The Task behind getting the VISA to the U.S.A.

                            The  Task  Behind Getting The Visa To USA
             Our 10 years Visa  to U.S.A. expired in 2016. Now we have decided to get it . I talked about it with  my son ,from that moment he has started to work on it.
           He guided us  to go online process to get it done without the help of  the Travel Agency. .
 
           For this online Premium Service helps  the seeker ,how to apply for the foreign Visa.
             There are various types of Immigration Visas  to enter in to USA.     
            Green card for individuals with extraordinary abilities-EB-1,E.B.2,E.B.-3.
           2.Ex.Abilities Visa-- 0-1,
           3. Treaty/Investor Visa- E-1,E-2
           4..Intra company-L-1-Visa ,P-1, P-2, P-3.
           5. Artists, Athletes& cultural Visa.
           6.B-1,B-2---- Business and Tourism   Visa.
           7. F/M , Student Visa.
 
               We have applied for B-1 B-2, Visitors Visa. B-1,B-2  Visitors Visa is non immigrant visa for persons desiring to enter in to USA temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure or medical treatment (B-2)
              Applicants must complete a D-S-160 Form at the US Consulate with jurisdiction over their place  of  permenent residence, before a visa issued by the consulate.


                  1.Have  to get  CGI- Cash payment of US Visa Fees. form. . There will be CGI Reference No,Visa Tier (1-4) -1, US $ amount &320.
                   This advice slip must be used to make visa  fees at the prescribed bank.
                      Our Experience:  As per my son's  advice  I took the print out of the CGI form  duly, filled it up, to the AXIS BANK Alwar Thirunagar Branch , paid  for Visa Tier for 2 persons, INR. Amount Rs.21760 (($320) .
                Got our payment acknowledgement - Visa Fees and Visa Fees Receipt on 9-2-2018  I sent them to my son by email attachment for further processing .
       
                  2. To get ready with all the documents  required from the Applicant and one who  will give support to him in US ie  Sponsor.

                   3.By submitting our Visa fees acknowledgement and Visa fees Receipt,got  DS160 US Visa Application confirmation page stamped for two persons(for each one of us separately  at the Visa application  Center (VAC) through online process.
                 
                    4. As said earlier my son had sent all the documents required from  his side as the Sponsor  and the documents to be carried by  us ,along with a clear checklist by G.mail- zip file format.
                  5.I opened it with  WINZIP and took Printouts of the documents, which included the clear  check-list also.
                Check List :
                     Documents to carry by the Applicant for US Visa
              1. Original passport with a six month validity beyond expected arrival date  in USA.
           
              2.All old passports.
              3.D S 160 US Visa application confirmation page stamped at the Visa Application Center.
              4.Proof  of fee payment,which is a valid receipt.
              5. Printout of US Interview Appointment letter- the email confirmation
           
                  Supporting Documents from Sponsor:
                  Financial Documents:
                 1.Affidavit of Support form,1134
                 2.Letter of Invitation.
                 3.Letter to US consulate.
                 4.Bank Statements: Latest Two Bank Statements-
                 5.Bank account Verification letter.
                 6.2 recent pay stub copies
                7. 2015 n 2016 -W2 and Income tax returns.
                 8. Employment Verification letter.
                 Residency Status:
                  1.Copy of Certificate of Citizenship or Green card  copy .
 
                  My son sent the Interview Papers also. According to it we had Bio-Metric Interview on Friday, 9-3-2-18,in Visa Application Center at Nungambakkam.
                 Consular Appointment on Monday,12-3-2018 ,at 10.30.A.M at Chennai 600006   
           
                       We  got ready ourselves for the task to face on 9-3-'18.  Went to the   Visa Application Center at 8.30  A.M. though our  Interview time was fixed at 10,o'clock.
                       The staffs were kind enough  in guiding us  to the destination in a proper way.
              1. At first they verified our passport,VAF then sent us to the counter one by one  where, Bio- Metric details were collected.
              2.I stood in front of the  glass window, behind that was sitting a person who took a  photograph of me and my 10 finger prints  also.
                 It took 20 mts. to finish that task!.
                Like that my husband also finished his job successfully .
             Our next Interview was on 12 th March,18 at American Embassy in Mount road..
            Half of the processing was over.



