Part-22: September 05, 2007 How and why I started to think for higher studies in Physics? Life was going smoothly in teaching at schools, college and at home in Kathmandu. In the meantime, I also got an opportunity to coauthor two text books of physics for the higher secondary level. I also coauthored a series of science books starting from GRADE-I to GRADE-X. I used to write articles relate to science and environment in national daily, weekly and monthly magazines. I had a good income from all of these activities. But I felt somewhat uneasy when people in trainings or gatherings used to talk about and value for the PhD holders: “Dr. X: he is good, he got his PhD from the USA, and he will be a right person for our institution! Dr. Y is also good because he did his PhD from Germany! Dr. Z did his PhD from Australia; he can be hired for our programs, just for a banner." No count of people less than PhDs! That hurt me several times in several places. I challenge that I had better knowledge in my field than those PhDs but they used to get name and respect in what we non-doctors performed! Once I told one administrator that if I could not go anywhere for my higher studies, I would buy a PhD certificate from India (as people have done so). I was holding a good position in an institute. In one program, one officer of that institute addressed me as a Doctor right before my turn to speak. At first, I clarified that I was not a doctor and then continued speaking on the subject matter. Probably the officer was right that the post I was holding to be held only by some kind of doctor. Anyway, the "DOCTOR" pinched me several times in several places. That made me think about my further studies. A palm reader had once told me that I could get the highest possible degree in my life. Probably his saying could be correct! What made me choose a US university? At that time there was a big flow of Nepalese Physicists to the US universities; it is still the same but the number has increased in other fields too. One day, I heard that my close friends were also about to fly to the USA for their PhD studies in Physics. This struck my mind that I could also try for that. Once that happened, my wife started pushing me to TOEFL, GRE, etc. Her words “Everybody can go, why you can't!" made me think to try for the higher studies in some US University. I purchased a computer, made a passport and took TOEFL. I applied in a couple of Universities. One university gave me admission but no stipend! After a couple of correspondences, the other university gave me graduate assistantship too! Great! But there was still one problem. That was a US visa. I was not sure that I would get a visa because several students were denied their visas at that time. I applied for a visa ns walked to the US embassy for interview. A lady who accepted my application in the embassy, obviously not a visa-issuing officer, asked me, “Why are you going to a US university, not elsewhere?" and my answer was," I have heard that the US universities are imparting the best education in the world". No sooner I finished my sentence than the lady watched my face and directed me towards waiting room. I was so excited to tell something more but I didn't get any chance. I waited for a long time before I got my turn. The person in front of me was just denied his visa. I was scared when the same consular officer called my name. He asked me some questions about my studies and financial conditions. I tried to answer his questions to my best level I could. Finally he said, “Congratulations! Have a nice trip to the USA!" He told me to collect my passport from the next window paying the fee for the visa. Great! That opened up a new journey of my life! That was July of 2004.