Oh God, this has got to be the most difficult question ever.  Most of the time, it comes with no context, is highly non-specific, and is usually posed by people I have just met.  There are some variations on this question.  One such variation that I simply cannot answer is about the differences in the education systems.  I did not go to high school in the US and I’m certainly not in an Indian college/university.  How the fuck am I supposed to compare systems when I’ve only been in one or the other?  Others include “How’s the life in America different from that in India?” and “Do you like India better or the US?”

Without any specifics, this comparison is nearly impossible to deal with and my standard response involves me blabbering about how it’s difficult to make a choice and that “it depends.”  It gets them off my back.  Unless they’re the super-curious type.  For these people, I need to provide a less vague response but only after I can persuade them to be more specific.

There are things that are better here, and there are things that are better in India.  For example, my ENTIRE family lives in India, the food is great, know some cool people back there, I get to watch cricket and football on TV, etc. etc.  Here, I study at a well-known university, the interwebs are good, I know even more cool people, I get to watch my favorite bands live, etc. etc.  But this is about as good an answer as I can give if you’re not specific enough with your question.

Oh man, did anyone see the Lost season 4 finale?  That was so tits!  Too bad we have to wait a few months for it to return.  BSG ends soon.  And all the other shows have wrapped-up as well.  Summer really sucks as far as TV shows go.

In conclusion, please stop asking me this question.  I mean it.  Also, I just realized that 99% of the people who ask me this question will never read this.  DAMNIT!

Hello folks! I got back to the US on Monday and have started classes already. Getting used to the new schedule will take a week or two as will getting back into the habit of doing work. But I’d rather not bore you with my education when I can entertain you with stories from my flight here.

Delhi airport is a mess right now. It has always been super-crowded but since they started renovating it, the mess is terrible. However, the good news is that the parts that are done look fantastic. Hopefully they can get it done soon. Check-in was a breeze but security took forever due to the limited, makeshift booths that have been set up during renovation. By comparison, the security check-in at Frankfurt went smooth.

The flight to Frankfurt was largely uneventful. The flight was not late. It was supposed to leave at 3:05am and we got going around 3:10am. However, we got into Frankfurt a few minutes after the due time because of traffic at Fraport. The flight to New York, however, was delayed by nearly an hour. Take a guess as to why it was delayed.

No idea? Try this on for size: there were too many aircraft in the British airspace and we were asked to leave half an hour late. Add that to the regular 20-30-minute delay in take-off from Fraport and you get a net delay that was too much for the pilots to overcome completely. We landed at 1:15pm, half an hour late and immediately ran into what looked like 500 more people waiting to clear immigration. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that getting past immigration took ages - two and a half hours to be precise. I got back to my dorm at 5pm. Amazing.

I was half-expecting to not find my luggage after all the delays I had already faced. Thankfully, that did not happen and I was able to easily locate my checked-in luggage. But I did have to wait a long time before getting a cab. It was freezing and I was probably under-dressed for the weather. It’s freaking cold here.

So that’s about it for now. Stay tuned because there’s more to come very soon.