                  Our experiences  on 12 th March '18 Interview  in American Embassy
 
                     Out of excitement ,my husband woke up at 4.00 A.M. after doing his daily pooja to God he woke me up at 5.30 A.M.
                 By Ola Cab we arrived at the Embassy at 8.30 A.M, where already there was a long queue for that day's Interview.we became some what nervous to see such a long queue.
               We enquired a security officer standing there, he said the the queue was, for  8.30 to 10.00 A.M .Interview, n asked for our time . I said our time was 10.30.A.M.
            Considering  our age group, he  had allowed us to sit in the security guard cabin till our time  comes.  Till that time we were watching the queue moving slowly at the interval of 15 mts,  curiously.
              My husband asked for the  wheel chair assistance, one of the staff,who were  there to assist the applicants ,came to his help. He brought a wheel chair ,made him seated, and crawled it  to the  main gate,where a person checked our passports and registered  our presence in his electronic gadgets.I followed   the wheel chair from behind.
                  Then wheel chair Asst. took him to a particular counter inside the office,where a questioning officer was sitting behind a glass window and communicated in mike..
                           He asked him to put the passport and Visa Application papers in a box . After verifying  them,asked his date of birth & some related questions ,said OK and asked him to go to the next counter nearby.
                    Like wise I had also had my interview in a separate  counter, I had been instructed  to go to the next counter for final interview.
                       My husband's  wheel chair Asst.took both of us to  a prescribed counter  for the final interview.
                      We both had attended the interview at the same time. One American  guy was standing behind the glass window,welcomed us, and made some enquiries.
         In the beginning the mike did not work. I told him in action and then it was set right.

         He verified our passports , and put forward some questions to my husband, like, Where was he employed ,has he his own house ?,own savings? Who will pay for your trip n look after you there?like that.I answered for one or two questions as he could not hear properly.

          Looking at me he asked " how many months you want to stay in USA,n Who will look after you?".I said  my son Partha sarathi ,A consultant Software Engineer ,living in Maryland ,will look after us.To my interest,I added that I have a special child,has to be taken care of, so we would return in a few months.
          That officer was pleased with my volunteered information.
           Suddenly my husband exclaimed " we want 10 years Visa . With a smile on his face , the officer said ,"Don't worry. Its default.  We will issue 10 years Visa only for  an applicant of a tourist Visa"
             After sometime ,a lady appeared  behind the glass window and said "Your Interview is over,every thing is done. You can go. You will get the passports in 3 or 4 days.by  premium courier"
         The wheel chair assistant brought him back  and dropped him outside of the   US consulate.
                  With  a great relief  we came home by catching a Ola Cab.
          We are waiting for the courier post for  our Visa Passports from 13th of  March '18.
   
                        To my great surprise , the  passport package has been delivered to us on  15-3-'18  by Blue Dart Courier Service,for which we have paid Rs.1000 (two passports) as the service charges.
                  At once, I opened the cover and searched for the current Visa page  and satisfied to learn that 10 years Visa have been given  for both of us. 
                   I thanked my son Partha krishnan in US for guiding us  to work out in a proper manner to get our US Visa without approaching the travel agency for the things to be done.
                      The highlight of my experience in this task is as such. when we were sitting in the  security police cabin, an old retired army man had come  n seated by the side of us. He pitied  us for coming  over there for  the Interview in person n said ,"you could have skipped this Interview ,by dropping the Visa Application Forms in the" Drop Box",If you  would have applied for it before the expiration of the Visa date. " .I confessed that I don't  know about it. In  return I asked him why didn't  he do like that".With a big laugh he said," To my fate, I forgot to see the expiration date" Is it not the  best joke of the event..
                   
                   This is my  interesting experiences I  went  through in getting B1/B2 ,Tourist Visa to USA.

                            Narrated   by ;JayaKrishnan.


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My Unforeseen Visit to USA For The Fourth Time

