Economical superpower or Cultural superpower???

After the gap of almost 2 and half years it feels nice to write again. A lot has happened in this time period. I acquired my MS successfully, completed my internship and was successful in grabbing a nice full time job opportunity in US. I have been working for 15 months now in a manufacturing company and am enjoying my work. Very recently I was able to spare some time and money :p to make a trip to India. Since I came to US 3 and half years back I had not visited India. It was only in December 2012, I was able to set aside 4 weeks to go visit India.

If I try to explain my Indian experience in words then I guess I will be doing injustice to that experience :)

In short, it was wonderful. Meeting relatives and then trying to digest the bombardment of delicious food from them, Roaming around, partying, talking and making fun of friends, having fun with friends, 2 Indian weddings of my 2 best friends, Driving around the country Indian style :p, Partying with my father and uncles, time spent with my cousins and brother, Spending time at my home..sweet home..solapur, Living in the house I grew up in with the family I grew up with, My grand-mother's and mother's food, Solapur morning walks followed by Sudha's breakfast and India tea's boost ... the list goes on and on and on.. :) :) I love India..It feels home..It is home.

Hmmmm...fun is over..I am back to US and work is back on track...Now WHAT??? Well, after my visit to India, wheels in my brain have started spinning...The BIG question about which I had never thought so seriously...WHERE AM I GOING TO SETTLE DOWN?

During the time I was in India and even after coming back I was constantly comparing things in India and US and unknowingly was trying to answer the big question. I am not close to that decision at all. But I can say that with time sooner than later I will have choose between the Economical superpower and Cultural superpower...

In an effort to gradually move towards the decision, let me start by putting forth some thoughts that I have in my mind right now...

Let's start with the United States.
This is one great nation. I will always remember United States for living up to its stated principles of equality for all and freedom for all. President of United States Barak Obama said in his 2012 victory speech "I believe we can keep the promise of our founding, the idea that if you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you love. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, abled, disabled, gay or straight. (Cheers, applause.) You can make it here in America if you're willing to try." .... A boy who grew up in a very small town from a third world country completed his education in India, came to US to study further, satisfactorily completed studies in US and now working very happily in his field of choice is a living example of those very words. If anyone wants to see what wealth creation is then he/she should come to US. This country is a result of almost 247 years of nation building. What are our modern basic needs? Food, Shelter, Clothing, Water and Electricity right! Hardly any citizen of this country is deprived from these basic needs. Everything is in abundance here and everything is affordable. Infrastructure in terms of roads is strong and cheap (No hundreds of toll plazas). People are very good and helpful. For some reason US society seems educated and matured society. Day to day life like, commuting to work, paying your bills, bank transactions, grocery shopping, general shopping, access to internet etc ... is so easy and convenient that makes you believe that standard of living in this country is truly high. It is a $16,000,000,000,000 economy for a reason :) There is always a flip side to the coin though. There are downsides to this nation also. Food is available in abundance but it might not always be healthy (Genetically modified vs organic). Debt issue of the country is a serious one. Family fabric of the society is not very strong (Based on my observation, I may be wrong). Social life is not very alive (again, based on my experience, I may be wrong). Rising gun violence within civilians. Lackluster economic growth. Savings and investment concerns for US citizens etc. But the silver lining is that US being a democratic setup, these people can openly talk about the problems that exists and criticize the government. Finally the first step towards correcting a problem is admitting there is a problem right! So, this can be a very attractive place to settle down, right!!

