A month into hell life..

After a break for quite sometime, I am back polambifying, but am in the US
doing my MS. Right from the beginning, I have been asking myself 'is this
what I really want??' I still don't know if I am interested in an MS!! Just a few
days into the US, I have found my answer, but its too late to turn back.

All along, I had this vivid imagination of how the US would be. Just like they
show in the movies. Tall buildings everywhere, busy streets, lively noise
everywhere.. It was a dream that I wanted to become reality once.
But I regret it all now..

Here is an account of few of my mischances after stepping into this
'other world'. Just after I alighted at the Denver international Airport, I was
surprised at the weather conditions here. It was about 7 in the evening.
The sun had not set yet. It was raining and the temperature was 35 degrees!
One of my friend's contact had come to pick us up and curiously, I asked him
about the weather. All he said was 'This is Colorado. The weather changes
every 15 minutes!!' I gave him a baffled look. True to his words, the rain
soon stopped, and the temperature dropped to 22 degrees in a matter of
about an hour. He said that it will snow in late september and there will be
hail in november!! People who have known me will say "Unnala madras
'winter' e thangamudiyathu. Nee US poi enna pannaporai??" Most probably, my roommates will have to thaw me out one day!!

We were taken for dinner to an indian restaurant in Denver, one of the best,
as told by the man who picked us up. All of us ordered south indian dishes,
the typical masala dosa, idli etc.. The food was just about palatable. That
wasnt the shocker, but the bill was. A simple dosa was $8. That would be like a sumptuous dinner for three, back in india!! We were dropped at our apartment by 10. It was a really small place, about 600 sqft, for four of us!! Any guesses for the rent?? Its a thousand dollars. Its was ransom for the small 'kuruvikoodu' that we got!!

A couple of days passed by and I was bored and desperate for entertainment.
I went to a nearby electronic store to buy a pin converter for my PSP. All I
needed was a converter that changes over the round plug pin to a flat one.
It was $10!! Again, daylight robbery!!! Such a pin would cost less than Rs40
back in india. Enna kodumai saar ithu?? I could attribute one reason towards this. US imports small electronic items from the same place as we do.. china!! Thats why the skyhigh prices for even small stuff!! A cycle is $100 here!!
Such a thing would cost Rs2000 in india.

Few more days crawled by and I wanted a laptop badly. So I rushed to Walmart, a huge supermarket chain here. I saw a decent Dell piece for $800. I took it immediately. Satisfied by my bargain on a laptop that Dell website quoted at $850, I was too elated. This joy was to be terminated just a couple of days later, by my friend buying the same laptop for $600. There is no concept such as MRP here. Stuff can be sold at any rate, and taxes are applied later. Its about 10% sales tax, so I got my laptop for $890!! The difference is worth a fortune for me!! Kadavule!! Enga ponalum en thalaila molaga araikaraale!!!
Its a cruel world!!!

Coming to think of my thalai.. :) Haircuts are pretty expensive here. A simple
crop would cost about $10. So as part of my chikkanam budget plan, I have
decided to grow my forest for a few months.. till my roommates threaten
to kick me out!!

Ok.. lets drift away from the heists that I was victimized in and look at some
other aspects of life here.

The place where I study is Boulder, a smalltown near Denver. There are no
skyscrapers here, no lively traffic or crowded streets. Since I stayed in a hostel during my undergrad, I found the place very different. There was this abominable lull everywhere. The street is so lifeless and vehicles here are so silent that the sound you hear is the wind 'whoosh' and not the engine. Already I was feeling lonely, and this silence was adding to it an extra scoop of desolation. By 8, the town becomes as still as a graveyard. Occasionally I hear a siren of a cop car chasing down a speeder.

Human life is valued a lot here. In the state of Colorado, at all crossings, even unsignalled ones, vehicles are supposed to stop and give way for pedestrians/cyclists to cross. People really obey traffic rules here!!! There are no vasool rajas by the signals.. ;) ;) All roads have clean sidewalks on both sides.

The people are also very 'friendly' and 'open' out here. Just a random eye contact would fetch you a smile and a 'how do you do?' No matter what people say about the US economy, I find ladies here don't even have enough money to buy proper clothes to cover themselves up!! I see people doing all sorts of nonsense to be done in their bedrooms, out in the open!!

Everything runs upside down here in the US. Keep left is the rule in india, here its keep right. The first time I was in a car here, I was shocked at times because I thought we were going on the wrong side!! These people think that there is no rest of the world!! So much that these people have a different english for themselves. The power supply is a bizzare 110V with flat pins. None of the plugs here have switches!! Nera sorugavendiyathu than!! To switch on something,you push the switch downwards in india, again its ulta here!! People dont use towels to clean here.. tissues!!

Bottomline: Western closet lendhu, western culture varaikkum enaku onnume pidikalai!!!

And, to think of what all I am missing, brings me so much pain. I had a choice.. A good job, a fat pay check, good company, but I chose to throw it all. I chose to lose it all and land here. The only thing that keeps me going is the internet - to catch up with people. But I have realized that the internet is just not enough. The universe expands.. At a really rapid pace.. People move away
and push you away.. By the time you realize and react, they are gone.. I am stuck hollow and alone.. and the fault is my own..