This is for those looking for any information on getting a H1-B visa at US Consulate, Tijuana. I got mine 2-3 days back. First off, many thanks to this post on the immigration portal which helped me a lot. Here follows my experience.
As I've told earlier, I took a mexico visa. We went to the US border and parked in one of the many parking lots. From there we crossed the border into mexico on foot. While going towards the border we realized that there was a parking lot just next to the border and that too for only $4. That seemed to be the perfect place as you would hardly need to walk but we didn't know that earlier and so parked in the first lot that we saw. Once inside Mexico, we took a cab ($5) to Banamex. There are a lot of cabs standing out there so you wouldn't have any problem and whether they understand english or not, they do understand "Banamex","US Consulate/Embassy". We reached the bank at 8am while it opens at 9am as we wanted to be on the liberal side; but looking at the whole process I think one can be liberal with that. It would be fine even if you reached the bank by 8:45am. No biggie! From the bank, the US consulate is around 2 blocks. One thing about the bank - the entrance which faces the main road is not the main entrance; it's at the back side. To reach the consulate from the bank you can take a cab or walk. If you want to walk, here's a rough map that I made:
The blue rectangle is the bank, the red rectangle is the consulate and the two circles are the statues that you'll pass. The Statue 2 is of a native Indian and the statue 1 is of Abraham Lincoln - that's where you turn left. Outside the consulate, there'll be a huge line but H1 guys don't need to stand in this line. Show your papers to the security outside and they'll tell to move ahead of the line. Inside the consulate they first take your finger-print and photo and then you wait for your interview. They asked me what my company does, how many employees it has, questions about my grad school and looked at my petition. My interview went fine and I was told to collect the passport at 3pm. After sometime we decided to watch a movie at the Plaza Rio Mall just opposite Banamex, with some difficulty we found out what all movies were being shown in English. By the time we'd everything deciphered, we found out all the showtimes that we could watch were already sold out. So if you do want to watch a movie go there directly from the consulate: don't wait. At 2:45pm we stood in the line for the passports, it's first come first serve so the sooner you come the better. From there we took a cab ($6) to the Mexico border. The worst part was yet to come - I needed to collect a new I-94. We didn't know this so we proceeded to the customs and he turned us back to the I-94 building. It's building close to the customs, has 3 poles outside with a US flag and it's white and blue in color. One can just not imagine how long it took for us to take a new I-94: a simple departure form. We stood for almost 2 hrs in the line and it was killing! Once we'd the new I-94, we crossed the border and happily lived ever after :).
Documents that I took:
DS-156 (DS-157 is only for male applicants)
I-797
Passport
Petition
W-2s (didn't ask)
Pay Stubs (didn't ask)All I-20s till date (didn't ask)Degree + transcript (didn't ask)
Photo (didn't ask)
Fees:
1100 pesos or $107.40 at Banamex
$6 for new I-94
I'd taken the original and a copy of each.
One can understand and imbibe the ultimate truth if and only if he does so with belief (श्रध्दा), devotion (भक्ती) and simplicity (सरलता). If you ask questions on what is written in the scriptures with a doubt in your mind; or because you think that those who've written it are not capable enough; or because you want to engage in a debate over the matter; or for any such reason which reflects that you are arrogant or shrewd you'll never the learn the essence of the philosophy.
If you're really interested in understanding you must first make yourself believe in this institution, have total faith in the philosophy and be down-to-earth.
When I was reading this section of Gita it reminded me of something my mother told me. Earlier when I used to read Gita, I would always have questions brimming in my mind as to why God said this or why did he do this: mainly out of plain curiosity, sometimes astonished as to how could God do/say this. When I asked her one of these questions, she told me the very same thing: I should read these scriptures with complete faith and devotion and only then can I hope to answer my questions. With that thought in mind and my wee bit of experience I realized that most of my questions do get answered sooner or later. For those that are still lingering in my mind, I'm sure one day I'll find an answer to those too. So if you too have been in a similar faith then my advise is don't lose hope, don't let your trust wane; you will find the answers.
