upgrade

I am moving back to India.

Now ever since I had imagined to move out of India, I always thought that I am upgrading to something. Something that is good in all aspect of an urban life, needless to say I was right (Though I have just spent 2 years and some months in USA). Lets not be over patriotic and call king of spade a king of heart.

I am moving back and yet it feels like an UPGRADE. I am pleasantly surprised with the feeling that I am having. I am sure going back would be great. Apart from the economic boost and market growth which reincarnates our faith that sun is definitely rising in the east and I want to be there to pay my homage to the rising sun.

I am moving back taking with me nothing but experiences, be that in terms of weird jobs that I did to sustain myself as a student, or my travel across the continent, adjusting my watch to three different timezones or for the matter of fact learning a totally new sport and loving it (foot ball).

I am hoping the transition would be smooth. Though I claim that I am not a slave to the american way of living, I am sure leaving this lifestyle where I take my decisions and face the consequences would be a drastic contrast to the Indian way of living, where there would be a lot of decision to make but the parameters involved in making those decisions would be numerous so the consequences would be divided (though m not sure how to deal with it).

I will continue the blog and write about the transition once I go through it.

Places we go

ok...

i am blogging after ages. Y i dint for so many days?... I dont know, may be i was just busy/ lazy...

well today i had a great time chatting with old buddies and there was a sudden realization.

Through this years, since i have left b lore, i have not invented a single joke, i have not even made a annoying jingle to tease people, i have not made a funny noise with some one elses name.

astonishingly these old pals remembered me for that (though they acted as if it was annoying) but i know they really liked that thing, whether good or bad, sad or clever... they enjoyed listing to it as much as i have enjoyed cracking them. I would like to make a promise to myself to crack these jokes everday atleast once a day.

This was for the old times, now let us look at the future, i would soon start working, soon all the college life would be over, all the frnds would be located in different cities. Usual reaction to this should be sad and one should be missing old friends, but i am not sad or unhappy about leaving them, as a matter of fact i am very much excited about moving to a new place, meeting new people, exploring new things in the new city and making friends there who will miss me when i move from that place to some other city.

people might think it is absurd, why would anyone like to leave everything behind and move on every couple of years. well my answer is simple, I am in love with cities across the world, its my dream to stay in as many cities i can. Well there are few stages that one go through while living in a city and this process is what makes the city a memorable. You think of any place you have visited you wud realise that you definetly recollect somethings about it, wheether good or bad, one or many evenings, the light penetrating though your window panes and the shaow tht it casts.

Well these visual qualities makes a place/city unique in many ways. Again these qualities are goverened by location of the city, culture and your outlook towards the place. Whe you first go in a city you tend to dislike it, i am sure most you have gone through this. It is something that we dont like about that place, let that be sunlight, social connections, cultural differences, food or traditions. we dont like it a bit.

The next stage is when you find a place to stay and the most important part that you look for the place is that it should relate/resemble to the place you used to live is last. Once u have ur place and and routine in place it is then that you get used to the overall routine about travel, bus, car shopping, and many other things you do on a daily basis. These still does not mean you like living in the city.

The third stage comes when you actually have a group of friends and you establish your own tradition in the city. Let that be a small get together every saturday or yearly celebration of diwali/thanksgiving. These are the things that would be unique to every city and trust me these small/trival tradiotions are what u will miss.

The same thing happened to me when I was in bangalore, nasik, mumbai or any other place i have stayed in. I am now kinda use to all this and love doing it at regular intervals. Now i will be moving to chicago. A city so perfect in its architecture, planning and location that i have a feeling that i wanna stay there for ever.

I stayed there just for a 3 weeks last year and was in love with the city from the moment i landed there. It has every thing you want from a city. from traditions to history. From a river walk to lake shore. high rise downtown to private cubism stly bunglows.

Man i cant express how happpy i am to go to chicago. The place makes you think, ponder, wonder and catch your breath with a gasp in whatever you see, experience or do.

