Sandra from Bandra

Naah..I am not outta topics to write about, its just that I have far more interesting things to watch or read these days. One of them happens to be this short documentary about bandra chicks -

http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Story.aspx?id=1430&lang=1

I want the earth + 5%

Need answers to questions about credit system in US which has always been a mystery? The entire story demystified at - http://www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html

Awesome read !

I was underconfident..

It takes even the most courageous men to accept their shortcomings. I was taken by surprise when former Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen publicly admitted that she was an underconfident kid until the age of 16 and still has her complexes. In an interview with Vir Sanghavi on Star Talk she said that she went to a hindi medium school all her life and could not speak English till 10th grade. She was a skinny, unkempt, a frail looking and an undernourished girl who was scared to look at herslf in the mirror. She was a silent back bencher in school and was scared to raise her hand to answer a question or ask a doubt. In short, she recalls herself being an average girl both academically and socially. There are so many students in small towns of India who have similar complexes about their appearances and communicative abilities. Such students should consider Sushmita Sen as a role model who has made a significant mark for herself on the face of this planet. The entire universe had to bow down infront of her determination and will power. So if she can..anyone can !

Shaadi - Vaadi...

Ek aur jhatka..another setback within such a short span of time ! The culture shock as I would like to call it, has this time come from a set of some desis who would like to be referred as N-R-I's. What surprised me was an invitation card from these non-reliable indians, which they sent out to their close relatives inviting them for their daughters wedding in US of A. This card suggests some of the possible hotels and resorts where their relatives who come from as far as India should be making their accomodation arrangements. The card highlights the rates of per night stay along with discount codes...gasp ! **shocked**

It comes as a shock because till date, Indian weddings are considered to be an elaborate, expensive and an emotional event. The grand affair spans several days where more than the bride and the groom, the invited guests, relatives and friends have to be pampered. Having witnessed a couple of weddings personally where my folks were involved in the wedding preparations, i can authentically say that it is quite an herculean task.

The concept of wedding planners is still obscure in middle class indian weddings, so the complete onus of making sure that everything goes off smoothly is on the parents of the bride or the groom. The trickiest part in the entire hoopla is to ensure that the chacha-chachi from bhatinda have their bed tea before they even get up, mami ji from indore has toothpaste of the brand she has been using all her life in the bathroom, pune waali masi ji has PEARS and not LUX in her soapcase, buaji gets the scissors, tauji's newspaper is in his hands before it reaches the news stands in the town, the kids get their strawberry milkshakes and cheese sandwiches, the pillows are soft enough for the aunty ji who is all of a sudden conscious of her spinal cord position, there are a couple of chauffers standing 24 x 7 to drive the young girls to beauty parlors, chachi ji to a tailor who realises at the last moment that the blouse she plans to wear on the D-day is not fitting her properly...uff...and the list goes on !! Ahh...I forgot to mention that the food which is prepared during these 3-4 days should suit the tastes and restrictions of diabetic chachi ji, buaji who has high BP, kids who don't want spicy food, health conscious young ladies who detest even half a table spoon of oil, tauji who relishes delicacies prepared in nothing less than Pure Desi Ghee, chacha ji from london who needs juices and shakes instead of lassi's and chaas...even this list goes on until eternity...

But if I think of it now, weddings without all these tantrums and turns and twists would be so boring and monotonous. Fun which we have with all these relatives who gather from far and wide gives the essence to joy and excitement in the indian weddings. These are some of the moments which I look forward to in any family wedding. But I guess..**Sigh**..things are different for desis in US of A.

Just when i decide...

• Just when I decide to start my walks regularly, the weather goes bad...
• Just when I decide to start with my yoga again, the bed gets all the more warm and cozier...
• Just when I decide to vacuum the house, my roomie looks at me and I look at her...just to say..naah...may be some other time...
• Just when I decide to complete the book I started, I doze off...
• Just when I decide to start doing something constructive, I feel I wanna laze around a bit more...
• Just when I decide to go for a bath after trying to procrastinate by all possible means, the hot water stops flowing...
• Just when I decide to sleep early and get up early, some one comes online or some new movie holds my interest until wee hours of the morning...
• Just when I decide to go on a diet(I've been eating like a pig off late), comes a potluck or a birthday party...
• Just when I decide to stop reading blogs, someone directs me to another interesting one...
• In all these Justs, I forget that just when I try and blame some one else for delaying things, I am reminded of the fact that it is no one else, who is whiling away time...its ME !! :(

And the Award goes to...

