He is my bumchum..eh ?

I had read about the culture shocks. I had heard about the culture shocks.I had even imagined about culture shocks. But had never been unfortunate enough to experience one for real ! This incident goes back a few months when i had to work on a case competition with an undergrad student in the business school. Now, this kid I was to work with, was absolutely brilliant. I was totally in awe of the fact that how comfortably he could do sensitivity analysis and play around with numbers on a spread sheet. While i was breaking my head on break-even analysis, these guys in my team started talking about the "Bikes". One thing I have realised over the years is that when guys hit on such important and critical discussions, expecting them to concentrate on work is similar to expecting Eskimos buying a refrigerator. Anyhow, I gave up all the hope of getting any work done that day and tried to engage myself in that conversation, which was again a foolish idea. My attempt at being tomboyish and trying to understand the mileages, the gears, the rockers and the shockers was all a waste! Anyways, so this undergrad american team mate of mine was talking about the bikes he had driven and wanted to drive. He suddenly mentioned about his experience while driving Harley-Davidson. Now, no matter how ignorant i might be in this field,but i for sure know about H-D. So i was interested to know more about it. I casually asked him - "So how and where did u get hands on a H-D?" He replied even more casually - "oh that,well..my mom's boyfriend has one. And he is my bumchum, so he lets me drive his bike." I took 5 minutes to come terms with the fact that he was so coolly talking about his mom's boyfriend. And it took me another 5 minutes to realise that he was close to being best frenz with that dude ! I think he was expecting a 'wow' or a 'cool' kinda phrase from me, but all i could say was - "what !!!! ???" He was surprised to see me surprised. But luckily he didn't understand the reason for my astonishment and i somehow completed the sentence - "what !!! ??? ---long pause--- i mean, thats nice he lets u use his H-D". I kept thinking about it for a while that how things were so different for the people in the west. Imagining a replacement of either of our parents is close to a nightmare.

Yet another revelation which I came across was that there can be as many homes as the number of members in the family. A team mate of mine had mentioned that his hometown is chicago. Having seen close knit families in India, I assumed that his family must be staying together as well. On our recent visit to chicago, he said he would be staying at his mom's house. Now, what was that supposed to mean...huh?? For a moment, I was again taken aback with the concept of Mom's house and Dad's house. It took me a while to realise that kids don't stay with their parents once they start going to college. This dude has started looking for an apartment for himself in the same city.

I cannot help but appreciate the closeness which we share with our family and relatives in India. When i was moving to Mumbai for engineering, there were absolutely no second thoughts about me staying with my masi(maternal aunt). Well, may be thats what we call difference in cultures !

Beyond the Obvious...

Today, somehow it occured to me that most of the times we do not think beyond what is obvious. The ability to appreciate things is restricted to what is presented infront of us with great pomp and show. The things which remain unspoken fail to get the due credit of their magnanimity. I came across a video which had many such examples. For those who say - "With enough experience comes success", should look upto the record breaking Indian cricketer 'Sachin Tendulkar' who achieved success at the age of 17. When people dismiss the hardwork and committment of the rich by saying that "Only those with family money ever become rich", I am reminded of 'Dhirubhai Ambani' and the legacy he created. When I come across a generalized statement like "The Black man has always suffered in America", I feel overwhelmed by the standing ovation which actor Denzel Washington received at the oscars. When I hear people say -"On earth we are born, on earth we are meant to live"; I cannot help but appreciate the likes of Neil Armstrong, Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams who have been fortunate enough to experience world beyond this planet. One man I am sure to write off the adage - "The official age for retirement is 58" would have been JRD Tata. He held office until he breathed his last at the age of 89. People who pass statements like "The only sport where India can be a World Champion is cricket" need to be reminded of the undisputed Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand who is responsible for taking India to the meteoric heights in the world of Chess. "Perfection is an impossible ideal" Nadia Comaneci, the romanian gymnast would raise an eyebrow to this statement and say - "Is it?" She was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. Some historian's statement - "The world, as we know it, is flat and ends at Africa" was enough to challenge Colombus who went on to discover America in 1942. When people remarked that "All computers will be ugly grey boxes", Apple made us think differently. In context of Indian politics, if a young man attempts to do things differently, his efforts are shunned off by saying - "An individual can never make a difference". I simply wish that someone could remind those people of the **difference** which a small man with the frail physique brought to the struggling masses of India. Millions of people revered this man as Mahatma Gandhi. To make someone realise that a certain goal is unrealistic or impractical, its been more than often said "If men were meant to fly, they'd have been born with wings". Had it not been for the aviation pioneers, The Wright Brothers, who were courageous enough to defy the statement, crossing the 7 seas would have remained a dream for most of us !

The idea behind listing down all these examples is to remind myself of the fact that - If you believe, you can , YOU WILL !!