My favourite place is the south michegan av in downtown chicago, it is one of the most beautiful street in the world. It has structures from frank o ghery to louis sullivan, standing in the millinium park on that street and just looking around is like reading a book explaning history of architecture, from art of neo classic architecture to simplicity of post modernism you will see it all. Its this feeling that is forcing me to find a job in Chicago.

rule no.1

Hi...
These days i have been watching a lot of TV serials... LOST, HEROES, FRINGE, GOSSIP GIRLS, FRIENDS, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, HELLS KITCHEN, RODIES 6.0, GARY UNMARRIED, are the few that i can think of the top of my head.
Well.... there is something that i really like and i am so lucky to witness this transition in the Television industry that i am literally thrilled and gasped looking at the transition.
I started watching TV serials which were more family oriented in early 90's where the budget was not great, the story line would basically revolve around few characters and there were limited changes in the sets and costume....
Now if we look at it, the topics are vast and diverse and has a lot of editing, visual effects, transition effects, history- present connection with social and global happening. That it is sometimes difficult to tell that whether we are watching a serial or sharing a view point with some of our friend.
Now i feel this is both good and bad at the same time. Good because i can witness the pause in history where the pages in history books are turned and Bad because i am afraid these change will make human more dumber and manipulative. I am afraid about the day when people would decide their views about a person, profession, event or social happening based on the beliefs and thoughts of these TV serial writers.

Anyways.....who cares...

We have differences.

I am jobless again....................

well these days I am thinking about going back to India a lot...........

may be its 1.5 yrs tenure that's getting on my nerves or I am simply jobless....:)

so these thoughts got me thinking about India and most stunning difference between USA India...I am sure lot of must be thinking about the difference but find it difficult to express in words, or too many thoughts about the various different good and bad things coming to you mind at the same time, but let me try and put forward my perspective about the DIFFERENCE.



To start with lets arrange and organize the thoughts in an IDEAL situation (i say ideal because nothing is fixed and permanent in India, and daily activities are subjected to market risk please read offer document carefully before visiting..lol )



6.00 am

usa: wake up thinking its 7.00 and feel happy tht its 6.00am and sleep again

india: sleeping



7.00 am

usa: a frnd calls to wake me up....i answer the call on my iPhone and think about the i alarm i had put last nite and y din it ring and i shud talk with customer care for tht and try to figure out wat time of day shud call (all this while i am still half asleep in my bed )

india: sleeping



8.00 am

usa: i am almost ready and hurrying about the house looking for keys and bagpack and stuff

india: decided to get up



8.00-8.30

usa: breakfast (mundane cornflakes and tasteless milk)

india: lying in bed checking sms on my cell that i din check through the night



8.30 am-9.00am

usa: running towards the university with half pack bag and tension about the class ,assignments to follow, figuring out the schedule for the day.

india: get ready (notice the amount of time it took to get ready). and get down to tapari ordering chai, poha (where two or three frnds would be waiting 4 me, who have already gulped 2-3 cups of tea but wont mind having one more cup with u)



9.ooam-10.00am

USA: pay attention in lecture for most of the time and the rest of time sketch or admire beauty (thts the good part...fascination of white skin....)

India: took a bike to college and gave lift to a frnd on my way there, had a chat, discussed and concluded that i din do the work which was due today (i was told to do this a month ago..i forgot...happens....)



10.00 am-11.00am

USA: finished my class, which was boring but made sure i have all the handouts (like it had the ultimate knowledge and would elevate me from normal humans) and took down the assignments for the next week and figured out when to do that

India: was chatting with frnds and realised no one had done the work so was glad and continued chatting on a cup of tea, waiting for the prof. discussed last nites ride to the waterfall and made those who din come bad about not coming. prof came and lecture started



11.00-11.30

USA: walked briskly towards bus stop heading towards work.

India: lecture (sketching ppl seating in front, looking at my first crush and drawing the ankle bracelet she had worn...which i think looks awesome but others think is so wannabe rock star)



11.30am-12.00pm

USA: work (i mean writing this blog and checking mails AGAIN and orkutting and doing assignments if any)

India: lecture ( still drawing the anklet sketch, though my frnd realised it by now and somehow managed to pass the message to everyone in the class.....and now everyone peeping in to see hows the sketch coming. (i am lucky the prof din realise this and have still not thrown me out)



12.00pm-1.00pm

USA: work (i mean writing this blog and checking mails AGAIN and orkutting and doing assignments if any)

India: lunch break......meaning everyone in the class... all my close frnds looking at me smiling and i am blushing my cheek out in embarrassment......... followed by lunch ..either wadapav, maggie , or if hungry some rest, if broke... the mess i had joined last month.



1.00pm-1.30pm

Usa: pack up stuff from office and head back to college

India: Studio, which means one studious girl going to library, getting all the material required to complete the b.tech sheet, discussing with prof and getting all the basic facts about sheet in place...i sitting there taking my time to allign the sheet and sharpening the pencil and ppl commenting on my ankle (for the first time i really thought something is wrong with my ankle,but realise they are pulling my leg)



1.30pm-2.00pm
Usa: settle in studio, connect my laptop and open all the required files to work on and to show it to proff, meet a few frnds
India: start with the sheet...which means create name plate and border....ohhh btw the anklet girl realises that i was being teased cause of her ankel bracelet...

