January 7th, 2009 by galadriel

Think things are easy in America? Think again.

So, you guys know I’ve moved. Well, I figured since I’m going to be here I should get my driver’s license transferred. I do all kinds of research, figure out all the documents I need, wake up bright and early and decide to set aside 2 hours from my work day to finish this off. I even put in 2 hours extra yesterday to make up for today. I get out of the house and it’s raining. Cats and dogs. Should have been my first sign.

I drive towards downtown in crazy ass traffic, visibility restricted to the tip of the rear bumper of the car in front of me, weaving in and out of the winding lanes and bridges and when I reach downtown, the stupid GPS declares that it has lost “satellite reception” because of all the high rise buildings. So I wake up a groggy and disoriented SEV and yell at him to get his ass on the computer and guide me to the DL center. Half the roads are blocked by construction, every time I want to take a right turn I see this sign.

I bet my eyes have this instead of the iris/cornea kinda like that Tom and Jerry cartoon. Hmph.

Anyway so here I am struggling to find the place, guided by someone on the phone, losing my temper rapidly when I finally find the damn office. Only to realize that there is no parking. And so begins the quest for Parking in the one-way streets in the heart of the city. I finally find one shady place that charges 10 bucks an HOUR, the bloody ripoffs!

And so I walk into the center hoping that it wouldn’t take me too long. I wait in line for 45 minutes and finally when it is my turn, the doddering old man (who can barely see, hear, talk or type and takes enormous amounts of time to resolve each query) looks at my documents and tells me ‘No can’t do’. I’m  like ‘Excuse me?’

DOM: You’re on F1. And your I-20 is only dated until Sept 2009.

Me: Yeah, so? I’m on EAD. (whipping out my EAD card)

DOM: Yeah this one’s valid until October 2009. And you don’t have an H1. I can’t issue a product for less than a year.

Me: (blinking like Dexter when he confronts DeeDee) So you’re saying that I can’t drive here? But my out of state license expires in June. And my H1 won’t come in until October, if I am approved, that is.

DOM: Yeah, but there’s nothing we can do. You need to show me valid status for at least a year. Sorry miss. If you can establish legal residency in the other state maybe they can help you out.

Me: (stumped and at a loss for words) Thank you.

So, as it turns out, since I’m technically only in legal status until October (that is, until my H1 comes through, hoping, praying that it does) and since my license expires in June, I cannot drive until October 2009. 4 months, dammit!

The other option of course is to apply for renewal of my original license, but that means I’ll have to change my bank accounts to my old address , change my insurance to my old address (and pay through my nose) and hope and pray that the other DMV doesn’t act this dumb and issues a renewal at least until the time I have legal status, which is October. Otherwise I sell my car. Gahhhhhhh.

December 23rd, 2008 by galadriel

someone asks me what I have done with my life, I actually have something to say back to them: I have had a peer-reviewed journal publication within 2 years of my Masters, what have YOU done?

December 4th, 2008 by galadriel

… whoever came up with coffee. It’s the ONLY thing that takes me through the day.

——

<Rant>

I usually consider myself a reasonably fair person who does not indulge in any kind of typecasting. However, I have noticed myself and from what my friends tell me, it is commonplace to observe Indian people behaving unprofessionally at work. And before you slice my neck, I do not mean to say that all Indians are unprofessional or even that there are no unprofessional Americans/Europeans/*insert your choice of ethnic background here* but the few examples of bad work ethic that I have heard of and seen have been pretty nasty.

I shall begin with an example of my friend who works for a big financial company. She has a friend/colleague who works for a different team, and all her (colleague’s) team members are Indians. And they have developed this nasty reputation of behaving very inappropriately at work. Abusing the office phones provided to them, the ability to access gtalk at work, downloading music at work and so on. Consequently, they have been assigned some very minor tasks and in the event of a potential layoff, they will probably be targeted first. Said colleague/friend even shows up for work in the winter in sleeveless tops and then complains that the office is too cold, but we digress.

My workplace is no different. The team that I work in does not have any Indians, which works out both well and not-so-well for me. But my office is also densely populated (quite like our homeland) with Indian people from a certain south Indian heritage which I refuse to name and which most workplaces are swarming with. These people sit right across from where I sit and are truly the most boisterous merrymakers I have seen in a while. And I went to grad school in New Jersey. I know we are a truly brilliant lot and doing the work assigned to us takes us no time at all so we have all this time on our hands to while away, but does it have to be this OBVIOUS? Look at me; I use my free time with such prudence. I blog.

