The spring is over...

The term came to an end,

Grades aren't going to be good this time, though took an undergrad course ME566, Computational Fluid Dynamics. I didn't do well, reasons are straight.. I didn't pay attention to the classes.
In the beginning all the course material was easy for me. Thanks to numerous hours I spent to watch , re-watch CFD lecture series NPTEL.

The problems started in the middle when it came to the application of course material to the assignments. I wasn't able to integrate in to the undergrad classmates. I was kind of isolated. (I regret being so..But, nothing much I can do..) My schedules were different to theirs.. But, I would really make this as an important aspect for the next term.

"" The undergrads are soo good in networking, they hunt the assignment / task like a pack of wolves, there's no point in trying to be a lone wolf like me..thinking that I would be able to finish it on my own..""

Meanwhile, my research been through to stages of excitement and disappointment, for the most part it took a while to be able to run the CFD code in the sharcnet cluster. In this regard, my accomplishments for this term are going to be,

1) Understand the flow of OneD_ThermoCode (our CFD solver)
2) Able to run the test cases of travelling acoustic wave using different Equations of state.
3) Write a script to run sequential grid sizes and able to calculate the RMS Error values.
4) Profile the code to identify the places the code is being the busy.  (Look at the wonderful profile diagram)
5) Read bunch of papers.

I have less than 3 weeks before the new term start, In this mean time I would be working very much to complete the Tabulated Equation of state approach to calculate thermodynamic properties. It's going to be a awesome speedup for the OneD_ThermoCode. But, the real problem is in generating a homogeneously spaced grid / table. Where my utter disappointing comes from..
I wasn't able to write a simple code to interpolate the 1 D arrays in to a 2x2 grid. Huge setback in terms of confidence that my prof. had on me.

There was a warning (approximate) from prof. few weeks ago. When I was a bit lazy to do the work and caught up blaming it on the technical glitches. Looking back, that's the one of the silly excuse I ever asked for. If I want to really progress in my life, that should not be happening anymore.

After a week of time waste in the name of interpolated table, finally my prof. chose to do it. I did it in 90 minutes. Suggesting me, that's how it should be.. For now, the next task is to write those lists in a efficient table so that I can use them for my OneD_ThermoCode. Hopefully I would be able to do it by this Friday.

Canada Student visa: How to check the status/ modify/ send additional documents.

Nothing is more uncomfortable than not being able to know the status/ information regarding your visa application. Though as an applicant, it is of utmost importance to you. There are certain rules & regulations that doesn't allow the adminstrative staff to send you info regarding your application or in general regarding any particular visa application. So, what to do..??
Well, there're some ways in which you can reach to the consulate and High commission in case of those who applied online.
Email, 
This is the basic means to contact any nearby consulate, please note that currently these Canadian consulates in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore are processing study permits.
You can reach them via the immigration enquires email contact,

Though they do have helplines/ phone numbers they're not for any type of assistance regarding your visa application. They're only for trade related/ press related or mostly for Canadian travellers to India. Don't assume that, they're sort of call centres where you can get customer service. No..!

Delhi, delhi-im-enquiry@international.gc.ca
Chandigarh, CHADG-G@international.gc.ca
Bengaluru, BAGLR-IMMIGRATION@international.gc.ca

Those who have applied offline, via VFS can track your application to find out where your application is being processed.
Online applicants, your application would be processed in Canadian High Commission, New Delhi.

As I said before, By means of email the consulate won't let you know any information regarding your visa application. Simply, the staff aren't allowed to respond to any case specific queries.
So there's nothing much you can do with those email addresses I gave above. BUT, if you had applied offline and you think that there's still some additional documents that needs to be sent, which you forgot/ unable to provide earlier..like for e.g..,, Loan sanction letter, etc..can be sent via email.
Please note that, you can't get any acknowledgement response from them.
Also, make sure you give proper identification details for your application, (mention, application no. passport number, your full name, date of birth so and so..)

