Day 1

I set off from JFK Airport, disappointed by the lack of free wi-fi but excited to start my adventure. Once the plane took off I was heavily tempted to sleep but I set my watch to Indian Standard Time (the official one not the one that let’s you be two hours late to parties) and started movie-watching to keep myself awake. I can’t say  I was entirely successful because I nodded off at points for an undeterminable amount of time; mainly because of the quality of the movies I watched – namely The Box, The Lovely Bones, The Boys are Back and half of Couples’ Retreat. The first one was interesting at first and then ended without any resolution, the second was well made (Peter Jackson so of course) but the overall product didn’t have the effect it desired, the third was heartwarming and different but the fourth was uninteresting (an absolutely baffling choice of a movie for A.R. Rahman to make his Hollywood musical debut in).
    
At this point I reached Dubai and entered the lavish airport and followed the English signs to my next gate whereupon I noticed I had another hour to spare. After browsing through the gift shops and realizing I was just being sold American goods for higher prices I placed some phone calls and decided to wait at the terminal. Just for kicks I turned on my laptop and lo and behold I had free wi-fi. Dubai is a wondrous place.

After going through two security checks and two American soldiers yelling at everyone to have their passports out (?), I got on the plane and slept from before takeoff to landing. The minute I cleared customs at Bangalore I tried to find a phone service to charge the SIM card in my phone. After trying unsuccessfully for a half hour I went to the information desk and asked the woman there for help in Hindi and English. The English got me a puzzled stare and the Hindi at least elicited a smile and a slow shaking of the head (whether pitying me or saying there were no SIM card charging stations – I’m not sure). Anyway, I left the airport to try and find two of my cousins, Naveen and Namrata who I had never seen, through instinct alone and ended up bumping into them as I wandered aimlessly. After getting a coffee we set off through the well-maintained highways of Bangalore, steeped in early morning quiet.     

We reached their house and I spent the night talking to my cousin sister about everything under the sun and watching cooking and wildlife shows on TV. I learned that in India an internship after your third year in college is actually a requirement in most universities and that you have to submit a project report which you get credit for. Also, most colleges have a close to 100% placement rate – for jobs after school. It actually seems like a more efficient system than the crazy job hunting that goes on in America with everyone vying for positions during on-campus recruiting and envying those who attain those most coveted jobs.