Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Cultural Mismatch

I do not know why, but it is so true I miss my days back in India. They were not the best of the academic days or may be that was not the best place for the best career or the best opportunities, but there was a 'life'. I have a laptop, an apartment and a lab now, nothing else...
It has been 14-15 months in US. Initially I used to feel very bored whenever I did not have any work to do in the weekends. I then thought that may be this because it is a whole new place, new people, new culture and new lifestyle here; may be it is because I did not have enough friends till then to hang around with. But surprisingly enough, I undergo the same mental block even today after so long, whenever I am free and do not have many deadlines to meet.
This eventually goaded me to discuss the same issue with some of my close friends. And it seems, they too think alike!
I concluded that there is a basic difference in the perspectives of 'enjoying' or spending good 'life' in the two cultures. Life in India bore a different color and wore a new hue everyday, every hour. There was a very closely knit social clique of very good, good and okay friends. And whether or not all of them thought alike, there was a common goal: the affinity for fun together. And fun was hanging out, eating out, riding bikes, going to long rides, sharing the same aaloo chat roadside, visits to the beach, long walks, bunking classes for movies, late night TV browsing, night long talks, 24X7 yahoo messenger and what not! The list can go on...
'Fun' in America is very different and has only a few dimensions. When people here would say they enjoyed the weekend, they mean they party'ed last night. Yeah, parties with drinking, smoking, girls and may be doping. I do not say drinking, smoking, girls or doping are bad. It is foolish to be so judgmental and I believe it is a personal choice and I do not have any problems in any. But it is both astounding and sad at the same time that fun has so less of meaning in America. And when you talk of friends, mostly you will end up with people aired with an artificiality.
I know I will not ever have the kinds of friends I had in India. I know I cannot ask out a friend for a pani poori session by the roadside some Saturday evening. I know I cannot go crazy and start off on a bike ride at 3 am in the morning. I know I cannot spend the whole night near the dam with friends waiting to see the sunrise. But this is what I sought for...
I know I can ask out a labmate for a drink together. I know I can call in all my acquiantances some Friday night and party together with Corona bottles. I know I can go shopping with my female friends a Sunday afternoon. But this is 'not' what I sought for...

4 comments:

Angshuman Sarkar said...

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy...

Nice blog. How r u doing? Last time I checked you were busy doing some PHP or Pearl debugging :)

Munmun said...

might sound rude, but its not Pearl... its Perl...

Niranjan said...

Hey Munmun,

Nice blog....

never seen a person with so much of net presence...

nice to get hold of you on the internet...

Have fun...

Niranjan

Munmun said...

@ niranjan
thanks. but i didn't really get as what you mean by 'net presence'!! please care to explain!!