Saturday, August 8, 2009

A whole year outside my homeland


It has been a year now since I left my country to pursue my higher studies. It was 3:00 AM, August 7th 2008. I was sitting at the waiting lounge of the Chennai International airport waiting for the boarding call from Qatar Airways. I knew it was going to be close to an hour before they made a call. Having just completed the immigration formalities and the security check, there was nothing much for me to do as I sat in the lounge. I was going to make my first trip overseas, something I had not dreamt of until a few months back.

A little rewind will show that (thanks to Kurmi for such kind of phrases – all mechanical engineers will know what I refer to!), it was only in April 2008 that I put in my papers at UST Global for joining an MBA course at TAPMI. Soon after that, as I was serving my notice period there, I was lucky to get an admission into the State University of New York at Binghamton for doing my MS in Industrial and Systems Engineering. I then decided to take up the latter because of the ‘exposure’ (any interpretation allowed as a reader!) I might get as a result of a foreign education. All set and done, here I was at the airport lounge.

As I sat there, my mind was switching frames very frequently, between whether my choice of doing an MS over an MBA was the right one I was making in life? Is the decision of leaving behind my family a right choice? – I knew very well the pros and cons of going abroad that my father had told me when I decided to do my MS – life in the US is not easy, you are not going to think of coming back for some time at least, you are going to a place with a totally different culture, climate, etc. Well, it was my decision and my parents have always stood with me on my decisions. But was it all going to be reversible? Could I get back to my family? Could I be back in that same comfort zone I am used to? Time will answer

There was a sudden break of silence at the lounge - “Passengers traveling by Qatar Airways…. are requested to board through gate number…”, and I embarked the flight. I was all excited about my first overseas flight. Well, all my excitement came to a sudden stop when I saw that all air hostesses in the flight were East-Asians, while I was expecting American models to help me cross the pacific. First ball – and I was clean bowled. I sat there, grabbed some candies that the air hostess offered me, ate the food she gave me and off I went to sleep. Gosh, just imagine, it was around 5 in the morning and I had not slept all night. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Then it was all quick, my change of flight at Doha, landing at Washington DC followed by a midnight arrival at Binghamton Airport. Thanks to Akiev for making it to the airport to pick me up! Binghamton is an interesting place, and what interests me is how come this place be so different from the US I had imagined when I came from India. It’s basically a university town with its own merits and demerits, but I got accustomed to it soon. Classes began soon.

The first semester was not an easy one for me, for I had not been studying for the past 4 years. Three courses (of which 2 were core courses), 12 assignments, 3 take-home exams, 3 mid-term exams, 3 book reviews, 1 term paper, 2 term projects and 3 final exams – gosh all these in just 3 and a ½ months! Survived it! I am not mentioning anything about my research activities – that’s a different long story  I was thinking that statements like ‘grad school is not easy’ were just over-estimated statements, but now I realize it is not like that. You know what, I have not written an assignment on my own in my undergrad , and here they want me to write something on my own. Bhoo hoooo. Thanks to Special English course, it has helped me convert ‘active voice’ sentences to ‘passive voice’ ones and vice versa and escape the so-called crime of plagiarism!

Once the sem ended, I escaped Binghamton, and what a week that was in December! NJ, NYC, DC and some Virginia. Enjoyed a lot and that was when I saw some real US and some life on the roads! Dec – Jan were the coldest months here. Sem 2 started and same school, different courses (this time I had 3.3 courses!) and some work. The only motivation behind this sem was the fact that once it ended, I would be flying to India the very next day for my sister’s marriage! I went for the marriage in mid May, had some wonderful time with family and friends, and got back to work here. It is summer time here now (temp reached max of 28, whereas in TVM the min is around that range  ). But it’s okay, I am getting used to this kind of a funny weather, I am becoming ‘Americanized’!! Well, summer is not hectic with loads of work, and more staring down the pipe line.

I still remember September 7th, 2008 when I thought “OMG, it’s been one month since I came to the US, see how fast time flies”. Now I rephrase it – “A year has passed now; take me safely through all the tough times. Thanks Almighty!

Missing India... I am currently listening to -

4 comments:

Rema said...

We missed you back at home... wondered every single day what you ate at dinner when we had our breakfast and wondered if you were eating or skipping food....

Our thoughts were with you all year round .. and now I am in the US feeling the same ... Thanks ! I have you for company :)

Venkatesh A.R. said...

thanks a lot akka!! :)
All our thoughts are with you now, am sure you'll be a lot happier now :)

Unknown said...

Have you become Americanized?????I won't believe da....Good Joke......

Venkatesh A.R. said...

@ Paddy - appreciate that you have found the hunor in it ;-)