The eagle had landed... quite messily indeed

The place was pretty green with vegetation all around. 5 or 6 high rises surrounded by 2 to 3 small buildings were visible from the big windows on the bus that carried me from Buona Vista to Kent ridge. Since I had seen a number of such buildings that belonged to HSBC, Singtel etc. on the way , I thought that these too were the office complexes of any other industrial giant. About a few minutes later I came across the sign : NUH. And then realization dawned, This is it Mate! This is the National University of Singapore! Looks more like a Five star resort :)

As I came closer, I realized one thing that set this University apart from any other that I had seen ( which is quite limited actually). This place was HUGE. Really HUGE. My seniors had warned me that I could easily get lost in the cornucopia of buildings and I was not too sure about it till I did get lost here. Finally, I managed to find my way into the registration centre and finished the procedures within 15 minutes. On my way out, I had to face about 5 to 6 stalls advertising their latest laptop brands. I thought about my dad back home and grinned… somebody is going to need a lot of money shortly. Making a mental note to come there the next day, I forced myself to go to my department. Here I made my first mistake, I thought that the department would be just 5 or 6 minutes away. It was a painful and tiring 20 minutes later( Painful coz my 100$ shoes were meeting my feet for the first time and I guess there was an ‘orientation’ problem :), that I came to a 6 storey building that proclaimed ‘Building : Science 2’ Huffing and puffing I made my way into the department office and finished some registration stuff. The job over, I thought of checking out the science canteen. The canteen is a misnomer actually. Its more like a hawker stall wherein you have 4 or 5 different stalls serving stuff ranging from sambar rice and vendakai curry to frozen mouth watering sushi and oyster sauce ( Being a vegetarian , I never got to eat the latter but still it did look delicious ) After gobbling up 2 more $ ( Don’t pick up your calculator yet, that’s 59 Rs) I went to the bus stop for a ride back home. On the way, something interesting happened, I had to cross 4 pedestrian crossings. At each one of them, the fast moving cars stopped and waited for me to cross the road before roaring off (these Singaporeans are crazy :). An otherwise uneventful hour later, I was home.

The next day, I went to the ICA to submit my visa application. That story is beyond the scope of this blog and so lemme skip it for something more interesting. After finishing my visa processing, I went to 2 places, Funan digital mall and Sim lim square. If you are a gadget freak … er.. a wealthy gadget freak , then this is the place to be. 5 floors each full of electronics stuff ranging from spy cameras and toys to the latest laptops and plasma TVs). I spent a joyful 3 hours in each of these 2 wonderful stores eyeing each and every gizmo with a sparkle in my eyes and 30$ in my wallet. I returned home (empty handed of course) and drowned my misery with a bottle of coke. ( After reading all this , do you still think i would be able to afford a Beer?)

The next day, I started my lab rotations in Dr. Cynthia He’s lab. She is a very good person and knows her stuff. She was in Yale and UPenn and so, her English is impeccable. That’s one worry out of the way. ( No! no! she is not reading this and they don’t have the system of internal marks). 5 days of rotation later, I have learnt a lot and now know my way around the whole place and even know where to get ice for the ice box.

Yesterday was an eventful day. Cynthia( She insists that we call her by her first name. By the way almost every prof here and in the USA insist that you call them by their first name) offered to take me and my lab mates for lunch at a costly Japanese restaurant. The drive to the restaurant was short and lasted just about 5 minutes. She paid the entry fee of 100$ for 4 ( Now is the time you should get out your calculator) and the waiter beckoned us inside. It was a total flop show. I drank 3 glasses of orange juice, a cup of durian flavoured icecream ( Durain is a fruit that’s extremely delicious but unfortunately so stinky that its not allowed on the buses or trains here ) and about 250 grams of uncooked carrot, cucumber and olives. Those were the only vegetarian stuff in the whole restaurant that had about 2 stories full of buffet items. My host was really sorry but I wasn’t fussy about food any day. 25$ for that ( if you still have not figured it out, its 640 Rs). Thank god she was paying :). We made our way through the ‘ 3 course dinner’ ( for them at least) talking about a whole lot of things and for more than once I was feeling as if I was talking to a friend and not to a prof. That’s the culture here. You get used to it very quickly indeed.

One thing though, I can not shake off the feeling that I am a visitor here. No matter what they have to offer me, no matter how hospitable they are, no matter how perfect the people here are, I still miss home. The perfection and orderliness here sometimes makes me long for the busy, dirty and loud mouthed streets of Madras. Lets hope I am able to sustain this feeling for the next 2 years.

More to follow. I will write when I am really busy of course :)

Explorer in Singapore

Well the first thing to hit me in the face in Singapore was not the fact that the place was unusually clean or that the cars seem to fly along the streets. It was also not that the cars waited in a traffic signal without trying to get to the front of the line and it was most certainly not the presence of over 30 hindu temples but it was the fact that I have been here for over 14 hours and I have been in the streets for about 4 or 5 hours and I haven’t heard a single car honk its horn! Come on guys, back home in India we honk at anything and everything. If you don’t sound your horn, you are regarded the most incompetent idiot alive.

