The Indians Abroad

Overseas Living: NRIs & India abroad

Archive for September, 2010

Citizenship and Immigration Canada – CIC Website

Sep 30

Posted by admin in Consciousness & Awareness, Culture & Society, india abroad, Non-Resident Indian, NRI | No Comments

CIC – Canadian Government Source of Citizenship and Immigration

Have a question about immigration to Canada? Interested in Canadian Citizenship? Any question on migrating to Canada? Almost all the time, you can get your answer from the official website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Commonly know as CIC, the site is maintained by the department of Canadian Government that deals with Immigration and Citizenship. It also links immigration services with citizenship registration.

The site is the true Bible for any information on Canadian Citizenship as well as immigration to Canada.  It offers a variety of resources on the related topics including general information, commonsense tips, guidance for potential immigrants, latest news on the subject, the new laws affecting the immigrants and so on. There are different sections addressing different aspects of immigration and citizenship.

Getting to know Canada: For an outsider, this section offers lots of general information about the country. All kinds of basic topics are covered:

  • The weather
  • The Land and geography
  • The People
  • Education system
  • Medical system….etc.

Prepare to Move to Canada:
Once you know about the country, and may want to immigrate there, the next logical step would be the preparation to migrate. The information in this section pertains to the planning for the move:

  • The cost of living
  • Where to live in Canada
  • Learning the language
  • What documents you need for immigration
  • What you can bring with you…etc.

    • Read the rest of this entry »

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Her social drinking troubles

Sep 23

Posted by admin in Culture & Society, Entertainment, india abroad, Most Popular Stories, Non-Resident Indian, NRI, Short Story | No Comments

Her parents drove for two hours to reach Surrey, B.C. They had to be there on this Saturday afternoon, they did not have a choice. They were worried about their beloved daughter, Anita.

The previous week they had received a disturbing call from Rani, Anita’s mother-in-law.
“I am not sure how to tell you this, but I have to; the neighbors are starting to talk!” She told Anita’s mother, Meena.
“I don’t understand, what happened?” Meena asked; her voice barely audible.
“Can you come over this week-end? Then we can talk,” Rani said after a pause.
With shaking hands, Meena put down the phone and slumped in the sofa.

“What’s going on?” Meena called Anita within minutes, the suspense was killing her.
“Hi mom, how are you?” Anita was caught off guard.
Her mom was quiet on the other end of the line.
I don’t know what you talking about, mom,” Anita added.
“Rani just called me.”
“I don’t know what the big deal is about. Everything is okay mom!” Anita said.
“You tell me now, or I am coming there tonight!”
“You can drive for two hours and come over mom, we are ordering Pizza today!” She giggled, trying to lighten up the conversation.
“Don’t change the subject!” Her mom was serious.
“Nothing, mom. Nothing is going on!”
“Okay, give the phone to Jas, let me ask him!”
“He is not home mom!”
“So?”
“Okay, umm…..they are saying that I drink!”
There was a long silence. Anita could hear her mother mumbling some prayer on the other side of the phone.
“You okay, mom?”
“Do you…?”
“No mom, I don’t drink. Only, sometimes with friends; you know – socially.”
There was another long pause.
“Wait till your dad finds out. You will be sorry!”
“Mom, I am married now, with kids!”
“You still have to respect your family and the culture!”
“Don’t get me started with the double standards, mom!” Read the rest of this entry »

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Ten big NO-NOs on Facebook behavior

Sep 16

Posted by admin in Consciousness & Awareness, Culture & Society, Facebook | 4 Comments

Ten things you must always avoid on Facebook

So you have uploaded that pretty picture on the Facebook, and updated every little thing in your profile. After all, you don’t want your friends to miss on your cool details. :)

Facebook is a very useful and a very powerful social tool. How you use this tool – for your benefit or for your loss, is totally up to you. Facebook has become a part of our daily life. We are so used to FB, we often overlook some of the commonsense precautions we should always take on the internet. When it comes to FB, there are some of the big NO-NOs – some Facebook behaviors we should always avoid and guard against. Here are the main 10 of such Facebook behaviors to stay away from:

1. No daily planner or vacation schedule: According to Telegraph, users of networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter were recently warned by police after two men were convicted of burgling a house whose owners had advertised the fact they were away. Sharing your away-from-home information is just like putting a big sign in your front yard thyat reads: “I am not home!” This is an open invitation to the robberies and the house break-ins.

