Campus Thoughts

Here I am today at one of America’s top forty universities. No, I haven’t gotten here yet. Just an unofficial visit by a privileged daughter of one of its faculty. I am here in this beautiful library, which will take me my entire lifetime to completely explore. Spanning over four floors and a billion shelves, there are more books here than I ever thought existed in this world. Classics and contemporary alike. Not to mention a world-class café, various lounges, media room with surround system and hundreds of computers. The concrete walls are jeweled with contemporary art while the floors have dazzling abstract carpets. Yes, I am in love. But then again, perhaps I’m in awe only because I don’t know much about libraries. Or for that matter, universities. Perhaps my fascination is more in the sheer extravagance than in the idea. So be it.

My Place in this World

I’ve always thought that I belong to the society there, in India; the cultured and of course intelligent, open-minded Indian community. And so, it’s okay for me to not be part of the one here. I am a true Malayalee; Kerala samskaram ulla true-blue Keralite. I can read and write Malayalam. I like songs by Chitra, A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Vineeth Srinivasan and the list goes on. I’m stilll not a big fan of the rock singers my friends talk about or the songs that play on the radio. That’s okay, I thought. I am a pakka Indian. But last summer proved me wrong. I realized painfully that my likes, my joys, my grievances and my dislikes were different from the ones of my cousins and the rest of that society. I didn’t feel like I belonged. Scratch that. I really did not belong.