As  usual  I  had  conversed with my son Sarathi, from USA   over the phone and  it went around many matters about our family.In the midst, I had told our inability to go over there as the whole family and incidentally I dropped a word that rather I could go alone  to see my  grand children,especially my grand daughter Yahvi, I have not seen her since her birth.
           My husband who was sitting by my side, suddenly agreed to my words and asked  me to fix it with Sarathi. He continued saying,that he would look after all the household duties including my elder son's needs  and   other duties pertaining to our house there. He was confident about him  but   worrying  about my travelling alone.
            Following  this conversation, after two days, my son sent an email on 30th of March 2014, asking me to send  all the details about my passport and visa  docs . I  had replied to it  by the next email on that day itself.
            To my  grate surprise, he  sent an email on 4th of  April,2014, saying that he had purchased  round the tour tickets  for me  to USA via  Kuwait Airways, and the tickets have been confirmed  for my travel on 23rd of April 2014  to New York in USA,where his family is living now.
             I have never thought that he would take that quick decision and fixed  the deal.   But i have to  agree that is  the character of my loving son Sarathi. He cares  and give respect for others' feelings.
            I was very much moved and very happy to my son's and my daughter-in-law Sangeetha's  invitation to their  home  in New York.
           On the other side  i was very much worried about leaving  my husband to take care of my elder son Balu and other household duties all alone by  himself. But my husband was good enough to  encourage and give his consent  to me to proceed  to  US.
 Then started my itinerary for the travel.Going to abroad means, it is a  custom to take some Indian commodities  whether it i s needed for them or not  , given to the relatives  or friends as a token of  love, some  home made needs, dresses for my self wear, clothes for my lovely grand kids and of course  small gifts to my son and my d-in-law,our south Indian sweets  were to be purchased and dumped in to my travel bags. My husband & Balu  came with me patiently for shopping these items. The day of my travel was nearing.
         Our Sambandi Sri.Rajagopal also came to our help. Leaving all his duties he came from Theni to  send off me. He helped a lot   in arranging the goods neatly  in my travel  boxes. My  thanks to him. He had also  brought some goods  to be given to her daughter  and her children.
          We were all  very much excited on the eve of my journey  that is on 22nd of April 2014.  I  had to be at  the  Airport  on the early morning of 23rd of April ,4 hrs, prior for the departure. After saying my prayers to God for my safe journey, I took leave of my husband , Balu and Theni mama, though  they all had come with me to the airport to send  me off. we came to the airport at 1 A.M.on 23rd of April.
          As  per rules , I went inside the airport  while they stayed outside the lounge . At that time   check in  process was  going on for the United Arab  Emirates ' passengers. I was told at 3,o' clock  only ,the counters of Kuwait Airways would be open for check in. I told  the matter to my  husband, but he  said  that they would wait  until my  check -in was over  and seeing me  going to the terminal gate. So it happened that  both the side had to wait for nearly 3 hrs.
          As I had  requested  for the wheel chair assistance,  One of the assistant from Kuwait Airways came to my help, accompanied  me to the counter, made the verification of my flight docs and getting my boarding passes to US ,easier. At last I got my boarding pass, one up to Kuwait and another one from there to J.F.K, New York, and my  luggage for check in.
         Then  I told my husband that I have got the boarding pass and I  have been moving to the terminal gate. Then only they were relieved from their tension and departed saying "good bye " to me.
          My flight took off  late by 20 mins  to the scheduled  time and   arrival to Kuwait also delayed by 20 mins. My connecting flight  to US was to take off at 10 A.M.as per the local time. I became worried. But airport  assistants were very good and one of them took me by wheel chair to the gate 10 mins before " it's take  off " . I thanked him a lot . One more thing I have to add here is he did not ask even a rupee for his service unlike our Indian airport assistants.    I had  paid  rs.100 for the person who assisted me  to get wheel chair assistance in India while going over to US. The Flight journey was good by Kuwait Airways. The crew people were kind and polite and served good Hindu Vegetarian food  as per  request,from time to time.
         To  my interest  I list some of the items I ate  during the travel.
  Breakfast: Poha Uppuma, bread with butter, a small dosa, tea ,coffee or juice-any one. If you need you can                  ask for another cup.
  Meals: Green rice, Paneer Korma, Dhal vegetable salad bread with butter, some dessert with   some drink                  like coffee,tea or orange juice
 Likewise  I had been served one breakfast and two meals i the flight while travelling from Kuwait to New York.
          This time I enjoyed my travel . To my luck, four or five lady passengers were south Indians. When we were waiting for the flight in Chennai, one lady  asked me "Are you going to Kuwait Or America". I answered " I am going to New York  in America, to visit  my younger Son's family and to stay with them for few months." One said "I am going to New Jersey to see my daughter and her family". Like that our conversations were continued and we became closer during our journey. We talked about some interesting subjects during the travel.
           In between a hostess supplied an immigration form and requested us to fill it up completely with due information. I had  filled it up in 10 mins, as I had previous experience and helped  two of the ladies to fill up ,as they were  coming for the first time and new to this procedure.
           Though I was quite good to the atmosphere, my body began to realize its tiredness.My back and knees were hurting. During those times I simply would get up and walk on the narrow passage for few mins and return back to my seat. Some times I had a small nap as i did not get sleep in the flight. I have been counting  the travel time  to reach the destination point. At 3.00 P.M we were requested  that every one should put on their seat belt and should not wander here and there, as  the flight would reach it's destination  in an hour.
           After a  long journey of nearly one day ,our Flight arrived and landed on J.F.K.Airport In New York at 4.00 P.M as per scheduled time. Now i was relaxed  and was very happy without any trouble   that i had reached my son'place . My heart was filled with joy  that i was going to meet my son   and his family after along time.
       Here also I  have  got wheel chair assistance, so that all the paraphernalia  at Immigration and  at customs had been finished in some mins, after picking  my luggage, I came out of the airport to see my son, full of eagerness in my eyes. On seeing my son Sarathi came upon jumping  towards me, joyfully,caught my hands and greeted me and  gave me a warm welcome. My heart was brimmed with joy. At the same time a question  dotted in my mind,reading my thoughts, he said Sangeetha had gone to pick my grand children from school and she would come straight to our home and we could  meet them . Then i became calm .
           We had reached his home  in Brooklyn in half an hour. When I descended from the car, Sangeetha my d-in-law, running towards me screaming "Amma, how are you? After 4 years a i am seeing you, saying, hugged me and invited me in to their home. She introduced me to my grand son Madhav Ojas, without hesitation, he ran to me, hugging me, asking  me" How are you Paatti? Why did you not bring Thatha and Big Appa(my elder son Balu)?" Then asked  the next question " did you  bring Laddu for me? Amma told me that you would bring lot of Laddus". I said Yes  I will give you lot off sweets and toys once i opened the box.
            Ojas is very cute and talks politely and very intelligent  for his age.I love him very much. Princess of our house my grand daughter, on seeing me, smiled gently from a distance. She is very cute.
        Thus i joined my son and his family and going to enjoy myself with them for a few months. I will  mingle  and participate in my grand children's activities in my coming days.
 Still I have one more responsibility before finishing. I need to inform about my safe arrival to son's place to my husband in India. He would be very much worried about my reach here. Readily my son dialed the number and gave it to me to talk to Appa, saying my safe arrival.  I talked to him that I had reached US safely.
           Then I had distributed what all i had brought for my son and his family, and I had my dinner. I had not have that much jet-lag. I have been talking with my son Sarathi and Sangeetha and went to bed at 12 pm peacefully.
         This is the narration of my travel experiences for the 4th time to USA, that too travelling oversees alone for the very first time.

