What's been happening

Actually nothing more than the normal course of events, except for Spring is here and the spirits are high. Them spirits were in fact low, so the posts weren't in at all. But now back to business and hopefully a good run of regular posts till I take a big break.

I am now an Australian citizen, so may be I should change the blog title to something like "The larrikin from Green Land". With the rules on immigration in Australia changing faster than Linux updates, I have had a good option of living here only for 24 months as a permanent resident before being eligible for citizenship. For now people have to wait for four years or so.

The citizenship test was also smooth and was undertaken by an Indian-Australian. May be it was just to drive home the fact that Australia is actually made up of lots of Immigrants, the swearing in ceremony was held by another Indian-Australian lady.

They don't let you smile in Passport photos any more. I don't think any terrorist would be smiling either when getting a passport done. The ones who actually submit straight-faced pictures should be promptly arrested.

I am now also in the process of getting Overseas Citizenship of India also known as OCI. The time of getting this processed according to the website is 6 weeks, but when I called in and asked it is more like 4 months. So, for now I am going to get a tourist visa to go to my country. "UNWARRANTED PHONE & WRITTEN ENQUIRIES MAY DELAY THE PROCESS." - This is just a notice on the visa information page, they probably have a basket at their office labelled "Delay these", once someone makes an enquiry.

More updates from this Golden Land soon.