First post since arriving in the US...AFTER ALMOST 2 MONTHS!

Man I have tonnes of things to write about...just dont know where to start. I've been through so much in such a short period until now that if I think of putting down everything, I will be left gasping for time (which is found in scarcity here). When I am typing this, I am filled with a conflagration of emotions coming out of everything, good or bad, that has happened.

Ahha...even before that, do you know why my last post in india was blank? Coz I hardly got time to work on it. I had decided that I would finish it off to detail my 'oh-Im-so-excited' experiences but could not. I was so busy packing up and finishing off formalities that I left it just after typing the title! My last working day with Accenture was 15th July 2008 and I had only a week to start and finish my pre-departure work.

Finally when I cozily sat in my Continental Airlines seat, a zillion memories and feelings started rushing through my mind. I was like...oh man, everything happened too fast and I hardly got time to digest them. In 24 hours, I will be across seven seas, leaving behind everything, probably for ever. (But I was utterly wrong then). BUT.....BUT....I HAD MY LIFE WITH ME...MY MOM! yes she was coming with me and that drowned down all other regrets.

The flight was good and me & momma hardly felt that it was long. On arriving at Newark Airport, after a 16 hour journey, we had to catch a connecting flight to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Newark airport is magnanimous! It's so huge that it took us a very long time to find the terminal from where we had to catch the connection. But since we had sufficient time, we reached well before the departure. Trolley carts did cost us $3 per cart (Imagine spending Rs.120 for a cart!). Immediately the comparisons started. In India, we get them free.

The next journey was, I think, for approx. 4 hours. After collecting our bags and leaving from the 'Private Cars' exit, I saw Nirmal getting out of his car! Bhabhi was coming in another car. Momma was so ecstatic on seeing him! When bhabhi came, it was a wonderful moment to be with everybody (except dad). I had thought that nothing could now compel me to go back. I thought I am so lucky to have my family so close when I'll be in university, I had a Graduate Assistantship from the university, the school itself was the one that I always wanted to be in! It was a perfect script for good times.

No sooner did I get into the car with bro, I recollected people saying that USA's infrastructure is one of the best in the world and how true was that! The roads were so beautiful, smooth and clean, the traffic discipline was so awesome that I pitied for my India. I thought 'When will my country be so mannered?' The funda of left-hand, right lane driving was pretty confusing at first since I was used to driving in India for more than 5 years. But until bro drove, I enjoyed the view outside. Average speed of driving on freeways here is 70 mph (around 110-120 kmph) but it just doesnt feel the same when we are inside the car on such smooth roads! But as soon as you power down the windows, the air blowing on your face reminds you of the same. After around 30 minutes, we took the exit to Fountainview Drive. Oh by the way, here (at least in Texas) the concept of roads is that every freeway has an 'exit' to an interior road.

We reached bro's apartment. Freshened ourselves up and had lunch. In the evening bro gave us a BIG surprise! He took us to a place which he said was a new townhome his friend had bought. He just wanted to show us how the place was. After checking out the place, which was really good, when leaving, he said "Mom, this is OUR new abode!". We could not believe at first but later when he said he was speaking the truth that it sank in! Mom was so happy. She said she was actually thinking that her son too should have a similar home when we were looking around the place. Her joy knew no bounds. Bro said that they had been preparing for it since almost a month and were setting things up day in and day out before we arrived, so that they could officially inaugurate it through mummy's hands and break out the news to everybody! Good job bro!

The biggest problem in US is that labor is damn costly. A plumber would charge you a couple of hundred dollars just for fixing up small things. Hence, bro, bhabhi and his colleague were doing everything on their own, from fixing electricity connections to painting and all. We still had to stay at the old apartment for a few weeks before we could have moved in.

The following weekend, we had kept a 'vaastu puja' and invited a few friends and bhabhi's distant family members (who stayed in houston). The pandit was good and he specklessly conducted the puja. Mom was very happy.

