(This article was originally written and published this week in the IGSA Scratchpad magazine for the November issue. Reblogging it here for other readers.)
Fall is the first semester in the US for most Indian students. It is a commonly noted pattern that students come to the US for international exposure, and after reaching here, painstakingly search out people from their own regions within the home country (if possible same city/street also), form a group and enjoy the great social life within that circle. But this trend has changed these days with the advent of Facebook. People do not form such groups after coming here. They do it even before coming here. The international exposure is typically limited to the climatic nature. Anyway, that is not what I am supposed to be writing about.
When I decided to “take the GRE and go to the US to study”, I did exactly what all of you must have done: talk to people who had already done that.
“Fall or Spring?” asked the great one. That is when it started. I thought, what’s a Fall? Fall from where? Spring to where? But I could not ask that to her. So I said, “Ummm…haven’t decided yet, tell me generally.” She knew I didn’t know. I knew she knew I didn’t know. She knew that too, but then she was the great one, the one that had been there and done that already.
I finally gathered that notwithstanding the reasons for calling what we learned in our text books as “autumn”, that season is apparently called Fall in this part of the world. I did not complain, because the concept of 4 seasons itself is incredulous to me, or anyone from South India. We only have degrees of summer interspersed with bouts of rain to clear the dust on the roads.
Since this issue falls in the Fall semester, I am going to write all about Fall. Fall is widely recognized as a beautiful season. “Fall colours” is a term I hear a lot. I can safely vouch for its presence in cosmetic range promotions, dress collection ads and Facebook photo albums. This is also the football season in the US. Only, it is not actual football. They throw and catch the ball, but call it football. Interesting, really.
Fall is a great season to start your stay in the US because you will have absolutely no problem in adjusting to the new country. The weather is unpredictable, but you are used to that already. And then there is Deepavali that falls in the month of November. You get reminded of everything you did back home – burst crackers, wear new dresses, eat sweets and receive money from elderly relatives. But hey, we have the Thanksgiving sale in November. You can sit outside BestBuy all night, tented up in the cold and buy that ipad which seems less costly because it has been purchased in the Thanksgiving sale. That is just seasonal purchase syndrome, but it is fun if you like that kind of thing.
If you are from South India, you must have celebrated Navratri by arranging dolls in steps, eating sundal and singing songs. Here, you get to dress up as your favorite horror movie villain and frighten people – mostly, those on your Facebook friends list in India.
Yes, the semester begins with mild bewilderment. You attend classes to keep your part-time job, fight with roomies, get desperate about the internship scenario, do homework (who has ever done those things before, you wonder) and write exams with pencils. During mid-October, the bewilderment is complete. Some of you haggle with travel agents from September to get a good rate for December tickets to India. By the time you book tickets and leave to India, you feel like you are in a long-distance relationship with your travel agent…
I apologize for the digression from the topic. I had meant to demystify “Fall”. Summer ends in Fall and winter begins from Fall. So when is Fall? I am not sure. In a few years, I think I will confidently tell you that there is no such thing as Fall. It is a scam by IDunnoWho to create confusion among desi students preparing for their masters application. I got an email yesterday from my mother’s friend’s daughter’s friend, now in her 3rd year of engineering. She wants to apply for masters in the US. I did not want her to feel the uncertainty and fear that I felt 2 years ago. So I replied to her that I will help out with everything. She just needs to tell me, “Fall or Spring”.
Fall is the first semester in the US for most Indian students. It is a commonly noted pattern that students come to the US for international exposure, and after reaching here, painstakingly search out people from their own regions within the home country (if possible same city/street also), form a group and enjoy the great social life within that circle. But this trend has changed these days with the advent of Facebook. People do not form such groups after coming here. They do it even before coming here. The international exposure is typically limited to the climatic nature. Anyway, that is not what I am supposed to be writing about.
When I decided to “take the GRE and go to the US to study”, I did exactly what all of you must have done: talk to people who had already done that.
“Fall or Spring?” asked the great one. That is when it started. I thought, what’s a Fall? Fall from where? Spring to where? But I could not ask that to her. So I said, “Ummm…haven’t decided yet, tell me generally.” She knew I didn’t know. I knew she knew I didn’t know. She knew that too, but then she was the great one, the one that had been there and done that already.
I finally gathered that notwithstanding the reasons for calling what we learned in our text books as “autumn”, that season is apparently called Fall in this part of the world. I did not complain, because the concept of 4 seasons itself is incredulous to me, or anyone from South India. We only have degrees of summer interspersed with bouts of rain to clear the dust on the roads.
Since this issue falls in the Fall semester, I am going to write all about Fall. Fall is widely recognized as a beautiful season. “Fall colours” is a term I hear a lot. I can safely vouch for its presence in cosmetic range promotions, dress collection ads and Facebook photo albums. This is also the football season in the US. Only, it is not actual football. They throw and catch the ball, but call it football. Interesting, really.
Fall is a great season to start your stay in the US because you will have absolutely no problem in adjusting to the new country. The weather is unpredictable, but you are used to that already. And then there is Deepavali that falls in the month of November. You get reminded of everything you did back home – burst crackers, wear new dresses, eat sweets and receive money from elderly relatives. But hey, we have the Thanksgiving sale in November. You can sit outside BestBuy all night, tented up in the cold and buy that ipad which seems less costly because it has been purchased in the Thanksgiving sale. That is just seasonal purchase syndrome, but it is fun if you like that kind of thing.
If you are from South India, you must have celebrated Navratri by arranging dolls in steps, eating sundal and singing songs. Here, you get to dress up as your favorite horror movie villain and frighten people – mostly, those on your Facebook friends list in India.
Yes, the semester begins with mild bewilderment. You attend classes to keep your part-time job, fight with roomies, get desperate about the internship scenario, do homework (who has ever done those things before, you wonder) and write exams with pencils. During mid-October, the bewilderment is complete. Some of you haggle with travel agents from September to get a good rate for December tickets to India. By the time you book tickets and leave to India, you feel like you are in a long-distance relationship with your travel agent…
I apologize for the digression from the topic. I had meant to demystify “Fall”. Summer ends in Fall and winter begins from Fall. So when is Fall? I am not sure. In a few years, I think I will confidently tell you that there is no such thing as Fall. It is a scam by IDunnoWho to create confusion among desi students preparing for their masters application. I got an email yesterday from my mother’s friend’s daughter’s friend, now in her 3rd year of engineering. She wants to apply for masters in the US. I did not want her to feel the uncertainty and fear that I felt 2 years ago. So I replied to her that I will help out with everything. She just needs to tell me, “Fall or Spring”.
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