This is what my swimming instructor tells me constantly...These days I'm trying to enjoy the sun while reviving my long forgotten swimming skills..To my utter disappointment, I can do everything a beginner swimmer should be able to do -- bob, freestyle, backstroke, all the drills, everything but BREATHE....and this is driving me nuts...I am the best floater in the class and can float forever on my chest or back, my strokes are elegant but I can't swim more than 3/4 th of the pool..Why ? because I don't breathe well..It sucks...I try so hard yet, eventually each time I turn my head to get air I take in gulps of chlorinated water.....Zora tried everything maybe my head is too high, maybe too low, maybe I dont turn but lift my head, maybe I don't exhale before trying to breathe in.....Nothing is helping me, no amounts of practice nothing....
This is very disappointing for me....My aim when taking this class was to learn to swim decently and at least take 1 lap at a time..But lo and behold this bloody breathing business is nasty....Not only am I completely drained of oxygen and energy when I get out of the pool but I am also heavily filled with a gallon of chlorinated water....That results in a lot of sneezing and of course a rushed visit to the restroom :).......Well there are 4 classes left in the quarter..Who knows maybe by the last class there will be a miracle and I will learn how to breathe and thus swim my first lap across the length of the pool....We already saw a miracle today in Arnie, one of the oldest guys who had never swum ever before joining this class..Today he did it on his own...He went to the deep end and came back to the shallow end of the pool and he did this more than once...We all clapped for him...It must've been very difficult for him to overcome his fear for water and do this !
Talking of sports, did ya'll know that 37 former or current Stanford students are a part of the US Olympics team 2004. ..Good luck to the Kirk sisters, who are the first pair of sisters to be in the Olympics representing the same team, the US swimming team...GO CARDINAL!
Where is the Life Good :: India vs. USA
Today I was feeling very gloomy since morning...No particular reason, just one of those days were you just don't feel good about yourself...Anyways, life doesn't really give u a choice so I went around my busy day doing things putting my mood on a backburner...Came home at 6:30, had a cup of coffee and did some domestic chores that were pending since a longtime....A friend called, I asked him to call later, in no mood to talk apparently....
Finally, I went to check mail at my mailbox outside my building and there in the courtyard I saw a friend's hammock tied between 2 trees....I sat, then tried to relax rocking myself gently in the hammock with cool breeze filling my heavy lungs with loads of air...all of sudden I started singing Hindi songs and that's when I realised what was bothering me since morning.....It was HOME..my country India, that which I miss all the time..I am not much of a crier, yet I was nostalgic and all of a sudden all kinds of songs came to my mind..Some reminding me about Mummy & Daddy, some about school and college friends, some just about India and my life there....
You might think there is something terribly wrong with my life in the US for me to feel so depressed..Nope there is nothing wrong..Life couldn't have been better..I just graduated from Stanford, a great school with a wealth of opportunities..I was looking for a job, I have more than one to choose from, I am healthy, hearty....all's well with my family and friends....There is basically no need for me to be unhappy...Yet I didn't feel good the whole day today...WHY, I OFTEN ASK MYSELF THIS QUESTION ?!
Then I think maybe it was the long 40 minute phone conversation with Mom & Dad last night that's on my mind and is emancipating in different forms today..But no this is not a one time occurrence..It keeps happening, sometimes once a week, once a month or........Yet the yearning never leaves my heart...That yearning to go back to India.....
These days I often think about life ahead and this what I always decide: "I'll work with a great hi-tech company in the US (or the World for that matter) for 3 years, gain good business exposure, then maybe go to B-school (if I think its worth it at that time!) and then go back and work in INDIA either for a global company or preferably start my own venture..."
Seems like a good plan.. Huh! Will it work out..Life is never perfect and I have heard stories of many people who wanted to do the same thing but then got stuck in the rat race here and never could go back...Maybe these are people who always wanted to settle in the States....I never wanted...I was and am too much in love with that corrupted, full of problems developing nation of mine ! I came to the US because this was the kind of education I wanted after finishing my Bachelors in Engineering from India...My undergrad studies had left me disillusioned and highly confused with what I wanted to do with my life...Masters at Stanford in MS&E has given me just the education I wanted - graduate coursework closer to the industry focused on real business problems rather than theoretical stuff which is what the education system in India teaches one...