2.00pm-3.00pm
Usa: Studio ..proff talking about architecture in general, which ifeel is kiddish as i have done that for most part of my undergrad programme......anyways i still make a point to participate and recite something from my undergrad years and remember about jokes ppl had made back home on that statement.
india: still in studio...... drawing a few things, hoping the proff wont come at my desk, leaving me alone... so i can submit the half complete sheet and later glass trace the remaining part....and that anklet girl din give a damn about me staring and ppl teasing and all the commotions and kept working....

3.00pm-4.00pm
usa: studio....i get to discuss few stuff about my proj, which i did last nite and get proff's feedback (which most of time is good..go ahead with it) ....ohhhh... now i start feeling hungry.....suddenly after realising its 3.30 i feel more hungry, so i go down and get some chips and vitamin water from vending machine .... after having it..i make myself believe that it was enough for the lunch.
India: proff ahs left for the day, so i go ahead and start talking with frnds to take a break so we can go down to tapari, ofcourse my frnds agrees to it so we all go dn eating wadapav and drinking chai again. we come back and first order the class to sumit the sheet, then request and finally pleed to submit so we can go out and make plans for the evening......

4.00pm-5.00pm
Usa: winding up the studio, having a casual chat with my amru frnds, which means saying a sentence and then explaining it to them what it means......
India: collect sheets from everyone, and finally arrive at anklet girls desk looking at her in a way as if i wanna say something but say"sheet please" in the most curt voice that i had ever used to talk with someone.......have a felling that i am stupid.....collect her sheet and leave with a broad smile or y face.

5.00pm-6.00pm
Usa: attend another lecture( only this time i am bored with a long day and cant stop staring at my wrist watch...and sometime chat on my iphone....)
india: after college on tapari again.......wadpav again.......chain again......anklet topic again......and din realise that ahour went by discusisng the stuff over discussed throughout the day......

6.00pm-7.00pm
usa: head home, discusisng with my roommate and a frnd about the day and making few lame comments on prof, education system, job and discussing dinner plans (by dinner plans i mean ..what to cook, who will cook, when to do groceries, etc)
india: go home freshen up ......change clothes ..take the bike out.....go to ccd or pnr or shree krishna and order some stuff with frnds or simly watch the birds (girls) fly by and admire beauty.......

7.00pm-8.00pm
usa:COOK ( i mean think of kitchen as a chemistry laboratory, cooking stove as ur work station, masala as ur chemicals and EXPERIMENT)
India: still watching birds......the anklet girls rides by and the anklet topic returns on the table for half an hour...to end the discussion i propose we all watch a movie in cinemax........everyone obviously says ok and heads towards a restaurant (ppl say they are hungry... througout the day as they din have a proper lunch so decide upon a nice punjabi restaurant)

8.00pm-9.00pm
usa: eating and watching sarabhai v/s sarabhai on my laptop and drink coke instead of water........ohhh btw the experiment was successful.....look forward to finish the dinner and start with assignment.
india: finished with dinner.....head towards cinemax....took tickets ..ran into different sets of frnds.....and realised that some of our classmates are also there for a movie.....i was hoping for the anklet girl was there but din ask whether she is coming or not........one of my classmate realises my anxiouness and says she is coming.......... this elevates me above all human grounds......

9.00pm-10.00pm
usa: assignment
india: movie

10.00pm-10.30pm
usa: assignment
india: movie

10.30pm-11.00pm
usa: assignment
india: interval.......imeet the anklet girl...and she smiles back........i feel like thunder had just struck me.....i go to her and ask her how did she like the movie so far.........she says it was ok.....
we have a chat that lasts more than the interval time...so all our frnds are gone and we sitting in the lobby discussiong the movie till interval........

11.00pm-11.30pm
usa: assignments
india: we finally decided to go inside and watch the rest of movie together.......the story had not progressed substantially in the movie so we catch up........some of the scen shows a waterfall in the movie and i could not resist telling her about my waterfall trip last nite and how amazing it is.....she was so excited abt it that she said lets go now.................and ppl seating behind gave me looks as if i am commiting a national crime by talking in a cinema theatre....anyways we get out of the theatre..............

