Last week

So last week I took some time off to visit my parents, who were visiting relatives in India. It was a nice break from having to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day in a dress shirt and pants. I was glad to see my parents again, it was a nice peice of home that I haven't gotten the chance to experience in a while. I also visited my relatives with my parents so we did a lot of traveling within Gujurat (the state that my family is from in India).

I haven't seen my relatives here in about 2 or 3 years, some I haven't seen since 10 years ago. So it was nice to see them again and catch up. It's much easier to catch up and talk to the relatives that are my age, it's a lot easier to relate to them even though they've grown up in India. All in all it was a great trip. My parents did take me to "see a girl" once though. It's a pretty funny story now but at the moment it was the most awkward point of my life so far.

We were driving to Ahemedabad and my parents told me we were going to these people's house. I asked them how we knew them and why and they said they were family friends and we were just going to stop by since we were in town. So we get there and we were all sitting in the living room. They served us tea and snacks, a standard Indian hospitality move. The girl (I dunno her name) came and sat down in the living room as well. I thought she was just being polite because guests were over so I didn't pay her much attention. Then after a while her mom says "So does he want to ask her any questions?" It took me a minute or two to realize why she would be asking me that question. And then I just looked at the ground and sat there feeling super awkward. The only thing I could think about after that was when we were going to leave. My parents idea is that if we see girls now I may be interested in one and we could get to know eachother and when we're both ready we could get married. I don't even want to think about that stuff at this point in my life much less go to see a possible bride?? That just sounds strange.

I told my parents they should've at least told me, I think they understood why I would be upset with that. Sometimes it does feel like I try to understand my roots and where I come from, but my parents, along with most of my other uncles and aunts in America, don't really understand the culture that I was brought up in. And not just me, all first generation Indians that grew up in America. I can't completely be American because that's not who I am and I can't completely be Indian because I've been brought up in America. I guess it's hard for the older generation to understand that because they didn't have to experience it. Oh well, I guess the most I can do is keep trying to explain to them how it is for me at least. My parents do understand that I dont' plan on getting married for a while, I think they were just trying to be good Indian parents.

On another note, work is starting pick up but only slightly. Tomorrow Andrew, the other American guy that came to Chennai with me, is going on a trip to the Himalays with some other guys from the American class. So I'll be here by myself for a week or so. I think i'll take that time to travel around the city. It's a lot easier to travel here when you're Indian and you don't have a group of white guys with you for people to harass and try to sell stuff to. Although that can be a different type of fun in it's own regard.

Yesterday my newest sister-in-law, Archana, called me. She married my cousin Harpal back in April. My cousin has been brought up in America too and he had an arranged marriage with this girl. She's still in India, she'll probably be in the US by december. I'm glad she called me while she was in India, she hasn't been tainted by the family drama that usually ensues back in the states. She seems like a pretty cool person, I can't wait to meet her in person.

Time for me to go to the gym and stuff, it's all I have to do around here right now haha.

P.S. they finally opened a store near the gym where they sell juice and cookies and stuff like that, pretty exciting times. That means I don't have to get a cab into town just to buy some juice.

P.P.S Listen to Jay-Z's Minority Report from his latest album if you haven't already.

Gujurat Trip

I came back from my trip to Gujurat last night. It was week long trip and a nice break from the office. I got to the Bhuj airport last saturday on Oct. 21st. It was nice seeing my parents and my other relatives here. I haven't seen my relatives in India for 3 or 4 years. Some even more than that. It's always a little awkward because it's hard to keep in touch while i'm back in the US but after a while we get talking and have a good time.

My parents took me to "see a girl" in Ahemadabad. That was pretty awkward and plain weird. they didn't tell me about it so we got to the people's house and we were sitting in the living room. The girl comes in and sits down, I thought she was being polite because guests were over. Then after everyone's talking for a bit the girls mom is like "so does he want to ask her any questions?" And it didn't click immediately why she was asking me that. After a minute or two it hit me though and then things just got really awkward. I couldn't believe my parents took me there for that!

Afterwards I was talking to them about how weird and messed up it was that they didn't tell me at least. They know I don't even want to think about marriage and what not right now. They said they should at least look for a girl so when I do want to get married

Lazy Lazy Sunday

Yesterday (Sunday, October 14) was really really really boring and lazy. The internet wasn't working and that was pretty much my only salvation from boredom. I sat around most of the day watching old hindi movies and eating oreos and milk, which I had bought the day before. I did pick up the book I had bought when I first came to India and never got around to finishing. It's Khaled Hosseini's second book after "The Kite Runner" entitled "A Thousand Splendid Suns". I finally finished it yesterday and it's actually a very good book. I never read the Kite Runner but everyone said it's amazing so I'll have to find that and read it sometime. If my social life in Chennai doesn't pick up, I might have a lot of time to read a lot of books in the next month or so.