8 PM..2nd March..all television sets tuned in to SONY entertainment television to watch Filmfare awards for the year 2007. The Filmfare Awards ceremony is one of the oldest, prominent and most coveted events for Indian Film Industry(I refrain from referring it as Bollywood, lest I might upset Big B). There are separate categories for popular awards, critics awards, Special awards and technical awards. Not only the film fraternity but even the masses eagerly wait for this evening. There is a difference in the eagerness though..the filmy junta waits to see who has won the auction and who gets to carry the black lady home, and desh ki junta waits to see the sizzling performances by the leading ladies and the heartthrobs of the celluloid.

My friends and family members in India are kind enough to keep me abreast with the latest hindi movies, the reality shows on TV,the masala gossips,the grapevine etc in the tinsel town. So, a day before the awards were broadcasted in India, my grandmom asked me not to miss the Filmfare Awards because the hit jodi is back to rock the stage. In attempt to guess, I thought it would be john-bipasha hosting the event. But NO. My grandmom who is nowhere close to being influenced by Kanta Ben was all excited about Sharukh and Saif being the comparer's of the evening. Now, I had seen them perform a couple of years back and I thought that their act was quite funny. So granny's excitement rubbed on me as well, and i was desperately searching for the links to watch the awards online. I did get hold of the link, but after a day's wait.

To begin with, the entire show was a thorough disappointment. Not that I should have held high expectations in the first place, but still...whatever...Actually speaking, i think with umpteen awards which exist we should by now habituate ourselves to the way the awards are handed out to Bollywood films. They have more or less the same concept, same dance numbers, same performers, same people sharing the stage..Filmfare has a reputation of satsifying one and all in the bright fraternity. They conveniently accomodate people in special categories or critics category and ward away any possible situation of annoying the members from filmy families.

Anyways, this year's Filmfare was woven around Saif and Kareena's love affair. From the beginning until end, it was ONLY about them. Moments like Sharukh addressing Kareena as his bhabhi and Karan johar's nudging Saif's elbow before Kareena's dance performance - it was all so irritating to say the least. There was a moment where i felt that there might be a special category of award designated only to honor them as the best couple of the year. And if this was not enough, the icing on the cake was Sharukh and Saif's slapstick comedy. No one was spared from the spears of their taunts except for the so called circle of Chopra's and Johar's. All in all, it was highly boring and an utter waste of time.

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 !!

Taare Zameen Par...

You could not have possibly expected anything less than TZP from Aamir Khan as his directorial debut...Kudos !

TZP has a realistic approach and is an eye opener for all those parents who want to fulfill their own unfulfilled dreams, ambitions & desires through their children. Its a must watch for those parents who want their kids to study in nothing less than IITs or IIMs...those parents who want their young ones to follow the footsteps of some godforsaken topper in their social circle...those parents who spend thousands of rupees to coach their little ones in all possible extra curricular activities which exist on the planet - be it swimming, painting, horse riding, cooking, lawn tennis, cricket ... those parents who conveniently fail to understand that their kids might have different interests ... those parents who shun away their wards confidence by comparing them to sons and daughters of friends, relatives or even their own siblings...those parents who want each of their kids to ace everything present in the universe...and finally those parents who in spite of realizing special needs of their kids shy away from the fact that their child is different from the rest !!

