So many things, too little time

When I decided to do Bachelor’s of Mass Media, I wasn’t sure why I was doing Bachelor’s of Mass Media. In school, I never gave thought to my career. Then when I started learning French in 9th grade, I fell in love with that language and decided to become an interpreter for profession. I was proceeding fine with the goal, when I saw brochure for this new Bachelor’s degree introduced by University of Mumbai. It focused on lots of areas related to media, which I found interesting. Next thing, I find myself giving entrance exams, attending interviews and participating in group discussions to secure a place in BMM class.

Later in my masters I learnt several new things. I learnt Photoshop, Illustrator and after effects. I worked on Final Cut and dabbled in second life. There are so many things out there to explore, that perhaps one lifetime is not enough. So I believe it’s important to explore as much as you can and not let go of any moment.

Right now, I am in process of compiling my to-do list. Hopefully, I will be striking out some soon!!

Last Moments in Mumbai

Three years back, on a cloudy Mumbai afternoon I packed my bags to leave for New York. The bird was ready to take the flight of her life. Around me were my friends, who had stayed with me at my place for last three days, helping me pack my bags and pack loads of unforgettable memories. My mom and dad had left for Kuwait a week before as Dad had to urgently report back to work. Before leaving, they had ensured my luggage was packed. I have never been a great packer myself. Mom always did the job for me. This time, I had three huge suitcases thrice my weight to carry across the globe. Mom obviously, could not have left the job for me. She had left some space for me to stuff last moment requests by my sister with whom I would stay in New York.

I was glad to have my friends and my beloved cousin sister around me. We had planned to reach the airport well ahead of time, so I could check in and then spend time with them. Plans never materialize. After dropping a friend at domestic airport, we rushed to check in at the international airport. The check in staff told me I was just in time and would not be allowed to go out as they would start boarding in half hour. I looked at my watch puzzled wondering exactly how we managed to get late. After last moment shuffling of goods to balance the weights of my luggage (I had to open two bags to redistribute the luggage because one had 1 kg more and other 1 kg less), I persuaded the staff to let me see my friends one last time. Might be the sad face I made, but they asked me to rush out and say my goodbyes.

I called a friend, told her about the situation and asked them all to gather at the gate. In spite of mentally preparing myself not to cry at the airport and embarrassing myself; as I hugged each person who had come to say goodbye, I couldn’t stop the burst of sudden emotion. The familiar lump in the throat only grew bigger every second and I was hit by the realization that I was leaving my life behind. Tears started following endlessly and my friends rushed to console me. Some cried with me, some managed to hide them well as they all tried to calm my nerves.

Teary eyed, but now composed I waved my last good bye and rushed to board my flight. From then on – it was one stop to JFK.
Now when I sit back and recollect those two hours at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, I thank god for giving me an opportunity to hug it out with my friends. And also a big thank you to the policemen who let me step out of the security line for those 2 minutes, which I will remember for rest of my life.

Finding the first job

Landing a full time job is not an easy feat. It’s an achievement in itself, especially if you belong to an unconventional field for an Indian in America. In my case, it was media.

After graduating in May 2009, I was left with $300 in my bank account and uneasiness of landing a job in this not-at-all perfect economy. My only respite was the fact that I had a roof on my head which didn’t involve paying rent. (Yes, it’s an advantage living with family in a foreign country)

Having an EAD, also meant that under the new OPT rules, I could work part-time, volunteer, freelance, intern, basically exercise freedom of choice when it came to work. The flip side was, I had 90 days approx three months to get myself any of these jobs. The biggest challenge, without doubt was to find a full time employer who would sponsor my work visa. This was not going to be easy. Neither my field of study nor I was in “raining jobs” scenario, yet I kept my spirits high. For some it was shocking that I was an Indian but not a computer science engineer. They saw it has huge disadvantage. If I was a doctor or engineer it would have been somewhat easy, they said. I choose to ignore.

Media career in spite of being lucrative doesn’t not exactly scream H1B. This is one area, outsourcing is not required. But I am not the kind to give up so easily. Before quitting my spring internship, I had already spoken with my internship company of the possibility of returning in summer. They were more than happy. After I graduated and took few weeks of to unwind, I reported back to Time Out New York as an intern in their digital media department. My earlier internship with them involved SEO and SEM stuff. In summer, I worked on html and getting articles ready for their site. This proved to be of a great advantage in my full time job search.

