Mad town

Last night I dreamed about being in Madison. Not sure why, just like that, out of the blue. Its been ten years since I set sight on the only American town my heart will ever belong to! The scenario was that I was just driving past my old homes and eventually going along E Washington headed towards I-90 (the Mad-Chicago drive).

Why, no idea. But I did end up waking up nostalgic. I have a love-hate relationship with that time of my life but make no mistake, I LOVE Madison. It was the place where I first flew free, tested my wings, found strength in tough times, battled gloom, faced a lot of hardship, financial, mental, you name it, but also found a lot of things that I hold dear to this day. (Did I mention Babcock ice creams, my favourite anti-depressants? :D)

Often I have wished I had more money at that time. If I was not worrying about how to manage the groceries next month or that tuition next sem, then I would have enjoyed the bliss that the town offered way more! It was a proper university town blessed with oodles of nature (of course when the sun shone) and even winter did not seem very depressing most times, thanks to the college crowd, football cheer, Halloween rackets, Christmas parades, and what not.

I did learn a lot - lived with total strangers for the first time. Experiencing how living with room-mates, all sizes and flavours of them, would be, gaining new friendships. I learned how to swim, play racquetball, went gymming for the first time ever in life, ran regularly at the student facilities (SERF, NAT, Shell) depending on where I was living at the moment and how my schedule looked like that sem. Check-out how cool SERF is - it had a heated indoor Olympic pool and also a full fledged indoor running track on one of the levels! Running and gymming is something I started way back then and have still not given up on now as a habit!

In all probability, the one and only truly foreign culture/living experience for me, will ever be in Madison. (Only saying that since I am unlikely to go anywhere in the future which will be so "white" :) ) We had an American undergrad and another gay room-mate for a sem. It was a total eye-opener. The gay roomie had to be the sweetest. Hands down. I attended an Easter service with my office mate and co-TA one year. Complete with an egg treasure hunt. She also took me to a couple of other proper mid-west type community events. The discussions and the flavour at the events were very typically mid-west. Then there was also the ECE330 class I used to TA. I learned how to say "x over y" rather than x by y" the very hard way since my students would just not get it otherwise. I learned "zee" and unlearned "zed". Several such things. If, on the contrary, I had always been in California, then I am sure I would have never been exposed to any of this great stuff!

There is so much in the print about increasing racism in the US. When I went to Europe for my first break after landing in the US in December 2001/Jan 2002, I was only too glad to come back to the US. Although nothing untoward had happened in Europe, the US somehow felt more "welcoming". More rustic, more down-to-earth. I cannot say the same for the US I left behind in 2008. The increase in racism, or the you-are-outsiders type of treatment was very palpable even in a place like Sunnyvale. I was glad in some ways to be coming back at that time. I am not sure how Madison is faring right now. From the time I landed in 2001 to when I left in 2004, it went from one Indian store to five and several Indian restaurants. Whenever something like that happens, the "natives" do tend to start resisting.

But I am hoping that if I go back some day, I would find it still the same innocent college town which welcomed everyone with open arms!

A dozen year romance - the Gym and I

It was a very wary 21 year old that walked in, completely in awe of the various pieces of equipment, free weights, trainers, people working out etc. It was overwhelming to say the least.

N, my then roomie, initiated me into Racquetball. There was a course offering the Spring of 2002 and she insisted I join. I was wondering if I have enough money to splurge on a Racquet and Ball and goggles, but I enrolled, bought everything that was needed and started. Both of us used to show up for classes in the mornings on the scheduled days. It was in SERF and that also housed a temperature controlled full fledged Swimming floor with a shallow and a deep pool, a complete indoor running track and a full fledged gym along with the Racquetball courts. (Check that link, will you?) I was drawn in. Little by little I started exploring the gym. See, I was just back from my Europe trip, and only when I met my cousins did they realize and consequently made me too, that I had bloated up like a balloon pumped with air. That too within a span of 5 months, they had seen me off in Hyderabad/Bangalore before I left for the US. Call it comfort eating or the irresistible Babcock flavours, (I mean, which university has a full department researching ice cream flavours?! That was nuts. But my favourite was half scoop mocha and half scoop peanut butter in a generous waffle cone. Darn, I have to go to Madison, like now!!) I bloated. Without ever realizing it! I had to do something to stop looking like a pumpkin.

That is how it all started. I still remember going religiously to SERF, SHELL and NAT. SHELL was probably my least favorite but that was because it was not really a full-fledged gym. The only reason I went to it in later years is because it was on a bus route and closest to me when I had to travel by bus since I was living a little after State Street. I remember walking in the snow, with just a light jacket and sneakers, to the bus stop, and taking the bus to SHELL because unlike when I was a student, I was now interning and had to get to work by 8.30 AM. So early AM workouts were the only thing that would work for me. Yes, even in freezing February! Since in the evening I used to do German classes and used to swim at SERF on days when I didn't have German classes. Boy! Did I keep myself busy or what.

So anyway, after all those days at those excellent UW-Mad rec facilities (really, what a shame it would have been to not make use of those sexy facilities!), my gyms' standards have continued to drop but those 2-3 years' practices have gone on and on to date where unless it is a weekend or a holiday or I am traveling - I do not miss a single day of gym/workout. I was telling friends the other day, its become an addicition I cannot do without. I feel all antsy the day I miss it. I feel upset and moody and what not.

That 21 year old would never, ever have thought that things would come to this after a few years!

UWCU

University of Wisconsin Credit Union for the uninitiated.

When I joined Facebook, I used to think I will only be a fan of something that is really worth it. And one day I noticed, my bank of 9 years was on Facebook. I immediately became a fan.

Here is a bank that is a Credit Union. It is meant for UW students and employees. But for me it is a lot more than that. My first independent bank account in the US, it has seen all my financial ups and downs. And it is a great bank simply for the features it offers. So much so, than even after I moved from Madison to Milwaukee and then to California, I continued to use this bank. Living very close to a Wells Fargo in Sunnyvale, I used to get my salary credited to UWCU because I used to find banking with a bank some thousands of miles away much easier and more worth my time than one which was less than a mile away.

Even today I use this bank. Recently they started (or maybe only recently I got to know of it) this facility called MoneyLink which allows free electronic funds transfer between banks (like NEFT in Indian banks). I confess, in all the banks I have dealt with in the US, no one offered this free transfer convenience like Indian banks did. I may be wrong, maybe other banks also do, but I haven't had accounts with them. I used to have much respect for Indian banks in that sense.

But now my good old Madison bank also lets me do it. Recently we had a friend transfer funds to us and it was so easy that it was hard to believe that this was an American bank I was dealing with.

And the web interface of this bank needs to be seen to be believed! So much information all in one screen without clutter. It is simply amazing. I have seen American Express, Wells Fargo, US Bank, ICICI, HDFC and a myriad other banks' web interfaces and none comes even close to UWCU's extremely user-friendly interface.

And customer support is easy, prompt and very helpful, again without the need to make calls, all through their web portal.

So I thought I'd give them a kudos in my blog!

Good work folks!

Nutrition contd.

If you read my post on what you need to do in order to obtain Nutrition, this is the place where it all started. The picture was taken when we (Subhash and I) toured Chicago and Madison (where I finished my Masters) to show his parents around the place:) We had a great time and for me personally it was "coming home to Mad Town" like always :) His parents thought the place was great and I felt, well, proud! :)

Awesome! Simply!