Saturday, August 12, 2006

A Hundred Dollar Bill

This is one of the saddest possible things that can happen to a poverty stricken graduate student here at UT Austin. And f***, it happened to me and hopefully not many others.
All students joining the school (this is a requirement in most univs) are required to clear an immunization bar to be able to register for classes. The students have to prove that they are properly immunized, and thereby are not carrying any viruses which might spread and affect other innocent Americans. I was given a form on which a doctor had to declare the dates on which I was immunized and also attest that form. I had taken this form to a doctor in Bangalore and he said that everybody will be given that immunization doze on the day when they are born and a second doze one month after that. So I thought that I need not have to go through the agony of metal reigning supreme over flesh and was happy about it. He signed on that form and asked me to fill in the dates. I filled in the dates as instructed.
After coming here, I went to submit the form at the UHS (University Health Services) to clear the immunization bar. The lady at the UHS office looked quizzingly at me. She said that nobody is given this immunization on the day of their birth and so she wouldn't clear the immunization bar for me. She said that I will have to get the immunization done here so that I can register for classes. And this bloody f***** immunization costs me 100$. I felt like kicking myself. I don't know whom to blame. I don't understand what the f*** that doctor studied for 5 years to get an MBBS. I don't even know whether he was indeed correct and these people here are crazy. In retrospect I feel that probably I should have enquired about it with fellow students here before submitting the form. But it all comes down to the fact that I need to pay 100$ to let an American doctor pierce a needle through my body which has grown up eating Indian food. GOD SAVE ME.

I don't care if my liver is hanging by a thread
don't care if my doctor says I ought to be dead

When my ugly big car wont climb this hill
Ill write a suicide note on a hundred dollar bill

cos if you wanna run cool
If you wanna run cool
Yes if you wanna run cool, you got to run
On heavy, heavy fuel.
- Dire Straits

Friday, August 11, 2006

The last walk

It was late evening on the 4th of August and just a few hours to go for my flight to the US. I suddenly remembered that I had given my bike for service and I had to get it back. Infact it had broken down (midway to the petrol bunk) the day before with an engine seizure and a broken kicker pedal and only I knew that mechanic shop (and I had to pay for it as well). I decided to walk all the way to the mechanic shop. On the way, I saw around four people with some simple percussion instruments (the traditional ones used for playing "DAPPAN-KUUTHU") and behind them were two people clad in red dress and totally drenched. I thought it was one of those mad religious ritualistic processions. So I kept on walking. But the music was pretty good. So I turned back to see. Quite a few small kids had gathered around them and they had started dancing. The band played danda-nakara nakara nakara ... danda-nakara nakara nakara .. danda-nakara nakara nakara.... pakka dappankuuthu. They played it quite beautifully and I also felt like dancing. Infact after listening to it, if a person doesn't feel like dancing, then there is something terribly wrong in that person. But I knew that I had a job on hand. So I kept walking to the mechanic shop. The crowd around the band was increasing by the minute, and the party was getting merrier. The band was also getting louder, so I could hear the music all the way. Simbly Suuper and "The more the merrier". I too felt so happy. I marvelled at the innocent happiness of those kids. They dint have to go to work on monday morning and write C/C++ code to fix a silly bug. They dint have to travel halfway across the globe to attend graduate school. They were happy in their own backyard. I knew at that instant that I was going to miss all this for atleast a couple of years. I was moving to a very mechanical and commercialized world. But I knew that there was a pupose behind that move of mine. So "KEEP WALKING".............