So ya, here are the PROS for which I came here: for the opportunities to study, explore and work in areas which haven't started blossoming in India as career professions as yet! The same is the main reason why 1/4th of the Silicon Valley is filled with Indians staying in the US...Plus there are other small factors like a comfortable life- a cool sports car, house, the fun stuff about traveling and exploring this whole wide country called the US of A.. Also hey I forgot there is the other good reason the $$$$$ - the money..C'mon who doesn't need the money plus you could or hey your family could lead an awesome life in India given what you earn here gets converted to 50 times in the Indian currency.....
All this and people are happy....Really my own dear friends and relatives want to live in the US all their life and are in the painful process of their Green Card applications...Nothing wrong with their choice hey.....
But ME I don't know the way my mood swings everytime I remember "Chitti Ayyi Hai Watan se Chitti Aiyi Hai" - a Hindi song which means a letter has come from your motherland, I get a big lump in my throat and I want to run back to India....What attracts me to India..Well India has its PROS too -- be closer to parents and take care of them in their old age, those parents who came from a modest background and gave me and my sister a great life, education, independence, strength, exposure and the guts to Dream Big & Live your Dreams....Then there is also the feel good thing -- eating Gol Guppe and Pav Bhaji with friends on the beach, fighting in the regional language with the maid, postman and what not...! I just love it....And then who knows maybe 10 years from now Bangalore will be the next Silicon Valley (I mean real Bigtime!)..That would be great the Indian lifestyle, the career opportunity that knows no bounds..Sure the money will be less but that's okay - I never wanted and will never want a King's life....I should have just enough to pursue all my passions....
Hey guys that was my take on life in India vs. USA..my perspective, my bull-headed opinion,,,I now realize a very haphazard and going all over the place kinda discussion.. thats enough to bore people for know...Ha :)
Finally, I went to check mail at my mailbox outside my building and there in the courtyard I saw a friend's hammock tied between 2 trees....I sat, then tried to relax rocking myself gently in the hammock with cool breeze filling my heavy lungs with loads of air...all of sudden I started singing Hindi songs and that's when I realised what was bothering me since morning.....It was HOME..my country India, that which I miss all the time..I am not much of a crier, yet I was nostalgic and all of a sudden all kinds of songs came to my mind..Some reminding me about Mummy & Daddy, some about school and college friends, some just about India and my life there....
You might think there is something terribly wrong with my life in the US for me to feel so depressed..Nope there is nothing wrong..Life couldn't have been better..I just graduated from Stanford, a great school with a wealth of opportunities..I was looking for a job, I have more than one to choose from, I am healthy, hearty....all's well with my family and friends....There is basically no need for me to be unhappy...Yet I didn't feel good the whole day today...WHY, I OFTEN ASK MYSELF THIS QUESTION ?!
Then I think maybe it was the long 40 minute phone conversation with Mom & Dad last night that's on my mind and is emancipating in different forms today..But no this is not a one time occurrence..It keeps happening, sometimes once a week, once a month or........Yet the yearning never leaves my heart...That yearning to go back to India.....
These days I often think about life ahead and this what I always decide: "I'll work with a great hi-tech company in the US (or the World for that matter) for 3 years, gain good business exposure, then maybe go to B-school (if I think its worth it at that time!) and then go back and work in INDIA either for a global company or preferably start my own venture..."
Seems like a good plan.. Huh! Will it work out..Life is never perfect and I have heard stories of many people who wanted to do the same thing but then got stuck in the rat race here and never could go back...Maybe these are people who always wanted to settle in the States....I never wanted...I was and am too much in love with that corrupted, full of problems developing nation of mine ! I came to the US because this was the kind of education I wanted after finishing my Bachelors in Engineering from India...My undergrad studies had left me disillusioned and highly confused with what I wanted to do with my life...Masters at Stanford in MS&E has given me just the education I wanted - graduate coursework closer to the industry focused on real business problems rather than theoretical stuff which is what the education system in India teaches one...
