A week of unfortunate

Though I have never felt at home with this place and I think I would be saving my ass all the time that's left but this week surely stands out. It was a week pain, misery and SHOCKS.

Let's begin. Monday went through safely. I was avoiding this Chapta Prof. as he would be delegating some of the correction of the mid-term to which i am the TA. Being a TA is very interesting feeling altogether. I can now imagine the plight of the ME students in my college whom we used to mock. Though I was the nicer guys and showed them some respect but looked them with contempt at times. Life's sure is vicious circle!

So the dread mail came the Tuesday morning. Check all copies ASAP and return them by Wednesday. If that was not enough he refused to give me the key. Checking 85 copies is a lot of work. I guess more than 20 hours. I really felt screwed that day. Fucking idiot was away on conference for a week and puts the whole load on me. How do I find 20 hours in one day, when I have classes and then Badminton. The other instructor, who is a Desi, also showed a lot of attitude. Just on previous Friday she was all ready to share the correction work. But now she tells me that "I am an 'INSTRUCTOR' ". I suppose she might just be a half TA, but she is acting like a boss. Screw anybody if you get an opportunity. I guess someone might have done the same to her. Academia Sucks. 

Slowly I reconciled to the fact that I can't get around this unjustified work load. But checking 85 copies in one day is impossible. Fuck that idiot. Somehow worked in the night uptill 2:30 am and checked around first 2 questions. Next day I put him a mail that it wasn't possible for me to do meet his deadline. Again fuck him.

Wednesday went off peacefully. Except for the late night class OS. The Prof. for the course is a another Desi, perhaps a more lazier person than me. My Mamma knows that the previous statement is as true as the stars in the night sky. Nevertheless would not take his classes on there allocated times and keeps the extra class on Wednesday nights. He screws up my whole week.

Thursday morning is peaceful except for Balaji's stench. I have gotten used to it. Jagdish put some of our letters in our room the other night. Correction work is on time and I am busy working out some assignment problems for Networks. Curiously I check the pile for "SOME LETTERS" for me. And volla!! There is one from the bank. Great!! A letter from bank in almost 6 months. What!!! Three unknown online transactions. Nearly $400 gone with phone calls and web transactions. Phone transactions!!!! Even my father did not know if you could do that. I am all panicked and race to the bank, not sure what to ask for there. If that was not enough $83 more evaporate. Thankfully the lady at customer service was very helpful. She helped me file affidavits and assured me that I would my money back. She told me that this common here. Good Lord!! Anybody's hands in your pocket.  

In evening I narrated the whole event to Jagdish. His enormous understanding of the system here was very helpful in knowing what might have happened. His advice is always very helpful. I really sometimes wonder what would I have done or survived for that matter here.

I kicked the butt and went to play badminton in evening. Broke the strings. Almost all. Rajat joked saying that "GREAT PLAYERS BREAK STRINGS MORE OFTEN". Great player or a bad armature. The other day I had checked, it was fine. Fuck this week. It takes $23 to get new strings. Only consolation was that I played the doubles better than the most times. Even the chapta appreciated. Even the amro girl shook my hand, introduced herself and asked my name. 

Then the rest of the night I spent in completing the correction work. The body was beginning to loose it now, with still the last question remaining. Woke up early next morning and checked some more. Then the Desi calls up saying that Chapta has promised to show the copies today. Fuck him and her also. I was in such an inebriated state that I could hardly talk to anyone with some dignity. Anyways I was able to finish the work by 1 pm. Went and enjoyed the footlong at the Subway. 

I kept the evening for my friend from Pakistan, Asad. I planned with him to see a movie at the HUB. Asad was one of the few people that I had some interaction with in the first semester. I just lost contact with him since returning back from India. The movie was so abstract that I could hardly understand anything. Also could not decipher "QUANTUM OF SOLACE". I guess I should just go home and sleep and hope that the next week would be a tad better. We had pizza . Talked about cricket. And some usual guys stuff. Soon Madhav and his friends arrived. Felt a little better now.

Only hope that nothing of this happens again, so that I do not have to write such a blog and you people do not have to read a big one.

