It took one year and 8 days for me to get back to start doing what I enjoy the most… writing. When I asked myself the one thing that I strongly want to write about, the only thing that came to my mind was my life during Masters. So, let’s see.. How did it start?
It started one day with a certain happy-go-lucky, non-ambitious, lazy individual “me” wanting to appear for a particular non-popular, easy, inexpensive exam “GRE”. I distinctly remember having told myself, “I am going to write this exam only to keep my options open, I am most definitely not going to quit my “highly-paying” job only to add to the stereotypical computer engineers’ crowd who leave the country every year. So, here I was, in the US of A, 8 months later, still sticking to my bona fide statement, contradicting the typecast, for my masters in Financial Mathematics.
The best part about coming for a course as conventional as this is the fact that all your friends in your department are Chinese. Not only do they scare the hell out of you with their extreme intelligence and hardworking conducts but also help tremendously to brush up your acting skills... I remember the days at “Bal-Bhavan” during summer vacations back in school where I enjoyed making hand gestures during acting workshops. I had no idea; something learnt years ago would be of such use decades later. Every single word I spoke to my Chinese friends had to have hand gestures aided with animated expressions in order to ensure successful communication. Apart from the strenuous task of putting my point across, I had a fantastic time remembering and memorizing their names. I had a “Xi” (pronounced as She) in my class who was a he and a human male “Yachting Qing” whose American name was “Tiger”. :-/
(P.S.: No Chinese were harmed intentionally or unintentionally during my masters or while writing this blog entry).
Life in the US of A cannot be complete without your roomies. These are people you laugh, cry, study, cook, eat, sleep, snore, crap, fart, fight with. It would be an understatement to say that I found the most “ITEMest” of roommates ever available. The day we met, Ms. Karva Chauth had a questionnaire for me to answer. Questions like what time do you sleep? What time do you wake up? Do you mind if the light is switched on while you are asleep? Do you study at night? Do you study during the day? What time do you eat breakfast, lunch , dinner … and such other extremely imperative questions and only favorable answers to these would fetch me a place next to her in the same room. With the power instilled in me by the Almighty, I resourcefully answered all the questions to the best of my ability but unfortunately Ms Shanti Superbrains bagged the position and with that Ms Chillumchilli and I decided to spend the rest of our lives in the smaller room together. But soon due to some unforeseen events, Ms Karva Chauth had to leave our house for her Chanda mama only to be replaced by Ms Chak de India.
Life thereafter was a riot. We watched movies on one laptop and played sound from another as we always failed to find movies that played in sync. With the self-assignment of cleaning dishes to Ms Chillumchilli, sweeping the kitchen floor, chopping onions and grating cheese to Ms Shanti Superbrains and making ginger tea every evening to Ms Chak De India, I managed to get myself the most chilled out task of streaming Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai / Full House/ Bewitched/ Terrible B –grade Hindi songs before every meal. We loved getting ready together before any Indian function and always managed to reach the location only towards the final segment “dinner”. We did everything together, right from going to the Grocery store on a windy, freezing cold day and walking back to our house with torn plastic bags, measuring Lucky’s fairness on the fair and lovely fairness strip even if Lucky was a soft toy, throwing pot luck parties only to realize we are the only people cooking for it, cutting a small chocolate bar into four equal pieces before eating it, to practicing early morning Yoga when our mornings started as early as 1 pm.
(P.S.: Names have been changed or omitted but details are factual and based on personal experience. I wish all my roomies all the love and happiness in life and pray that they find this in the best of health)
As I reminisce these moments and muse over my graduate life, the one thing that strikes me the most is the magnitude of change I have undergone since I last left my country. I weigh at least 15 pounds more that what I used to back during undergrad years, I roll my tongue every time I pronounce words with “r”, I value my mom’s food way more after spoiling a hundred recipes and burning over 50 rotis, I think twice before spending a dollar on coffee, I cannot bear the sight ofdirty utensils in the sink and to top it all I accidentally spell my name as “Shruthi” owing to the tremendous south Indian influence on me.
I don’t think there is anything in this world worse than you missing your best friend’s weddingor your nephew’s fancy dress competition or your mom’s visa interview preparation or your cousins’ gatherings or your mama’s new house warming party or your school fun-fairs or your grand mom’s hospital visits or your building’s Ganpati and Diwali celebrations or the girls’ night out or hogging pav bhaji and vada pav at odd hours. I know no joy in the world can be compared to these tiny little delights, but getting a Masters degree definitely gives you a sense of triumph. It makes you robust and makes you believe that you accomplished something against all odds. And today as I finish my graduate studies I am elated, relieved and contented and thankful to each and every pleasant and dire influence in my life.
“This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
