AMERICAAAAA..

On the 5th of August, my life changed. Until then, my future and I dangled on a balance at the crossroads of destiny for about an year. Not that I had a chance before to change tracks - but this change, that culminated as a result of a series of lousy efforts last year, is huge. I feel goosebumps of that realization every minute I stay awake - yes, I do manage to get good sleep amidst this adventure.

Okay. I am in America. Did you just say "So what?"? Then please note, I meant THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAAAA!!! No, that's not a "SO WHAAAT?" again, I hope I heard you wrong. I hope so. Is this a game that we are playing? Sounds so.

This photograph is to prove that I am in the USA :) That's I, the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls (the thin strip that originates from a tenth of an inch to the left of my left ear) and the Horseshoe Falls in the increasing order of depth (!) in the pic. These three falls together are called the Niagara Falls, And that's Canada on the right-hand-side-bank of the river Niagara

Now this game could go on and on for ever, until either of us gives up and says I don't care where you are or what you say. Now that is simple, isn't that? Why don't we do that now? Okay, so that's it, so now that you and me have reached a consensus, which is not to care about where the other one is or what the other one says, let me get into some business now. Let me try to woo you back into listening to what I say - oh come on, not a game again. I will, in this and the following posts to come here, share some of my experiences with you, and you may read along if you find those interesting. That I choose to write those down should imply that I found that worth. Now you may agree or disagree after reading those, or even before reading if you don't care, or even if you read a post and find that not interesting to you, keep reading relying on the hope that one fine day I might write down something really interesting! Okay, enough of the verbose, let me get started. I am sorry, I don't have pictures to make this piece of writing look better than it actually is, I would have loved to, but not this time. May be next time.

1. Yes, I dare!

Here in the USA, I, like every average Indian here, starts to do things which I don't even dare to think about. At least not during undergraduate engineering studies. One example: here at the University at Buffalo, NY, I pack lunch at home and bring that to my classes - no, not to get occupied with eating when I get bored with my classes (now I don't think I enjoy the luxury of having an option to get bored in classes - oh! how I miss my undergraduate classes), but to serve better purposes than the former. There are many many reasons to why I pack my lunch. (i) to make the most of the opportunity to develop my culinary skills (oh yes, I love cooking!), (ii) to stay healthy and rich (cooking food at home not only keeps me healthy - I say this although I have not had a chance to provide a counter-example to prove myself wrong, it also reduces down my expenses because cooking is much cheaper than buying food outside - oh my god! The restaurants inside the campus are positive multiple times (>=1)expensive than those outside! I wonder why it is not the other way round), (iii) to ascertain the crazy notion of many non-Indians that Indians and their food smell nastily (no, I don't try to seek anybody's - especially that of non-Indian girls' - attention with my lunch box opened and a fan beside it to spread the aroma of Indian food across the entire library floor), (iv) to save about an hour and a half by not travelling back and forth home for lunch, and (v) many others. 

2. I am a Brownie

To quote my friend, "Indians are not EXOTIC anymore". In this place which was almost free from Indians (not the Red-Indians, but Indians from South Asia) to SIX SIGMA SPECIFICATION (3.4 Indians per million Americans? Should have been so once upon a time - I am leaving the statistical clarification to the demographers), now it is less than 3.8 sigma (about 10,000 Indians per million Americans - find the data here in Wikipedia)! That's so big and it is difficult to walk on the roads and not come across an Indian. This task is impossible when walking in or around any university in the USA that provides some course, preferably master's, in engineering. So we Indians are neither this nor that (by using these pronouns I am trying to express the fact that I am not a racist) which means that I we are brown! And I have many a time overheard people referring to me and my friends here as "Hey! Brown guys started coming here.." Now let me tell here that I didn't feel bad when I heard that. Why should I feel offended? I am what I am and I cannot change myself. Nor do I have a desire to change. So even though I tend to belong to a group that is decreasing in its rarity, let me declare myself exotic, may be not as exotic as I would have been had I come here a decade ago, and enjoy my stay in this absolutely welcoming place as much as I can.

So that's it for the time being, now that I have thrown enough light on my American life here. But if you happen to believe that the upcoming posts are going to be similar to this, beware! Visit this page often - many more stories in the pipeline, and you will feel that you are touring the USA. And yes, I will be back with more color as I promised. Bye.