430$ of fraud

The most dangerous and biggest frauds in America are the IDENTITY THEFTS. And I am writing this piece as this week I was the victim of that. 

Its early Thursday morning and I am freaking out of this networks assignment and the sudden and unjustified correction of the mid - term of the class to which I am the TA. I see a pile of letters in the room and curiously check them to find if there are any for me. I have received very less letters since my arrival here and most of the letters are Balaji's bank transactions or his parking tickets. But I manage to find one. One from the bank.

And lo! Three online transactions back to back on the 17th and the 19th. Two of them web and one ifs a telephone. Telephone!!! This is the last surprise one wants early in the morning. I am all shaken up and wrap up the homework quickly and put the fucking papers in a plastic bag and rush to the bank. All way things kept cropping in my mind:- withdraw all money, create a scene at bank. I check my balance at the bank. 83$ more gone. Now I am car without a brake. I approach the lady at the customer service and tell her all my story. I am angry and terrified. Fear of losing my support for the summers over here.

She listens calmly and then makes a few calls, contacts the concerned companies and helps me file an affidavit for getting my back. It takes an hour and i am missing the OS lecture. That did not concern me one bit. This is MY money. I earned it. Joking. I would have been more concerned if it were my parent's money.

Everything said and done. I return home and talk to Jagdish about it. His rich knowledge begins to flow and I am all ears. He puts a lot of possibilities affront such as the Debit Card theft, the cheque number fraud etc. I do not own a debit card and if that was the case then the person knew a lot about me, my SSN , my postal address and my DoB. First time after months I was thinking like a detective.

He tells me to get my facts right about the transactions right and know all about banking here. He said be very careful about your money here. He says that this is perhaps the downside of having a highly technological edge in very possible field. It gives the bad a very fair chance of wrecking havoc on you.

Do not know whether the money will come back or more money would go(hope not. I blocked all debits. But then who knows!). First time I clearly understood the difference between the CREDIT and DEBIT. Yes! I never thought it was important at all. Big lessons learnt. Watch your money(oxygen) all the time.

Old Nemesis VHDL

So the old enemy VHDL is back.

Valentine's Day

So this year also a quite valentine for me. But I am sure people back had an eventful one. Especially when Ram Sena is hell bent on getting you married to someone you are standing by (I really do not mind this). More pink chadis for them.

Something special this time around. Obviously the first one in US but there is more to it. I saw girls carrying flowers, some only one while some many. I guess a simple mathematical concept of ratios. Funnier side was this while couples were hoping on the 'R' with flower and those strange emotions, I was struggling with those heavy bags of groceries for the coming week.

Balaji was as his usual arrogant and self-celebrating. But that day even he felt the pinch. Although I listen to him as much as I do to my Dadi but that for the first time we shared the same pain. Back at a friend's place the mood is sombre. It all started to get to me slowly. Homesick again! This time big time! 

Third World

No puns intended this time. So its about the general view about India here. Still India is treated as a third world country here. There is no talk about India in all the economic arguments that you listen on TV's here. All they care is calling us the third world.

Every now then they would say that this third world country contemplating something. What's even more disturbing is the viewpoint of my room-mates. Moron Balaji is ready to go and work in China if he does not get a job here. And Jagdish just frowns his nose upon any question raised by me on India.

Thing is we maybe the second fastest growing economies and maybe the reason to take these autocratic people out of the present recession but still we remain the third world and a place to wash dirty linen (Remember BUSH when he accused us of eating more when food crisis happened) . I think what I gather after being here for six months is that people recognize you more as an Indian but not as someone from India. Not sure what to write. But that's the way it is here.

Forever Online

People all over the world remember God when they need Him the most (like me). They say "he Bagwan". Though there is a lot controversy if He exists but let us assume that he does. And he has to be wake all time to cater everybody. 

But some people have become more online than Him. Whenever I log into gmail (probably Google's most addictive product) I see couple of people always online. Don't want to name them but they are surely the God's of the gmail. Lets call them Gmailwan!