Well, not so fast, let's see what India has to offer...
To start off with, it's home :) I have lived first 20 years of my life in India, so I obviously have an emotional attachment and a bias towards India. But I will try to be objective. India is a democratic setup, very stable and largest democracy. Nation with bright prospects, clocking 9% growth continuously for almost 2 decades. Growth has slowed down but still in the time of global slowdown the economy has achieved 5.5% growth. Some rulers at the top are very brilliant and capable people. Nation has abundance of talent. India is the most religiously diverse nation on the planet earth and thus the most stable nation. India has a very rich history which dates back almost 5000 years. Strong history demonstrates the resilience of people of India. Governance is improving, road infrastructure is improving, power infrastructure is improving, Indian identity is growing in the international arena and so on. Family fabric of Indian society is very strong. Social life is remarkable. Indian agriculture, food and cuisine is second to none. Being close to family and friends is a comforting feeling always. BUT there is a flip side as well...Growth is there but is happening at frustratingly slow pace. Inflation is making daily life extremely difficult. Banking transactions, shopping experience, daily commuting needs much improvement. Public transport needs improvement. I understand I cannot compare India to US and cannot expect India to make what US did happen in 66 years. But India is capable of making these changes. India as a society needs to become more civil and matured which I guess will happen with time only. Job related freedom and avenues are much more in India than in US. But then US has much higher quality of jobs being a research and development driven economy. So, India have issues as well, but good thing is we are also a democratic setup and can talk about these issues.

Really I am not at all close to making a decision. I have a slight tilt towards India though. The reason is when I was in India in December 2012. I used to take morning walks in my home town Solapur. A nice morning walk at 6 in the morning, small jog in my school playground and then Palm Nectar (neera) near my home was my daily schedule. The peace of mind I felt doing that I do not feel it anywhere else. For now that peace of mind is driving my decision... :)

Always ask why...

Why do we behave the way we do….
Why people are so different from one another….
I think many times about these questions and I try to reason a particular human behavior
This is my first attempt to write my thought process
I talk with my friends Amit n Amit on these subjects and we try to find a logical explanation for certain questions…

For example, few people find any work that they do very interesting…Why???
Just think about the things that you find interesting. Let’s assume we are studying maths. My statement is, ‘If we start understanding what we are doing at any stage then we develop interest in that subject/thing’. Suppose you are solving some equation and you have understood the method or basic concept very clearly then you can solve any equation of that type and you start finding the subject interesting. Same is applicable in life everywhere. If you quickly understand the work that you have to do you find it interesting. Thus I think the people who find anything interesting have amazingly sharp grasping ability.
Of course you become master at a particular work after lot of efforts, practice and dedication but I am just speaking about developing the interest in some work. Let’s consider another example. Let’s say you have joined driving classes. And first day was amazing for you. You understood each and every instruction from your teacher. You also drove the car for a while with good control. Now imagine how you will feel about the next driving lesson… won’t you be excited for the next lesson!!!
This was a very simple example. But more or less the same logic applies to all things in life. I know there are other contributing things as well like appreciation/encouragement, proper teaching, will power etc which can trigger an interest in a person. But unless you understand, you won’t feel the subject interesting. Thus those with quick grasping ability will be happy doing anything and thus they should do as many things as they can.

Why do people believe in GOD???
I think that human beings are mentally weak by nature. We need the belief that somebody is behind us and protecting us. And as rightly put in the movie ‘3 Idiots’ our heart believes what we tell him with conviction. ‘All zz well’. When we pray in mandir/masjid/mosque/church we develop sense of security. But why does this happen! Well because from the child hood we are being told the stories about an almighty person who created us and controls our lives. We are made to believe that he is watching us all the time and he is there for our help. We are made to believe that he always helps the good people and punishes the bad. We are made to believe that the creator GOD never rejects the prayer of his faithful follower. People say that this belief makes you a stronger person. Do you think so!!
Think about this question. Who do you think is stronger, a person who believes in himself or a person who believes in somebody else (may it be GOD)? A person who takes the responsibility on himself or who asks for favors?
I will divert from the subject a bit and I will tell you the theory that I have about ‘how the GOD came to existence?’
…. In very initial times of human evolution when people used to live in groups. When they used to hunt daily for their food, keep moving from places to places in search of food and shelter. You can imagine that they were more or less like the monkeys and their brain was still developing. Now in such groups the powerful and strong males will definitely use their strength to dominate the rest of the group almost like the politicians do today. There must be a lot of unrest in a group. But there are always few fast developed brains around us. They must have thought that we have to do something so that we can control such a large group of people and maintain peace in the group. Now they cannot tie up everybody who behaves wild. So the smarter way would be virtual policing. Make them believe in a system which says that you will be gifted if you will be nice and thrashed otherwise. Show them some miracle which they cannot decipher and thus believe in anything we say. Once we make them believe in what we say then just brainwash them with GOD concept and it will spread just like a language spreads in any population. …

