the other day i was orkutting a boarding school buddy across our ever shrinking planet (the wonders of orkut!) .. and he asked me "Is there any job in this world that would make you get out of bed every morning?" ... at first it seemed like one with an obvious anwser...hey.. of course there's some job that you'd love to do everyday.... What about a sports journo? "NO.. then people would criticize you for your comments and the fans would hate you.." ... I then started pondering about this... is there really a so called dream job? ... of course everyone has that "dream job" that they want.. for some its to be a design engineer in a monstrous company that makes the electronic world tick (literally!) .. for some its to be a journalist in a HUGE newspaper office... for yet others, its to be able to make and test computer games.... and for some it might be the simple satisfaction of curing someone of their illness.. (or is it so simple after all).. for some (like my illustrious mom) its to make sure the world learns how to dispose their filthy waste properly!.. the list is endless.. but once they start doing it day in and day out... isn't it human nature to get bored of something routine? and to do a job is to "routine-ize" (that's my own word.. bah.. what the hell!) it.. even if it was bungee jumping !!
as for me.. there are times when I just love making things work as an engineer... spending endless nights on details that no one other than a select clique of people would or care to know.. and sometimes I curse the living daylights for all the work that I've been given by the sadistic profs at... (ahem.. u know where).. one sec.. if I really liked all that geeky stuff.. why am now cursing it... a website recently told me in very confident tones that I am destined to be an adventurer.... what!!!!!!! me? adventurer?! whatever.. me .. i seem all set to spend my days in a lab drawing lines on a computer and watching yet more lines go up and down on a screen... yikes!!!! well.. on second thoughts I do like travelling and seeing new places.... beleive it or not.. I walked all around NY city on my own in december (yes.. it was freezing).. i even sat on the open top of the tour bus just cos I felt I couldn't get a feel for the city if I remained closed inside the bus.. of course how I bolted from the bus to save myself from becoming an icicle is a different story... but hey.. I even visited the museums on my own.. not cos I am interested in art and paintings.. I want to know what its about!..
Now suppose I did become "columbus reincarnated" ... which basically means I make this my living.. would I really look forward to waking up everyday thinking of the next new place I was going to visit... how to get through all the security checks at the airport and catch my flight on time.... oh god.. those horrid airport security checks.. and that useless credit card company.. they blocked my card.. groan.. how will I manage?
Get my point? or am I wrong??
Friday, November 24, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
the title....
oh by the way... the title of this blog is a tribute to the nickname my pals gave me at college... :)
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Wavelengths...
I thought I'd have been the last person on earth to write a blog..... well.. obviously i turned out to be wrong.. (duh).. "when you think something won't happen to you... it will!!!" - my version of murphy's law.. anyways.. back to the blog itself..
I am at this stage in my life when I am at the door leading out from college life to the so called "real world", probably for the last time ... yeah.. yeah.. i know what i said in the first para... and i've been thro some interesting educational institutions...
The one that I probably miss the most would have to be my time at rishi valley... 6 years in boarding school... homesickness... washing my own clothes (!!!!!!) , taking care of my own stuff... no tV (unbeleivable!) .. no carbonated drinks(don't faint)... cribbing about the dining hall food... spending 20 mins in front of the mirror to look "dashing" (yes.. yes.. stop giggling)... lazy afternoons spent playing cricket... waking up early morning on a sunday to play volleyball(did i really do that?!) .... precious weekend movie screenings... drink 5 glasses of tea at sunday morning breakfast (the only day that tea was served!).. . dancing european folk dance with the girls on weekends.. :) .. biking to the vegetable garden to steal vegetables (?!!?!?)... fighting over turns for the measly mono tape deck.. and listening to the walkman on the sly.. ;) .. climbing over rock-ridden hills and taking in the absolute pristine beauty of nature... the first walk with the girl who took my breath away.. and then waiting every evening for those 10 mins... screwing up the biggest math exam of my life...
It was a totally different world.. all of us safely cocooned in it from the big bad world outside of it... and it turns out that I am in constant touch with so many of my classmates... some changes.. some the same.. all of us unconsciously bound to each other by that entity.. now just a name.. a secluded place that almost seems unreal.
Then there was college...
which after the kind of school i was in was absolutely not the place I shud've been in... located on a highway connecting two semi-urban towns... run by geezers from the last century who travelled into the future to make our lives miserable... where speaking in english was considered uncool.. (!!) ..
It was like dressing a goldfish in a space-suit... what in heaven's name was I doing there?????? As i gingerly enter the college office on the first day with mom ... there's a lady filling up a form for her son... and this mustache endowed tam-brahm with 3 white strips of "vibhudi" running across his forehead screams at her... "why are you doing it madam?! Let your son do it!!" I look at the "son" and his face mirrors the exact same feelings inside me.. (apart from the fact that he wanted to wring the tam-brahm's neck of course) .. i peep into his form.. and lo and behold!.. he's from delhi! ah!.. how fortunate i was then but did not realize that i was meeting one of those few whose "wavelengths" would match with mine in the dratted place for the next 4 yrs..
over the years, i developed a group of buddies who were every bit as mad as they could be each in their own way... :) .. i lived with them, ate with them, hung out with them, argued about every possible topic under the sun just for the sake of arguing (!!) ... and not once did i realize how much I was taking it all for granted... I met some wonderful people , people who were going to be very dear to me for the rest of my life (alrite!.. no more senti) .. and i took it all for granted...
of course.. i had gotten admission into one of the best univs for a masters programme in the united states.. going to live in the city of angels... what did i care?
but life has its little ways of putting you in your place.. i land in LA.. with expectations as high as they could be... I was coming from tanjavur to Los Angeles!.. ha ha ha .. what a laugh..