Cuisine: Mexican (duh?!)
In terms of food, especially vegetarian mexican food, this is one of the decent places in San Diego and in terms of looks it's probably the worst. When we saw it from outside, we asked ourselves whether we really want to go inside. It's got that shabby look, with lots of graffiti and posters on the outside wall. Had it not been for the excellent reviews we'd heard, we would've never stepped inside it even if it was the last restaurant on earth! Okay, that was about the outer appearance; but remember the proverb: "Never judge a book by it's cover? The tables and chairs are old, the walls have numerous old stuff hanging around; the more fashion-savvy would probably call it a "retro" look but I prefer to call it the-no-money-look. :) It was akin to what I would call a dhaba. Let's come down to what matters to your stomach - the food. This is the only place that I've seen that has so many vegetarian options. That's the biggest plus point if you're a vegetarian and the food is definitely good. Another plus: it's an extremely reasonable place when it comes to your wallet! It's located in the heart of downtown San Diego and seems to be a very popular place. For the duration that we were there, the restaurant was completely full and frequently there was a waiting line. For more information go to Pokez Mexican Restaurant.
As my DH says I seem to be fond of all kinds of dosas. This is a simple, easy recipe; good for weekend breakfasts. Another one of my Ma's recipe though I might've made some slight modifications here and there; but as you'll see with the given ingredients there's probably not too much that I could change except the proportions of
the ingredients. You can also use the same batter to make yummy moong dal vadas, so don't worry if you've some left-over batter!
What you'll need:
1 cup Yellow Moong dal
1 tbsp Ginger (grated)
1 tbsp Chillies (chopped)
1 tbsp Cilantro/Coriander (finely chopped)
Salt to taste
Let's start cooking:- Soak the dal overnite. Generally wherever I need to soak dal, I do it overnite but I guess it would be fine if you soaked it for 4-5 hours.
- Grind the dal with little water. It's safer to use as little water as possible, if required we can add water later.
- Mix the other ingredients into the batter. As you mix the ingredients you can see the proportion of chillies, ginger and coriander w.r.t the batter and you can vary it as you like. Regarding the consistency of the battery: it's not flowy, when you drop it from a spoon it'll fall in lumps. At the same time it can't be too thick else you'll be unable to spread it. The way I work (or rather my DH, he's the dosa expert) is to be conservative while adding water. Try a small dosa, if it works fine then you're all set if you're unable to spread add a little water.
- Now heat a griddle and when it is hot, spread the batter like a dosa. Nothing explain spreading a dosa better than photos I looked up this video on YouTube. The batter in this video is that of a normal dosa so it's quite watery, the moong dal dosa batter is not so watery. If you can't view a video, here's another link.
You've tasty moong dal dosas ready! It tastes good with coconut chutney, green/coriander chutney and tomato ketchup (for kids!).
Notes:
- If you want to make vadas from the left-over batter, refrigerate the batter so that the dal absorbs some water and the batter gets thick for frying vadas. I would suggest refrigerating it overnite.
- The most difficult task, if any, is to determine the right consistency of the batter. The dal is not ground to a perfect fine texture, it should be kept slightly coarse. The batter would be quite thick as compared to a normal dosa batter.
Author: Herman Hesse
A brilliant novel! It walks you through the life of Siddhartha (intentional conflict with Gautam Buddha's name), who wanders in the search for peace and self-enlightenment. He leaves his home to find his Self (or Atman) and oscillates between the world of maya and ascetism. The beauty of the story lies in what he learns in the various stages of his life and the the way author symbolizes things. I'm tempted to write more about the story but I think the less you read about the book before reading the book, the better it is; because it may bias your interpretation.
I generally tend to skip the introduction as I'm too impatient to start off with "Chapter 1" but in this case I did read it and it made things a lot clearer. So I would suggest that if you're like me - skipping Intros - then don't do it for this one.