OF BROKEN RACKET

So the badminton has become an on and off thing recently. But still its too mouth watering to resist. Beating the my old nemesis, the cold, I was back on courts. I don't seem to enjoy the doubles. Its too difficult for someone as new as me. The placement has to immaculate 80-90% times, else your opponent would kill you. Still I am average and hope to improve in future.

I got to play with Sudarshan after a long time. I wanted to see how mich I had improved. To my surprise I actually had. Lesser smashes down my legs, sometimes he was running around and I was dictating terms. My timing had become better and I was watching the shuttle better. But as little technicalities are take care of other issues like stamina and agility on court become more important parameters. It was only a 15 minute hit but I was already all sweaty and panting badly. But these are not major issues.

So after two near losses, we started playing with another pair. I was paired with this chapta who is I guess the GOD player. As expected I was the bottleneck and we are already behind 3-5. Cat among pigeons. And I am moving all around the court sometimes taking his shots also. And it finally happened. A high shuttle towards the back of the court and we both raced. I am much tller than him and hit the shuttle with good power. But I also collide with the chapta. And some loud noise. His racket fractured badly from the middle. The loss of the racket proved too much for him and he clearly looked all shaken up. I went up and apologized. He took in the lighter vain but I knew he was upset. Loss of 120$ racket or anything in a flash is difficult for anyone.

All the chaptas near were uttering some chinese gibberish. Surely they were giving of lot of bad mouth to me. They might have expressed a little emotion for the chapta but more abuse at me. I simply hated thesec chapte for this. There talk is sometimes so annoying that you feel like hiting them. Nevertheless I was also all upset and caught the next bus to home.

The good thing was my racket survived the accident. I could hardly imagine before the incident that something of that could happen to any racket. The metal frame is too fragile I guess. But then you really can't imagine that anything could happen to your car unless it really does. Lesson learnt.

Some new people

So I was still on apartment hunt on this Monday. I went to see some North Indian Desi people in Parkway. Again people from the same old age group of 28-30. However hard you may try, its very difficult to come to the same wavelength with people with some offset with your age. You talk with them with respect. That 'JI' word. The 'AAP' work. Literally and figuratively. The comfort level does not come.

After few usual intro questions, I was offered Beer. 'Beer'. My adviser in India, on my recent visit, popped his first question that "did you drink BEER in America?". I told that I had plenty of it here. Not plenty. But still I drank it almost at every special gathering. Then every-time when I got a chance on flight.I gladly took the BEER. Then I was offered 'Smoke'. No thanks.

To all Those Uninvited Readers

Last few days, I have observed that some uninvited people have been reading the blog. Not that the material is copyrighted, but still I should know the intended audience. Like know my Mamma reads it. Some contents on the blogs are serious GUY's stuff. I mean Mamma you are not on Orkut. So the Uninvited Readers are requested to please at least leave a note appreciation or critic.

'g', 'a', 'u', 'r', 'a', 'v'

International students always have a big problem in communicating the right pronunciation of their names. Specially this semester has been really bad. In past two weeks I have at least spelled out my name to ten different people and all the culprits have Americans.

When I first arrived and met my adviser he pronounced my name as 'Guraav'. This was interesting as it sounded something different. Soon most of the people of the lab started calling me 'Guraav'. But soon a week later it was the usual boring 'Gaurav'. But it was a pleasant surprise. Some different sound.

But this semester my teacher in Numerical Computations class has had a hard time pronouncing my name. So we communicate by spelling out my name letter by letter. So if I go to collect my homework, I tell her 'g', 'u','p', 't','a' or 'g', 'a', 'u', 'r', 'a', 'v'. She sometimes have a laugh about it. And so do I. Its something that never happened to me in India.

Americans are very casual about their names. Christopher becomes 'Chris', Thomas become 'Tom', Mathew becomes 'Matt'. Not that it something offending or bad, but its a real pain to the TAs who have to check the assignments. While the official entry is 'Christopher', they would write 'Chris' in their assignments. Its all very confusing and a time consuming affair to resolve the ambiguity.

Sometimes I do think, that why don't we assign numbers instead of numbers. Something like an SSN or passport number. Or something on the lines of the IDEA ad in India having Abhishek Bachchan. This a great IDEA. No more ambiguity of pronunciation and shorthands. Everybody has a number having universally known digits.

