Nov 17, 2009

Part 1 - Lessons from Amrika

This is the first in a series of posts of my learning's from this country (which will continue until they deport me) very similar to how Borat expressed his views in the movie with the longest name ever... so uhm... boratically.
First thing you will notice when you land in an airport, anywhere en route, is that it isn't India. You won't find people when you need them, you'll need to figure of things yourself, rather than just ask the nearest person. And all this will make sense when you try to call home. They charge you 1$ for 2minutes if I remember right, and at Frankfurt, it gets worse. You need to get a calling card which is the shittiest thing ever for what its worth.
Once you step out of the airport, if its your first time abroad, you'll be startled by the cleanliness and the wide roads and the size of the four-wheelers that more often than not, carry just one person. What the hell are they talking about global warming for? Shops are powered all the time, as though electricity is ubiquitous. Oh wait, in this part of the world, it is :-/
As computers love binary and excel at such computations, an Indian in Amrika will excel at multiplying by 50. But after a while, you tend to realize that it isn't all that costly for the amount you can make over here, with a part-time job, if you're lucky to get one that is.
The transportation system and the amount of planning that has gone into a city is just :-O
The number of people jogging is insane, its like some race to be fit and makes you feel completely out of shape :-x.. and every jogger has a few wires attached to some apple product.

After a few months of graduate skool (its kewl 2 type school dis way), you will figure out just why very few Amrikans choose the graduate path. With the amount of distraction they have, its quite impossible to focus on academics. The beauty that you see around during the Fall is just unbelievable. The colorful flora and the oh-so-many-hot girls make for a deadly eye straining combo. Hence, it is highly advised to bring an extra pair of spectacles or contact lenses with a higher power index when you come here. If your hostel life wasn't enough to make you miss Mummy's cooking (like atish's mess), then living abroad definitely will. I'm really glad I took some lessons in culinary before coming. Not only is my capsicum curry the talk of Madison, I've actually started to like cooking :-~~
You also learn that some guys are really good at cooking, and its good to learn new recipes now and then.
And graduate life isn't really as hard as others tell it is. At least if you're in Computer Science, where life is always easy and binary. Don't have your hopes set too high for funding before you come, like me, else you'll feel pretty bad after a while :-/ You're bound to meet some characters when you come here, and that adds to all the fun :-D
Okay, time to watch big bang theory now :D Geeky humor is something graduate students can associate to really well! More on the weather, wal-mart, etc next time around.

9 comments:

Arjun Variar said...

Nice post .. More letters from amrika for the desi's will follow up i hope :P
and you are right we have nothing else to do :P

Raghav said...

Finally, "Life in amareeka" (that's what I call it) from the perspective of a person whose change in geographical location hasn't changed his thinking/opinions much. Unlike some others who were shouting "Go Steelers" during their first week in amareeka ! The beauty of the place is unquestionable (restricting myself to scenery and surroundings) because I feel Indian girls are more pretty da :P Also good to see the same old smugness from your side as a Computer Science graduate :P

The Unreasonable Man said...

"Yeah your Capsicum curry is talk of the town!!"

~R

dnyanesh / dyno said...

Really nice n humourous post (capsicum curry was hilarious :-> )

Keep 'em coming

Nitish Vashishtha said...

i dont see the mention of any games whatsoever so i am guessing grad life isnt all that hunky-dory that you claim to be :P
however unlike you we indians in india have to watch bbt by torrent d/l, hopefully you are watching on some hd tv live.

Raja said...

@vigi, lol
@. [lol looks like some perl symbol :P], yeah there are several times when i think of the time spent at ccd's back home =D hmm, if you see the latin american girls here, you'll change ur mind ;)
@dyno, tq tq :D
@envy, i tried hard to not type insomnium and dota :) gaming is still very much there, but just a lot lesser :P and no da, faster torrents is way better =) though yeah watching on hulu sometimes is nice as well.

Pithyae said...

ah :) Love that smiley by the side of 'cooking' :-~~ was it..hehe..keep 'em cmin.!

Tushar said...

Nice post...it was 50 cents, not one dollar for the 2 minutes call...I totally agree about the global warming part..And am I in those some characters? :)

Raja said...

@tushar, nope your pretty normal :P