Application to live in Planet Earth

Just took the printouts.

Going through the pages, stacking them neatly in a file, my memories went past the days after SSLC. Going to the colleges, buying application forms, filling them. It was rather an excitement then. Later, during pre-degree, entrance applications were much more than mere excitement. That was really thought of as the turning point of life. Probably they were - good or bad is something we dont know. Thank God, he never gave us a clue to think that way.

The pre degree forms used to be 2-3 pages? May be. Then an acknowledgement slip. And an interview notification slip.

Entrance form used to be thicker. One sheet was statistical questions. And it was computer read etc etc. First write in pencil, verify and then only write in pen - was the rule. You cannot afford to be careless with your life. Passport application form was the most confusing. That was thick. I got help from a friend to get it filled. The earlier Tax forms were too. Now they are simple excel sheets. Anyway thanks to TDS and no other income, life is as saral as Saral.

Todays printout was for just three schools. No need to go there. You can download from the web. Print them. Fill them. Submit and they will tell forget or not. Anyways we are used to it. The final year of engg was full of this activity. I remember me and Suresh used to combine the work - typing and printing application and sending them en masse thus saving a lot of money for everyone. Funniest incident was when we sent the IES application en masse (to save postage, again) and they replied in separate envelopes for each person. But to the same address. Room no.xx, Mens Hostel. The post office got into a technical snag. 11 of the envelopes bore female names and how they can deliver to Mens hostel? Well, we had to talk to the post master and then parade the 11 girls to the post office. Still we felt it was worth the savings we had in postage. Rs.100 was very big that time. Semester fees was Rs180. And monthly expenses would be like Rs 300.

Well, I probably never filled out so thick application forms. One was 10 pages. What is so much there to have in 10 pages?

Page 1. Checklist. Yupe, good idea. Earlier also many forms had this sheet I remember. It has some additional information and fees structure etc.
Page 2. Here it starts. Applicant info. Family Info. Photograph. Address. Phone. Fax. Mobile. Email. Fine. Easy.
Page 3. Continuation. Previous academic background. Earlier disciplianary actions faced. (My, I remember being put outside the class for 5 min on Aug 14, 1984). Signature. Date. So it should be over, good.
Page 4. Confidential Recommendation. From previous school. Wow.. so many questions - academic and personal.
Page 5. Confidential Rec. Continuation. What words come to mind to describe the applicants major strengths and weaknesses. Five such type questions. Signature, seal and date. Over?
Page 6, 7. Well one rec is not enough. Need two sets. Fine, understand. Anyway they cannot take a risk there. Should not end up like US training suicide pilots in their own land. Agreed.
Page 8. Thankyou, they have enclosed a letter to the previous school counsellor for filling the rec.
Page 9. Health history. Allergy etc etc.
Page 10. Medical examination sheet. Well, this I have done for employment at CDOT and later at TI too. NeST was convinced I am a healthy dynamic chap with nothing to worry.

Now, I have to fill these out and submit. Before that, I need to get to page 1 for the checklist. Ok, they need one more thing. Standardised achievement test scores. Eg. Stanford Achievement Test etc. Hmm.. none exists.

Interesting. I need to sit down and fill them today. I can do only half. They have agreed ot accept that way and submit the confidential rec later. I need to check with Bangalore and see if they woudl be willing to fill in customer rec forms for these schools. And if they would send this directly. Once I sent the applications, if vacancy exists, they will schedule an interview and inform.

Doing an MBA has always been a wish for me. While at CDOT I started doing IGNOU PGDFM. Applied for 4 papers in first sem (max allowed). Decided to take only 3. Down to two when exams came up. Did only one finally. Got A+ for that. By that time I moved to NeST. Then travel and things - I could never do it again. Joining TI, I am asked to do MBA. But last one year, I was always in travel again and hence nothing happened. God Willing, need to make sure I am on it at least this year.

BTW, the application form I talked of above is not for my MBA. Thats the application form for my daughters admission into international school in Japan. She is applying for Grade 1. Confidential Recs from KG is what applies for her.

Believe me, we were too lucky to have lived at a time when living was more fun than a task. Really. What if we had only Ambys and Fiats on the road?