JNU Acceptance

After many months of waiting I finally received official notice that I have been accepted to study at JNU! It wasn't so much a question of whether it would happen, as much as getting an answer before showing up on their doorstep! Admittedly the key to success, after all those late night phone calls, was the "boots on the ground" provided by the DAO staff in Delhi. They deserve the real credit for following up my calls with more calls and going to JNU in person to pick up my letter. They scanned and emailed it back to me, kudos to them.

Previous India scholars have not had to be overly concerned with getting response from their Universities before leaving the states, and their visas were rather routinely granted. This year, we have struggled to get approval from India (perhaps because we are the first Olmsted class to use Diplomatic passports to enter India? ...neither we nor the DAO folks can guess the real reasons). In any case, can you guess what the Indian Gov't asked for when we solicited help with the visas? They wanted to see a "document from India stating that the officer has been invited for the scholar's program."

Thanks to the US DAO in Delhi and the Olmsted Foundation, who contacted the Indian Attache in Washington, we turned around and sent a copy of this newly arrived letter through their Attache (an Indian Brigadier - we hope he has the clout to push it through!) and we hope to see the visas this week!