The movie beautifully highlights the stress and pressure which the young minds have been loaded with. It revolves around a dyslectic kid Ishaan Awasthi who lags behind in his class because the letters dance in front of his eyes, the numbers run away from him and the sports refuse to befriend him ! Assuming this to be his notoriousness, Ishaan's parents send him to a boarding school. God knows who gives such ideas to the parents of modern generation that a bunch of strangers can discipline their children better than his own family **sigh** Boarding schools are not a concept of today; they very much existed in the past. Boarding schools of ancient days were known as Gurukul's. But, there is a significant difference between the two. Parents sent their children to gurukuls and ashram's for their all round development, where as the modern day boarding schools are nothing but mere dumping grounds for rich parents who do not have time for their spoiled brats. Anyways, lets continue with Ishaan's story. This little boy already had less troubles in his life that his parents had to burden him emotionally by separating him from his family at a tender age of 8. He was called a trouble maker, duffer, retard, stupid, foolish and what not. And this little soul embraced all such awarded titles and many more with complete silence and grace. Had it not been for the art teacher (Aamir), Ishaan would have become yet another kid who had to be sent to a school for retarded children. Dyslectic kids are not retards, they are slow learners. Aamir introduces Ishaan to a whole new world of learning and discovers the talented painter and artist in him. Slowly and gradually Ishaan's lost confidence is revived and his academic graph starts rising.

Aamir's approach towards the movie is quite sensitive and the story is moving. I would credit him not only for his own performance but also the ability to make the little Ishaan perform at par. The movie raises an important issue about kids and their parents.The movie was sensitive enough to deliver the message, hope the parents are receptive enough to understand the same !

That's the Difference !

Working in an offshore team in Indian Industry gave me lot of exposure to interact with the clients in US. I had always heard of US work culture being different, but had never really understood the difference. I always wondered that what could be different - even they would have a cubicle to themselves, even they would sit with their teams and have discussions, arguments, even they would have jokes to share, team parties,even their reporting managers would stand on their heads to get the work done before some unrealistic deadline. But after spending few months here,I have got some idea of the difference in the culture - its the ATTITUDE !

First one which struck me was that there are no fixed cubicles for employees. This culture is prevalent mostly in the Consultancy firms. The Consultants who are traveling for 4 days a week to the client site don't necessarily need a reserved cubicle for themselves. On 5th day they can work remotely from home. Even if the employees are not traveling and decide to work in office, they have a hotel kinda check in system where they can reserve a cubicle on daily/weekly basis. This saves so much of work space which would otherwise lie unoccupied.

Second difference is regarding the interaction with colleagues at work place. In India, I had the liberty to visit any of my friend's cubicle without prior notice. I could stop by at their desk with a cup of coffee and have a nice chat about anything under the sun. Even amongst the team, there used to be lot of fooling around stuff. Playing pranks on juniors in the team, laughing loudly and discussing things like new restaurants, movies, what is going on in other projects used to be a everyday routine. On one hand it helped us to bond with each other where as, on the other hand, it kind of affected the productivity of the team adversely. The time which was spent in the non-work related things could have been put to use in a much more efficient manner thereby putting away the need to sit back long hours in office and burning mid night oil. Here, people work quite seriously from 9 to 5 and enjoy after office hours. People here have their ipods plugged in their ears and have their focus on work alone. They take a 1 hour break for lunch in between. Some desis like this kind of atmosphere where as some are uncomfortable with the silence around. A friend of mine finds it difficult to work in this kinda isolation and cannot concentrate for more than 2 hours.

Meetings here are not conducted for the heck of it. They are conducted after some deliberation with a strong Agenda. Some reference material or fliers are sent to the attendees prior to the meeting. The action items which I saw only in text in India are something which I saw being put to practice here. No one wastes time for documenting minutes of the meeting. The items discussed are written then and there in the wiki by the project manager or the convener of the meeting along with the action items. The tasks are assigned to the individuals on wiki, who then go and update the tasks after they are completed.

The reporting manager does not stand on your head to get the work done. He doesn't come to your workstation to peep into your system to know what you are doing. You are assigned work with a realistic deadline and are supposed to turn in your work by that deadline.

Everyone trusts each other. There is a strong sense of Integrity in everything people do. If you say, that you completed a task in 3 hours, people would buy that. They would never question that. Because they trust that you would report the actual time taken for completing that task.

People respect each other's job, however small it might be. I have seen the housekeeping or mail delivery folks being treated with so much of respect and courtesy.

