From Confusion to Clarity

Today I've finally made a definitive decision over the biggest confusion a software professional in India faces.

I've met 100's of guys in London and now Houston who are staying onsite from years together. They came as singles and are now married (some of them with kids too). They'd love to go to India and settle down but they give me this reason and stick around endlessly.

There is more opportunity in the US. Also, going back to India, they won't earn as much money. So stick around.

Now, for those who think "It'll be great living in US", here is a real life eyewitness state of Indian people in US.

You can't really pull out the culture out of the people. So, Tamilians would stick with there jaat bhais and so would Kerelaites. In reality, all South Indians live a completely secluded life in the US. They form a mini-TN or mini-Kerala for themselves out here and are completely happy with it. They don't interact with anybody they don't go out very often. They don't wanna discover anything. Their life is a misery which only they understand.

As for the rest of the Indians, they mix up but, that mix up is limited to only Indians. They won't mix up with any of the natives. I've yet to meet a Indian guy from my last 2 years of experience in London and Houston who had really 'pally' English or American friends.

The only interaction with natives is on a office lunch , or a special party from the office like Christmas. Some of them, to show thier affections to thier bosses call them on dinner at home.

Also out of my 1.5 years of experience in London I might have spotted atmost 2wice or thrice some "British Indians" hanging around with native junta. Indians abroad have a community of thier own and they only limit themselves to that. Yes, I am also talking about 90% "British Indians" too.

So, "I won't earn as much money in India", what could this mean? When I think of myself saying this, the only thought that creeps into my mind is, I'm afraid of going back and making big on my own back in my own country. There is a fear in the mind, that I will need to work long hours, I will need to get into petty politics and after that what will I get? just a promotion? Instead of that I rather stay in US or UK so that I make more money.

Life for Indians in US as far as I can see is, " Something good will happen tomorrow. So let's wait and see. If it dosen't happen at least we'll have more money!"

I'm now convinced after thinking this through over and over that this is pure escapism. I'm no longer afraid of making it big in my own country. Only if I need fast cash will I ever travel abroad. And I will never settle abroad. It's not my piece of cake!

This is the confusion I've solved.

Free but Caged!!

I will regret the time from Feb 7th 2006 to March 7th 2006 of my life.

I have this complete month off. No work. But, I am still trapped. Its like a caged holiday. I cannot go anywhere coz' the plane tickets are very expensive, I can't drive since I don't have a SSN card, and to top that I need to search an apartment too!

Mexico is 3 hrs away to drive, but I don't have my passport.

Kapil lives in Dallas but the Greyhound takes 15 hours to reach there. And by car you get there in 3. Car? No, I dont have a licence.

SFO where a couple of my friends live is again 4 hrs by flight. And flight tickets at the 11th hour are too expensive.

I am trapped. This again proves that God does not exist. Coz' if he did, small inconvieniences like this could easily be avoided by some miraculous magic.

So here I am sitting in my hotel room like a sad ass and writing this piece of blog. I don't even know whether it will make sense to the reader.

Total inactivity is dangerous. Since you are bored to death you find new ways of passing time. For e.g. eating. Yes, I feel like eating every 1/2 an hour. I don't know why. First entire week I gave in to the cravings. However, considering the fact that I am already around 10 kg overweight I had to pull the strings. The only way I could avoid this was by only turning to liquid rather than solids!

I bought around 20 packets of soups from a Indain store here. Knorr soup. And everytime I feel the craving for eating something. I gulp down an entire cup of soup.

This is the wisest thing I could do since I couldnt get my cravings under control.

So what can i say,
An empty mind is a devils restaurant ?

Houston, Texas

Quit London, have reached Houston.

First couple of weeks are going to be hard since I'm gonna have to wait for my passport to be with me. Only then, can I move out into an apartment, have a licence, a car rental etc.

When you come to US, you realise their need for Oil. Here , in texas, people drive pick-up trucks, which can house at least 8 people , alone. Such vehicles give a mileage of 5-10 miles per gallon. Now you know why innocent Iraqis are being killed.

To add to that they have deliberately made nearly no public transport. Cities like Chicago,NY etc have a good interconnected public transport system, but the rest of the US drives. And for that it needs OIL. This was one of the most noticeable facts after I came here.

However, they are themselves realising the danger of being over dependant on OIL for a long time. You can clearly see that practically all American car manufacturing companies are rolling out prototype models with Alternative fuels.

Toyota has launched Toyota Prius Hybrid, which runs on a combination of electric powe r and normal fuel. Chevrolet has launched over a million vehicles which run on a combination of E85 Ethanol (which is manufactured from 'corn') and normal gasoline.
This is what excites me. This is what I call maintaing the edge, come what may.

On relative comparison, Mani Shankar Aiyer (for those who don't know, he is the Petroleum minister of India) is vooing the Iranian and Pakistani governments for allowing a Oil pipeline into India. While this step is completely welcome, the ministry needs to put in billions of rupees in alternative fuel. Coz' if we get ahead in the race for gaining our upper hand on alternative fuel vehicles, we can actually realise our dream of India becoming a super power 50 year quicker than current estimates.

I wish I was in the Government.