Home away from home..

Saturday evening 7.30.. and here I'm, sitting at home with blogger open and some Tam song in the background. Blame it all on the Friday night I had. Not that I was up all night pub hopping. (Yes, my vocabulary now contains words like pub hop, crawl, high, Vegas, sloshed,beer pong, karaoke and more) No, I don't do that, not even remotely close. In that sense, its the same old me. Yesterday night, I was just out for dinner, with lot of chatting and bit of shopping(No, I am not the 'shopping' kind yet either, but my company was and also, I needed a pair of sneakers, which I have n't bought yet anyway). So, I was out eating, walking and talking, right from early evening and if you know New England at all, you will realize it is that time of the year and that time of the day loaded with pollen. Add to it my Starbucks run this morning, you get the cold ridden-sneezing every 20sec-red,watery eyed me. I had no option but to be medicated and sedated. I slept through the whole afternoon and since then been just lazing around. Not that I need a reason for it but that its a Saturday afternoon yet I might have been at the least out eating good food if not for this.

Coming back to my passing mention of the Tam song in the background. Its the opening song from the movie Shivaji. If you are this Tam,Tam-lyrics-understanding(Yes, it is a subset) person you would have already guessed why I'm here. Yes, that song is so full of nostalgia and wanna-be-in-India that I could not have done anything but be here. Things that I might have passed off without a second look, or second 'hear' rather, seems to haunt me. So, if you do not know what this song is about, here I go. It is all about this guy coming back to India from the US with a cause and listing out all the things he missed (and so you ought to) by being away from home. I should say it is a job very well done. Starting with national geographic, food network and going to entertainment and people weekly, it chokes with memories. Now, I am all I-need-to-list-something-out. To be fair..

I had to start out with why it is great being here. Any time I think of it, the first thing that comes to mind is people. I always say, if not for the people my undergrad college(Yes, you caught me, I did say school and changed to college when I re-read the whole thing and added this note too, the influences huh!!) would not be what it is and it is even more true here. My life is full of the most awesome people you could meet. Where else could I have been friends with Princeton Math majors, Harvard Econ majors, MIT MechEs, CMU CS undergrads, Ga Tech IEs, Cal Tech Physicists, Ecole toppers, Tshinghua Engineers, Harvard and Wharton and MIT and Booth MBAs (Man!! I'm so star-struck!) and much more, not to mention the Cornell OR grads :) :). This without even talking about the families and backgrounds. It is sheer awesome-ness. Where else could I have had lunch conversations on Robotics, video game programming, Korean politics, economic depression, Presidential election, independent films, Chinese population explosion, Egyptian history,Black-Scholes model, Indian and Ecole systems, XKCD comics, zip lining, corruption, digital printing, market psychology, FB grids and what not. There is never a dearth for sensible conversations. I would never otherwise have learnt to give so much importance to being polite, friendly, pleasant, amiable. Starting with use of pleases and thank yous to writing emails to CEOs, you get to learn it all. The professional life here, as I hear comparisons, is amazing. You get the freedom, independence and respect very early and you are always challenged. And to think of all the varied multi-faceted opportunities you get, not in another 100 years can it be matched. This supportive, nurturing, learning, challenging environment is unparalleled. Talking of freedom, it is evident in every walk of your life. You can do anything you want(within legal bounds of course but there it ends), any way you want with no repercussions and obligations. I can go on and on about all that I learnt and love about this place and I still would not be doing enough justice. So, you get the idea right..

Now, I did say all that, but there is something missing still. It is not on the life changing front, but.. It still is not home and all that it comes with, dad, mom, family, friends, food. There are all these small things that you miss. I still remember my Kenna intern days, when we head out from work on a Saturday afternoon, watch an Indian movie, roam around the malls, have some non-Indian cuisine dinner and (here comes the best part) someone drops you home because its late in the night. No, you just can't get it here. There is something about going to Odyssey that Barnes and Noble, fine Amazon, can not give you. There is the taste of the supposedly Mexican and Chinese(even the McDs and KFCs) which the authenticity can not offer. There sure is something great about dosa for breakfast, which of course the cold cereal and pancakes can not match. There is something about the Hindu and its additions, that is somehow missing in WSJ and NYTimes. The mirth that comes about switching on the car radio to a Tam song is so totally lost on country rock. The pleasures of morning-traffic people-watching can never be realized with IPod listeners and Kindle readers. There will always be a difference between po-da and man-you-suck. There is something about the tea and Parley-g breaks that chocolate frosted donuts and caramel lattes don't parallel. The grilled chicken sandwiches and default risk discussions don't even come close to the rice-rotis and scandals and scams. The what-plans-for the-weekends can never replace the exhausted TGIF. There is the laughter and joy of switching on the tv and watching re-runs of Friends in Star World which the ABCs and NBCs don't provide. There is something about sending sms that texting can never suit. Driving a scooty in dust and traffic is any day distant from the snow protected air conditioned Mercs. There is something about dropping by a friend's house unannounced and being invited in for dinner that 2 emails, phone confirmation and apologies for any disturbance never will do. The Skype conversations and hangouts can never replicate the comfort of being sprawled on the floor talking to the person in the couch. There will always be something indescribably great about being home that no country ever can come anywhere remotely near..

P.S. I did say so much and more, but seriously considering.. the cost-benefit so absolutely pathetically fails.. So here I am and will be, for the foreseeable future..