There are so many things which I find different here that I can go on and on about them. But the most important thing which infact gave me the very idea of writing this comparative post was an incident at my work place (oncampus job). My manager got an additional responsibility in a research department.She was promoted in the management hierarchy. There was absolutely no compulsion on her part to have communicated this news to us(her current team). BUT, she convened a special meeting and informed us about it before we could learn it from an outside source and be surprised. The sheer transparency and trust which exists in the team is just awesome. I was extremely impressed with my manager's move. It might be a very small or routine thing for her, but for me who has seen how managers and PL's ***hide*** things which affect their own teams directly, it definitely means a lot. I would consider myself a little unfortunate to have come across seniors at my workplace in India who have not set very good leadership examples. May be they do not understand that taking ones' team into confidence is the key to team's success. It is quite important for team's morale. I have had this experience in India, where my PL's moving out of the current project was communicated to me by some one outside my project. Not that it matters in long run, but I did question the faith and respect I had for my PL then. But I decided to derive a positive learning outta this situation. I am preparing a list of Do's and Dont's for myself from these experiences. I would try and incorporate them in my work ethics when I assume the leadership roles.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a traditional North American holiday, where people thank for their possessions at the end of a harvest season. Every year, it is celebrated on 4th Thursday of November which makes it a 4 day long weekend break for everyone in schools, colleges and offices. I was fortunate to be a part of this American festival this year. The main attraction of this festival is the celebrations with thanksgiving dinner, where people invite family and friends and treat them with turkey, wine, cakes and all sorts of delicacies. I did not go to any such dinner, but my group of Indian friends got together to celebrate the occasion with some desi food and wine. Dinner was followed by some games with cards. I learned a new game called "Poker". Its addictive and quite interesting. By the time we realized that it was time to pack up, the clock had already struck 3 AM. It was pointless to sleep after that, because we had all decided to go out at 5 AM to throng upon the thanksgiving sales. So, while my friends caught up on a horror English movie, I surfed all the possible websites to check for the online deals. Soon it was 5 AM and we wrapped ourselves in 3 layers of clothing as a protection against the -5 degrees temperature.

People go crazy for the thanksgiving sales. They line up in front of the shops for buying electronic items from a night before. Our first stop was at Best Buy. There was a swarm of people in the store buying everything and anything. Some of the things were bought simply because they were cheap. They had no idea as to what use they would put that to. Other stores we visited were Staples, Target, Sears, Old Navy, Aeropostale etc etc. I bought most of my electronic stuff online - 2 Camera's Canon SD1000, a 4GB Sansa, a 2GB Sansa, two 2GB SD memory Cards. I got pretty good deals on all these items and so I was satisfied ! Overall, I would say, it was a unique and exciting experience !!

Craze of Hindi Movies in US

It was a little intimidating to find myself in a land where desi's want a mother like Jaya Bachhan, they adore a father like Amitabh, wives expect a doting Sharukh or Abhishek and Husband's crave for gorgeous Aishwarya's , Rani's and Kajol's.....More than surprised, I was taken aback by the way the NRI junta identifies itself with the silver screen entities. For them, these screen characters are real people.These Desi's plan to visit them during their next trip to India. I sometimes wonder that which part of India would they find Suraj Barjatiya's portrayal of a close knit family or Yash Chopra's elegant houses and exotic locales..

People squander $s to buy Indian DVDs or catch the first show of a newly released movie. Visiting lonely parents in the neighborhood takes a back seat when it comes to catching up the first day first show of a newly released movie in a theater which might require a 2 hour drive. On my recent trip to King of Prussia, I accompanied my cousins to watch the newly released movie - Om Shanti Om. I was bored to death ! Sharukh's charm could not cast any spell and as per my ratings it was a super duper flop !! But again, it was not a movie of my taste anyways, so opinions might differ. My cousin and his wife were in the awe of the so-called-spectacular movie.They were so excited and thrilled that after seeing a horrifying 3 hour drama, they had nothing but to rave about it for 2 hours on the journey back home. Within minutes the whole network of their Indian friends was informed about how amazing the movie was and why they should watch it asap. I had nothing to say but was passively watching the second drama which was going on in front of me...

We happened to meet their acquaintance at the same theater. Now these folks had been (un)fortunate enough to have seen another big release of the month - Sanwariya , just a day before. Instead of exchanging pleasantries at a public place like cinema hall they were busy flaunting about their experience with Sanwariya. This show off was enough to upset my cousin's wife who could not watch yet another dumb sob story before her acquaintances did.