There will be some special cases, like you waited for 40 days and still you didn't receive any information regarding your application and if there's anything if you want that is case specific..there's a special way to do that.
Below are the case-specific enquiry links given for each consulate.
Before opening the links, just know a couple of things about submitting a case-specific query.
1) You're initiating a official query to the visa office, so there by all your details would be duly noted.
2) This is special in the sense like abnormal visa processing times/ if you want to update the data that was given in the application etc..,

For Online applicant, and Offline applicants who's visa is being processed in Delhi ,


For offline applicants who's visa being processed in Bengaluru,


For Chandigarh,


Last ditch effort in case of very very delayed visa application is to write an expedite letter to the visa office asking (requesting :) ) to expedite your visa application. There are some applicants who write such expedite letter though they applied a month ago or so..In those cases, the visa office doesn't given any shit to those letters/ emails. Unless the your application has over passed the specific application processing times, (you can check it here, ) There's no use in writing an expedite letter.

I had to write one for my study permit application, as I just had a 3 weeks to the term start and adding to that I booked my flight tickets earlier...So I've sent an expedite letter requesting to fast forward my application. Which they did ? (Not really sure, as I got the visa just after the standard processing time, )

The begining,

I am writing this very late in the night, in fact woke up in sleep to not forgot everything that is happened today. How was my day?, as usual monday morning CFD class (missed..! again) then ran into the computer service dept. to ask for a cable to setup monitor (Got a new computer, which is strictly for research purposes and I've nicely set it up in my office room). The thing is it runs on Linux, the so called Ubuntu, have to revise all those terminal command prompts which I used some 2 years ago.
There was a writing session on Literature review, especially for grad. students. Nothing much worth mentionable but, the matrix method of organizing your literature is an excellent one. Which once again reminds me how important in research to keep every organized. Also surprised to see the list of do's & don'ts with regard to Literature review. Thought it is very simple part of the Dissertation but seems to be a kind of defining one with regard to my understanding and familiarity with the research topic that I am going to propose.
Left hurriedly to meet prof. to discuss my progress. It's been 3 weeks so far and I am already 2 weeks into the grad. life. By now, I guess the honeymoon period(initial weeks where you don't have to work hard and getting things arranged, familirizing with surroundings) is over. Also, the combustion conference last week was bugging my prof. very much that he had not much time left to discuss anything.


This session with prof. was a very informative one, it gave me a lot of inputs with regard to where to start, how to start, starting with the thermo-acoustic instabilities in rocket engines, or let's say the Gas Turbine, the longitudinal modes of oscillations or simply longitudinal oscillations are not a big reason to worry as they're not going to do much of the structural damages. The important ones are the radial and transvere oscillations that are going to rip apart the system.
Considering the transcritical combustion, where it is primarily observed in Liquid rocket engines, the supercritical fuel passes through the pseudo boiling point while getting mixed up /(reacted with oxidiser) oxidiser. At that pseudo boiling point, the density is going to vary a lot and also the Cp value..(the specific heat capacity) also increases rapidly during the crossing of pseudo boiling point. Which can cause two sorts of disturbances, as a result of density change..a pressure wave is going to generate..(which will play an obvious role in the acoustics coupling part). and an entropy wave because of the sudden heat change (remember the Cp value..I said)

So, here in my project..the key idea is to work on the transcritical part of the combustion by which the thermodynamics-acoustics are coupled..Once this is determined later, the same can be extrapolated to various other similar problems.

Everything else is great so far, received MITACS cheque of 5000$ (first instalment of MITACS Graduate fellowship award).

Also, one more happiest thing is my prof. is willing to get me a Teaching assistantship under him, so now I think I can afford a trip or two to home (India). But, my first priority to understand the present solver and run the examples to get familiarized and then run a non- reacting flow with an acoustic pulse to observe any instabilities...later I can try with reacting flow.

I believe that, this part of my life is the purest form of "Opportunity", I had some dreams of studying Aerospace Engineering..which is why I even took Mechanical engineering as my major during bachelors, as there was no Aero dept. in my college and also the similar subjects between Mechanical and Aerospace fields.
But now, my research is very closely related in terms of a valuable application towards Liquid rocket engines. I have a prof. to guide me, there is lot to learn from him. And all of the above, there is not much financial need as I can sustain myself well with the current stipends, fellowships. Last but not the least...I am in University of Waterloo, an awesome place with highly talented people all around me. What else do I need,.......   well, no matter how things are well placed..Unless I struggle to connect those dots, there is no success.

