I am all geared up for my 3rd innings in the US and am hoping this will be a long one.
Suddenly I tell my self Whoa whoa whoa whoa .... Wait a Minute dude!!!!! Why the heck am I going to the occident for higher studies ???? What the f*** do I need now?
Money - No.
Better Job - You bet No.
Relationships - No. (I meant greenery)
Seeing the world - No.
Better Roads - (Probably yes but on second thought - no)
Good Safe Life - A Big NO - its still the gun toting Wild West out there...
"Quality of education" - NO man I will miss Arindam Chaudhury's Sunday Sh** Magazine re !!!
Food and Water - 'Warning: No Vada Pav in the US - another BIG NO
Desire to Bunk classes - No man we have done that en masse
Chance to watch good TV - NO NO NO-Not Glenn Beck Again - and DishTV India Rocks !!
What Is the mysterious force that is driving me towards America?? I am not a Poor Huddled Mass, am I??
I have amazed myself already of whatever I thought I would gawk at after going to the land of the free. My aspiration to experience western civilization have been fulfilled thanks to my two fruitful visits to the Silicon Valley. On the professional front, I have already experienced the life we now know as confined-in-the-cubicle-5-days-every- week life that I was expecting to enjoy after a quick 16 month stint at a Masters' degree abroad (lack of moolah kept me home till now). I already have made great friends and live in a great environment (minus Pune's Roads and Traffic) which I aspired to live after I did my Masters and secured a great job. I have already enjoyed life as it came and introspected my failures and smiled at (very few) successes which I planned to do once my engineering degree was over and done. In a just about a few weeks of work, I suddenly realized that the search for true love is futile and "the partner of your dreams" is just a floating myth often boasted by optimistic not-yet-disillusioned folks; sp that takes care of all my heart's desires. I have realized through the myriad machinations of my workplace that how easily the good become bad and the good looking become the star-performers or fast-track employees (note that I am neither). I will soon join a driving school so that in case the Industry busts I can drive cabs to survive and thus I will fulfil my final "ambition" as such. Since I have mastered the art of how to "pretend" to work I can now easily spend about a decade more pretending to work at the Indian IT/Software Industry and make cool cash outta it. I can marry some rich man's daughter and live an even more cooool life. My other meek ambitions in life included taking take part in the democratic process of my homeland which I have done by voting thrice, being member of a group of "thinkers" which I have done via the Pune Quiz club and to express my opinions on any and everything which I can do through blogs.
Then Why? What is it that makes me go to a foriegn land? Is there an ulterior motive that I am destined to accomplish? Or is it some mysterious force that wants me to go out of my homeland?
I can't cancel it now - My tickets are booked, my VISA date secured, my papers ready, my plan ready, my money ready. How is it that I am going for something I feel there ain't no valid reason?
Maybe the decline of my intelligence at the ripe age of 23 is the reason why this question still remains unanswered. The answer might be the same as the answer to that to what life, the universe and everything is all about - was that 42????
[I would like to un-burden myself by saying that the 2 times I went to US on B1 was sheer serendipity and I thank "project requirements" of a generous PSPL Client for those].
