Please Remain Calm....
Its interesting to see how different people are here. People here seem to be afraid to reveal themselves. Everybody seems so artificial. I am not sure why. All of them are Americans, people that I have lived with for the last six years. Nevertheless, I feel I am in some different, newly conditioned aura where noobs don't exactly remember how they've lived life so far. Bad part is, I am watching myself being dragged slowly towards this. There's nothing new about this place, yet, I and a lot of others seem to be involuntarily changing true nature to adapt.
ASIDE: Maybe its just the lack of desis that makes me feel like this. lol. There is not ONE single true desi that I have come across so far. So many Indians, 32% of our class is Indians. Not one desi that you can call a true to the root desi. You know....like Panchal, or Deep, or Mosavi, or for that matter...even Sammy. Heck, Sammy is far more desi than a lot of Indians here...lol. Peace Sammy...u da mayne.
Its interesting to see how different people are here. People here seem to be afraid to reveal themselves. Everybody seems so artificial. I am not sure why. All of them are Americans, people that I have lived with for the last six years. Nevertheless, I feel I am in some different, newly conditioned aura where noobs don't exactly remember how they've lived life so far. Bad part is, I am watching myself being dragged slowly towards this. There's nothing new about this place, yet, I and a lot of others seem to be involuntarily changing true nature to adapt.
ASIDE: Maybe its just the lack of desis that makes me feel like this. lol. There is not ONE single true desi that I have come across so far. So many Indians, 32% of our class is Indians. Not one desi that you can call a true to the root desi. You know....like Panchal, or Deep, or Mosavi, or for that matter...even Sammy. Heck, Sammy is far more desi than a lot of Indians here...lol. Peace Sammy...u da mayne.
EDIT: No offense is intended towards desis here. I have lived most of my life with a different group of people. I am not trying to hurt feelings here. People here are different than people I grew up with. That's all.
Maybe I need to give it more time. But I didn't feel like this even when I first moved out to the States. That's what's confusing me. There is no need to change yourselves but I am getting a feeling that somehow people are being compelled to change themselves. You have to study medicine. Thats all you have to do. As long as you study and pass, there's nothing anyone can do to you that could harm you. But I feel a lot of people are failing to grasp this and are being dragged into other stuff. Even academically.
For example, I am being bombarded with 60 different ways to study from people that keep getting them from higher students. This is not bad, as long as you can keep yourself sane and to your goals. Sometimes, when you get a lot of options, you tend to forget your originality. The problem with new ways that take you to the same destination is that these ways are new to your mind. So you have to spend some time learning this way, and then make it part of your lifestyle after getting rid of the old style that was working already. This is taken by our minds as a longer, harder task. This makes us vulnerable to distraction ultimately putting off the adaptation thus adding more lag time to actually working towards your goal. I have also been dragged a bit into this I think.The bad part is, if someone refuses to conform to these ways, there is a chance that their circle will shrink.
But if it's what you gotta do, you gotta do it. When I landed my flight here, I came up to the guard gate asking for my room key. Basically the administration had some problems with housing and I didn't have a place to go to. Arguments and anger was exchanged...Long story short, I was standing there outside wondering what the hell I was going to do. My taxi driver comes up to me and tells me, "I've seen many students like you son. Remember, you are on your own. You gotta find a way for you. No one here gonna get out of their way to help you." He was right, not just about here, but about life in general. People have their own lives, and expecting anything out of their lives is foolishness. Its just hard to live in an individual manner as such. But live and learn.
On a side note, I know less of these other people in my class. But I think these people are the ones that are not being dragged in. They are the ones that have an original way and are sticking fairly well to it. In any case, the aim is to take a rather individual approach to this now. Individuality that doesn't hurt friends or close ones. Individuality with no negative kicks to it. That's the goal. More on this later...
For example, I am being bombarded with 60 different ways to study from people that keep getting them from higher students. This is not bad, as long as you can keep yourself sane and to your goals. Sometimes, when you get a lot of options, you tend to forget your originality. The problem with new ways that take you to the same destination is that these ways are new to your mind. So you have to spend some time learning this way, and then make it part of your lifestyle after getting rid of the old style that was working already. This is taken by our minds as a longer, harder task. This makes us vulnerable to distraction ultimately putting off the adaptation thus adding more lag time to actually working towards your goal. I have also been dragged a bit into this I think.The bad part is, if someone refuses to conform to these ways, there is a chance that their circle will shrink.
But if it's what you gotta do, you gotta do it. When I landed my flight here, I came up to the guard gate asking for my room key. Basically the administration had some problems with housing and I didn't have a place to go to. Arguments and anger was exchanged...Long story short, I was standing there outside wondering what the hell I was going to do. My taxi driver comes up to me and tells me, "I've seen many students like you son. Remember, you are on your own. You gotta find a way for you. No one here gonna get out of their way to help you." He was right, not just about here, but about life in general. People have their own lives, and expecting anything out of their lives is foolishness. Its just hard to live in an individual manner as such. But live and learn.
On a side note, I know less of these other people in my class. But I think these people are the ones that are not being dragged in. They are the ones that have an original way and are sticking fairly well to it. In any case, the aim is to take a rather individual approach to this now. Individuality that doesn't hurt friends or close ones. Individuality with no negative kicks to it. That's the goal. More on this later...
2 comments:
I had to google desi as I didn't know what it means, lol. You da mayne too Mrunal. :)
Life is always a struggle between conforming to the standards of a larger group versus being a unique individual. You don't want to get so engulfed by the group that you start to lose what makes you who you are, but at the same time you don't want to be ostracized by the group for being too different. Like many things in life, it's a balancing act. You got to find the balance between the two and make it work for you. Take all the good the larger group has to offer for all it's worth and if there is something you don't like don't feel pressured to incorporate that into who you are.
I don't know about what the cab driver said. I think he might be partly right but not entirely. Going through life thinking that you are all alone and no one's going to go out of their way to help you is kind of depressing, isn't it? I think in today's world people are reluctant to help each other out, but I still see people helping strangers out without expecting anything in return. The cab driver was helping you by giving you advice right? So not all hope in the world is lost. There are still good people willing to help other good people even if they don't know them. I would argue being interdependent is equally as important as being independent.
All the best man.
You're right dude. I agree that you can't be completely independent and that you have to find a way to strike balance between holding ur individuality and being part of the group at the same time. You're right, if you can't find a way to incorporate yourself into society, you can't get anywhere. But gotta hold ur principles at the same time.
Thanks Sammy, great advice.
Post a Comment