Peace At Last...

I was looking for a peaceful place on this planet. And it suddenly dawned on me; Antarctica. No wars or disputes there. And no prizes for guessing why. The lack of a particular species on that continent is all it takes.

The Friends We Were...

All we waited for was the lesson to get over. Since only some of us were attending it. And the rest were at the Boat Club. And that was the whole point of attending college wasn’t it. Studies could be put off till the PLs. But what we looked forward to was those long hours at BC. Chatting, laughing, arguing, discussing, quarrelling but still having a good time. Over cups of tea, samosas and uttapa-sandwiches.
All we waited for were the coffee and lunch breaks. To discuss the latest rumour. The latest whims of the bosses. And the plans for the evening. Be it a stroll on the beach or a sumptuous dinner, we had a good time. Chatting, laughing, arguing, discussing and even quarrelling.
All we wait for is those few days in the year when we meet. And some years even that is a luxury. We are busy with our individual lives. Some studying, some working. Thousands of miles separate us. Even when we do meet we are all not there. Some have other commitments that are more important. More often than not we get news via some ‘networking’ site on the internet. There is a lot more silence now.
Is this what befalls all friends? I sincerely hope not. But I have a feeling just hope is not enough.

Passion...

We all should have passion. About something. However minor or esoteric, every person should have something in their lives that makes them smile and gets their spirits up. Even in the worst of times. When times are good everyone does ok. But it’s when times are bad that people need a distraction. And that does not mean drinking oneself senseless or going into morbid depression. It means doing something that makes you feel the day is worth it.
I game, I read, I write and I drive. I tremendously enjoy each of these activities. And yet there are times when I am bored out of my mind. Hence I dread being the person who does not ‘feel’ for anything. For whom everything is passé or lame. For such people just exist. They don’t live. And that’s a real waste of the wonderful gift called life.

I Refuse...

...To be discriminated as an immigrant in a country run by immigrants.
...To be criticised for working in jobs that most ‘non immigrants’ here are not qualified for anyways and do not realise how it helps their own economy.
...To be hated and shot at by truant teenagers who find drugs and guns to be more enticing than a decent education that would qualify them for the above mentioned jobs.
...To be run over by a drunk driver speeding after a binge at the local pub.

We Submit...

Staying awake all night at the eleventh hour copying stuff out of journals that make absolutely no sense. Realising at the last minute that we had copied from the wrong journal and on the wrong kind of paper. Drawing all the vertical lines and then all the horizontal lines to complete the circuit. Drawing the actual graph before plotting the points and then figuring out the readings from them.
We have done this and more. And yet we haven’t done all too bad after all…

Way of Life...

An American colleague at work today commented that the American way of life is to 'sacrifice everything one has in order to get something one does not need'!. Interesting...

‘Debt’termined to spend…

I never got a chance to watch American television when I was working on my Masters. Neither did I have a credit card for most of the time I was at school. Not that I regret either. The first is utter crap and the second I couldn’t afford! But it meant that I had no inkling about how much of this country ran on debt. Now I have both and hence I know…
Buying things you can’t afford, don’t need and will never use seems to be the mantra. So much so that people sell things in their original packaging in garage sales. Half the commercials on TV are about making you to buy anything from ‘doggie steps’ to fancy spas with music systems built in while the other half are about getting out of or dealing with debt and bankruptcy. But I sometimes wonder how these people get into so much debt in the first place. I have heard of and experienced the supermarket syndrome, but there is a limit right?! Why would I go spend another 1000 dollars when I know I haven’t paid back the earlier 10,000?!
But maybe I am not thinking like an American. Coz they would, and do spend. A current commercial for furniture goes, ‘Have you been rejected at other furniture stores due to bankruptcy? Come to us and we’ll say yes!’
Maybe… just maybe, if you are filing for bankruptcy, your primary concern isn’t really filling up that blank spot in your living room or buying a new bed! Maybe you should try and get the larder stocked so your kids won’t starve!

I Have Learnt...

After a long hiatus I am back to blogging. In the interim I have managed to get myself a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. The journey has been quite tough, as all such journeys are. However this one has been characterized by a wide array of obstacles, educational, professional and even personal. And today I am at a stage where I can look back at those days of strife and smile. It is not that I have made it in life or something. Far from it in fact. Right now I am just content to say that I have learnt valuable lessons over these 20 odd months in the US of A; regarding my abilities, my shortcomings, the people around me, my interactions with them and myself.
The details of all that would not interest most readers and hence I will omit them. However I would give out some unsolicited advice. I have learnt that the best of people are fallible. That ignoring our troubles does not drive them out of our lives. I have learnt that we most often give up when we are one step away from success. And it is the people who persist and take that last step that are the ones who obtain the success they have strived for. I have learnt that life owes us nothing, and it pretty much treats some of us that way at times. However it is the indomitable human spirit that takes us through such times. And even if life shatters all of our dreams, it is the power to dream again that makes us look forward to a new day. Each and every time.

Book of Life...

My life, like that of many others, is an open book. It's just that the writing in it happens to be in invisible ink.