Grad ramblings

Graduate life has started and time is scarce. So you see people asking for 48 hours in a day or 120 minutes in an hour! Ah the common mistake. I always believed in higher efficiency. Thus, I wish I could read two text books at the same time or write two assignments at the same time. I gotta ask Rajnikant about the latter! I guess I exaggerate when I say I am very busy. Else how would you explain me finding time to go rock climbing, or attend student group meetings, or go for tennis classes, or meet a published author (Adam Shepard) or play ultimate Frisbee or go jogging on the beautiful stone arch bridge or write blogs and the list goes on. So grad life hasn’t reached top gear yet. I am hoping it doesn’t anytime soon!

So what else has been happening? Oh, I met this guy at a student group CFACT meeting who was interested in Indian culture. On knowing I was from India he asked me if I would volunteer to teach him Hindi!! I puffed my chest and said why not!! I guess I was the best Hindi speaker in the radius of a few feet. Yeah there are Indians all over the place here. But then I am the only one who delivered the epic dialogue 'jai aur veeru bhag gaye, magar kaise?' So the man was in safe hands when it came to learning Hindi. So being Indian helped me make a new friend.

But being Indian has its downside too. I become really conscious of my accent while speaking to the foreigners. Oops sorry, I mean natives. I am so used to calling Americans foreigners! Coming to my accent, it really stands out. It’s like I over pronounce every word. I used to think that Raj's accent in Big Bang Theory was exaggerated. But now I see the reality. I guess I’ll get used to it as time passes. Not that I feel inferior in any sense. The only time I feel bested by someone is when I walk in front of a mirror! I have installed bullet proof glass mirrors in my apartment cause of my mirror cracking looks! \m/

Many people have asked me whether I felt a culture shock after coming to the US. I guess it wasn’t much because in the US we have only 110 volts as compared to 220 volts in India. An American coming to India will feel a bigger shock! Hilarious jokes aside, one thing that has really caught my eyes, or attention rather, is the low waist fashion here! Guys here have taken low waist to all new levels. Low waist pants would baffle even Newton with their gravity defying lowness. I really want to know how they keep their pants from falling!

Free food is big here in the US. Every event is advertised by free food or pizza. Student group meetings, prayer meetings, gen events and even academic events pull crowds through free food. For instance I have taken a seminar course for 1 credit in the nano science department for the sole reason of free food. They serve amazing cookies, cake and coffee before the seminar. It is eat and then go and relax in the comfy hall!

Anything that’s pissing me off here? Yeah the obscenely high cost of labour. The bike repair shop asked me $6 to install new brake pads! Thank you Rahul for installing them for free! A hair cut costs at least $20. And you can’t get second hand haircuts. So for the first time I see something positive in my hair loss. I guess once I start earning big time(wonder when!), I ‘ll ask himesh where he got his hair weaving done.

Thank you guys for showing 'Fultoo attitude' in reading this fully faltoo post. I wind up, thanking himesh in anticipation for his next block buster, char buster and mind buster movie Radio! One last thing, Radiation is my favourite course. Guess why??

This post is dedicated to Sivram (bloodrayne) who recently questioned my ability in generating crap posts like dis! :D

Picture credits
Awesome Himesh: http://www.indiahits.com/media/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/himesh_reshammiya_radio_rj.jpg

Hindi Pic: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEtls2dj0E9qvBxXeePuLnblz9G3QErUhtSy86ev0jJFzIzWUFA08dBuMz_Dy5AoKb9sv6lCbMnRuv4Dbh1ct_8EsyI1voAA-IiN3c56RLeYIm-7_37_5OzXrVDbWAAjGQvGAcbakLhE/s400/hindi-day-special.jpg