The man who went to NY....

What can I say about this city.... it's just as happening at 4.00 a.m. as it is at 4.00 p.m. The clubs are always full of beautiful people, people are sitting at roadside cafes sipping coffee, the pizza places are chock-a-block full, cabbies are busy, there is always something to do here. Everything can be done here. This is The City, it's The Capital, it's the heart of the Capitalist World, materialism and hedonism epitomised. The belly of the beast. It's mind-boggling!

Living here does make me introspect a lot more though, however contradictory that may sound. Life in India is so different - it's a spiritual experience. Here, it's all about the outer-world, "maya"... it's so easy to fall victim to it. In NYC, it's all about money, honey! If you have the green, you can get jobs, friends and you can probably even buy love. Everything is for sale. You earn only to spend here. You cannot save, even if you want to.

On the college front, things are great! I am getting a partial RA this semester - $1500 a month's stipend. No tuition waiver this sem though. The department/project with/on which I will be working does not have enough funds to cover that expense. But I've been promised a full RA next semester onwards. Classes are hard but they teach only the state-of-the-art.

I'm living at a place called the International House (http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/). It's just an amazing community. Seven hundred residents from more than 100 countries. I meet someone from a different country everyday. They have ballroom dancing, salsa, ramba... parties at the in-house pub/lounge. It's great fun!

I hope to be able to survive the NYC experience while maintaining a certain balance in my life. A balance between living in the self and living outside.