 The frontage of the house where  My son Sarthi's family lives in Brooklyn,  in New York.

         
           

                       

                                 A  street with beautiful greenaries in Brooklyn city.

travelogue: MY HOUSE-MY PARADISE

travelogue: MY HOUSE-MY PARADISE:                                                                                                                           My House-My P...

MY HOUSE-MY PARADISE

                                                               


                                                          My House-My Paradise


                                            Myself,my husband L.R.G.K and my one year old son BalaMurali lived  in Mylapore after change of job ,taken by L.R.G.K.from Thulukkapatti in Virudhunagar district to    Madras in 1969.Our House was just opposite to Kapaleeswarar Temple and our portion was in the first floor When we found out that our son was mentally challanged child by birth,we had to think of his upbringing in a diciplined way .We could not get needed fecilities to  teach him his daily routine in day to day life. We struggled &suffered very much   with one bathroom and one toilet that too in the downstairs.

                                   One day  it striked us Why dont we have our ownhouse, there we can make our own fecilities according to our needs ,particularly to our son Balu.The spark of constructing a new and own house came in to our thought  because of our lovable first  special child Balu. We were ready to give anything  for his comfortable upbringing. When the thought  arose in L.R.G.K.'mind ,he started to put it into action.
     
                                He searched for a suitable place, that i s it shoud be nearer to his office, to be calm., easy access to other places, school,market place and nearby provision stores ect.First of all our son should be happy ,away from a noisy township to a calm environment.   we  bought a site  in Plot No.120, A..V.M.Avenue.Virugambakkam village
chennai 92 for constructing our own house.
.
                         The foundation stone was laid  in November1973 after Boomi Pooja for the construction of a small single bed,indipendant house  with compound walls
    The project .hasbeen finished in April 1974. Our house has been named " Jai Nivas" .  We entered in to our dream house in an auspecious day in May 1974, after perfoming house warming ceremony , Ganapathi&Navagraha poojas as told by elders.


                      We had invited  close relatives and friends for the occasion  . My husband's sisters, Brothers in laws and their children,  my mother-in -law, from myside,my sister,her husband,my mother ,my  first younger brother and his wife,second younger brother and some close friends  came ,joined and enjoyed the function happily. They all made the function  a grand success..
         

                       Finally we have shifted our residence from  Mylapore to  Virugambakkam.From then onwards PlotNo.120,A.V.M. Avenue,Virugambakkam.Che.92 has become our permanent address.

                  At that time our colony was less populated,can see  houses situated here and there.I used to take Balu for walking in the evenings.  My husband's office  was  in nine miles distance from the house . He used to go to the office in the cycle and would return at seven or eight o' clock in the late evening.Till then  i have to take care of my son.
               
                  I  love nature in all its forms from my childhood. i like plants and flowers. I  l ike to watch  the sky  with glittering stars and the moon  in the night  .I like to watch the  peculier and innate habits of small animals and birds around our house. Iam very happy to say that  i  was able to enjoy all these small pleasures  in my life in my  new house.
           
                I have planted four coconut  saplings in each corner of my ground.  Banana trees namely Karpooravalli& Poovan  and even Nendran vazai  were also planted, and they yielded abundant fruits and we used to distribute the exess to our neighbours. Coconut trees grew  and they started to yield coconuts after five years. Like children  till now they are supporting us  by giving lot of fruits which we will sell to our neighbours for  meager costs.
           
            i cannot forget that we had a  big mango tree giving Rumani mangoes. I used to prepare mango picles ,and variety of thokku, mango rice with its unriped mangoes..We enjoyed  its yields  for more than 25 years. After that  it  has got trunk disease   and  slowly died in a month.