11.30pm-12.30am
usa: finished with assignment and watched a part of the movie, called home , chatted with frinds in india (who chat for few minutes as they are busy with office and other stuff in india)
india: ride towards the waterfall with the anklet girl on the back seat.......me feeling like the king of the world............stop by at a tapari on our way as it is a one hr ride for a cup of tea.........finally reached the waterfall......she realises that the waterfall is more beautiful than i had described it on our way there.......

12.30am-1.30am
usa: hoping to chat with some one in india and stay online, but no one has time for u.........
india: seating at the foot of the waterall with the anklet splashing against the pool of water..........hoping to stay there forever........but u realise that if u stay long police will come and ask u to leave eventually and u have to bribe them ............

1.30am-2.30am
usa: sleeping
india: drop the anklet girl home and come home

2.30am-6.00am
usa: dream about the anklet girl, and eating wadapav and missal and all the indian food.
india: dream about the anklet girl

Who craes oops...CARES..........

Its funny, all thins time I had thought about writing a blog, but no topic seems to be so important to me that i should write a blog about.
is it that I am so stonehearted towards all the issues in life or there is nothing great happening in my life or am I lacking the foresight to see it happening. Anyways "WHO CARES"

WHO CARES
this are the words that i have used almost all my life.
"chetan u failed"...who cares
"chetan u are an idiot"... who cares
"chetan i love you"...who cares
you say any god damn thing and all i can say is who cares
i din care for a single thing in life.....or i guess i din find anything worth loosing.

One of my frnd said in blore after a huge fight for a week
"ur who cares attitude will get u into a lot of trouble"
i would like to tell him- m fine till date and even if i get into trouble....who cares

Well we went slightly off topic..but who cares...lol
anyways the thing i was talking about was "IMPORTANCE of any topic"
well one thing that i cherish about my life till date are the jokes...
by jokes i dun mean santa banta type of jokes ..
but jokes which are contextual......like if some one says "m not LYING..trust me....." the answer shud be i know u are standing................This are the jokes which i love and m super proud of it.

There is a theory behind these jokes which people dun understand ..all they can think of is to look at u and say "thts sad"............but they dont understand the essence behind making a joke..it requires a lot of skill to make a joke funny and relate to masses.

Jokes are something which everyone should take seriously... (i know u are smiling on this) but what if i say that was the intention behind writing this.......or may be its not.
i realised the importance of a contextual joke and how difficult it is to crack a funny joke in public which is appreciated by all when i came to USA.....

You people will think what has joke got to do with u going to us..(u showing off or something)
m not trying to show off (actually there is nothing to be proud about being is USA...anyways thats a different blog all together). Jokes have a social connection to it and a sarcastic connotation attached to it that should be conveyed like a crypto night..only difference is that we want the crypto to be deciphered by all at the same time (fraction of a second).

All this connotations and social connections comes naturally when u stay in a place for a long time, and start using various social slang and start mix matching the slang and the so called "Grammatically correct language" but when u come to a strange country like USA......u have to modify the humor in such a drastic way that u almost tend to question the whole purpose of a joke. (anyways m not bashing USA in this blog..let me make it more generalised)

lets take some examples:

1) u are walking on a street and u see a beautiful girl , who falls down on the floor while trying to walk on her high heel shoes.
joke u can crack:
a) oops..... m sure u din like the air up there.............
b) OMG.......u ok......hope u din get a dent in the paving..u know city ordinance is quite strict about damage of public property....
c) cant believe u fell for me.....

so as u have seen..depending upon your intentions u can twist few words and create a joke.....this jokes could either get u into trouble (a slap) or could earn u a friend depending upon the intellectual ability of the girl (well ..a different blog discussing on intellectual ability of girl ..later....i know most of u r thinking there is nothing to discuss.....its clear..they dun have any of it....but wait for it ....... )

I would like to warn u about various comeback line that could be thrown at u in case of such comments......(especially if the girl is from south...damn girls from south have awesome comebacks.......)
anyways few comebacks for the above mentioned joke i could think about are:
a) oops..... m sure u din liek teh air up there.............
ans) ya i had to see how it feels to be so cheap and LOW...like u.
b) omg.......u ok......hope u din get a dent in the paving..u know city ordinance is quite strict about damage of public property....
ans) i guess u need help with your behaviour...... m sure if u continue behaving so u will be one filling the dents all over the city
or
ha..haa..very funny..give me a hand ( this is good...i like this reply ;)... )
c) cant believe u fell for me.....
ans) (with a most sarcastic face u have ever seen) slow down tiger.......its me not the fatso walking on the other side of the road.
or

ans) i generally fall for jerks.....


ha.haa
anyways more to come.......