The Combustion conference, Surface pro 3

There was a conference on Combustion in the university, my professor Dr. Hickey was one of the organizing member. So obviously, I am going to be the assistant / volunteer for the conference. The conference was on different topics but very related to the Combustion, Some even closely related to me on the Gas Turbine thermo-acoustic oscillations.
Some important points that I observed in regard to presenting in the conference is
1) Following the time, there were some presentations which were till the end of allocated time hampering the questions session so that he wasn't able to get a good opinion on his research. Though there might have been discussions in the break but, who knows..
2) The questions posed by the plenary going to be tough, some times there would be strong opposition if there was no sufficient proof to claim your conclusion. So be prepared.
3) The less no. of slides the better and make sure to explain it at a resonable pace.

The first day went ok, no complaints/ mismanagement. I was hardly able to understand any presentation. As everything said was so complex and they're competing with the clock to provide as much information as they can within the time. Among all presentations, the presentation on Gas Turbine thermo-acoustic oscillations was a bit understandable but again too much information in less time.


By the way, got a new(old) Surface pro 3 which I actively bidded for some 3-4 hours and won the auction @600 CAD$,  it is a used one though; but looks like it hasn't been used at all. (Absolutely no scratches anywhere) The seller seemed so honest. A new Surface pro 3 (i5, 128 GB)  with the typecover (keyboard), and a surface pen, would cost around 1000$

The surface pro 3 is very handy to take notes. The battery is lasting good 6-7 hours..(strictly depending on my usage) I should've bought this in my undergrad to take notes. But, you know the indian budget won't permit me to buy.. Though this was an expensive purchase for me (@600 CAD$, this is slightly less than my laptop. But, in productivity terms it beats any other device.

Being a avid reader (of textbooks, and other reference material) this surface pro 3 is very essential for me, if I don't want to carry bulky books or lots of paper every where I go.

Though, it was a bit risky to take the decision to buy the surface as the seller striclty said ''no returns accepted''. Seems luck is my favour. (These days, I am getting very lucky..!!) Though 600 CAD$ was a dent to my budget. I am saving enough to afford to buy because of this 240$ sublet in which I am living. Thanks to Skyler Freeman (the student who is the tenant of this house).

Canadian study permit, the online way (The aftermath)

First of all, you can find a new submitted application in your profile.

Any sort of communication from the consulate / visa officer will be taken by means of this message and you will be notified via email that you received a new message, if there's any.

How to read the message ?
Here is it,
If you click the "Check status and messages" tab in your profile.
You will see this webpage on your application details.
Starting from initiation of your application to the approval it will show you the details (remember that, they're not updated as soon as the message comes.. though your visa is approved, it will take some time to see the approval status here)

You can see the application message in that same page, bottom.
In order to read the message, just click on the respective subject, (see the above fig. to locate the subject..)

After applying online, you will be receiving 2 emails from CIC. The first one confirming your payment and the latter one is that you have a new message in CIC (confirming the receipt of your visa application.)

Please remember that, incase if you forgot to add something important document or if you think there are some additonal documents that might help the visa officer to take decision. You can still send the documents to the consulate/ high commission. I will mention about it in my next article. But, be cautious while applying and make sure you have attached all the sufficient documents

One more important point is not to over load the amount of information you're providing. For example, the bank statement is required for the last 6 months, not for an year.. Though getting a bank statement is very easy but you should keep in mind about the conditions mentioned for uploading the documents, the space is limited so just provide the document that is as per requirement.

***
In a worst case scenario, if you forgot to attach some important document say, your acceptance letter or you didn't even know that you sent someother document in place the another. Then what..?
Is you visa application is going to be rejected..??
No, they will contact you either by phone or by email (hopefully you will attend their call / see their email) and they will ask you for the relevant document.
So don't be panic, if you did something wrong..rememeber it is not the End Of The World.!
But, don't take chances. I absolutely cannot guarantee you that this will happen for sure..
Remember, I am not the one who read the rule book of visa office..I am just the who is sharing my experience
***

If you're applying offline, you should be submiiting your passport along with your application and if you're applying online. Once your application is processed (if the consulate thinks that you can be granted a visa to study) then you will receive a message from the MyCIC (notified by email that you receive a new message) asking for your passport to further process your study application.

It will be like this,

If you receive this message, then you can take rest as in most of the cases your study permit is approved and they need the passport to finalize the decision by printing a fancy sticker to it.