            I  put seed of japanese lemon in the backyard , it grew slowely. and blossomed with flowers and they turned in to small , orange colour and orange flavored  fruits .
    We can make tasty juice .  , rasam and tasty rise with that fruits.

                    In the frontyard i   have different types of  flower plants.   jasmine ,hibiscus of different colours, Nandiyavattai,and pink arali are some among them .  They give not only pleasure to me but the flowers are used in our daily pooja to our Deities.  I also have some medicinal herbs plants,which are uesd  to make  quick home medicines for
the children.

         
                     Though   i was happy about my house and other things , the incurable status of my first son,mentally challenged one,made me  depressed both in mind and body wise . As parents we have tried in sevaral ways but in vain.
             
              I  lost hope in life and led a meaningless life in this world.  At that time  like  drops of  life saving water   for a nomad in the desert, the benevolant God  ,blessed me with a male child after a lapse  of seven years. He was  born  in  1976.  He  was an Angel  sent by God to  getrid of our  sorrow. He has been the pupil of  my eye for ever.He  was named  Partha sarathi, and  we loved him very much.
             
   After that, for the first time we have shiftetd our  residence to Royapettah ,  to  put my first son  in a special school to  give special education to him. At that time ,my second son Sarathi  was only seven months old. But Balu was not benifited by this arrangement any way.   So we returned to our house and stuckh with this house there after till now.


  Before  Sarathi's birth  my mother -in -law  passed away in the same year 1976. So when we returned to our home  , I had to be alone  with two children  in the house while  he  was away with his job.. So we planned . to  make partition  in the house and let a portion  for the rent. As per thought , we let out the side portion  for the tenant so that somebody   would be there for our help  . Besides that it also  gave some financial support also.

                  At that time  Sarathi  has started to go  for school  and we put him in L.K.G.Class.

                      He  studied his primary classes in Puthra school,near by our  house.  He has been a lovable child from the beginning.  He studied well in the class and didnot give any trouble both in school or in the house. From 4th standered  to 12thstandard,he studied in A.V.Meyyappan Metriculation  school.

                    As we felt the small main portion of the house  was not comfortable for the growing family ,we wanted to build the first floor   to meet our needs. The construction of the first floor  was completed in 1986,and we  have shifted to the first floor house with three bedrooms.  we are living here  from that time onwards.

                     
            After doing his 12th std. Sarathi joined   Computer Engineering Course in S.R.M.Engineering College. Myself  and my husband were very happy  when he came out  as a fullfledged  computer  engineering degree holder. Then only i realised  that  there is  a Supreme Power over us and guiding and helping us in our life.

               We let out the two portions for rent .During these years ,many tenents came ,lived and went out as per their convenience. i have met different types of characters by letting our house to them.
             

          Side by side small pet animals like cats and squirrels also live and roam around our house. Twice or thrice  cats delivered kitten  under our bureau in our bedroom .Sparrows used to build nests in the laufts and after some days i could hear the young ones' chirping when their mother bird  put the prey in to their mouth . I enjoyed these scenes often .But after putting  doors and closed the laufts  i coul d not see these  beatiful scenes.

             Many functions have been celebrated in course of time both in our house and in our tenants 'houses.  Our sons Upanayanam, L.R.G.K's Shashtiabthapoorthi,  Sarathi's marraiage reception,   L.R.G.K's 70th Birthday-Beemaradha santhi, Our chella peran 's  visit in 2011 for his 1st Aayush homam celebration with his parents Sarathi & Sangeetha are some of the  happy memorable  events that have been performed in this house.

                  To your surprise we have constructed  a small portion in the second floor  before two years, Including this we have  three portions to let out.

One surprising  incident  that i have to mention is , in 2011 three male babies were born to each one of our three tenants  in the gap of one are two months .I was very happy to see three newborn babies at a time .


                      Some bad  events also happened in  2011. My mother N.Rajam and my sister-in law Jayalakshmi ,  expired in  the lapse of 12 days. I felt very sorry for my  loving persons' demise .
                   

                  My history is my house's history. As  i grow old  she has also grow old. For the past few years  drainage problem  has been a menace during the rainy season.This year it was  unbearable.  we  thought  to renovate or  replace a new one  in this place.

             we discussed  about it with our affectionate son Sarathi. Without any hesitation  he agreed  to construct a new house for us  in this year itself. His wife Sangeetha ,my daughter-in - law   has also agreed for the proposal.  Both are jem of persons.  He found out an apt builder after a pain taking job.  My husband and myself  also will render our cooperation  for this great project.

           My first son BalaMurali is also living with us for the past six months as he is sick and weak.It gives mental peace for L.R.G.k.&me.
         

              The work for the new house will start after the Tamil New Years Day -Nandana Varudam  .
           