2. No Date-of-birth: Commonsense, right? But you will be surprised to see how many of us post date of birth on Facebook. Listing your date of birth on the ‘info’ page of FB is a big no-no. It is a very personal piece of information that can be used by others to steal your personal identity.

3. No home address: Along the same line as other personal privacy precautions, don’t put your home address on Facebook. Your real friends already know where you live. There is no need to announce your home address to everybody you meet online.

4. No password hints: Your place of birth, your mother’s maiden name, the first school you attended, your first pet’s name…..these are typical questions we subscribe to during many online accounts set-up. This may include your financial and banking accounts. Directly or indirectly sharing such info on Facebook is another possible security lapse we should always avoid. Read the rest of this entry »

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U SPECIAL – Your FREE ticket to travel abroad

Sep 4

Posted by admin in Communication Skills, India, india abroad, Non-Resident Indian, personal development | 1 Comment

Not too long ago, good grades and a decent scholarship used to be all you needed to go abroad for higher education. Now-a-days, with cost of studies sky-rocketing, the students are looking for every penny they can get to meet their dire financial needs. Here is one of the opportunities for those who want to venture overseas.

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. [TCIL], India’s leading integrated travel and travel related financial services company recently announced the ‘Thomas Cook Wings Scholarship’. This is a unique offer for students traveling abroad for further studies.

TCIL is currently introducing various programs under the brand name ‘U SPECIAL.’ One of the main programs – the Thomas Cook Wings Scholarship is a great opportunity for students heading overseas. The students can potentially win an education scholarship worth an air ticket to go abroad. 10 shortlisted students can receive a scholarship up to Rs. 35,000/- each.

So how do you participate in this competition to win the air ticket? The main requirements are quite simple: submit a 2 page University statement of purpose (SOP) and email to uspecial@in.thomascook.in. You can also submit the SOP at any Thomas Cook branch in your city. The 10 best SOP’s will be short-listed based on the following criteria:
a) Correct usage of English
b) Clarity of thought
c) Overall flow. Read the rest of this entry »

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Floods, neighbors, media and the morons

Sep 1

Posted by admin in Consciousness & Awareness, India, politics | No Comments

The Pakistan Flooding and the Indian offer to help

In the name of the religion, or out of fear, or out of greed – the mankind has shown its ugly side for centuries. Time over time, we have proved that we can be idiots, stupids and morons – all combined in one. Before the partition of 1947, the Indian Continent had a seamless and peaceful coexistence of multi-cultures and multi-religions. What followed during the 1940s decade was something that would have been incomprehensible a few years before the partition – hundreds of thousands dead, rape and loot in the open, a lawless society attacking their own neighbors with vengeance, the same neighbors they had treated like their own before the riots.

Fast forward to 2010. Pakistan is suffering one of the worst crisis since partition – the mother nature has shown its ugly side this time. Beginning in July 2010 following heavy monsoon rains, a vast spread flooding has surprised Pakistan in the worst possible way. Thousands dead, over a million homes destroyed, more than twenty million people injured or homeless….. At one point, one-fifth of Pakistan’s total land area was underwater.

At a difficult and a tragic time like this, India has offered what a natural neighbor should always do – help the neighbor during crisis even if you don’t get along. India has offered $5 million in aid to Pakistan for flood relief. This could be a start of something good, something different than war-path of last 60 years. This could help the two sides to heal their wounds and perhaps start something anew. Read the rest of this entry »

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