So ya, here are the PROS for which I came here: for the opportunities to study, explore and work in areas which haven't started blossoming in India as career professions as yet! The same is the main reason why 1/4th of the Silicon Valley is filled with Indians staying in the US...Plus there are other small factors like a comfortable life- a cool sports car, house, the fun stuff about traveling and exploring this whole wide country called the US of A.. Also hey I forgot there is the other good reason the $$$$$ - the money..C'mon who doesn't need the money plus you could or hey your family could lead an awesome life in India given what you earn here gets converted to 50 times in the Indian currency.....
All this and people are happy....Really my own dear friends and relatives want to live in the US all their life and are in the painful process of their Green Card applications...Nothing wrong with their choice hey.....
But ME I don't know the way my mood swings everytime I remember "Chitti Ayyi Hai Watan se Chitti Aiyi Hai" - a Hindi song which means a letter has come from your motherland, I get a big lump in my throat and I want to run back to India....What attracts me to India..Well India has its PROS too -- be closer to parents and take care of them in their old age, those parents who came from a modest background and gave me and my sister a great life, education, independence, strength, exposure and the guts to Dream Big & Live your Dreams....Then there is also the feel good thing -- eating Gol Guppe and Pav Bhaji with friends on the beach, fighting in the regional language with the maid, postman and what not...! I just love it....And then who knows maybe 10 years from now Bangalore will be the next Silicon Valley (I mean real Bigtime!)..That would be great the Indian lifestyle, the career opportunity that knows no bounds..Sure the money will be less but that's okay - I never wanted and will never want a King's life....I should have just enough to pursue all my passions....
Hey guys that was my take on life in India vs. USA..my perspective, my bull-headed opinion,,,I now realize a very haphazard and going all over the place kinda discussion.. thats enough to bore people for know...Ha :)
What A Crickety Night!
last night was something..i was up all night following that ever so exciting game of cricket between arch rivals: India & Pakistan on the fair grounds of Sri Lanka's Premdasa stadium....as the American population is not so aware about cricket (think something more complicated than baseball) therz always this problem of how to watch the cricket match....it is always covered by some random cable channel that is highly oversubscribed and unavailable to lesser mortals like me.....
for those curious to understand something about cricket checkout:
http://www.cricinfo.com/
http://us.rediff.com/cricket/index.html
anyways, i was trying to keep up with the game online...it cud've been a great game had the Indian team given the Pakis a run for their money...however, that was not to be.....after a swashbuckling performance by Shoaib Malik, the Pakis were great guns with 300 runs posted....India alas, with 7 batsmen cud not match up the standards and lost out...if only one player wud had stood by Sachin, India JEET hi jata...Pakistan won a well deserved match but it cud/wud have been so much fun if the Indies had at least lost neck to neck.....
enough of cricket though....staying up last nite also gave me that oh so not available time to redesign my humble abode on the internet..that was 1 cool thing accomplished over the weekend....i try to forget that i slept thru most of Sunday-the day and hence skipped swim/gym/shopping and what not....lazy me....
nocturnal me it seems will be up tonite as well-- i m now hooked to the blog biz and all so excited about re-starting my childhood habit of writing loads of snippets every week....back then it was more stories and/or poems provoked by mood swings....hope my new blogspot will give me a new channel to express my thoughts on the latest happennings in the world and my life...
for those curious to understand something about cricket checkout:
http://www.cricinfo.com/
http://us.rediff.com/cricket/index.html
anyways, i was trying to keep up with the game online...it cud've been a great game had the Indian team given the Pakis a run for their money...however, that was not to be.....after a swashbuckling performance by Shoaib Malik, the Pakis were great guns with 300 runs posted....India alas, with 7 batsmen cud not match up the standards and lost out...if only one player wud had stood by Sachin, India JEET hi jata...Pakistan won a well deserved match but it cud/wud have been so much fun if the Indies had at least lost neck to neck.....
enough of cricket though....staying up last nite also gave me that oh so not available time to redesign my humble abode on the internet..that was 1 cool thing accomplished over the weekend....i try to forget that i slept thru most of Sunday-the day and hence skipped swim/gym/shopping and what not....lazy me....
nocturnal me it seems will be up tonite as well-- i m now hooked to the blog biz and all so excited about re-starting my childhood habit of writing loads of snippets every week....back then it was more stories and/or poems provoked by mood swings....hope my new blogspot will give me a new channel to express my thoughts on the latest happennings in the world and my life...
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