Like this,

Canadian Study permit for Indian Students, the online way

Upon numerous questions on how to apply for a study permit to study in Canada.  I wanna write about the process of obtaining a study permit to study in Canada. As far as my knowledge is concerned, I am familiar only with visa procedures for students applying from India. So if you're from a country other than India and looking for a visa procedure to obtain a study permit. This is not the place you should be visiting. So coming to the point, applying study permit in India is of two types. Online and Offline. As the name suggests, Online way is more kind of non-paperwork, creating an account and applying. Whereas Offline way involves more paperwork, long queues, some extra effort but most of the time I hear that the Offline applications are processed soon but it is not so true. It all depends on the volume of the applications received.

Let's begin with the Online method of applying to Canadian study permit. First of all, create an account in the immigration & citizenship website of canada. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/e-services/mycic.asp


Please read the webpage, you might be seeing two ways to sign in. 1) Using a sign-in partner.2) Using GC key.The first one involves, a person trying to apply for immigration who is already having an account in those partner financial institutions (banks in simple). I really don't much about it because if you're entering canada for the first time. The latter way of sign up is very much preferable. Coming the GC key way of signing up to the website, after clicking the sign in with GC key tab. you will be redirected to a usual sign in and register webpage. As you're trying to sign up, choose register and then you will be redirected to another webpage consisting of as usual terms and conditions which you should accept if you want to get a visa.

     

Please remember the password carefully, it won’t be a simple “forgot the password” kind of scenario. As it is an important govt. service that is protected from all sorts of malpractices. It is going to be a lengthy process to change the password if you forgot it.So coming to the process, as usual, sign in to the website. You will be shown Mycic (the web portal/ platform that handles all the immigration application online) terms & conditions. This happens every time you log in to the website.And then, it asks for identity validation. Like I said before, please don’t give unreasonable or complicated questions while registering. This will make things difficult for you, I strongly suggest you to pick questions that you answer easily like even if you’re sleeping









Completing that you will be taken to your profile page. (sort of..)

You can also see the various  applications you can apply for,  

As of now, if you don’t have such personal code you can just chose the “Determine your eligibility and apply online for a visitor visa, study and or work permit” tab. Like I said in the above paragraph you will be asked so and so questions.







Make sure you review those yes/no answers. Because , based on those answers you will be asked for relevant docs.
Then you will be shown the step by step process of uploading documents, which format and how much size they can be and so on.
Read them thoroughly as most of the applicants would mistake the format of the docs quite often.

As you can see, it is a four stage process in. At the end you will be asked to choose some questions for identity validation for example what is your favourite sport or tv show kind of. But, don’t take them easily and don’t even assume that they’re just like the ones you entered before while signing up to some other websites. Those questions and their answers are very important as you will be asked for the answers every single time you log in to the website. Try to make them as simple and easy for you so that you should be able to answer them without much thought. If you try to guess the answers or try to enter the similar ones and if there’re attempts with false answers, you can expect a lockout. Which means that the above said lengthy process of re signup would take place.  


Update the information timely, make sure the email id is proper.


If you’re going to apply for any type of visa, you will be asked some series of questions and based on those responses the website will suggest you what visa you should apply for and what’re all the docs that’re needed for your application. Soon after completing the Q&As, you will be a given a personal reference code which would be valid for a period of 3 months. In that mean time, you should be applying using that personal code.

I need not write about those step by step procedures as it is all mentioned in the website.












Then  after continuing,
You can see the checklist for the necessary documents that are necessary for your application.
Go through one by one,
There is nothing much to write about the study permit application form fill-ups..But do it carefully and cautiously.
Most of you might be having a common questions on the financial support proof.
Let me explain as much as I can,