In the meantime, I kept on applying for jobs and passing resumes in my network. No one was responding. I got few calls from staffing agencies for SEO stuff but they didn’t work out. I was starting to get a bit anxious. Then, a family friend passed my resume to an advertising agency with whom she had worked earlier. I met the head of the agency and we discussed the possibility of joining his agency. The biggest problem was that they didn’t do H1B visas and I had no ad agency experience. The offer didn’t materialize and I was back to square one. It was October and my job search was reaching stagnation. Then, one morning, the ad agency head asked me to resend my resume. He knew a company which was looking for someone to manage their South Asian IPTV platform. I sent him my newly polished resume, which I had worked on with my devoted brother-in-law. Devoted I say, because he has been one of the biggest pillars of support through my master’s years. The company called me for a preliminary interview and then within a week I got called for follow up with the then head of NeuLion’s International Business.

The interview was successful and I found myself to be appointed as the Project Manager for TV Desi, NeuLion’s South Asian IPTV platform. After the interview I realized the contribution of my masters’ internships, masters’ degree and work experience in India had in getting me this job.

Today, I am luckily to say I have a job and work visa. What is even more satisfying is that I didn’t have to change my field of interest and that I could do people around me proud!

Fall at Bear Mountain

This is a slide show I created on the beautiful colors of Fall. Check it out -

Fall color slide show

NYC Panorama @ Queen’s Museum of Art

So many times we have beautiful things surrounding us and we don’t even know- Queens Museum of Arts is just one such a place. It’s a small museum but has an amazing art on display. It’s less than ten minute drive from my place and yet I never made a plan to visit it until yesterday. My niece’s school planned a visit to QMA and I decided to accompany her.

On this raining day, I and my sister drove down to QMA.  We entered the Flushing Meadows Park and I simply loved the greenery & serenity surrounding that place. I took an immediate liking to the area.

Soon, the kids arrived in the school bus and we began our tour. We started with quick introductions which were followed by block building activities. We were divided in five groups for the five boroughs.  Each of us was given a map and we had to build the boroughs using the blocks. My team had Manhattan and we managed to build central park.

After this we were to visit, what I will call the biggest attraction at QMA – the NYC panorama. Our tour guide explained to us without divulging details what we were to witness. Since none of us had ever been to QMA, this was going to a surprise to us. We entered the panorama through Brooklyn and walked our way to Manhattan.  What has been built is truly spectacular. A scale of 1 inch equals 100 feet has been used to depict the five boroughs. Every detail has been meticulously met. The JFK airport has flights landing and taking off. The water has been abundantly displaced. Manhattan skyline looks amazing. Since the panorama was last updated in 1992, you can still see the twins towers, which I thought was great because New Yorkers like me who came to this city post 2001 can see how the city looked with the two towers standing.

Lack of camera hindered me from taking pictures of this beautiful art so I had to do with my cell phone camera. The kids enjoyed visiting the five boroughs and so did the elders. I am my sister decided to visit again this time with a better camera.

If you want your kids to take a nyc tour in twenty minutes, this is a place to go!

Election and Me

This is the second election I missed. I have to admit that I have never voted till date. (yeah, shame on me.) With my family shifting homes constantly, I could never prove the electoral office which constituency I belonged to. And without that, it is impossible to get a voter’s card. Politicians wouldn’t bother much about people like me because our demands do not include installing new pipelines or building new toilets or a community water hose. So their concern is to make sure the poor go to the polls.

The small black dot on the index finger, a symbol that you have cast your vote has always excited me. As a kid, I would stand at the door to inspect fingers of my entire family and with a joint family, trust me there were many. They would all go. Not one would miss their vote. It was a ritual and they took it as their duty. I would then, put black ink on my finger. So what if it was to wash one the moment I held my hand under running water! For me, that small black dot meant empowerment. It made me feel, my country is hearing my voice. For days, I would watch as the dot slowly faded away.

One question I asked my mom every election year, why she went to vote. That answer has not changed till date. She said and continues to say, “I go because, it’s my duty. Every vote counts. Tomorrow if a bad guy comes to power, I don’t want to feel, if I had voted, he might’ve lost. We should always vote.” Her words were inspiring. For this duty, she took pains to go from one office to another, to get their name listed on the new voter’s list when we changed our residence five years back. My question seemed more relevant then, when she struggled and all the bureaucrats did was make her visit offices. Neither her zeal nor her answer had changed. In the end, she had managed to get herself listed and she was ready to do her duty for the umpteenth time of her life.

While, my mom’s story is inspiring, mine is not. Elections have always eluded me. I have always wanted to vote but never could. Few years back when I finally became eligible to vote, I couldn’t exercise my right because I didn’t have a voter’s card. The second time, which is now, I am not in my country.

Today, when the times are tough, I feel it is important than ever before that every citizen of India fulfills this duty. It is important that my generation participates actively and religiously just like our parents did. And it is even more important that the elite do theirs. This is their country too.