I have chosen a number for myself: 42023420

The Russian Hat

The maximum heat is radiated out of your head. Time to cover your head. As the temperature drop in State College, the clothing increases proportionally. Muffler, gloves, jacket and finally the cap. Its a lot of clothing. It takes five minutes to dress and probably the same time to undress. Sometimes you feel strange to carry all these around. But they are extremely essential.

So I have cap which has an ugly brown color with ear protection. I bought before coming to State College. As the temperatures dropped to ridiculously lower levels, I had no options than to wear it. I never like to wear a winter cap and my mother would know that. As a kid I used hide the cap so that my mother could not find it. She took me to every possible shop in Model Town, but I won't budge. Sometimes it was the color and sometimes it was the coarseness of the cap. Tired she would buy me something and put it on my head next morning. I still remember when my Papa would drop me off at school and as soon as the sound of his old pristine scooter would disappear the cap would come off. But that was Delhi and not State College.

So the brown winter cap is on my head where ever I go. On streets and sometimes in IST. As the winter became more severe so were the curious looks of the people towards me. First I ignored but soon it became very uncomfortable. On streets girls and boys would give me stare. I really do not mind a girl stare but I lot of staring is certainly uninvited.

But then one of my friends saw my cap and remarked that it was a Russian Hat. A Russian Hat! That explains the whole staring issue. A Desi wearing a Russian Hat does not digest at all. This gives rise to a lot of crazy questions in everybody's minds. Like, A desi born in Des, migrated to Russia and then to America. Or, A Russian moving to India and then US. Or........Possibilities are endless.

Pet cat 200$ security deposit

So this about the apartment hunt over last few days. Its strange. You start looking and booking of an apartment 8 months in advance and you shift into the place only in early August. Guess the population in State College has increased in last few years. May the economy also show similar trends. God Bless Obama.

So the search began at the HUB. Collecting pamphlets and discussion are two things that one does here. Then an on site unit inspection is mandatory. But for a Desi the ever rising prices are the biggest heartache. The prices are ridiculously high when compared with what I am paying at Southgate. But that's a place I just loathe for both obvious and non-obvious reasons. Parkway looked way better and Executive Houses are also great place to live.

But the most interesting is the security fee for the pets. In Executive Houses you pay something like 200$ as the initial security for the cat. And then you pay 20$ per month. Ridiculous!! And how do you decide how much of the cat security to return. By the number of reports of the neighbors that your cat scared them or the number of times the cat was found wanting by dirtying the place around. God knows!

But that's a very interesting observation here. The number of people having pets here is significantly higher than back in India. My neighbor has three pet dogs of three different sizes and personalities. You see a cat almost everywhere. I asked Jagdish why was it this way here and if something is wrong with the people over here. First he is offended since his parents have pets. But then he says that a pet would always pamper(not sure if this is right word to use) and love you when you come back home whereas your own child may not show that love. They always follow you when you come back home and would never turn their back on you. 

That's why maybe this country looks sad and alone. People look at animals for love and affection, unheard of in India. Not that people do not have pets in India but I always thought that they were for fun. But they could be a commodity to replace humans and their emotions is a fact I came to know here. I guess then 200$ are worth then. 

Fedrer's domination is over

So I missed the match. No cable in our house. So no match. And Fedrer again lost to Nadal in finals. This is third time in last year. Nadal has proved himself as an all-round player. I am backing him to round up the year with all Slam titles. Sadly the most beautiful player's domination on the circuit is over.

Fedrer's best chance is to beat Nadal in three or at most four sets. But Nadal is no novice to be beaten in three sets or even in four sets. Five setters are beyond Fedrer. Nadal seems to have all the endurance in the world. Even a seven setter would fail to stop him.

The biggest flip is he has no takers when it comes to fans. The whole world seems to be with Fedrer all the time thereby belittling his champion stature. He looks to be a greater player than Fedrer having defeated him on all surfaces in Fedrer's prime. 

Hoping to see French and Wimbledon Finals. Surely not without my characters: Fedrer and Nadal.