That’s what it is….a brain wash and nothing else
I will end this discussion by saying that ‘When we fail to answer logically, fantasies starts popping up’
There were things which we didn’t know in the past and our intelligent people were ready with some fantasy stories. Some fools found out the real explanations behind such things and those sweet stories vanished. Similarly we have many sweet stories today just to get erased in the future…

Many such questions coming soon...

Life is fair...

For how long and how far can things go against you…

Let downs began surfacing from final quarter of 2009 and now I believe what you have in your life depends a lot on what you believe you deserve. I believed doing MS is an unavoidable investment of lacs of rupees and so is happening for me. I never thought that I can get a scholarship, that I can be the one amongst the top etc.
But fortunately and unfortunately MS studies turned out to be the turning point. Well fortunately because I started enjoying my work like never before and unfortunately because I lost my LUCK. I am not the person who believes much in the stuff like ‘luck’ but one thing I can sense for sure is that the wind is against me this time around which you will notice as you go on reading.

First semester was very much comfortable for me as I was doing fine with course work. Half way through the semester you generally get the idea of people’s relative intelligence. And I used to feel very satisfied after explaining some difficult concepts to my friends. Then the things started happening one by one. First, the two girls from my class got an internship in Harley-Davidson. To be frank that event raised my confidence that I can also enjoy that status at some point in time. Then the same two girls got funding as well. This is where it started pinching me in the heart. I had applied for the same post but I was being refused. May be those girls had better communication skills. After that my other two friends got an internship in Cummins. One of them is from Solapur and he deserved every bit of it. You respect people when they achieve something they deserve. You don’t feel bad for that. But then there was a girl who got into Cummins. Well here in this write up of mine whenever I appreciate somebody for their achievement, I mean that and I respect them for what they have achieved. Otherwise I present no opinion.

This was it for the first semester. Four people had achieved big things and made me believe that I can also get funding as I had also scored 100% in that semester. Second semester was much more painful. At the very beginning of this semester one more girl got funded under my favorite professor. Now the number of achievers had gone on to 5. We will call it a Magic number. Then our Industry project started in that semester. The experience was amazing. We were a team of five, four Indians and one American girl. With the time, myself and my Solapur friend took control of the project and we started guiding rest of the team. We were the experienced two in the team and somewhat intelligent as well. Things were going pretty smooth for two months. Then the American girl got the funding under the professor to whom I was applying. A little disappointment but that was okay as we were more involved in project. One thing I want to make clear is my disappointments were and are always because I lost the opportunity and not because somebody else got it. Magic number was 6 now. Sometime later my roomie got an internship in Cummins and I was very happy for him. He really deserved it. I learned a lot from him throughout my stay with him. Magic number = 7. The semester was approaching towards the end. We had completed Industry project very satisfactorily. Other courses went fine. Then surprisingly my other team mate got internship in Mercedes. Magic number = 8. Again one of my friends got funding under my professor. Two weeks later my good friend also got funding under the same professor and he deserved that. Not because he is my good friend but because he knows stuff and he really worked hard. Magic Number = 10. A week later one more friend of mine got internship in Rockwell Automation. Magic Number = 11. Now you start thinking that what have I done wrongly or what could I have done different. Present state is that very few non achievers are left out of which I am the one. Out of 5 members from my project team two were unemployed and those were me n one other girl. The girl who studied with me the most difficult subject of this semester. Few days back that girl got an internship in the company where we did our project.