As for me, I am hopeful that some day, I will make a small black dot on my finger. And at that time, it will fade away gradually.

Happy Journey to Mom!

For past four months I have been enjoying the company of Aai (mom). My sister and I had convinced her to visit us. We had convinced her that Tai ( my sister) needs her help at home since she will be busy studying for an exam.  How cunning of us 

Yesterday, we were at the ariport to bid our goodbye. As we drove fast on the van wyck exp in the full moon, I couldn’t stop thinking about my mom. It’s always exciting for moms to meet their kids, it’s never exciting to leave them. Aai was no exception.  I thought of how she had traveled all the way alone. She had traveled alone only up to Kuwait, which is only three hours. But America is 14 hours with a break journey. I wondered how she managed everything so well at every step of her journey in spite of not talking English.

I was glad she was not traveling alone.  My sister and niece were going to India with her. Although  she had been eager to go home, the fact that she was sad to leave us behind was too evident on her innocent face. She has always been a strong woman; her looks state otherwise. Neither her nor me put our sadness in words. I gave her tight hug and kissed her good bye. She returned my display of love with a warm smile and ‘kalji ghe‘ (take care) and the three of them proceeded to the security check.

We waited patiently as our three travelers passed through the security. They passed the check and we were already waving our hand as high as possible to wave them our final good byes. My niece was blowing kisses at us. Aai lifted her hand and waved good bye briefly. I stood there to see her turn around and waited till they all disappeared from my site.  I felt happy for her. No longer sad I walked back home thinking when would be the next time for me to be on the other side of the security check..

Aloo Chat – Movie Review

There are some movies we watch because the directors are big or because our favorite actors start in them. But they turn out to be big disappointment. And then, there are movies we watch just because, we find their titles peculiar or promos inviting. Their directors are either debutants or virtually unknown but the films are pleasing and paisa vasool. Aloo Chat falls in the later category.

Robby’s Aloo Chat is as palatable as its title. The story is simple. One guy trying to convince his parents to accept a girl he loves and wants to marry. Now what’s so different about that? This is a plot that has been beaten to death in countless Hindi films across all the genres. What makes Aloo Chat different is not the story but the execution.

Robby scores a home run with the perfectly timed humor. The humor in this film fits within the scene, flows within the content and never comes across as forced. It’s just perfect. While, Nikhil (Aftab Shivdasani) and Aamna (Aamna Shariff) execute Hakeem Tarachand’s (Manoj Pahwa) plan to get them together, Kulbhusan Kharbanda (Nikhil’s father) and Sanjay Mishra (Nikhil’s neglected uncle) keep the movie going with their light- hearted humor.

Forget those big titles, big directors and big cast, this is a movie that tickles your funny bone, doesn’t disappoint you and leaves you with a feeling- that was a good one, I am glad it was not such a waste of time.

Watch it.  Don’t miss it.

Robby Gerwal has previously directed MP3: Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar, and Samary; When Time Strikes.

That’s what friend do..

I sat monotonously hitting my keyboard in office, my cellphone buzzed to an occasional caller. My friend from India had called to check where I was in awake of the Binghamton hostage situation. I assured her New York City was miles away from the hostage place, everyone in my family was safe and there was nothing to worry. We hung up after quick updates and I returned to my desk. In my heart, I felt nice because a friend had called out of concern. I had no clue about the hostage situation until she called.

Hours passed and my monotony continued. A window chat popped at what was 1.45 India time which means for me in New York it was 4 PM. Here’s how the chat proceeded.

Window 1

Gujju: Did Kannan call you?

Me: No. What happened?

Gujju: He is online he will tell you.

(I am leaving the details, just sticking to the topic)

I pinged Kannan and asked him why he had tried calling me? It didn’t take me long to connect Binghamton to Kannan’s call. So I asked Gujju.

Window 1 (cont’d)

Gujju: haan.. He woke me up at 1.30 while I was sleeping to inform me that you are not answering. I tried to convince him that you are far away from that place. But you know him, he wouldn’t listen. So I told him to come online and check.

Meanwhile, Kannan had narrated the same story.

The three of us continued our talk over a phone call.

I sat in the train back home, thinking about the three of them, who had called me all from the other side of the world. All the efforts they took to find out if I was safe. They had called out of concern.

All the time, we lead our life with the same boring routine. Till our friends do these acts and make us feel special.

44 Places to go in 2009

All my bags are packed, I am ready to go…New York Times list of 44 places to go in 2009..

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/11/travel/20090111_DESTINATIONS.html?scp=6&sq=interactive&st=cse