have my license. I was seriously perplexed.

So, I told this to an another person, that someone is inside for more than an hour. And he without wasting anytime starting knocking at the door screaming if someone was inside. And after he knocked 4-5 times, there was finally a voice from inside ..and a big sigh of relief from my side :).

Winter Wonderland - Peoria :D

Kill Bill soundtracks :)

one of my favorite movie ...and here are few soundtracks which I simply adore ...so serenading :D ...these are great for programming tooo :D:D


urami ebushi


flower of carnage


the lonely shepherd



and last but not the least :D .....bang bang my baby shot me down .....

creativity at work - 2

After this:

http://jargoneer.blogspot.com/2009/10/creativity-work-d.html

we decided to get more ambitious and created this :)

Goose Lake

some pics of the Goose Lake around Chillicothe, IL, Rome, IL to be precise. I didn't know this place was so close to work. But better late than never :)

another of U2's greatest :)

Greatest U2 song ever :)

The original version it just rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6IQoOvvc1g

just love this song :)

Harvesting Corn :) - Part 2

So to continue the super long tutorial, which started here:

Harvesting Corn Part 1

It was discussed in the above link how the corn with the help of a combine, is harvested, chaffed, thrashed whatever, in the end all that is left are kernels. Isnt that awesome !!! i think it really is, because I have seen back home in India where everything is done manually, it takes forever. Well, its good in a country where so many people need to find vocation too.

Lets continue , the combine is pretty awesome lol for the umpteenth time :) . What was really fascinating about the combine, is the fact that it had a display in the cab, which monitors the corn real-time. It tells what is the moisture content of the corn, the yield per bushel, quality (grade) of corn etc etc. It generates charts displaying the yield per acre in fact per row which was really precise. So heres how the display looked like:



After the combine has collected enough yield, which of course is known by the load in the above mentioned display, its time to dump the yield into a tractor. Not exactly a tractor but more like a hauler. Like this:




In one of the pic, you will observe that the tractor follows the combine. The tractor dumps the corn (just the kernels) into a truck which then transports it to the storage facility. Lol I am sure you have seen trucks, but wth this is how a truck looks like lol..



Now the kernel rich in moisture, needs to be stored and duh !!! needs to be dried. Yes Genius !!! it needs to be shifted to a dryer. I am sure most you have seen this high-tower building in middle of corn-fields and never knew what it was. But your ignorance ends here lol, thats how I felt :) ...So the kernels are dumped into this underground bunker like ditch:





From here with the help of this conveyor belt that are moved to a high temperature dryers, where the moisture is removed and kept for storage. The moisture is constantly monitored to make sure the kernels don't rot. here is the conveyor belt:



The kernels through the conveyor belts are transferred to these huge dryers:



And we got the chance to climb to the top of the dryer. It was awesome a real exercise. If I was a farmer, I probably would have never had to work out. Few of the views from the top:

Me @ Templar Church, London

Well for starters, this was the only thing I thought was worth visiting in London !!!!

Yes, this is the same church where Sir Isaac Newton is laid to rest. Lol thats what I thought, after reading the Da Vinci Code. And, that is why I dragged my whole family to this place, right in the heart of London. Too bad it was some holiday and the church was closed. Nonetheless I was able to take this pic for my memoirs :P .

And, I think Newton, is not buried here. In fact no Templar Knights were buried here, it only has their effigies. So whatever be the history behind it, I think it was cool. I like the area surrounding the church, the narrow alleys, and medieval architecture reminded me of Uppali (upper) Pole and Nichali (Lower) Pole area of my native town Banswara, Lol, I know its a bizarre comparison, but that's how I felt.

Here is the pic of the church as taken from this site, to prove to you naysayers that I am not bluffing and I really went to the Templar Church, lol I wonder how many of you really care if I am lying or not, but anyways, this adds to my credibility. The site is
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/london-temple-church and it has pretty cool pictures.



So here is the pic, in which the Knight Templar of the age, keeper of the Holy Grail graced the Templar church. Sorry, I went a little overboard, but pun intended, if Dan Brown could create a fiction then why not I, and of course in my creation who else would be the protagonist but me :). Don't you think the church seems radiant now, as its self-proclaimed custodian has glorified it finally.

Harvesting Corn :)

This post might give you a brief idea of how technology has played such an important role in Corn harvesting. Technology in farming is definitely a purposive use of technology, unlike this Toilet Paper News-Feeder lol :)

Sorry for the digression from the main topic, I guess this is something which will never change when I write. Okay coming back to the subject, Last Saturday, I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go harvesting on a friends farm in Raonoke, IL. Best of luck trying to pronounce Raonoke :). Well It was a real learning experience, reminded me of Modern Marvel show on History Channel. Lol just shows how much I watch that show and beat this coincidence, I am watching it at the moment too, the show is about cold-cuts, lol I wouldnt want to go into more details as it would definitely upset my vegan readers :)

So coming back to harvesting corn, for this post we will assume that the corn is all grown, and ready to be harvested. Duh !!! the topic says harvesting too :P

This is how a fully-ripe-corn-ready-to-be-plucked looks like:



Once ready to be plucked, the field which was uniformly seeded may look like this:



You can see in the pic above, how the farm is uniformly seeded, its perfectly aligned for a combine to work its magic. Yes a Combine, i would consider it to be a Mechanical Engineering marvel for real. It works like a charm, it thrashes, removes the husk , the chafe, separates the kernels from the corn. What you have in the end are just kernels :). Here is a brief youtube video on how a Combine works.



And here is a pic of the combine, I rode in. Actually I got a chance to drive it too, And also, I rode it in on the highway. You must have imagined by now the front part of the combine i think its called the thrasher is definitely removed. Lol otherwise you might end up thrashing the road sign posts, other cars etc etc on the road. This was the view from atop a combine:



This is how our combine looked like:



Here is how a field looked like before we cleared it with a combine:



After running the combine:



To be Continued ....I am tired of writing and even more sick of my slow internet connection......but hold on there is more ...

Continued here:

Harvesting Corn Part 2

Me Riding a Tractor :)

Not really riding but climbing to ride a tractor !!! for all you perfectionists :P

In the background is a corn-field which I helped harvest :P ..real Farmville ppl :P

Me @ Starved Rock State Forest Reserve

This is me at the place mentioned in the subject lol too lazy to type the entire name again :) .....well i guess i should have typed it ..the explanation is def longer than the name :)

whatever, so the history made here was ..that Hatim visited this place lol nooooo..I still have time to make history ...i hope its before I become one :P ....anyways history here is in the name itself ...two Indian ( i mean native American-Indian not South Asian Indian) tribes were fighting and one of the weaker tribe took refuge at the top of a hill. The stronger tribe took over the bottom of the hill ( a huge rock ) and eventually the tribe at the top the minnows :( couldnt receive food and consequently they starved to death. Hence the name Starved Rock State Forest.

Its a beautiful place, an idle place for hiking miles and miles of trail ...you will burn enough calories trust me ...and later on you can fish and add some healthy proteins :P ...you can see how beautiful the tree is :) ..i will stop there :)

Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL

This is me and my mommy dearest at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL :) ....Yes this place had the history related to Abraham Lincoln. Also this is the place where the current President Obama started his journey to the White House :) ..No I am not starting any journey...I am just posing :P..it is apparent from the fact that the photo doesn't even capture the entire building :P