 So we are shifting our residence ,temporarily to  No.18,2nd main road,A.V.M. Avenue.virugambakkam.Chennai 92
       
                For the short period , my Motherhouse" JAINIVAS "  will take rest under the earth and will  rise up step by step and will reappear   as a  NEW  STRUCTURE- In A NEWFORM OF--"-JAINIVAS " in  her own place.


                       My      beautiful calm old lady ,my sweet home,  says a big Adieu  now to  us who are living and related to her  and will resurrect with  full of vigour&glow like a phoenix  fro m fire  .. Bye Bye now .
                                                           
                                                                    Jaya Krishnan
                                                                   11-4-2012
    Some outer view pictures of our old house at plot no.120,6th street A.V.M.Avenue.VIrugambakkam .
Chennai-92.                                                      

Main door with Thinnai.

veranda of side portion.

staircase leading to the first floor.

front view of our house.

comfortable seat for everybody.

our gate taken from inside.

first floor view.

                         
               

                                                                                    


                                                       


                                         
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Our Surprise Visit toLord Venkateswara Temple at Pittsburgh in Pennsilvania

                  My  husband L.R.G..K. had a long wish that he should visit and worship Lord Venkateswara  Temple in Pittsburgh  in Pennsilvania.  we missed that opportunity  twice or thrice, even though we passed through that place to Nayagara & Canada in 2006 &2010.. We  heard more about that temple .so  we were  very  anscious to visit that temple  before leaving USA ,in Sep2010.
                                  We had good faith in SV .however he would fulfill our longing wish .His  wish to worship SV  in  Pittsburgh has been  fulfilled  by a couple  named  Mr.Karthik& Mrs.Shilpa. who were residing behind our son's  Apt .in no.4,412Ridge Road,Greenbelt,Maryland.  This couple have a pretty girl baby of 1./1/2 years
called Keerthana.
                                     Surprisingly  one day Karthik told my son that  he was intending to visit  Pittsburgh Temple with his family, further he had added if he was willing he could also joined with them. But our son requested him  to take his parents instead of him , as he knew that we were very much interested to see that temple. . Our son came to us and asked us to be ready to go with them  the next day that was on 7th Aug.2010 .
                  "  What?A reward for eating sugarcane ? "   we were  very happy about it. On the next morning that was on Saturday 8th of Aug'10. We joined with Karthik's family in the travel  to  S.V.Temple in Pittsburgh. We started at    9.30.A.M..

our friends Shilpa, Karthik With  their daughter.Keerthana

                                 It was a wonderful experience to travel by car with  Karthik &his  family as he  drove the car steadily ,carefully and at safe speed through out the journey.  He drove the distance of  600miles  to &fro to the Temple  with out  making us tiresome in any way.while driving,  moreover he engaged us telling interesting stories, cracking jokes & sometimes   humming recent cine songs in his own style. I was astonished to observe  that little  three years old daughter was also very happily enjoying the trip.On the way we  halted at a restaurant  & had some snacks & drinks  .Then we continued our journey & reached the temple at 2.30 p.m.
                                  Usually the drive would be only  four hrs to the Hills from M.D,but due to heavy traffic jam it took five and half  hrs to reach the destination.
                                   Stop! some attention please! An important matter!. I would like to explain the history of how the temple came in  to existence in that PennHills.
       
                             The Hindus who were settled earlier in Pennsilvania wanted to have a traditional Hindu temple at their place to worship according to their customs &tradition.They wanted to  have a big premises to conduct t their cultural& religious functions in a grand manner.So they had formed a mission.
                       With that aim &interest Sri VenkateswaraTemple Organization was established on 7th Aug 1975. assistance  from Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam for construction of the temple was requested on Sep.11,1975, and the same was granted on the same day.After that  ground breaking was performed on June 1976 & Pratisthabana of the Lord's Idol on November!976. Daily worship  Is going on ever since.
                                   Sri Venkateswara Temple is situated in PennHills,an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh,PA, USA. It is one of the earliest traditional Hindu Temple in the United states.
                               SV. propagates ideals  for world peace,spiritual&personal health, harmony through Hindu Faith which is Sanathana Dharma.
                           Similar to Thirumala Thrupathi Deavasthanam, it is also situated on The PennHills,McCully Dr. PittsBurgh,PA,USA. We   cannot not say it is a big one but one of the oldest temple  in USA. The road to the temple is also goes round & round and has many bends&curves all along the Hills like Thirumala.