The first thing that feels like walking into a glass wall... was that there were only asians in my class!.. what happened to america??!! ok.. inhale.. exhale.. so what?.. isn't that good? I complete one semester and the only people I hang out with are my roommates... ok.. that's what most ppl end up doing.. the semesters get packed with work... and time bludgeons ahead.. and here i am .. the people who i used to hang out with left during the summer... and i suddenly realize to my startling disbelief that there are so few people who are on my wavelength.!
There are 60 other indians in all my classes and I know less than 5 of them to carry on a converstation beyond "Hi" ... What in the world is wrong ?? and to make it worse.. the profs get so itchy with giving us work that the semester is just a blur...
and i've reached this night.. when I've gotten a little respite from the "blur" .. and I sit and wonder why? .. Why am I in among the world's most cosmopolitan megapolises , in one of the best univs in the country and the world.. and haven't been able to find more than 4 people who I can connect with?
Check the irony of this... when i was studying in a college in a back-of-the-beyond place deep in the heart of tamilnadu, i made some wonderful friends.. and when i am in the supposedly "most happening" city .. I have lesser close friends than the fingers on one hand..
wonder what life has in store for me after this...........
I am at this stage in my life when I am at the door leading out from college life to the so called "real world", probably for the last time ... yeah.. yeah.. i know what i said in the first para... and i've been thro some interesting educational institutions...
The one that I probably miss the most would have to be my time at rishi valley... 6 years in boarding school... homesickness... washing my own clothes (!!!!!!) , taking care of my own stuff... no tV (unbeleivable!) .. no carbonated drinks(don't faint)... cribbing about the dining hall food... spending 20 mins in front of the mirror to look "dashing" (yes.. yes.. stop giggling)... lazy afternoons spent playing cricket... waking up early morning on a sunday to play volleyball(did i really do that?!) .... precious weekend movie screenings... drink 5 glasses of tea at sunday morning breakfast (the only day that tea was served!).. . dancing european folk dance with the girls on weekends.. :) .. biking to the vegetable garden to steal vegetables (?!!?!?)... fighting over turns for the measly mono tape deck.. and listening to the walkman on the sly.. ;) .. climbing over rock-ridden hills and taking in the absolute pristine beauty of nature... the first walk with the girl who took my breath away.. and then waiting every evening for those 10 mins... screwing up the biggest math exam of my life...
It was a totally different world.. all of us safely cocooned in it from the big bad world outside of it... and it turns out that I am in constant touch with so many of my classmates... some changes.. some the same.. all of us unconsciously bound to each other by that entity.. now just a name.. a secluded place that almost seems unreal.
Then there was college...
which after the kind of school i was in was absolutely not the place I shud've been in... located on a highway connecting two semi-urban towns... run by geezers from the last century who travelled into the future to make our lives miserable... where speaking in english was considered uncool.. (!!) ..
It was like dressing a goldfish in a space-suit... what in heaven's name was I doing there?????? As i gingerly enter the college office on the first day with mom ... there's a lady filling up a form for her son... and this mustache endowed tam-brahm with 3 white strips of "vibhudi" running across his forehead screams at her... "why are you doing it madam?! Let your son do it!!" I look at the "son" and his face mirrors the exact same feelings inside me.. (apart from the fact that he wanted to wring the tam-brahm's neck of course) .. i peep into his form.. and lo and behold!.. he's from delhi! ah!.. how fortunate i was then but did not realize that i was meeting one of those few whose "wavelengths" would match with mine in the dratted place for the next 4 yrs..
over the years, i developed a group of buddies who were every bit as mad as they could be each in their own way... :) .. i lived with them, ate with them, hung out with them, argued about every possible topic under the sun just for the sake of arguing (!!) ... and not once did i realize how much I was taking it all for granted... I met some wonderful people , people who were going to be very dear to me for the rest of my life (alrite!.. no more senti) .. and i took it all for granted...
of course.. i had gotten admission into one of the best univs for a masters programme in the united states.. going to live in the city of angels... what did i care?
but life has its little ways of putting you in your place.. i land in LA.. with expectations as high as they could be... I was coming from tanjavur to Los Angeles!.. ha ha ha .. what a laugh..
The first thing that feels like walking into a glass wall... was that there were only asians in my class!.. what happened to america??!! ok.. inhale.. exhale.. so what?.. isn't that good? I complete one semester and the only people I hang out with are my roommates... ok.. that's what most ppl end up doing.. the semesters get packed with work... and time bludgeons ahead.. and here i am .. the people who i used to hang out with left during the summer... and i suddenly realize to my startling disbelief that there are so few people who are on my wavelength.!
There are 60 other indians in all my classes and I know less than 5 of them to carry on a converstation beyond "Hi" ... What in the world is wrong ?? and to make it worse.. the profs get so itchy with giving us work that the semester is just a blur...
and i've reached this night.. when I've gotten a little respite from the "blur" .. and I sit and wonder why? .. Why am I in among the world's most cosmopolitan megapolises , in one of the best univs in the country and the world.. and haven't been able to find more than 4 people who I can connect with?
Check the irony of this... when i was studying in a college in a back-of-the-beyond place deep in the heart of tamilnadu, i made some wonderful friends.. and when i am in the supposedly "most happening" city .. I have lesser close friends than the fingers on one hand..
wonder what life has in store for me after this...........
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