I am slightly flabbergasted to see people competing against each other to watch Indian Flicks before anyone else can ! This competition gives them something to talk about within their social circle of friends and relatives. Failure to do be a part of this rat race is taken as a sabotage to their normal life. I felt that people here are so disconnected with each other that they need external crutches like hindi movies to converse with each other. The dire urge to remain connected to their Indian roots is the biggest conundrum of the Indian Diaspora.

When I see an Indian Grocery store !

Never in the remotest of my thoughts, I had ever imagined, that of all the things in the world, an Indian Grocery Store would be something I would crave for after coming to US. I get so damn excited with the very sight of an Indian Grocery store that I am short of words to describe the jubilation. Back in India, I used to laugh at my brother when he used to help my mausaji, carry the bags from a grocery store. I never paid attention to any of those monthly lists which my masi used to make. But now, whenever I have to make a list of my own to buy stuff from the indian store, I get quite thrilled and excited. The trip to these stores here, is an experience in itself. There is only one such store in Bloomington known as Olive Market. Here is a picture -

Though, it does not have everything under the sun, which used to be there in India, but it has sufficient things to keep us tied to our roots. It has a wide range of pickles - mango, chillies, carrots, mixed, cauliflower, ginger, garlic; pulses - moong, toor, beans, 3 types of chick peas(chana), ready to eat MTR packets, spices which I had never even seen or heard of in India; all types of rice; flours - makai, bajra, besan, maida, sooji; maggi, bournvita, dosas, idlis...and the list goes on. The only thing which I find missing in their shelves is - my favorite Parle G and Monaco biscuits. Trust me, these grocery stores have so much more than I could have ever imagined. The most famous brands here are Swad, Lijjat, MTR and Mothers Recepie.

On my trip to Philadelphia, due to the limited time I had at hand,my cousin gave me a choice between visiting an amusement park and an Indian Grocery Store. Any guesses for what my answer would have been? My brother would mock at me if he hears that I chose to visit a "Kirana store" over the amusement park. The so called Kirana Store here was as big as one floor of Big Bazaar at phoenix mills(mumbai). So there I was in a huge indian mall, again appalled with the things around. This was the known Subzi Mundi of Philly, I had been to -

Apart from the regular things which I already mentioned, it had lots more to offer. One complete section dedicated to the biscuits - you name them, they would have it. Parle G, Monaco, Krackjack, Marie, Tiger...I can go on with the endless list. Theplas, khakhra's, frozen kachori, samosa, pakodas, vada pavs, paranthas, dhoklas and a wide variety of indian sweets. You need atleast 2 hours to be able to go through the entire store once.

There are lot of Indian Stores in and around New Jersey because of the dominance of Indian population there. The famous chains include - Patel Brothers, Subzi Mandi, International Bazaar, Namaste Plaza,Spice Land etc. Most of these stores are owned by either gujjus or saradrji's. And let me tell you, they are not only up to date with latest inventories from India, but are also abreast with the latest technology. They have their own websites and supply chain system for taking online orders. "Awesome" is the only word which comes to my mind, when I think about this business. The way the entire supply chain system works - the importing , the distribution throughout the US, the marketing...these stores are following the walmart steps !

Discrimination still exists !

Ever since the primary school I have been learning that there does not exist any kind of discrimination in the democratic countries. The citizens treat each other equally without any biases of color, caste, creed or religion. As kids, we were taught to understand the concepts of equality and be tolerant of other humans. So far, I had seen only a few discrimnatory actions in India. But I was certain and hopeful that there would not be any such thing in US. I had heard about the dignity of labor and all the good things about respect and appreciation US citizens had for each other. But guess, I was in a utopian world of thoughts.

The other day I borrowed a dvd from the university library and saw the movie "Crash"; only to receive a shock. This was a movie about social and racial tensions which existed even today amongst the natives of the land(the so called whites) and the non-natives(the so called blacks). I had read and heard that there used to exist some problems between the two groups, but was surprised to realize that it was not a thing of the past. It was still prevalent. And I did not have to wait long enough to witness the same peronally. I was in NYC for an interview with E & Y.(P.S: I am yet to write a post on my experiences in NY). On my way from Times Square to LGA airport, I was standing in a line, waiting for a cab. The cab drivers in NYC are mostly indians or the non-whites. I noticed atleast 2 to 3 americans who blatantly refused to get into the cab which was manned by a black person. Some of them looked at the cab drivers with utter disgust. Some made faces and walked away muttering somethings to themselves. I was at complete loss of words. Simply failed to understand that the americans who are known for their politeness and gentleness towards all sorts of foreigners in the country, are so prejudiced against the non-whites. Whatever might be the reasons, but thats how it is ! All I can say is, it still exists !!