I've been trying to book my flight tickets for this weekend and I can't seem to do it. The site won't accept my American credit card, even though there's an option for "Non-Indian" cards. I guess I'll try later or think of some other way to get them.

I'm going to go work out now, it's another one of the few options I have on campus besides sitting in my room. I bought some protein powder when I went grocery shopping so i'm gonna try and drink that and then go work out more often. Chennai could be the best thing to ever happen to my physical fitness level haha.

Chennai

So Chennai is now my new home for the next 4 to 8 weeks. It's not too bad here, better than I though. The campus isn't as big as the one in Mysore but it does have a gym and a pool. It is really hot here though, people were right on about that bit of advice. I haven't done too much exploring outside of campus yet, but from what I've read online it looks promising. We're in the guest houses so they're a lot nicer than the dorms we were in back in Mysore. I like it because it's bigger and nicer but I just found out I could get a roommate! People usually stay in the guesthouses for short periods of time, but I'll be here for at least a month. So I'll probably be seeing people go in and out of here. I can't really complain about having a roommate, it's just how things are done, that's why there's two beds in the room.

Also, I accidentally blew out my speakers when I plugged them in :-(. I'm pretty upset about that one. The one constant thing I had was my music and now I lost the only decent way I had of listening to them! I do have my laptop speakers and what not but they're obviously not as good as the external speakers. On the brighter side I guess it's one less thing to carry back home to the US.

Last night I was watching t.v., VH1 to be specific, and they were playing a bunch of new rap music videos. I realized something really strange about listening to rap music in India though. Back home a majority of rap music glorifies poverty and the ghetto way of life. Here, only the people with a certain amount of money can listen to and enjoy rap music. Only the people with money are the ones "cool enough" to be able to watch VH1 and MTV and listen to rap.

Well, I'm going to try and fix up my iPode as well, it stopped working in the middle. The internet here is great, it's unrestricted so all my applications actually work.

It's been a while!

It's been a while since I updated this thing. Since my last update, I went on a trip to Rajasthan, finished the little bit of soft training we had here, found out where I'm going next in India for work, and I even found out that I could possibly not end up in Reston when I go back to the US.

The trip to Rajasthan was awesome. We rode camels all day in the desert, we saw a gorgeous sunset while sitting on sand dunes and spent the night in a little place right next to the dunes. We also saw the lotus temple in delhi and some old forts built by kinds in towns like Jodhpur. There is a lot more I want to talk about but I'll write that in a later post.

There are a lot of updates actually, but there's one thing in particular that's been on my mind. I'm going to Chennai tomorrow for production. So this is my last night in Mysore. I'm gonna miss this place actually. It seems so weird that I'm moving on to production now. I'm about to leave all the people behind that I came here with and start real actual work. I feel like just the other day I was in DC talking to some of the people that I've built friendships with over our time here.

My project manager in Chennai e-mailed me today asking if going to Denver rather than Reston would be appealing to me. I declined because everyone and everything I know is around the DC area! If there is no project to do by January in Reston they could move us to wherever business needs require us to go though. Initially I was thinking "oh, i'll just quit if they ask me to move somewhere far from the DC area", but then I realized that's not really the right attitude if I want to succeed. I want to be successful and if that's something I really want, I'll have to leave what I'm comfortable with sometime and take on new challenges. Of course, it all has to align with my priorities in life, but I have to be willing to make sacrifices if I want to get truly ahead.

I don't want to move so far away from everyone right when I get back to the US though. It's already hard enough being away from everyone for the 4-5 months i'll be in India. So for now I'm still going to be in Reston, if that needs to be changed in the future then I'll deal with that when the time comes.

I guess there's two ways to view this so called "real world". It can either be brutal and take you away from everything you're comfortable with, or it can be a place where you see new things and have new experiences to add to this thing called life.

ALSO, my parents are in India! I'm still waiting for them to call me and let me know they got here safely. I gotta talk to my project manager when I get to chennai and discuss taking some leave off so I can go visit them in gujurat along with the rest of my relatives. If I can't take off then my parents can always come down to chennai, but i'd rather go up there and see everyone.
Well, I need to start packing now, I need to update this thing more frequently I always have a lot on my mind. I forgot how nice it is to put stuff out on this medium.