Thanksgiving Break!!
It is Thanksgiving break. Much as I love Tuck and Hanover (you would too - if you studied there), it feels good to getaway once in a while. I have been getting away too frequently of late. But, given the fact that we have almost a week's break, I thought I 'deserved' a holiday. And, what better place to go for a holiday than California!
So, here I am, in my friend's home at Palo Alto, tapping out this blog entry.
We had a Capital Markets exam yesterday. It went off okay except for a silly mistake I made. The mistake was so stupid that even now, I cringe when I think of it. I read wrong a bond quotation off the Wall Street Journal and thus screwed up a question that I knew perfectly well.
Since I had tested out of Statistics, I was able to leave Hanover early and catch a night flight to San Francisco. The flight came in almost an hour early. My friends picked me up from the airport at close to midnight. A couple of them I hadn't seen in 4 years. So, it was great getting together again.
Today, we looked around San Francisco. Did the standard touristy stuff. Went to the Golden Gate bridge, looked at the Red Woods in Muir, took a boat ride to Alcatraz. It was great fun. Then I met up with another friend who did his grad school at Stanford. After catching up on life, he gave us a guided tour of Stanford by night! The school is huge and seems to have a super impressive infrastructure. Chip fabrication capabilities in an university. In my book, there is nothing more impressive than that! He showed us the outdoor Rodin sculptures - 'The Burghers of Calais'. Both our minds immediately went back to some pictures we took with Michelangelo's 'The Dying Slave' at the musée du Louvre in the summer of 2000. Those were the days!! I need to get a copy of that picture from him.
We went across Route 101 a few times in course of our day. For the better part of 1999 and 2000, I used to devour the Red Herring and the Industry Standard. As a keen followed of the technology industry in Silicon Valley, I had read about Route 101 in many different places. Just driving on the road gave me a small buzz.
For dinner, we went to a Thai restaurant - Amarin at Mountain View. The various suburbs of San Francisco are quaint. I would love to work in San Francisco for sometime.
Post dinner, I met up with yet another friend. But unlike most other friends I mentioned before, we did not attend the same school. Surprising as it may sound, we didn't know each other till earlier this year. Around the time I left India to attend Tuck, she returned to the West Coast after doing some great stuff in Bangalore. It was wonderful catching up and discussing the transitions we were undergoing.
I find it fascinating to interact with people of Indian origin who were raised in the US. Bridging two very different cultures can be extremely challenging. Issues like drinking, dating etc, which are non issues for a typical American kid can and usually leads to a lot of conflict in their cases.
When I started at Tuck, I had a mild culture shock. At India, one is exposed to the Western world through different media elements and interactions, but living it out is a completely different experience. As I was discussing this evening, there are quite a few fundamental differences. One example is living with parents. If it was possible, I could spend all my life living with my parents. The importance of family as a support structure and an essential element of the social fabric is huge in India. Whereas, it seems to be completely different in the US. While I am in no position to say one is better than the other, it is necessary to recognize the differences and appreciate how they impact lives of individuals.
Another aspect we found intriguing was that all of us are at an age where we are introspecting. We are kind of confused on what direction to take. Earlier in life, when we were at cross roads (say after undergrad), we knew there was time for experimentation. No longer. The decisions we make now are for keeps. So, it is imperative that all decisions are made after lots of thought and we are comfortable with them. It so helps to find that I am not the only person who faces these dilemmas!
Now, on to LA!!
posted by Tagad_Tale @ 3:03 AM
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