                            Just while we enter into the temple there is a big dining hall,adjacent to that there is a big vending stall.Different types of prasadams like Pulihorai,Sweet Pongal,curd rice ,Vada ,Muruku etc. are sold.Invariably each item costs 2$ only.On the other side, free prasadams are distributed freely to the devotees.
             We were directed to the free distribution Que,and we got variety of prasadms which were very tasty. we were very happy and assumed that we got the great blessings of the Lord SV. After filling our tummies we proceeded for Dharshan.
                     The large Dining Hall  leads to the ground floor of the Shrine.Lord Ganesha gives us a beautiful dharshan there. Few steps up,lead us to the main Sannadhi of Lord Venkateswara.
                      we came across another surprise. Since that day has been a" Devotees appreciation day" we need not pay  any charges for Archana or other Seva.. Our joy knew no bounds. Whole heartedly  we prayed to Him and performed Archanas. we sat in front of  Him peacefully  for nearly 2hrs ,without hearing any shrieking noise like jarugandi.jarugandi like Thirumala..
                     On the right side of the Main Deity  lies the Padmavathi  Thayar sannadhi and on the left for Andal Nachiyar. we worshiped them also &put some" Kannikai"in the big Hundi.
                                   After taking some rest we  prepared ourselves for the return journey.Around 5.30p.m we started our journey towards M.D.  Karthik drove the car steadily and we reached our home at 10 o.clock in the night.
                            we thanked Karthik  for having given us a wonderful opportunity  to our insatiable desire to   visit PIttsburgh Temple at PA. which is one of the famous temple in USA.

                        We & Karthik family had a very good dinner (Poori&masal) and other items prepared by my  daughter in law -Sangeetha . with that our trip to the holy place came to a happy ending.
                   
                   

                     
                       
                           

A SHORT&jOYFUL TRIP TO KERALA

     Recently I had a chance to visit  Kerala - A place of Nature,s Paradise. I always like to travel &explore new places. Like me my Son Sarathi also has the same interest in travelling.so during his visit to India In January2011,he had  included a short tour to Kerala as one of the  programme in his agenda.He planned for a package  tour through" Spice Holiday Tourism  company" in Cochin.My Son Invited us to join  with  him for the tour. I & my husband , joined with my son  Sarathi,my daughter-in-law Sangeetha with my grand son Madhav Ojas started our journey on 25th of Jan"2011 by Cochin Express&reached Ernakulam on the next day that wason 26th morning.There came The Spice holidays Tourism Company driver with Mahindra-Zylo car that was big enough  to room 7 persons,to pick up us. we went to GeePalace Restaurant in Angamoly to pick up another couple Vasudha &Neeraj,friends of Sangeetha. we  senior  joined with the young couples and enjoyed ,the pleasures of the tour.

gorgeous Athirampilly Falls

                                     To arrange for a package Tour is  not only convenient but also useful in many aspects.Besides being economical,no need to search for accommodation, transportation, the tourist spots,food courts,rest rooms& other conveniences as the tourist company arranges every thing to comply  to our budget. Experienced driver knows each &every corner of the place we should visit and acts as a skilled guide also.So he halts at specific places to pacify our needs.So we could enjoy the entire tour without any problem.
                                         we started our Package tour on  wednesday 26th of Jan.from Angomoly city in Kerala,at 9o'clock to Adhirapilly Falls which forms in the high forest ranges in the Chalakudi river.we trekked down nearly one and of hours in the natural rocky path in the mountains to reach the Falls.Adhirampilly  orAdhirampally Falls is located78 km from Kochin;locatedat the entrance to Sholayar ranges. It is about 80 ft.high&located in the forest area. Athirampally Falls join the Chalakudi river after plummeting a drop of80 ft..
The charm & beauty of the Falls cannot be described in words. It is just wild  and natural.The falls divide &falls from three places while it falls from the height of 80 ft.We can hear the roar,smoky force of the falls from far away distance. The foot of the falls cannot be reached easily as the big boulders are scattered on the way,hindering the easy approach.It,s appearance simply bewitching us. the young ones hopped & jumped ,reached near the falls &enjoyed its wild beauty in closure. Though  i reached  trekking down the foot of the Falls i could not go near to it as i told before, i could not climb over the big rocks.My husband was very safely sitting  on a bench at the top station saying" You all go,i can watch the beauty of the Falls from here it self."we all laughed at him .. but one way it was good.if not  he would have screamed in   his leg &knee pain if he had followed us.

