Jan 2000 : Meandering Views of a Fumbling Desi

January 18, 2000 : 10 days after Moving to the US from Bombay

Greetings from a freezing country. Outside, there is a cold wave happening (temperatures of about minus 10 celsius!!). In here, I'm sitting in office snug and warm, on my second week at work. Good fun so far.

The place is extremely friendly and casual (checks and khakis to work). Everyone has been damn nice, and has been coming up to me to fix a time, when I can sit with them and they can tell me about their function. I'm doing my best to pretend I understand everything they are saying ! My head is still swimming with "risk-deciles" and "attrition curves that slope with an r-square of ..." and so on !! Everybody is also conscious of their time. For the first time in my life, I have an appointment book, and I have to say "we can meet from 3 to 4 pm on Wednesday" !! The work is interesting, though, and its a good time to be here, because there is a lot happening on the business.

The trappings of work are good - nice large cabin, with a glass wall that overlooks a nice wintry landscape. I'm feeling cheated though - there's no snow, though they say that Feb is the worst month, and I should not lose hope ! I'm still staying at the hotel, and will start house-hunting this week.

In my efforts to feel like a part of the high-tech world, I bought an air ticket on the Internet, and went to New York last weekend. I got screwed on priceline.com and almost had to write off a hundred dollars. NY was fun, and I got to see some snow at last. Went drinking in the Greenwich Village (to a bar, where Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and various other got their debut). Also went for a party where there were 'desis' around - and I am having a hard time thinking of myself as one of these ... these ... these "NRIs" ! I went and did some winter shopping also - including buying myself a long dark grey overcoat. Its something I've always wanted to possess, and it makes feel totally hep and cool, er.. no hep and warm, ... whatever !

This country has a problem of plenty, there's just too much CHOICE ! The pantry at office has about 7 different kinds of tea (from Darjeeling to herb-camomile) and 4 different kinds of coffee (Colombian blah blah). As if that's not bad enough - there are 5 sugar options (low-cal to natural to substitutes) and 4 different kinds of creamers (hazelnut creamer in coffee - YUCK!) I take 10 minutes just figuring out what I want - I thought I'd try the different options one at a time, but I have figured the different permutations would take me about 3 years, so I've given up now. I really miss walking up to a machine and pressing a button and just getting regular coffee!!

An infinite source of amusement and admiration for me, is the American media. The morning TV shows which I catch are full of the things that dominate the American psyche - such as the current front page news item. Which is whether grandparents can get visitation rights for their grandchildren ! Somebody is suing somebody saying that the grandparents cannot see their grandchildren... what a country! The admiration comes from seeing stuff like the debates among the Presidential candidates for 2000. They really put these guys on the spot, and the candidates have to be fully aware and have to have a view on everything !!

Another thing that takes getting used to, is how everyone will say "Hey, how're you doin' today?" ALL THE TIME. So its your boss, its the supermarket checkout girl (who did not meet me yesterday, to ask me how I'm doing TODAY !), its the doorman at the hotel ... its everyone. I get tired answering that question ! But saying "Its a cold one today, huh?" or "Pretty good" or "Hangin' in there" is a kind of ritual - and I better learn that !

Well, so much for now, with all these meandering views of a fumbling desi!