Home. Sick. It’s like diarrhoea after eating five plates of roadside pani puri. You think you’re immune to it. You’re sure it’s someone else’s problem. You sit back and laugh at the weak victims it has claimed already. And then it strikes. Homesickness snuck up on me after a long honeymoon period with the new country.… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.8
Healthful Livin’ I’ve coined a new term – “Foreigner 15.” I think it’s edgy and self-explanatory, you think it’s as original as a TV dad cringing at his baby’s poopy diaper for laughs. We all have our opinions. I could no longer ignore how tight my shirt felt. Somewhere down the line I became better at coping with the serving… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.7
The humans in my life You’ve probably heard this a thousand times before, but American vocabulary is quite different from ours. Lift becomes elevator, flat becomes apartment, and a guttural grunt at other humans becomes a cheerful “hey how are ya?” American friendliness is overwhelming. I wanted to be that nice, but just couldn’t. It’s hard… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.6
PDA Until I was 13, I wasn’t allowed to watch movies with kissing scenes in them. So there was no MTV or Titanic in my life. In fact, even Tom and Jerry sometimes got cut short if Tom decided to get nasty with a girl cat. So I watched more Bollywood movies, where ‘lip-to-lip’ kissing was a disgusting… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.5
Welcome to America Here’s a piece of advice: to really live in America, keep your eyes, mind and mouth wide open. That’s all. Of course that’s not all. Let’s go on this journey together. SUPER-SIZED SUPERMARKETS Not only are they bigger than football stadiums, they have aisles dedicated to bread alone. The variety was overwhelming. I must… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.4
Flights and Time Travels 9:30pm – The two hour drive to the airport never seemed shorter. I was actually doing this. 11:45pm – Said goodbye to my family. There were tears. Got past the first round of security and thought of running back outside, like they do in movies. But I haven’t watched a single… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.3
Getting on that plane I’d finally put the GMAT and GRE and essays behind me. I was finally holding an acceptance letter. Life would be a breeze from here. And then a wave of paperwork hit me in the face. At first, I felt incredibly grownup. I could say things like “I can’t meet you… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.2
GMAT and GRE Everyone around me wanted to be an engineer. I, on the other hand, used to sneak out of physics classes and go to a bookstore. Before you think I was Matilda, the bookstore just happened to be close to Cafe Coffee Day, where the bad kids went. I couldn’t go there. I’d already used up my… Continue reading “What’s Filter Coffee?” And Other Horror Stories 0.1
“Any spot is a drop-off spot if you believe in yourself.” – Taxi Driver “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. So when you go home crying, thank me for bullying you out of your lane.” – Bus Driver “Do one thing every day that scares you. Today, drive on a narrow one-way… Continue reading Daily Wisdom from Bangalore’s Roads
You were five when you entered Baldwin Girls’ High School. The day was a blur and even though you wore a green skirt, the others wore intimidating blue uniforms. You quickly adapted as a newcomer to the world of reading and writing. Your head was bent over a notebook, clutching the page with two tiny fingers… Continue reading The Baldwinian