Excuse me ??

There are times when we make a fool of ourselves..and I have gotten into a habit of doing that quite often after coming here. The other day I was at CVS (its a pharmacy store here, and works out to be quite expensive for students). But thats the only reliable store for purchasing medicines & related items. So I was @ CVS to buy a dental cleaner which was available only with them. The only good thing about visiting the malls here is that you get to see so many different varieties of a single product. Be it staples like curd, milk, bread, eggs, the chocolates, the fancy cosmetics or for that matter even the medicines. You will find plethora of things to choose from. And all these things are displayed so beautifully that you can't just help but be tempted to try each one of the available things. Anyways, thats a different topic of consumerism in US, which i might touch upon at a later time. Coming back to my story, I was there to buy only the dental solution. But as I said, these stores are attractive and the next thing I found was that I was wandering in the store. I picked up a few things with an intention to buy, but looked at the price tags and kept them back on the shelf. I was looking like a total idiot and "ganwaar" who was just gaping and strolling aimlessly in awe of these new things. After 45 mins of futile walk in the store, I realized that it was an endless maneuver and I should go to the check out counter. Though I was standing in the line, my eyes still kept going back to the beautifully displayed items. In order to deviate my mind, I started observing people who were in the line, infront of me. There was an old lady who was concerned about the rising prices of medicines, another woman was busy talking on cell phone, there was a couple, discussing about some party and just before me was a middle aged woman waiting impatiently to get outta this line. I guess, I was the only one with way too much time at hand. Not only did I wander around for 45 mins without any reason, but also had enough time to notice people. So I was standing behind this middle aged lady, trying to understand that what was the hurry all about. Soon she was on the counter and I was staring at her, simply looking at her. Suddenly she turns back and said - "Excuse me? Do you mind not looking at the screen when I key in the pin of my ATM card." Oh boy !! I was stunned and shocked. I was completely unaware of the fact that she noticed my staring. I had no intentions to look into her mode of payment or atm pin..All I could say was - Oh, I am sorry and excused myself to about 3 arm lengths behind her in the line. Felt terribly bad because of her accusation, because I had no such intentions. Anyways, so I learnt yet another lesson about this foreign land..Gurl, learn to mind your business !

And so I ran...

The temperature today, was the lowest by far; with a max of 4 & min. of -3 degrees. Even two layers of sweaters, a muffler and gloves were of no good. Having spent majority of my life in Rajasthan, i had assumed that bearing the low temperatures would be no big deal. But I was wrong, so terribly wrong. Had it been just the cold weather, I would have tried to cope up ! But the winters here are accompanied by the even colder winds which are enough to run a chill through one's spine. No matter what fabric you wear, these winds penetrate right through the protective layers and lash you left and right.

With a heavy back pack on drooped shoulders, watery eyes and a red nose, I was walking from the bus stop to my office(on campus job). The place was completely deserted and I could not see a single soul within the range my vision permitted me to see. I was calmly walking until I got a 5 minute panic stroke. For no sensible reason, I wondered - what if it gets even more chillier in next few minutes and it starts to snow. And what if my feet refuse to move and I freeze here. What if my vocal cords betray me and I am unable to shout for help. What if the snow starts depositing over me, layer by layer - until I am buried. No one would even realize that I went missing. Who would inform my folks back home? Would they ever be able to see me again? Would I get a glimpse of them ever? What on earth did I think before coming here, why did I come here in the first place? Yearned to be back with family and folks...and within no time I realized that I was muttering something to myself; how I wish, I could remember even a part of what that something was. Anyhow, so during all this thinking and muttering and walking activity, I figured that my eyes were doing the job they were supposed to do. They were trying to spot a human figure in vicinity. Suddenly a chap and his lady friend passed by me.I noticed that they were in shorts, had no special coverings to protect themselves against the wonderful weather and they were jogging. Jogging..eh?oh common, at 3 degrees, who does that ??I do ! Yes. I started running too. With a bag on my back and all the sweaters, which made me heavier by a few more kgs, I started jogging. I said to myself, that this little jog will keep me warm for a while and will divert my mind from the dreadful thoughts of snow burial which were haunting me until a couple of mins back. And it worked. I was at work within 5 mins, and things were fine as they always had been. But weird stuff happens at times !