Stress of living away from home is common for all but it aggravates with tight financial situation and especially if things are going so bad for you. Where to find motivation? So many things that one has to give up and lead a completely different life under these circumstances. Guys it’s really tough to be happy from outside and so tethered from inside. Magic number is now 12 and I am still the person who has achieved nothing. People are attending conferences in Industries and I am cleaning their leftover food, dishes and tables. People are going for vacations, movies and adventures whereas buying a movie ticket is an adventure for me. People hang out in groups to enjoy whereas I hang out alone fearing I may have to spend some money in a group. What can one do? However we try to justify our job or current state we can’t deny the reality. But we still carry on our work hoping that the good day for me is on it’s way. Hoping that the big achievement is somewhere round the corner. I really am and will be thankful forever to all my friends Amit, Amit, Jamadar, Khaire, Vandana, Monal , Phadkule and other to whom I can talk and can feel relieved.

Don’t worry guys, I don’t feel low for long. I have a self rectifying mechanism just as everybody has. ‘PATIENCE’/’COMPOSURE’ is the key word and a key lesson. So small a word but so large it’s meaning.
Salute to my parents for explaining and inducing the importance of calmness in my young age.
These are the times when I will learn to be more patient. May be worst times are yet to come. Life always teaches us lessons but step by step. This is just one more advanced lesson. There are more to come. I am doing nothing but getting ready for those….

End of the first semester....

Hello dear friends,

I am writing almost after four months. Yes my first semester is over. Time flies by..

It feels like, I had arrived just yesterday...and already 25% of my MS is over...yup I passed my first semester with good results..

To begin with I will talk about how my first semester was...Guys to be very honest for the last four months I enjoyed these studies like never before. I am not a very studious guy for sure. But this time it was all very different...I used to have packed lecture schedule for two days in a week and a job for rest of the three days. For the first time I was extremely focussed for all the lectures throughout the semester..quite surprisingly!!..may be because the heavy tuition fees my dear father has paid.. Sometimes the content used to be boring but I tried my best to stretch my mind to maintain the concentration. And I can now say that lectures do benefit. Exams are a cakewalk if you understood the stuff in the lectures. This does not mean that I used to just loaf around before the exam. I used to study for a decent amount of time and only till I enjoyed it.

Guys, I was having a physical project work for every subject/course work. Marks were equally divided between exams and project. Basically you are rated on multiple measures like Assignments, Lab work, Project Reports, Exams and Actual Execution of project. So you cannot neglect anything. Especially when there is a relative grading system. Whatever activity you do carries some weight and thats why every activity has to be done with utmost care and accuracy. Now we realize why this education system is so encouraging. You attend a lecture then professor gives you an assignment based on what he taught in the lecture. You had to finish it before the next lecture. So when you complete the assignment you actually study the stuff taught in today's lecture again and to add to the benefits, you gain the points for that assignment. When the exam time comes, you already have studied all the stuff and you just need to revise everything and go through all the assignments.

The system seems foolproof, doesn't it! Yes it does not only seem foolproof but it is foolproof. The reason being stringent laws. Total honesty and no unfairness to anybody. Leave alone exams but even copying assignments is not tolerated. Students can discuss the solution but the actual work has to be done individually. And don't try to be smart, these guys can catch you anytime. If you get caught then you will get zero in that particular assignment/exam and your grade will be trimmed by one step. You will be given one warning and next time if you get caught then you are out of the university. And no compromises on the legal issues. If you are dishonest you will be kicked out.

Anyways we don't need to get into the darker side. Also there is absolutely no need to be dishonest. Studies here are designed in a way that students feel studying those worthwhile. And theory coupled with the practical project makes it even better.

So my semester was very nice academically but....

Why there has to be a but for everything in life! Why there has to be a flip side!

I am starting to believe, we definitely can not have everything every time.

Before, I was having all the comfort in life, best friends, relatives, family, job, money and all of it easily accessible. The only thing I lacked was interest in my work and studies. Now I have the most difficult thing but without the most important things in the world.

