An Amrikan sophomore!

As an 8 year old, I had once promised my Granny, "I will take yout to america when i grow up!"'. She would flash a wide grin, which I was too young to be able to interpret.May be she was smiling at my innocence, may be she was forcing one, to mask her sympathy for me, dreaming of the impossible. or may be she had liked the prospect. But whatever it was, my mind had set it as the foremost goal an average middleclass Malayalee, a kind of goal after which one can attain Nirvana or have Moksha.

America was a dream land, a land of oppurtunities back then. But for me, at 8, it was a land of "black" and "white" people (rather strange for the "brown" population that I belong to). a land of tall skycrapers and mind blowing roller coasters, a land free of heat and dust that we used to get baked in, a land of beautiful white snow in X'mas (courtesy Home Alone 2 and other NY movies). My friends had goals of being Doctor, engineer, pilot and Armyman, while I secretly garnished my desire to achieve any goddamn thing that would take me across the seas to my dream land.

Years passed, and the 8 year old's innocent yet low on IQ head was being sucked off his fantasies and facts started finding its place there. Slowly, the idea of ending up in the States was no longer as lucrative as it had seemed before. The interests started branching out to more sensible, practical and important things in life. After a while, the whole dream was locked up in the LIMBO, never to be be dreamt again!!

13 years later, when i set foot on the IT bandwagon, America (among other countries, though they were lesser mentioned) was an oft heard and said word in daily office life.  (I need to mention, this was largely because I work for a bank that had America in it's name and a good chunk of folks worked from the US :) ). But throughout this tenure, it never seemed a great thing after all. We had other attractions to pay attention to. Life kept meandering aimlessly for close to 2 years,  mostly in company of a bunch of lovely friends, and sometimes halting for an MBA dream and sometimes other absurd stuffs. One fine day, I was told by my lead, "You game to head to the US for couple of years? ".I said, "why not?".With no trace of exhilarating excitement. Of course, it was too soon for that kind of reaction, since I never got time to let it sink in.

Hectic Procedures, hefty shopping and last minute scramble to meet my folks followed; to get myself "America ready". Still no signs of the "skip-a-beat" kind of reaction; only exhaustion and to be done with the awful lot of formalities ASAP.

Finally, the day arrived, when I was seen off at the airport, and was left alone, waiting to board the flight. My mind started wandering to every nook and corner, to kill the awful amount of time I had in hand. The next round of thoughts was of course, the expected. Drifting away from friends, missing family, missing home etc etc. I ran out of those too, after which I had to venture further into the past. May be because this was the first time in ages that I was given so much time all for myself, with nothing to do. The flashbacks played across and made a sudden screech at the 8 year old boy, with his lofty promise to his granny!!!. "Wait a minute", I wondered, "Wasn't this the ultimate goal of my life, when an 8 year old brain was at the helm? Shouldn't I be giving some respect to that little boy? He should be given a chance to be elated when "his" dream has caught a second wind in "my" life. For once, I let "him" take over and spent the rest of the time at the airport, watching "him" jump in joy and howl in excitement.

This was only the first of numerous occasions when I kind of, let "him" rule the time. It is much like a Sachin century. The "li'l" Jithu would be pale and cold, when Sachin nears it. His life shuts down for a while if he gets out, and when he scores a ton, he celebrates as if there is no tomorrow. I don't do that now often. But once in a while, I love it when I forget myself and start celebrating like crazy.

Throughout the first year, quite a lot of poignant (a bit over the top I know) moments were sprinkled every now and then, where a more sensible me would take a back seat! The first drive on a super quick Interstate highway, the first walk across the concrete jungle of a downtown, the first ride on a mighty roller coaster, the first black leather jacket, the first snow, the first skiing trip, the first fall, the first spring, the first time in NY (Oh yeah! NY is always special.. even to the "grown up" me! ) and not just that, the little things I had picked up while I grew up, including the movies, series (F.R.I.E.N.D.s has a lot to do with my love for NY). cartoons etc, were all coming to life and scrolling right in front of my eyes. these were "Let the kid out" moments for me!

After a year of excitement, surprises and joy, sandwiched with moments of stress (thanks to the work), broken love, anxiety and home sickness, I am into my sophomore year. Waiting eagerly, for the new bouts of joy and fun for the 8 year old. After all who wouldn't wanna stay young. Let the kid show you the way once in a while! :)

Here is a toast to the young brat, who keeps me driving, always!!