Soon after reaching the ground  ,the Adhirampally Falls flows smoothly as a wide river  ,in the shallow surface.it' beauty catches our eyes. If we want to feel , touch & enjoy the chillness of the water we have to walk  Half -a - mile  from the top.  So we went there & spend some time &freshen ourselves returned  to the Uphills by 12.30 pm.  There we filled our stomach with some barottas ,ice creams& cool drinks in a small  restaurant started our journey towards Guruvayur at 1.20 pm.
                                         We reached  Sopanam Heritage Hotel(resort) in Guruvayur at 3.30 pm.  we  freshen ourselves & went to Guruvayurappan Deavasthanam to worship the Lord. There was a big que & we waited   nearly one hr.to reach the sanctom & we got a wonderful dharshan of the Lord.. We stayed there for that night.
                    Next morning that was on 27th  of feb. we vacated the lodge & again we went to Angamoly ,from there we took the road to Munnar.  we were very hungry at the time we reached the base of munnar ghats. Stoped  at a hotel & had our lunch &proceeded to Munnar Hill top by ghat roads. It was a thrilling experience to travel  on the hill path. we travelled over ups &downs, One way path that is one vehicle can pass at a time ,if any  vehicle come in the opposite direction, definitely it will end in a chaos. We all prayed the God for the safety reach to the top station. It was pitch dark &there was no road light also ,but that experienced driver drove the carefully along  the deep curves &pinpoint bends of hilly roads.  On the way the driver stoped the car by a  natural spice&herbal farm to view hundreds of spice&herbs plants &to know about those usages . They charge 100rs per head to enter in . A guide accompanied us introduced each plant & medicinal values, how it grows ,which part of it is used &for what purpose. . two of them attracted me. one is cardomom -it isa  root node.the well grown nodes of the cardomom plants are plucked  processed in steam &dried up in sun to become a good spice. Another one is black & white pepper.   Before it become black ,at a stage the black peppers are plucked & rubbed inside thebig sacks to peel of their black covers &are dried in the machines to make them white .  Then these are named as white peppers.  Like these  we got very useful &unknown informations about the spices& herbs. I saw natural sugarplant which can be useful &an alternate for sugar for the sugar patients. There is a shopping centre also ,selling pure products of the Farms. If we want we can buy but I felt it was expensive.After spending 2 hrs, we continued our journey to the up hills of Munnar & arrived at Munnar" Gateway Hotel"at 9.15. in the night. We had our dinner   &  hadgood sleep& rest till next morning.

In front of the Hotel GateWay-Munnar

Sangeetha in the middle of the TeaGarden

Ojas with his parents on the elephant

                             Next morning that was on 28th 0f Jan. as usual  we  had our breakfast &left the Gateway Munnar at 11A.M.,got down the hills. On the way we had visited  many interesting places first we went to Mettupatti dam,  on the next curve  we had visited a place called  View point from there we could see  the beautiful scenic  views of Munnar Kannan Devan Tea estate valley, &after some distance  we enjoyed the  Echo Point,Binacular view point of the valleies. Elephant riding is  very famous  next to boating in the lakes. They  all including  the little kid Ojas went for elephant riding. Ojas enjoyed &screamed at seeing that big tusker. In the evening we returned to Hotel Green Ridge.  Sarathi, Sangeetha,Vasudha&Neeraj went to Massage centre to have oil massage  while we relaxed in the hotel.

beautiful view of Vembanadu lake

                                      We vacated Hotel Green Ridge &. .  proceeded to Allepy on 29 thof Jan 2011 to stayin the boat house &to have fun of boat riding .There are many ,long&big lakes in kerala like Kashmir where big & luxury boats are involved for transportation &tourists enjoyment.  There are single family boats to 4 bedroom boats with AC with all facilities are available according to our  needs&means. Food veg or non veg . are also available. The people  who like sea foods can enjoy   by getting  the fresh ones  &to have cooked them in front of them instantly. We hired a three bedroom luxury boat &rode on the Vembanad Lake. At one side backwaters of the sea,&two small rivers come & join in this lake & making it a big river.  we had good vegitarian food  in the afternoon& went to the first floor of the Boathouse to enjoy the beautiful  views of that big lake&greeneries on the both sides of the lake extended with a vast Paddy cultivated  land &Coconuts,mangoes&goua trees on the other side. Here the Paddy fields are below the see level & so this place is called Kutta nadu.  It is said this is the only place in Asia where paddy is grown in the fields .below the sea level.
                   We enjoyed  the nature at its best there,had our dinner & stayed &took rest  in the Boat House
in the night.Isaw  market boats, garbage clearing boats like that they use these boats for multipurpose functions of the daily routines. I liked this Boat house trip very much on the whole.

relaxing inside the boat

                We woke up in the next morning&prepared ourselves to  check out the   boat sharply at  9.30 A.M. we departed Allepy ,travelled allthe way to Ernakulam city. There are many tou rist attractions& like Dutch palace. Shopping centres etc. Dutch palace is a museum ,housing many life size photos of Rajas of travandrum.  and their cultural &historical values &displays. We  had purchased some Kerala style mementos&Sarees

wonderful view of Sunrise from the boat  in the lake in Allepy

                 Then  we proceeded to kochin.Airport &dropped Vasudha& Neeraj from there they took leave of us  to Delhi. Then we returned back to Ernakulam to visit Chottanikara Bhaghavathi Temple. We went in to the temple & got a good dharshan and reached Ernakulam railway station at 7 p.m ..Caught the Chennai Express Train at 9.45p.m of 30-1-'11 & arrived chennai central at 10 o'clock in the morning of31st of Jan'11,Kerala trip with my son &others was a wonderful trip that i will never forget in my life.