I remember the first week after my arrival in the US. Each time when I used to take out something from my bag, I used to go in a dream land. Each memory associated with every item used to pass through my eyes, the place where me and my mom bought it, shopping with my big brother, every moment during packing, the last day in my home town solapur, my friend's last visits to me, their gifts, time spent with them, my grandma's food, my little bro's punches, my mom, my sweet sisters who came to see me off, my father's last hug, my best friend who was at the airport to say "good-bye" to me.....the chain goes on...even now I can feel all of it so remarkable that I have dehydrated myself a bit...But the intensity of these was just too high during the initial days..

I don't understand why I was so weak! Am I weak! I mean I have been living away from home since last 5 years. I am used to it. Why was I again feeling homesick. Maybe because now I am in a different continent altogether! May be because I cannot call my dear one's at my will! May be because I cannot visit them whenever I want! I can go on finding the reasons for my weakness. But after a lot of thinking I feel the root cause is two-fold.

First, Uncertain future...In such a delicate US job market especially for H-1B people, there is hardly any chance to find a job. Jobless Seniors. Hopeless Campus Fairs. No matter how much you try to avoid the negative thoughts, at least once everyday they will give you a visit.

Second, No funding. No Assistantship. All the money is from your own pocket. I don't know whether I will be able get my father's investment worth! It's not just about the money. It's about the exposure in world's most professional work culture. It's about the opportunity of working with the bests in the business.

I am not sure about the future...I am not satisfied. And may be thats why all emotions are getting heavier for me to handle...I am not a emotional guy...But now I feel like I am one...

Really tough times. Just need to hang in there. Feeling of uncertainty, discomfort and dissatisfaction is there but then as the elderly people say "There is no short cut to success"..."Feel the pain to have some gain"..well nobody says that but I have made that up..

What we really need is self motivation and a ray of hope. When going gets tough, the tough gets going...Be honest with your efforts and the the world will be honest to your skills...

All the positive thinking and honest work helps to make us stronger. But there a limit to resilience of an individual. I hope mine won't be crushed during the process...

the real journey begins...

Hey...
So Now m in Madison. Got Apartment, bought all the grocery..bread, eggs, sandwich spread, onion, tomatoes...dust bin, bath curtain,..etc. All set to cook by myself.

First week of College was the orientation thing full of events like Student Resources, Tour of Madison, Multicultural meet, Walk Ride and Sail and International Student Association. The only purpose of the event was to give us..the international students..idea of their lifestyle.

People here engages themselves very sincerely in all kinds of social work. They do tremendous amount of social work. I am trying to figure out the exact reason for that. Lets c...

First event (Student Resources) was not a big deal. We were made aware of few student organizations, Job opportunities, Different Clubs..like Sailing club, dancing club etc...
But the most interesting part was free cookies of different types, cakes and then free refreshment of American Snacks...Khup kai kai padarth hote pan mi ekachahi naav nahi saangu shakat...But cheese was amazing..And the ICE-CREAM..Madison is known for its dairy products...
Cheese was first produced in madison..And ice-cream is manufactured in our university campus..hmmm....very fffresshh

"Tour of Madison" was the best event I have been in till date..Overall there were over 500 international students attending the event. The purpose of the event was to take all international students on a tour of madison city.
Surprisingly for me..150 american families were volunteers for that event. They came with their cars, each family took 4 to 5 students in their car and they took us through madison on a predecided path. We were sailing on the roads of madison almost for 3 hours. And as if that was not enough..Finally they took us to an American's house for refreshment...Had a chat with uncle and aunty and also with other international students..And then they dropped us at our locations..
It seemed to me that these people like to mix-up with as many new people as possible. May be because they dont have anybody really close to them or they are just too good and generous.

