Life at CMU : May 14 to May 31

It has been about three weeks since I have landed in Pittsburgh and the experience has been wonderful so far.
On Thursday 14th we had our first day at CMU. It felt so momentous to be a part of such a prestigious institution The moments were captured splendidly by our cameraman.

The next day we had our international orientation and the organizers did an amazing job to keep us engaged. But the electives were proving to be a headache as we could not get our preferred choices , thanks to a crappy schedule and dumb registration process. So what can be done best when in trouble ? Yes seek the blessings of almighty.. so our plan for the weekend was a visit to the much talked about Pittsburgh Sri Venkateswara Temple.

We decided to take a bus to SVN and The Lord had decided before hand that we had to go through trials n tribunals to get his darshan. The day started on a wrong foot with us waiting on the opposite end of the bus stop and watching a bus pass by right on the opposite direction. The frequency was limited as it was a weekend , so we had to wait for quite some time for the next bus. We got down after a half hour bus drive and we made the cardinal mistake of not taking a local map along. So a word of caution to all those people who would be travelling soon to USA. Always have with you a local map, gps device or anything that could aid you in directions.. It is better to learn from mistakes, especially from others’ mistakes

After endless searches, innumerable enquires and about 1 and 1/2 hours walk, we saa a board reading “SVN Temple ” 3 miles away The Lord decided enough was enough and a kind hearted woman offered us a lift on her car upto the temple. We had a satisfying darshan of the lord. The prasadam given inside the presiding deity’s shrine was almonds and resins. The place was swarming with Tamils and Andhra natives. We decided to check the famous prasadam counter there and ate sumptously some tamarind and sambhar rice ( For each food packet, we had to donate 2 dollars to the temple ).It started raining by the time we were preparing to leave and again a kind hearted Telugu couple offered us a lift till the bus stop. In general, the Indians here are very helpful in nature ( they do understand the financial and logistical perils of graduate students ). The Lord never fails those who have faith in him and by the beginning of the following week, most of us got the electives we desired

The days kept passing within a wink and the people here are fitness freaks. You can find most teen girls jogging vigorously trying to stay fit. They are good at it, but still lack the natural grace that Indian girls have One complaint though, is that girls smoke a lot here and either the cigarettes are too tobacco strong, or they are devoid of filters cos the smoke gives quite a strong odour; it is dangerous for them as well as the passive smokers around them.

The next big occasion was my dear friend Vignesh’s birthday ! We had deviced a secret plan to surprise him on the evening of his birthday, so even my morning greetings to him that day were underplayed. He had a class from 5 30 to 8 30 and I was done with my classes by five in the evening. So me n Bhadri rushed out to Trader Joe’s to grab a 3 pound Ice cream cake for the occasion. It was drizzling all along but who would mind it when one of your best friends’ birthday celebrations were shortly due ?

Most of our batchmates including our “seniors” Nitin and Priya ( err.. “senior” sounds strange because though they are 2009 grads of CMU, they were our class mates in U.G ) had arrived in time. My other room mate Dhawan was bringing Viki along and when he arrived at the house to see all our friends waiting to celebrate his birthday, his emotions kept varying between joy and disbelief ! It is for moments like these that we live our life

The celebrations continued till almost midnight and the fun continued with Viki throwing in a surprise lunch for the entire MS IT/MSE batch in CMU !

Saturday was another important day in my life. I was leading an assorted CMU team against Linbrook Cricket Club ! My comebacks and tryst with cricket continue in Pittsburgh as well. We won the match comfortably against our opponents and it was a pleasure to lead such a diverse group. Most of them spoke Hindi, so my medium of communication was english and to my surprise, I found that I could comprehend whatever they wanted to put accross to me and could make out some “sledging” terms from the opponents as well ! So watch out.. I am fast improving The occasion was more important. The proceed from the ticket sales for the match ,along with the auction that followed the game would be used to sponsor needy children through CRY-INDIA, and my day as captain of the team was made truly memorable when I received a mail from the organizers saying the match helped them collect a good sum for sponsorship through CRY(approx 1700$). The money would be transferred soon to India , and it feels great to contribute in whatever small manner we could to a child from my motherland, though a great distance separates her from me these days. Now to all those critics of cricket ; will you still say cricket is a waste of time ?