My favorite part is the conversation between Siddhartha and a merchant. The merchant asks him what qualities does he have, Siddhartha tells him that he can think, fast and wait. To this the merchant replies, "What good can these be?". Siddhartha says that had he not possessed the quality of fasting he would have had to accept whatever job the merchant gave him today because he hasn't had food for quite sometime; but since he can fast he will accept a job on only his terms.
(If you plan to read the book, I suggest you don't read any further) Talking about symbols, the merchant is aptly called Kamaswami, meaning "master of desires" and working for him implies that you've submitted yourself to the worldly desires. So when Siddhartha puts his heart into working for Kamaswami, he starts losing his saintly qualities and gains mortal tendencies like anger, pride, etc. One day when he realizes what has consumed him and decides to revert to his ascetic life, he finds that hunger tortures him; no longer he can fast. Thus showing that it is very easy to be consumed by wordly desires and as difficult to denounce them. I could make a lot of connections between the teachings of Gita and what is depicted here. Towards the end, Siddhartha talks about being able to see brahma in everything be it a man or a stone and hence loving everything in this world. This is what is meant by the very first bullet in the ways to get closer to God.
It has a lot of spiritual insights but it is not just for people with a spiritual taste bud. I think it would appeal to all and sundry.
Bottomline: A must-read.
Related Links:
A synopsis of the book
I've read so many debates about whether you need a visa when you go for H1 stamping in Tijuana. If you're an Indian national and your current US visa (F-1)has expired then you NEED a mexico visa to go to Tijuana. They may not check your visa and hence you may feel that you did not need to get one, but you do and the process for getting a mexico visa is very simple.
The type of mexico visa you need is FM3. You take all the required documents to the Mexico Consulate at 1549, India St., San Diego. There'll be lots of people standing outside, but people applying for a mexico visa are very very few so you can just tell the guard that you *need* a visa and they'll direct you. When you enter the consulate, take a left and climb up the stairs - that's the visa office. They'll give you a questionnaire and a form to fill, submit these too along with the documents and $134 in cash (to the cashier). You can collect your visa the next day!
Documents you need (originals + 1 copy):
Passport
Bank statement
I-797
Appointment letter for US consulate
Employment letter
2 passport photos
Contact for Mexico Consulate, San Diego:
1549, India St., San Diego
Phone - (619) 231 8414
How do I know all this? I just got one. So if you want to know anything about the procedure, post me a question.
(Teachings from Gita) One who follows at least one yagya ( path which leads to God), receives inner happiness and everlasting contentment. On the other hand, one who doesn't, is always encircled by worldly desires which cause him myriad anxieties and worries. When a son takes good care of his parents, a wife takes proper care of her husband or one performs his duty in a relationship to the best and does so in a selfless way - it too is considered a yagya.
The crux is that we should not be possessed by materialism, the day we realize that all our worries will disappear. No being - living or non-living - should be indispensable for us. We should be content with what we have. Take a moment and think about it - what worries you most? Would you still worry about it if you knew that all you wanted was a place to live and food to eat? Most likely the answer is no. Just imagine how simple life would become; how stress-free your mind would be; how happy and content your inner-self would be.
Gita contains such wonderful advice that I think if we were to incorporate even an iota of it then we would be much happier than we are today. It teaches us to do everything in moderation. Neither eat too much nor eat too less. Neither be too happy nor be too sad. In fact when one learns to detach himself, he will reach this controlled state. If you lose something, don't grieve over it and not because you can get another one but because you can live without it. For a common man like me, I think it would be difficult o apply this principle to living beings but I feel that we can certainly apply it to non-living things.
I remember that quite sometime back, a friend of mine had become a patron of the "Art of living" and when asked what it was about, part of the reply was "...It teaches you that if you lose your wallet you shouldn't grieve over it...". At that time I felt what's the fun in life if you don't have attachment with things; but now I understand that life can be as good with/without most of the things. It's how we try to make it.