Yennaa Rascalaa...!!! Chak de phatte!!! :D

Yesterday I just happened to call one of my best friends, a "Ganwaar Bihaari". As chauvinistic and abusive as it may sound, I would never say something so terrible to any person, let alone someone as dear as her! It was just a unnecessary adjective, spoken on impulse in our regular conversation, where we keep taking shots at each other! However, that kind of sparked off a thought which has always played on my mind, but never managed to put it on a piece of paper. (Though this doesn't count as a paper, i'll settle for the literal web "page". :) ). The South/ North Indian and even deeper and absurd debates and conflicts that stays as a silent devil among a huge chunk of the Indian youth ( LOL, sometimes I take myself way too seriously!!! Never mind! :D ) In plain words.. the battle of the Gujjus and biharis versus the Madrasis.. ;)

Statutary Warning : Just because I am writing this piece, doesn't in any way suggest that I am endorsing this idea. In fact I find it revolting and hate anyone who keeps poking on the "region" card.

India is inherently a very diverse nation, the origins being as different as Mongols to Arabs to Dravidians. It just happened that a hard headed, pampered and pompous empire decided to exploit a group of kingdoms, for their merry ways of trade and fun, and hence, came into existence, our INDIA. It was a result of a hard fought revolution of the oppressed lot against a single enemy. Though, we'd need to thank them for building a single entity out of a such a diverse group of cultures, we haven't done ourselves any good by still keeping a boundary between each other. A guy from Tamil Nadu marrying a girl from Punjab is still taboo. These can still be tolerated as long as they don't hurt anyone else. But the reality is, the divide still persists and it comes to the fore in those odd moments of frustration or conflict.

First of all, what bemuses me is the prejudice. An "Indian from the north" (I really don't like the tone of "North Indian") has such a superficial view about an Indian from South (this is getting tiring. Lemme just call 'em IN and IS.). What more evidence do you need than the fact that any guy below Maharashtra is a "Madrasi" for INs. I was called a Madrasi when I stepped into college. Not that these particular people had any grudge against me, we did get along too well through our college life. But they just were blind sighted towards a possible life form here, down south. I used to quip initially, "Hey Bihari.. Mind your language!". And then comes the response, "Dude.. I am from UP"! "So, now u see the difference heh?"

Well, its not really fair to blame just them. Neither do some of us, South Indians, see what is life up North, and obviously many of us lack the "breadth" to accommodate the possibility of lives so diverse on either sides.

However, bring some pragmatism in this real world, and a probable dissolution of the Wheatish North and a dusky south is "hoping against hope". There would definitely be differences; there would definitely be clash of faith; there would definitely be collision in taste. A hunk from Delhi would frown upon the lungi wearing population; dosa and idli are definitely not on the list of his favorite delicacies, whereas Namma Chennai will never prefer starting the day with Aaloo Paratha, or settle for a lassi instead of a hot and piping filter coffee. Even the movies and the stars both the parties love are as similar as chalk and cheese. You have more chances of finding resemblance between French cinema and a Hollywood production, than listing the similarities between a "superstar" and a King Khan flick. For starters, King Khan would never have as passionate a fan following that the "superstar" could boast of. The list of differences prolong so much that, we don't seem to have a consensus in celebrating the same festival on the same day :D. "Diwali" and "Deepavali" ain't one single holiday. (It's like how Americans preferred staying different from British English with the subtle change of spellings and lingo. :) )

One has to be highly optimistic, with all these, to hope that we are gonna live as one, and scrub away the differences. By the most charitable disposition, some sanity in conduct and being cordial, are the best we can hope for, between the 2 "races". But even to achieve this, we have a long way to go. To be frank, I take exception to the regular banter being considered offensive. It's sometimes such light hearted dabs at each other that can sow the seeds for a rather "friendly" future.! Let's hope for that..!

I wanna wake up to a day where my friend, a certain Ashish Gupta, yearns for a crunchy dosa with piping hot sambhar while rushing  to a Rajni Magnum opus in Namma chennai, while Mr. Mugesh Mylsamy gobbles a couple of dozens of "gol gappas", with the slightest effort to conceal the slurps and burps before breaking into a Bhangra disco number and a Patiala Peg. Some "Maa-Behan" expletives would have made the unison more profound, but knowing Mugesh, he'd be too shy to mouth all the profanities!!! :)