Monday, August 25, 2008

A CONFUSED COLLECTION OF CONFLICTING THOUGHTS


It has been nearly a month since I have got to the US. I still feel just the same as I did on my first day here... CONFUSED!!! Confusion appears to be on the top of the list of emotions that come to mind. The confusion is along the lines of hmm...what am I suppose to do now???

I seem to be left either searching for answers or speechless in most cases.

Let me start with where I live:

I have a roomie who picked up scented candles to meditate because he saw something similar in the movie "blade". How do you meditate looking at a candle ??? are your eyes not suppose to be closed??

My roomies and I made tandoori chicken last weekend and I know it was good because they were other people i.e neighbours who ate it and lived. But I can not still figure out the right proportion of rice and water to cook rice. Guess what, the advice I get compounds my misery. One guy answered " 1.5 cups of rice with 3.2 cups of water" I mean what is 3.2????

I am sick of people asking me why did you leave Google ?? because frankly I am beginning to ask myself the same. It really hurts to pay for stuff like pringles lays pepsi and tons of other stuff one gets in the office. Guys enjoy every single moment over there trust there is nothing that gets close to the Google expierence.

Class has started and I am constantly thinking " damn these guys are soon going to find out that I dont belong here". The professors here really know what they are talking about but most of the time I am experiencing OHT ( Over Head Transmission ).

And for some reason most Indian's here, appear to suffer from a case of identity crisis including me. I seem to be struggling to find the right balance between " fitting in " and " being who or what I am ". It is feels like it is war between the lines " when in Rome behave like a Roman" and " Never forget where you come from".

People here cannot think of India beyond the lines chicken curry and BPO's and I really did not like it at first but come on what do we know about them ?? What we see on TV and mainly the birthplace of Mcdonalds and coke right. So it is our job to paint a complete picture for them
right...but for some reason we are very hesitant of doing that and I cannot seem to figure out why??

I know this has to be the most random collection of thoughts ever posted by me on my blog.




Saturday, August 9, 2008

INDIA HOSTING THE OLYMPICS: DO WE DESERVE IT??





The other day I was browsing through Indian news sites when I came across an article about the possibility of India hosting the Olympics. I mean you must be joking !!! are you serious ?? Do you honestly think a one sport nation like ours should contemplate such an action??

I am not saying we are not capable, definitely not. What I am trying to say is do you think there is enough of a sports culture within our society today to give the respect an Olympic event deserves?? I mean would they play the cricket world cup in the USA or France just because there are facilities there meet the standard. NO!! definitely not because they are not in to cricket. Just as we are not in to the concept of the Olympics i.e the sports that are in it.

Yes we have won medals including multiple gold in field hockey but today our field hockey team is not even at Beijing. I do not blame the system, players or the so administrators who run the game but I blame us. We the people of India have become indifferent to sports other than cricket. It is sad but true. For example when we got dumped out of the cricket world cup the nation was up in arms saying "oh my god say it aint so" but we did not qualify for the Olympics in field hockey how many of us were devastated??


Today at the Beijing Olympics our country has 3 realistic medal hopes the Bhupathi and Paes duo which is at twilight, Raj Vardhan Singh Rathod the same whose national camp did not happen because there was a lack of ammunition and a boxer named Vijender Kumar. I have never heard of the boxer till a few days back and yes there will be another who will come out of the blue and win medal like Karnam Malleshwari.


But 4 from 1 billion hmmm... I do not know but lets look beyond that. Who ran the Indian leg of the Olympic torch relay it was not our athletes but our movie stars. wow!! can u believe that movie stars !!

Ok now critical question would you go and watch the athletics, swimming, wrestling or any other sport?? I dont think so... come on !! National games, World Military games and so on went on with empty stadium seats as their audience. (please look beyond opening and closing cermonies)

I am sure the honor of empty stadiums is not something we do not want to bestow on the Olympics. Such a travesty of the Olympic spirit would be act of treason. Basically we do not deserve to host the Olympics at this point of time. We still do not give sports or sportpersons the respect they deeserve in our society yet.

Being an optimist I feel some day things will change and then just may be we might see an Olympics in India.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I MISS MY CHAOS:I AM AN INDIAN & I LOVE IT

I have been in the United States of America for nearly a week now and I can clearly see why it is considered the most advanced country in the world. In my short life I have not seen much of the world come to think of it, I have not even seen much of India. But I am sure that it would be very tough to find a country where civil society is more organized and disciplined than the one here.
The way traffic moves, the way people obey laws, the orderly fashion in which people disembark from a plane and so on is just jaw dropping. For me as a Hyderabadi just watching the manner in which traffic laws are obeyed made me want to just dig a hole and jump in to it. For every need of society there is the huge shop which is the size of the Metro in Hyderabad. They are so huge that, they make what we find in India seem as small as a pebble( hey ro... better than the h block f block comparison rite) .


All this feeling of awe and wonder lasted for initial four days. But ever since then I have realized that I miss the chaos of India. I miss the fact that I cannot cross the road any where than just zebra crossing. I miss those cab drivers weave in out of traffic as if they were in some hollywood movie. I miss haggling with auto drivers to get from one place to another. Because where I stay is such a small town that there no cabs either.There are no STD booths and trust me pay phones dont make up for it( and u know why I am saying this)


I miss getting cut off by crazy people on their bikes and screaming " Pagal hai kya m*******d ". I miss getting in to a crowded bus and jostling for space so that I can comfortably rest myself on some rod. I miss overhearing other people conversations and chuckling about it with your friends. I miss eating with my friends and having these loud discussions about anything and everything under the sun. The chatwala, the chaiwala and the biryani line at paradise which moves at the speed of light.

I miss my parents saying "please do not treat this like a paying guest accommodation". Most of all I miss my friends from work, school and college. Everyone here says hi or howdy with smile but there is little one can talk after that cant really blame them but ...Basically no offense America, I miss the chaos that is India. Getting use to this is definately going to take some time. Guys when I come back if I start saying stuff like oh my god!! this is what is wrong with India please please kindly slap as hard as you can.