Slowly and steadily, we started getting used to this country. Daily I learnt many things. Walmarts and CVS pharmacies, about which I had only heard about in India, were the places that I started frequenting. In the meantime, we could hardly rest as we had to do all the moving from bro's old apartment to the new home. Plus, now I started helping bro in setting up the new place. We also started visiting a few places around town. And then I sensed that mum was feeling a tad uncomfortable here. Bro and bhabhi went to office in the mornings and she had nothing to do. Here, at least in Houston, people cannot go out without a vehicle. So sitting home all day was something that she started hating. Even in India, she could not sit idle. Also, there are hardly any desi families around. But still, until the moving work was going on, and until I was there in Houston, it was OK.

Then came the time for me to leave and come to College Station, around 100 miles from Houston. We started hunting for an apartment since my pre-planned roomies were about to reach later. Guess what? The only 3-bedroom that we found was exactly in the same complex that my bro used to stay 8 years ago! This was too much of a co-incidence. I really wonder many times, I've always, unintentionally followed my brother wherever he's gone. First my secondary school, the I did my diploma like him, then engineering, then I came to US, came to Texas and landed up in the same university as his! And now even the apartment complex! HAHA....I can't help laughing. But I believe this would stop here....Read on....

Mom started feeling depressed, now that even I had to start my college. I was really worried as in, how would she kill time here. But I had to leave and I did (although very sadly). Bro comforted her that he would pick me up every weekend and I would go back after 2 days but in my mind, I knew that even that wouldn't be possible after some time. Still, I managed to go back every weekend for a month. But I knew that mom was getting extremely irritated alone at home. Though bro and bhabhi tried their best to be with her, take her around after they came back from office. They even tried to come home during lunch time so that they could be with her for some time. Bro installed dish tv for her so that she could watch indian channels and feel more 'at home' but mom has never liked watching TV much. Things dragged on...

About my school, it's wonderful. The campus is so huge, it's the 4th largest in US. The department buildings are so aesthetic and modern with lush greenery around. Campus buses are very good and they ply within and outside campus ( to a certain extent). But the weirdest thing that I find is that most students (Americans of course) of a business school walk around in micro-shorts and tight, revealing tops! Man, hadn't even imagined that! hehe...Girls are just not concerned about decency here...

But I'm utterly disappointed by the education here. It's become a joke. Right from day 1, our career advisor has relentlessly pushed us to prepare for jobs. It's all about getting a job and earning, that's it. Knowledge is left far behind. Classes rely on just powerpoint slides and buying books is a dream here.

And to top it all, my roomies (except one) are very irritating. One of them has a dumbjack brother who comes often and lives like it's his own place. He gets his gang of friends along and they make such a hullaboo all night that I cant even sleep when I want to. 1 good thing is that he's leaving US next month, so probably I'll get a big relief then. Have to bear with him only a couple of weekends more. And being pure gujjus, both the roomies are really ill mannered. Anyway, I have to live with them for another 9 months....lesse...

But now, after spending 2 months here, I have fixed my target...though people who know me find it shocking but I'm going back after completing graduation. I cannot lave my mum alone just for earning big money. Neither can I ask her to keep coming every year (which she can) because it would be very difficult for her to adjust again and again in different places. I had assumed that she would find it comfortable here but now I realize how foolish I was. 'There are somethings that money can't buy' as the Mastercard punchline goes....Yes, time with family is more important to me than money. And even if my dad retires, I don't want them to be left alone. I have some responsibilities on my shoulders which I don't want to shy away from. I'm not a junkhead that I cannot find a good job in India. It's much better than living at the mercy of these americans for my work authorization, who themselves are not sure about their future.

Anyway, I don't regret at all and will enjoy the time that I'll be there here. I'll make the most of it. When I'll go back, obviously, I wont go empty handed. I will have loads of experiences, skills and most importantly a masters degree which, though not as valued in India as here, it would certainly fetch me good work. Also, I will not have much to recover as I already have my salary flowing and hopefully I will find an internship. Moreover, I have an entrepreneurial bent of mind and want to start something of my own. I just don't want to spend my time here and later realize that I can't go back after smelling dollars. I'm always ready to work hard and I always believe that 'Home is where the heart is'.

Alright then, after this long post, I'm feeling much better...alwaya had this load on my mind that I need to keep my blog updated. It's relieved now. Will try to keep it up to date with stuff and events though. GOD bless all.