Changing Colors of the Fall...

Change is the only thing permanent in life ! This is the quote, that most of us must have read or heard at some point in our lives.But not everyone is observant enough to notice the everyday changes around them. I have been fortunate enough to belong to the category of the observant people. These days, I am busy noticing the changing colors of the Fall..the leaves on the trees are drying up and for the first time in all these years, I have realized that even decaying things can also be beautiful.This time of the season here is perfect for those who had gone crazy after seeing the scattered Maple Leaves all around the ground in Yash Raj Films

"Mohabbatein". Its the same scenic beauty around here, the only difference is that university students do not pick up and save these leaves in their books or write I Love You behind them to give to their beloveds'; instead they throw them away to clean off the garbage near their houses.

I had come to US in August(2007) when my university campus was lush green. I had seen the trees adorned with soft green leaves which exuded immense pride to be a part of the highest branch of that tree. Here is one of those beautiful trees, which I couldn't resist marveling at -

Three months passed pretty quickly here...but in this quick process, somewhere the leaves had started changing colors slowly. I saw a gamut of them - dark green, lighter shades of green, dark yellow, pale yellow, brown, red, purple and gray. Some of them were so spectacular that even the artists and painters would crave for these colors to be on their palette.

The sad part is that these beautiful and colorful leaves have started withering away. You can visualize disloyalty at its best ! The tree which provides protection to its leaves against strong winds by holding them close to its trunk, is now mercilessly being abandoned by the same leaves. The leaves are now swaying their way away from the same tree with the wind, only to discover that after a while, they are buried on the ground or are cramped in garbage bags. The hidden philosopher inside me shows up at such events automatically, without being called for. And then wonders and forces me to wonder as well, that aren't these changing forms of a tree - mere symbols of human life? Each one of us experience the same greenery in our youth, we come across the same color variations through changes in our relationships with family & friends,even we betray or are betrayed by our loved ones; either they leave us or we leave them and go away; we too get decayed as the leaves...**sigh** The only difference being that the leaves depart with a promise to be back again in Spring...

Tailor the Sailor !

"Love ke liye saala kuch bhi karega !" Yeah its a movie title, but can be easily adapted to all walks of life. My love for the dollar dreams exemplifies the true sense of the aforesaid line. The idea of falling in love with US of A was quite fantasizing, while I was still in India. I was consciously aware of how deep a hole this love interest of mine is gonna dig into my folks pockets, but I certainly miscalculated the magnitude of troublesome situations it had in store for me. Nevertheless, a commitment once made, has to be kept. And thats what I have been doing since last three months.

Sleeping at odd hours, waking up in the wee hours of the morning, cooking midnight dinner, doing laundry at 1:00 AM in the night and morning walks at 4:00 AM from college to home with temperature as low as 2 degrees are only few of the antics I have been upto in last few months, just to kindle my love for USA. October 29th, 2007 will be remembered as yet another day of my stay in US, when I did something so exceptional so as to make my mother proud of my creative, artistic and innovative capabilities. A city inspection in my apartment complex mandated that all the apartments should have their windows covered with blinds or curtains. The futile search for correct sized blinds, conducted by my roommates left us with no option but to hunt for curtains. Now, for those who have stayed in US or have spent a considerable time looking around for home apparels in the malls, would know that curtains are by no means an inexpensive possession. The price range might vary from as little as $30 to as humongous as few hundred dollars. As students, we usually operate on common minimum program, so spending even 30 bucks for satisfying some city inspectors tantrums is also a big deal for us.