It was with a mild sense of apprehension that I boarded the Boeing 737 800 to Singapore. The air hostesses were very pretty( Well, it was Air India Express and when are you are raised in India for 21 years of your life, you learn to be easily satisfied :) The food was bad( As usual) and the movie that they showed was .. well I am not writing this blog to describe a Boeing am I? Anyway, the flight got over soon ( Thank God) and about 3 hours and 30 minutes later, the Captain announced that we would reach Singapore shortly and that we could open the window flaps. The first view of Singapore from the sky was pretty much less than dramatic. The sky was full of rain bearing clouds and I couldn’t make out a single light in the city that is supposed to have more lights than the whole of India. 5 minutes, later we had landed. After scurrying through Changi airport along with the rest of my Indian brothers and sisters, I queued up in the immigration queue and finished the procedures in record time. It was here that I played the ‘bright’ guy and stood in a queue for 10 minutes just to hear “ You didn’t have to come here. You can finish the procedures at ICA on Monday” . 10 minutes for that! I moved towards the baggage claim and by the time I got there, everything was gone! It was then, that I saw a lady taking away 3 bags and my big RED delsey was among the 3. I ran up to her and asked her about it. She said “ I am sorry. You are late. Please go to the baggage section to claim your bag. That was the last straw. I was about to burst, instead I decided to use my ‘irresistible charm’ :)and appealed to her heart saying “ Look here lady, this is my first time here, I dunno anybody in this place and I cant wait because it is getting late…Please” she melted and let me take the bag after I showed her my ticket. One thing though: You had to say "Sorry! come again" about 15 times if you wanted to ask where the toilet was!

I was greeted warmly by my uncle and his kid who had come to the airport to receive me at around 6.30 Singapore time (the flight was late by 2 hours and I got there at around 8.30) we took a taxi to his house. I was not tired or anything but I just cannot remember seeing anything spectacular on my way home. When we got home, I got my first surprise. You had to swipe a card to access the front gate and you had to swipe to access the lift and get to your floor! We got home and ate a great dinner. This was followed by 15 minutes of me trying to read Harry potter and failing miserably because my mind wasn’t up to the task. I just could not get over the fact that I had just crossed the sea.

10 hours of blissful sleep later, I got my first glimpse of a Singaporean morning. It was quite pleasant. The streets were spotlessly clean and the traffic was immaculate in following rules. Utopia? After a breakfast ( Adai and butter slurpppppppppp!! ) and a bath( Nothing different from India. They still use water as we do back home !) I was ready to go to.. Believe it or not, a Temple.

More than the temple, I would like to describe the bus journey. Well, firstly the buses do not have conductors. Small boxes about a feet long and wide have replaced their human counterparts (wait till Jyoti Basu comes here!). I got into the bus, swiped my card and sat down. My aunt and uncle gave me a lot of insight into the Singapore way of life on the way. After 5 minutes, the bus came to a halt. My uncle finished the conversation slowly and the said ” We have to get down here” I was about to do a 007 stunt and exit the bus using my unique acrobatic skills but then... we didn’t shout at the driver to hold on and nor did we push the guys ahead to get to the exit. We took our sweet time to get out and the driver was not even complaining ( these Singaporeans are crazy :) : with a reference to Obelix). On our way out, my uncle asked me toswipe again. I was wondering why and then slowly I understood. When you swiped at the start point, you were telling the bus that you had entered and when you swiped on your way out, you were telling the bus that you had come to the destination and that you be charged for the journey. The money would automatically be deducted from your card and you can go on. Neat huh? But I cant imagine it working in India. As for the temple, I am a good actor and did my act perfectly!

15 minutes later we went to a supermarket! Here I understood fully the advise my Uncle had given me last evening : never ever try to convert to Indian rupees. Every thing was costly for me. I remember thinking how I was going to survive here. Shortly, we got back home. And here I am typing this out. Nothing much but this was my first look at Singapore and my impression: Pretty impressive. My uncle says “ Wait till you see your University” Hmm you better wait for me to type that out too!

The American Dream

Although my first post was born out of 5 minutes of disgust and anguish over the Kaveri situation helped by a short break in my project work, this one is more of a personal rambling of a depressed and possibly deranged individual. I have often told people ” Fear can hold you prisoner,hope can set you free” .Though its right out of a movie, it was more than just a fancy tag line for me. It was the very words that inspired me ,that gave me hope and that helped me through every tough situation I found myself in. The few people that I have convinced to watch the movie have given the movie top marks. They too have confirmed ( I do not know whether they say it to satisfy me or whether they really were inspired by it) that watching the movie added a bit more to their life. Gave them hope!!