Multicultural Meet was another very interesting event. All international students were made to gather at a location named "Union Terrace". Union terrace is the hot-favorite hang out spot of everybody in madison. There is a wonderful lake and union terrace is the place just by the side of the lake where you will find amazing food, Ice-cream, Bear and Girlsss...
So back to event now... they asked us to sit in different groups..and get to know each other..
In each group one person was senior and a volunteer. His role was to initiate the conversation and make everybody in the group feel comfortable. These volunteers were deployed by the organizing committee of the event...
I was totally new to such a thing. After some time I really struggled to think of topic to discuss on. So I thought just for a little time that we should know at least something about different countries...We should read on varieties of topics..Basically I talk very less so I found an area to improve on..

"Walk, Ride and Sail" was a fun part..
Walk and Ride was in general tour of University campus on legs and also on the bus..
Bus was very antic kind of a thing...So was very relaxing to be in that bus for an hour.
then sailed for the first time..and kept sailing for looong time...was wonderful..

All the above events were totally freee...

That was how the first few days of my college were...
Getting gist of the culture..places, community and their attitude..very positive and happy..

Hey there....finally i got d PC...for sum time at least...he he
soon ll buy a new laptop for me...
So my first flite experience was greattt..kay fundu vimaan hota...kaay sangu..!!!
seat chya pudhe screen vagare ekdum...bharpur muvis, tv shows, games..n most attractive feature was d live MAP...it was showin like where r u currently...over which part r u flying at the moment..!!! awesum man..!! I was a bit worried..when v wer above pakistan n afghanistan..!!! (he he he..)
khara tar kadhi hot nahi asa..pan mazya shejaari ek mulagi aali hoti...ahem ahem..!!! dont get xcited at all...she was d dumbest creature I hav met till date...she was flyin for the 3rd time...n she was like sittin in a spaceship or sumthin..!!n wen i told her dat m flyin for d first time...she was like..watt!!!"u look very confident..relaxed..n used to it..bla bla.."
well dont get impressed..wat else to expect from such a stupid gal..ok...my another neighbour was a lady as well n a manager in software company..she did her MS at almost my age n was working since then...n just started her graduation in the law field..interestin..hmm..!!
So got some important tips from her..dat was about d 1st part of the journey..

Then I got down at newarc airport(New york nave..mumbai ani thane jasa aahe na tasach new york ani new arc cha aahe).. consumed 3 hrs for customs n immigration..n still 5 hrs wer ther for my next flight..so kaay karnaar..nehami karto tech chalu kela..sagla airport palatha ghatla..it was a huge airport...Actually it had 3 terminals..Terminal A, B and C...and in each terminal again they had 10 gates..A1, A2, ..A10similarly for Terminal B and for C...Kainai...aaple platform astaat na tasach..they had a Air train which takes u around the airport free of cost....Manasokta chakraa marlya tya air train madhun...

There was a shuttle bus service also...which takes u around d airport by road...So roamed in d bus as well...Finally d moment came to begin d final part of d journey...all firangis wer ther wid me in the final flight....had very weired food in that flight..(je fukat hota tech khalla yaar..mag asach milnaar na..) Aso...

Then got down at madison...collected luggage from the luggage claim section...seniors wer there in time to pick me up..So went along with them in their car..
kaay ek ek road aahet...abababaabaababa...lagech gadi vikat ghyayache swapna vagare padayla suruvaat zaleli mala...
mag mhatla awaraa aataa..karjamadhe asataana garjaa kamich thevavyaat..
I lived with my seniors in their house for first 3 to 4 days..Housing pan ithe vegalach aahe..u get a fully furnished flat with all necessary cooking accessories..Now wireless net has to be bought..then everything ll be sett..then I got a map of university area...got aqauinted with some streets..Opened a bank account..got WiscCard (College ID), got the free bus pass..(so now I can roam around whole city of madison free of cost..)

So this is how d journey was till now...ll keep on updatin on new xcitin experiences...

Maja Maja aahe pan India chi khup aathavan yete yaar...

till then take care..

Miss u all...

Karan