Business school teaches us lots of fundas and expects that we make use of them in the real world whenever and where ever possible. One such rule taught to us was - "Leaders don't do different things, they do things differently". Fortunately, this funda struck both, my roommate and myself at the same time. So in the urge to do things differently in the real world, we decided to stitch the curtains outta a bedsheet and use it for our Hall. For the starters we decided to put up the whole bedsheet on the wooden plank surrounding our balcony window and tighten screws around it. So I quickly jumped on a chair with screwdrivers, nuts and bolts in my hands to display my carpentry skills. It was only after drilling a couple of holes in the wood, both my roomie and I realized that its not the smartest way to fulfill the need of curtains, because by doing so, we would permanently block our entrance door to the Balcony. So we decided to cut the bedsheet into two halves; run a string through the bedsheet in a desi style and then use it like curtains. The length of the curtains was sophisticatedly adjusted by using stapler and safety pins. The finishing of our innovation was so close to real curtains, that even a professional tailor might have suffered from an inferiority complex. I aint bragging, a picture speaks louder than words - you can view the masterpiece for yourself ! If some one wishes to dig deeper in the B School gyaan, he would marvel at the Cost-Benefit Curve which my roommate and I would someday come up with. For my mother these concepts would not hold any significance. All she would care about, is about my artistic contribution in the whole curtain making process. She would not only swell with pride, but would also be relieved to know that her only daughter, who never even bothered to have a glass of water herself, is now handling the household work so efficiently.

Although I would just say in a hushed up tone - " Nahi ma, U have no clue, ki yeh USA Love kya kya karvata hai !"

The joy of eating Parle G !

This might sound a little weird, but the satisfaction I experienced after eating Parle G in amreikaaa is unparalleled..I am so happy and satisfied after munching the whole pack of Parle G that my joy is beyond expression ! My roomie had been to NY and happened to visit the Indian store - Patel Brothers. She called me from NY to ask if I needed any Indian stuff. All I asked her to get for me were some Indian Biscuits if she could get any. And to my surprise she got me 6 packs of Parle G for a buck !!!! For past 3 months all I have got on the name of biscuits are firangi cookies filled with rich nuts and choco chips. I was terribly missing simpler things in life..and when I got hand on them, I was elated. Even after having a heavy dinner, I could not resist opening the pack of biscuits. Here is the picture -

Joy of simple things in life is sometimes difficult to put in words...

Yes, the car stops !

** Screeeeeeeech ** Honk** Abuse 1** Honk again ** Abuse 2** - are the unusual good morning and good evening salutations which mumbaites exchange with the rising and the settling sun everyday. Having endangered six most precious years of my life in a city like mumbai , I know how much courage it takes to step out of the house everyday and walk/drive on the roads. Every single soul wants to reach their destination with batting of an eyelid. The agility with which the cars, the bikes, the trucks, the cycles change the lanes would give a big time complex to the fastest reptile on the planet. I have not only witnessed, but have also been an active participant in violating the traffic rules in Mumbai. Not wearing the seat belt, rushing through the signal past 11PM, not waiting for the pedestrian's, bumper to bumper driving, impatient honking, changing lanes to get ahead in the traffic jam is something which every mumbaite identifies with. I too can !

Its been 3 months in the US of A..and there are certain things here, which are exceptionally brilliant. It would take years for India to compete on the same level. Amongst several things, what has impressed me the most here is the traffic sense and discipline of the junta on the roads. Honking is considered impolite. People honk only when you have violated some traffic rules. People who honk on the roads are considered to be unsophisticated drivers. Vehicles wait to give way to others on busy roads or blind turns. Pedestrian's command rights on the roads. There are push buttons on the poles by the road side, which allow them to indicate their intentions of crossing the road to the moving vehicles. Tell this to someone in Mumbai..and they will laugh it off. Push Buttons..eh? Even if you don't press these buttons and a distant driver sees you crossing the road, he will signal you to cross the road with a big broad smile. For some one like me who is used to growls and abuses, more than surprising, such acts of politeness are intimidating. Why would a car wait for you to cross the road safely? And on top of that they would smile and waive at you !! It took me a while, but now I have got used to this culture. Whenever the vehicle owner lets me cross the road, I waive back with a smile gesturing a Thank you ! It feels really good to receive an even bigger smile in reciprocation.
People are extra sweet here and at times it seems all fake and artificial. I am not doubtful of their genuineness, but i guess it would take me a while to get used to the yankee politeness.