• Did the length of the process and the rejection disrupt your schedule and your planned goals for the year?

Yes and no. I am determined to complete the film I set out to make, and in the time frame I set out for it. I will not bend, no matter what. If I just gave up because of this, I would be a man without dreams, wouldn’t I?

Besides, as long as my equipment and health continue to remain intact, I can continue shooting and editing.

I will finish on time, in April, as planned.

But I will say that as a student, this hits me even more harshly. I sacrificed critical scholarship money, housing, insurance, employment, etc. in order to prepare, as I had been instructed and, as it turns out falsely promised that I would be ready to leave. I also had vaccinations and physical exams at my own expense, put my things in storage, broke leases. I am now also required to begin repayment on student loans because I no longer qualify for an academic deferral. So, “becoming a Fulbrighter” has been one of the most financially and emotionally draining experiences of my life.

I was less disappointed in the delays, which I expected based on my prior visits to India, but more at the poor way that my fellow grantees and I have been treated since becoming Fulbrighters. I was feted and congratulated on belonging to a group that represents the best of American learning, only to be made to wait indefinitely before being rejected without cause or compensation.

... contd.