It was with this hope and inspiration that I convinced myself to apply to around 10 Universities in the USA. To be extremely frank ,at first more than the prospect of 'learning' , I was more interested in the monetary benefits that uncle Sam promised. As I went through the joy of applying which is a horror that I hope I will never have to go through again, I gradually had a change of heart and suddenly I wanted to go there not because the promised land was beckoning me with wads of green paper but because I was attracted to the professional air with which universities and researchers went about doing their job. The only bit of research that I had seen my lecturers performing was when they were trying to find other jobs that paid them the little extra. It was at that moment that I was sure that I wasn't born to just gobble up pieces of information that my lectures managed to spew right out of text books. I wanted to do some genuine research for a start. With this esteemed opinion of the white man and with about 50,000 Rs of my father's hard earned money, I went ahead and tapped the doors of the some Universities

The websites of almost all Universities are quite impressive and can even entice a beggar to apply for an admit. All of you guys interested in a career in marketing, you need not take up any specific course, all you need to do is go through the ADMISSIONS page of some Universities. However, what the websites forget to mention is : “ You are most welcome... but only after our own American backs are covered”. The ' Equal opportunity to all' reminder is written in a corner of the page reminding me of “ STATUTORY WARNING : CIGR...........” I am considered only after their own students have had the lions share of the admits and I may have to pay almost double of what they have to shell out.

Of course, we may do the same but I am not exactly making an attitude comparson.

I am totally frustrated with transcripts ,recommendations and statements and other nitty gritty details that encompass an application. Whether I am successful or not, I would be relieved when its over. In fact, last week I was completely deflated when a University( Name withheld for security concerns :) apologized for a seemingly innocuous mistake that almost gave me a heart attack and raised my telephone bill by about 100 rupees. This was the last straw. I have had enough. I want out. I want it all to end!! For those who are familiar with the lines from a famous movie : “ella manushanukkum oru breaking point irruku”!! I am sure half of the people who are going to read this are also eagerly awaiting replies from the various academic institutions that had promised them the sky. For all of you out there, remain hopeful and if you don't get an admit this year do try next year because that is one of the most significant way the university gets money. My advice for those who want to follow my footsteps and apply to universities next year , you stand to lose a lot of 'dough'. After spending a lot of money if you realize that you are successful, well, there is always the exception to anything. If you are not successful, you were warned about it.

I may wait 'hopefully' for about a month or so and if any University is 'unfortunate' and 'foolish' enough to follow the equal opportunity policy literally and also find me suitable, fine by me. If the Universities continue to hand out the “ The number of qualified applications is much more than the number of positions that we have.....” line then I guess I might have to say goodbye to the American dream and start looking for a job and a way to compensate my father's money. I wish I could say I would be hoping that I get an admit but I can not because my brain and my heart( rarely do they tend to think along the same lines) seem to think that enough is enough!So much for Hope . HUMBUG!!

I have been wanting to write my blog for the past 1 year or so but never got around to do it. Let me begin...

A very long time back, a river chose to pass through a region which was ldestined to be cut up by narrow linguistic boundaries. Little could it have realized that someday it would become the object of such intense emotional outbursts and distrust that would put Hitler to shame. Nor could it have realized that it would indirectly give a person a brief respite to talk about it in the debut of his blog.

The past one week has been among the most demanding and sapping days of my whole life. If you think I am talking about the project that I am currently doing,then I am sorry to disappoint you,but Scorpios have an endurance that remains to be matched my any person living. And if I am bogged down by my undergraduate project how can I face the rigors of doing a PhD? I am talking about the emotional upheaval that is happening in me for a variety of reasons. I still have not heard from any of the universities that I had applied to,nor have I been making a great deal of progress in mending my ways of being blunt to people. And then, this had to happen.

I have seen some where in the WWW that Bill gates had once remarked “ After the Chinese,South Indians are the smartest people alive” We have tried again and again to prove him wrong and I guess we might finally have succeeded in saying “Hey Bill,for once in your life you might be wrong” I still can not come to grips with the fact that we have been fighting over a river for the past 100 years. True,I am not an agriculturist nor am I a politician and i am in the worst possible position to comment on this but this has been going on for far too long to remain silent. To top it all,I am an environmental 'freak' in a country where a large group of individuals are asking the question of where to look for their next meal and how to survive the subsequent night .I am a member of WWF( people ask me : the World Wrestling Federation?) and the Greenpeace and I can tell you we are among the most despised of people because we ask questions that might be difficult to answer from the deep rooted standpoint of unqualified human superiority.

Let me ask you something. It would sound extremely 'laymanish' but why can't we let rivers flow their own damn way? Why do we have to build dams and gates across it and later raise our voices about somebody shutting the gate on us? Instead all we are able to do is exploit it as much as we can and when it cant offer any more try to get some more from our neighbour. When he refuses,we go a place thats about a 1000 kilometers away and seek justice from a central authority that has no inkling about whats going on and just seeks to protect its very existence. And when we get a judgement that says we are wrong,we close our borders with our neighbour,stop airing a group of his TV channels for a week,go on for endless protest marches and strikes and try to burn down as much we can. India shining?? India poised ?? Oh yeah it is ! At least we have an extremely optimistic government trying to play down all our misery so that we can raise our heads and shout “ Mera Bharat mahaan”

But, I can hear the devil inside me saying “ Quit complaining you idiot,you got some days off from work didn't ya?

More to follow...