One of the team members of said gregarious team was also extremely annoying. And this whole incident makes me quite proud, TYVM. I sit in a very high frequency zone with people passing by every few minutes and half of my working time is spent in exchanging pleasantries. Accordingly, said gregarious team member (referred to as GTM from now on, the G having even more significance because he is of aforementioned south Indian heritage) would also pass by my cubicle every so often. Now, owing my naturally pleasing personality, he took an immediate liking to me, and chose to express this affinity for me by tapping my head every time he passed me by. [And anyone who knows me, knows that even though I am normally an absolute doll (don't you DARE disagree), the term "wild cat" has been used in reference to me on occasion (read more than often), and not without reason.] So when I am irked, you had better know it and be scared. Be very very scared. So the next time GTM passed me by, I gave him one of my cold stares and made a “tsk-tsk” noise. And then I told him that I’m going to move from this cubicle because people passing me by have started annoying me. Now GTM is a smart man, he knows when to take hints. He hasn’t made eye contact with me ever since. I am happy. And I actually have put in an application to be moved.

Also, what is with not speaking in English??!! I know your team is full of people who speak the same language and so you can communicate in any language you choose, but at least at work, when you are talking about work related stuff, can we please use the language the documentation is written in? I mean, you’re inserting all the technical terms in English anyway, so how about joining those terms using verbs, prepositions, conjunctions and so on in English as well?

That being said, I do have a couple of untoward incidents of workplace unprofessionalism (I know that’s not a word, Firefox is making a red line underneath it) concerning American people to relate as well, so I am not only limiting this to Indian folks. I just wish people began treating their jobs with respect (except you Lost On The Street, you’re allowed to diss at your job as much as you want, I like you. ).

</Rant>

December 2nd, 2008 by galadriel

Alright I know I have been silent for a while, I have nothing to say about the events of last week. Others, people smarter than me, have said more and better things and I cannot do anything sitting here except nod and seethe and fume. I know that’s lame and if I need to see change I should do something myself yada yada yada. Hence I shall choose to remain silent.

I had an awesome Thanksgiving break. Except for the ominous shadow of the Mumbai massacre, I was happy to be back. I felt at home and at peace with myself. After a long time. And for once, I did not want to leave and come back to my life here. I miss being amongst the people I have grown with in the last 2 years. I was happy to know that they haven’t changed at all and neither have I. We’ve all been through a lot together and as individuals and the change is telling. *Edited to add:- Clarification after reading Pavi’s comment: I did NOT go to India, I went to NJ, where I went to school for my Masters. Little India, if I may :D*

I managed to eat at all the places I wanted to except for one. I realized that Indian food has so much variety that you can never be satisfied with eating just one type. And for a vegetarian, Indian food offers the most options to choose from.

I watched Yuvvraj. I cannot put down in words the pain that is watching the movie. And for people who dare to compare Rahman with Viju Shah, I have the choicest set of expletives in store for you. You and me, outside. And by outside I mean email.

I was listening to some of Shreya Ghoshal’s older tracks and I realized how much her voice has changed over the years. Her voice has acquired a wonderful, ethereal quality now that was absent before. While her singing dripped with the innocence of her age earlier, now she sings with a maturity far beyond her years. That girl is gonna go places, mark my words.

Ooh and best of all, I got my MS degree certificate!!! Yipppeeeeee. I now actually have a Masters degree. All these days I was secretly kinda scared that something might go wrong at the last minute and I’d get a mail saying ‘We’re sorry you have to complete a gazillion more credits, we can’t give you your degree’ or something to that effect. But I didn’t and I actually got the certificate! Yayy me.

The madness is returning! And no I’m not linking anything because then people start accusing me of looking for an excuse to mention them in every post of mine. So there.

Alright, my boss is going to throw me out for blogging at work so I better start pretending to be working real quick. Ciao!

August 3rd, 2008 by galadriel

Why am I gifted with an advisor who waits a month and a half after my defense to change the title of my thesis? That too after have obtained one committee member’s signature (who’s off to Antarctica on a field trip) and my graduate director (who’s off on some conference and won’t be back till 13th Aug) ?

And since when did I become brave enough to pursue this as a matter of integrity? I simply refused to change the title and obtained all the necessary signatures, much to my advisor’s chagrin? Quite proud of myself I am.