TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: BEING AN AGGIE

I seem to be suffering from a very bad case of writers's block. And I write this post with the intention to write my way out this rut. I feel I have been whinning since the time I have got here but one thing I feel good about here is the University. Texas A&M University is regarded as one of the top universities in the USA. 

Life at Texas A&M University for an international student is about understanding of two   words "Tradition" & "History". Once you understand the context of these words, everything falls in to place like the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. The college is over 100 years old, to say the campus is gigantic would be an understatement with no parallel. The moment you set foot on the campus the history and culture of the place just leaves you in a state of awe. Everything from a bench on the walkway to the university dinning hall has a story associated with it. 

The students of  Texas A&M as reffered to as aggies, this comes from the fact that initially the college specialised in the field of Agriculture and Mechanical sciences. Even though the university has branched out, it still retains those letters (A&M) as a link to its past. The college has every rich military tradition, with a large number of its alumni having served and serving in the armed forces with great distinction. That tradition is carried forward today by the student section know as the Cadet of Corps ( similar to the NCC in INdia but way more serious & at college level). Watching these men and women in uniform with their boots and spurs everyday can and will leave you in awe.

The core values of an aggie are loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, selfless service and respect. These are not just some words that go up on a board, these values are something that all students take to their hearts and really adhere to. This is evident from their helping nature, the manner in which they greet you even if they know you or not and their ability to instill the same in you. The one thing I learnt here is that age is no bar when it comes to sports and sport can be played at any time. In my first few weeks here i used to play soccer with certain older men in of the many open grounds in the campus. I was flabbergasted to find that these people where professors over the age of 50 who only play on weekdays between 12:45 to 2:00 in the afternoon( My reaction exactly, considering it as hot as vellore here).

 

I also realised that an optimistic sports fan is a personality disorder which affects a lot of people beyond the realm of cricket in India. The college football Team presently is not a powerhouse like many other teams in Texas but it once was one of the most feared teams for its punishing defense. The days of glory have long since passed but here every match brings with it an air of expectation among the fans that today things will change and we will be begin our climb back to the top ( reminds you of our cricket team does it not). The football stadium is called Kyle Field and it would not be justice done if I were to describe it in words.  All I can say you should be there to see 84000 fans wearing maroon standing all through the game cheering their team regardless of the score. 

Basically the moment you enter campus the school spirit just takes over. The feeling that you belong to this larger entity just engulfs you. Soon you will see that your wardrobe is being taken over by the color maroon, saying howdy is not something that is strange to you any more and you want to get tickets for every home game and if not even the local radio will suffice. 

I am sure you get the picture of what I am trying to say... there is a lot more traditions over here like the bonfire, yell practice, yell leaders, rivalries with Texas austin and so on I will write about them in the time to come. But as of now all I will say is this,  here at Texas A&M you will get an expeirence that you will cherish and enjoy for rest of your life. Being an aggie is a lot more than just being a student.  

FROM A GOOGLER TO A JANITOR IN 3 MONTHS

About 3 months back I was basking in the glory of receiving a juicy Q1 bonus while at Google. I was living the good life, a Pepsi in my hand ( which seems to be really hard to find here as Coke seems to have taken over everything here), free food ( chaat) a free ride to office, playing sports at office, after office, at offsites and basically all the perks of being a Googler. For all you people who are not from Google, an employee of Google is called aGoogler.


But what followed was a case of.... hmmm I still am trying to figure out why I did .. what I did?? I quit Google to pursue a Masters degree. I know what you going to say please lets just skip those obvious questions. Also I have got to the point now that I tell people I was working TCS ( no disrespect to TCS) but yeah generally people do not ask much after that one statement so I like it. The reason for this being I had reached breaking point when some one here asked me, if it was the call center division that I had worked for???

Basically long story short I got to the US . Then as one among the million plus Indian students over here I started my hunt for an on campus job so as to ease the burden on my pocket. I was pretty confident of me finding a job why?? I was from Google and I can not possibly not find a job right. Wrong !! I got rejected all most all technical jobs I applied for Why?? because I was over qualified I am not kidding even for jobs that I had no clue about, like stuff to do with PHP and dreamweaver. They actaully mailed saying that I ( technologically challenged Mohith) was over qualified (Josh stop laughing).
Desperation was at its peak. Then a breakthrough, a interview finally!!! but it was job in a diner. Now being from India I had no clue what was in store for me so I rejoiced went for the interview ( yes everything hear has an interview). Later they informed that I got it and I was even more happy. I can hear you all already laughing. I was horrified when I figured out that I was to be the guy who served food, took out trash, cleaned the tables and so on. Basically I was the guy whom in India you refer to as "eeh chotu paani laa re" or as friends from VIT would say " Thambi jhill thani".


Yes my life had flip 180 in three months I had gone from the guy on the outside looking in to the guy on the inside dying to get out. Worst are the line's you get from people " dont wory re it is all an expierence" You know what dont give me those cliched dialogues. It is not okay !!! beacuse stading for 4 hours straight cleaning tables mopping the floor is not okay!!

Honestly I would love to quit but one has to pay the bill. So I will prolong my agony till... whenever I guess. I do come back from work and look at snaps from my time at Google and think atleast I can say I have been there not many others who can do that right!!

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.

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.