• Your bank statement for the last 6 months, most of you would be having online/netbanking where you can download the e-statement for the last 6 months. (Don’t do it before and upload as you might take atleast a month to upload all the relevant docs.. I would say, upload this proof of finance document at the very last of your application so as to give as recent information as possible)
•  As usual IT returns for your parents, and you. The form 61 is enough for 2 years like I said beware of the delays in obtaining the form and uploading/ submitting it)
•   Those who want to show liquid cash a.k.a bank balance. I strongly advise you not to spend money from that account very much, you can do transactions as long you’re not crossing the limit or amount you want to show in your visa. There are some issues like keeping min. balance all the time and suddenly depositing huge amount at the time of applying, this is very risky for your visa application. (Though most of the time, the visa officers might be lenient..you can’t expect the same always..)
•       Fixed deposits, yes they’re acceptable.. but make sure they’re in your name or atleast in your parents name…but not your uncle’s name or your uncle’s friend’s cousin’s father name (Just kidding)
•    There is no need for letter from your parents that they can fund your studies. But, if you have some relative in Canada or some other sponsor who is well established or can take care your studies, you should be adding a letter about this sponsorship.
•       Educational loans, some points in this regard are..you won’t be getting any education loan unless you show study permit and you won’t be getting study permit unless you show some finance proofs. So, the best way is to get an in-principle loan sanction letter. Which says something like we the bank is willing/ready to give this student a loan of xxxx Rs. If he/she obtained the relevant permits. Below is mine in-principle loan sanction letter. I didn’t take the loan amount after visa as there was no time to sign the bonds, stamp papers (there will lot of paper work in it) but this letter helped me for the visa process

You can also buy the GIC, Guaranteed Investment Certificate a.k.a Fixed deposit bond in our desi terms.. All you’ve to do is to buy the fixed deposit of 10,000$ almost 5 lakhs and there will be a 200$ fee. So altogether you will be paying 10200$ to buy this one. It is nothing but a secured deposit where this money will be deposited in to the bank in your name and once you enter Canada as a student, they will send 833$ per month to your bank account for an year. These GICs are refundable but not the 200$ process fee. So be careful with it. Currently Scotiabank (a Canadian bank offers this GICs). You can buy them online with your debit card.

•  No need for any property certificates/ notarized proofs/ property valuations etc. But if you’ve already ready with them then that’s fine. But they’re not mandatory.
•   This would be important, if you’re studying right now and your parents are salaried employees and are going to fund you for the studies. You should provide a salary certificate try to get it as recent as possible.  
• At the end it is common to add an explanation letter explaining how you're going to fund yourself during studies. To give you an idea, I'm sharing my explanation letter but it doesn't mean that this is a template for such letter but in general an example.
  . 

I’ve summed up all I could, usually the simple process is to pay the fees for the first term and show a GIC (which means you’re showing that you have funds for your stay of 1 year). And show some proofs for extra funds if you have. 

But some universities like University of Waterloo, which doesn’t accept the tuition fee unless it is just 2 weeks to start the term. In those cases, you’ve to be ready with all/ relevant above mentioned documents.
Last but not the least, some noteworthy points are.

Your photograph (make sure it has white background.. !!) 

You should be paying the study permit application fee 150$ through credit card. No, it doesn’t accept any sort of debit card. You should be paying through credit card, no other options like Netbanking / EMI     or    Paytm , Mobikwik  :D

  

The day has been useless, I was very involved in bidding an used Surface pro 3 in Ebay, that I almost forgot time. Though I won the auction..yet to decide whether to buy it or not it is a slightly used (said so in the ad) surface pro 3 with I5 processor and 128 GB. @600 CAD. The new one would be almost double this price and It was my longstanding wish to buy on Surface pro 3 so that I can read and take notes digitally. Need not carry bulky books or lots of paper.  My decision taking process of buying this or 'not' was almost similar to a silicon valley company deciding to acquire a new company or not. Let's see, the new credit card has 487$ balance. But, I do have some good amount in my indian bank (still using that SBI debit card in Canada..) If everything goes as usual, I can expect to encash the MITACS cheque in the next week.

By the way, cooked a nice meal for lunch it is chicken fry with Dosa. I was doubtful about the outcome of the chicken fry as I was too lenient on the proportions of the spices I'm adding. But in the end, it turnedout very good. Usually, I can prepare dosa with expertise at home but this time the difficulty level increased by the absence of Ladle (a spoon like thing with which the batter would be spread on the pan/tawa). So, a plastic cup (thick one) was substituted for ladle. It was a bit difficult but doable.

It is night 10 now, may be it is time to continue the NPTEL lecture series on where I left. There's a combustion conference next week in my university. I am one of the volunteer a.k.a assistant, hoping for some good food (free..)

That's it for today.