Monday, March 21, 2011

Holi 2011

The day 20th March'2011 came and went just like any other weekend in US.Also went with it the biggest festivals of my country, that too very silently. Generally I am never interested in celebrating the festivals, but God knows I never missed any celebration in my life like I missed the celebrations of Holi today!!

I miss her, my friends & my family every day, but today I felt it the most.

When I logged into the FB in the morning, I saw pics of my dearest friends with their faces painted in different colors, all of them having a Holi bash. Seeing the pics I remembered how much I have enjoyed with them and now here I am, alone sitting in my room, waiting for the day to pass! Things may improve when She would be here.

I am not sure how long I/we would be here, but I just wish that I do not get settled here, I go back to my country and enjoy all the festivals, occasions with my family and friends :)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Knock! Knock!! Spring is here!!

Third Month in US and Winter seems to be saying goodbye. The knock at the door looks like to be of Spring. From Last two days the climate is beautiful, the white ground is turning green, now and then a biker can be seen enjoying the first ride of the season, children have come out with their basket ball and bicycles, even I saw some of Desis playing Cricket and enjoying the WCC fever. Desi Veterans here say the Climate is gonna grow more beautiful with coming days. Where winters are horrible, Spring and Summers are said to be very beautiful in Wisconsin.

After three months, it was the first time I had a pleasant pat of the breeze on my face. But Alone I don't seem to enjoy much of it. I got a partner few days back. But the price at which I bought her, I always have the fear that she can ditch me anytime. With this fear I don't enjoy her company that much too. I just hope She, the 1900$ car of mine, runs at least a year long.

With each passing day I miss her (real one :)) more. Though it looks a little filmy (Bollywood Shtyle) but when I close my eyes, she is the one who comes to my mind first. I feel winter was better, at least even when I missed her I dint want her to be here in that climate. She might come in 2 months, but still 2 months is a long time and the plan is not confirmed

Lets see how things turn out, and I hope we are together soon (She, I and the 1900$ car) :).

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Our "Desi" Attitude

Around One and Half months in US, I miss India more by each passing day.. Here everything is systematic and hassle free but still however good this country be I can never become a part of it...At the same time, the opportunity to work in US gave me a chance to visualize the stark differences between the American and our "Desi" Attitude. Attitudes differ in every field of life but today I am gonna write about work.

The first and the foremost is that we don't respect punctuality. Working in India no one cares about time, where as this country is religiously punctual. I am still trying not to offend and disrespect the time of other ppl but as a matter of fact even in such a short time of my stay I have failed to do so at times. I am trying to improve.

The next thing is our "Sarkaari" and "Babu" attitude which I am sure we have inherited from our Sarkaari and Babu Shahi Ancestors. While we dedicate most of our work time to try to prove ourselves "Intelligent" and "Correct" , the ppl here work and prove themselves.

When half of the team sits in India and half in US, our Indian Desis and US Desis just fight with each other even when they might be saying the same thing. In our teams the count of managers is always in competition with the count of real team. Each manager has its own strategy and each strategy conflicts with the others.
2 Months in this project and I have never seen our desi managers agreeing with each other once. With that I have also never seen the client managers (US) fighting just for the sake of proving their authority.

I don't blame us, its the way we are brought up and I don't even blame our up bringing because its the way opportunities are in our country. But India is shining, we are a developing country which is really developing (atleast some parts of it) from the past few years. Our generation is better from the previous one and I hope we improve further with the coming one.

I also hope that I come back to my nation with an improved attitude.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

United States of America!!

After a lot of efforts of US officials to keep me out of their country, I am finally able to sneak in (ofcourse legally!!). But now I understand that they wanted to keep me away only for my good, so ultimately I am here.. in Waukesha County.. "enjoying" in temperature aroud 0'... Hey!! don't get it wrong.. am talking here in Fahrenhites and not in Celsius.

No ppl on road, impossible to take even a 100 meter walk in this weather, No car to ride, living with 3 guys in a 1BHK, life in US would have been still good if I didnt find her 5 years back or I should say Life in US could have been great if she was with me...

But just like the song goes "Ain't no sunshine when she is gone", I am waiting some miracle to happen when my sunshine could be here on our terms..

Our Sad and Boring story apart, good or bad, am finally in US.. the United States of America!!!! Three weeks are about to be over.... and due to the lack of commutation means, I could only visit some Super Markets (on weekends when my roommate takes his car out for weekly grocery shopping), the Harley Davidson Museum (when my other roommate and I took a Car rental and some how managed to reach the museum) and the Only Casino in Milwaukee (when on the last weekend one of the colleague showed some pity and took us there)..

Nothing special about the weekend outing to the super markets.. but renting a car was really interesting... I got the International Driving Permit from India and just after 2 days in US when the weekend arrived we took a car on rent. Needless to mention the opposite driving conditions and dependability on GPS in US. Both my friend and I being new in US, he was managing the GPS and I was managing the Steering. We went on the freeway and were more often missing the exits then taking the right ones.
Nervousness was increasing and confusion was building when the GPS said "Take......" and the battery was gone.. and that was the moment when I understood the term "Cold Sweat" in the freezing temperature of Milwaukee. Fortunately, the charger was there in the cover.

Roaming here and there, losing our way most of the times, in the night when our trip was about to be over... I heard a cop siren and in the rear view mirror there were blinking lights of the Cop Van. Oh God!! Now what mistake did I Do!! I stopped the car aside and put my hands on the steering (thanks to all the american movies I have seen). The cop came in few minutes, asked for my ID and asked the reason for driving in high beam. God!! that could be the last reason of being caught!! I gave my IDP which he looked with a lot of suspicion and took that back in his VAN. After 5 minutes of waiting there, he came back, warned again and gave my ID back..

So finally, the announcement was done that Ayush Garg has arrived in US. Even the cops have my IDP number listed in their records :)