Infinity

It was morning. At least for the people in the Americas it was. For me it was a little past midnight. I usually go to sleep at 4 am (which I hate). In about 4 hours after I try and go to sleep, 13B8 (my apartment in Ann Arbor) rises to life.

Usually on the weekdays everyone is busy getting ready for their classes. I am woken up by the movements, and a few minutes after the bustling starts, I am sleeping again. On the weekdays. On Saturday however, the scene is different. One of my roommates, Rohit Gupta (GPT we call him) plays the guitar on Saturday morning, still a little past midnight for me. Usually, music helps me in my endeavor. GPT's songs though, are not suitable for a good sleep. He plays solo pieces (most of which I don't enjoy) much too often. But I don't mind. As an admirer of the guitarist that GPT is, I feel I shouldn't stop him (although once I did ask him to play a little softly). If I can't sleep, it means I have to break my sleep cycle and that is good news!

Last Saturday morning was very different though. There is one thing you must know about GPT. His list of guitar songs is very short. Very very short. He will play the same songs again and again and again although the songs that he plays are not repeated more than once in one sitting of guitar practice. Not on last Saturday though. He had completed 'Stairway to Heaven'. That is when I woke up. Then it was 'Importance of being idle', the Oasis number (which we both love). Then he played it again. Once again the same piece. One more time thereafter. I am sure others in the house were waiting for him to switch to something else, as much as I was. But GPT was in a loop. The same fucking piece again! I was waiting for something else to start. But nooo!! Yet again, it was the same fucking Oasis number. I imagined GPT must be thinking about something else, but his hands were stuck in the loop. The same shit again. Good lord!!! Someone stop him!!! Oasis is my favorite group, but never had I cursed the favorite song of my favorite group before. Guess he had made up his mind to challenge the definition of infinity. Or may be to invent a better phrase than 'beating it to death'!
But nothing could stop him.

All this I thought while I was half awake. Guess I should have written this post the same morning. Would have been much more fresh for me to write. Tejas Chafekar (another room mate) shared the sentiments during the "torture". I pity us both. Vaibhav Jaguste (3rd room mate) escaped the endeavor though. Luck him! 

Live Together, Die Alone

The first time I saw and heard the phrase "Live Together, Die Alone" was when I was watching the much talked about T.V show "Lost". I was left amazed by the similarity between the situation of the characters of "Lost" and that in Ann Arbor that I have been observing since my first semester.

In "Lost", the characters are stranded on an island after an aeroplane accident. The island is apparently untraceable to the various search parties due to some xyz characteristics of the island itself (they say it moves in time and space...huh!?) The characters come from different countries and hence different social backgrounds. They are actually strangers to each other. Over a period of time they learn to live together in "harmony". In times of hardships and also in some seemingly fatal accidents they can be seen to help each other out. However, what is interesting about "dying alone" is that in life threatening situations, each person will try and save his or her life and then think about any other person to save. Well, given that the people are strangers to each other this behavior is quite natural. The point is that the level of attachment is very very low for an individual to be able to think first about any one else may it even be any non-life-threatening situation.

Now then what is so peculiar about our life as graduate students living together that I have seen here in Ann Arbor and which I find similar to that of the characters of  "Lost"? I have seen students helping each other in difficult times. That help may be of any kind like volunteering for airport rides, exchanging study notes, completing academic formalities for each other, lending to others one's identity card ( it is called a M-Card here) and many more. Now I can't give examples of "life-threatening" situations in Ann Arbor. But surely I can  say that the level of attachment is very low amongst many students if not all. Further, I would argue that even that low level of attachment is superficial. You can test your level of attachment (if you disagree) by thinking how much really you would miss being with someone if he or she were not around compared to missing the people in your life you are very much attached to.

I am not lamenting on what I observe. Just that I wanted to describe our lives here in one phrase and I found one after some time. What needs to be highlighted is the level of professionalism that has crept in following the completion of our Bachelor's studies. A simple example that comes to the mind is the following. Two friends in one course. The homework is due in 5 minutes. One has all the work completed, the other lags behind by as much as 5 hours. Both know that getting extra time from the course instructor is possible. Ask yourself, if you were the student with the completed homework would you wait for your colleague and turn in your work along with him, say 4-5 hours late. Chances are that if this situation happens during your undergraduate studies you would wait. Post graduation, you won't. In your mind as a Master's student you will only think about your performance being affected in the eyes of the instructor if you are late. (Although sometimes even as an undergraduate student you shall think on similar lines)  Not that your colleague would want you to submit your work late with him or her. He or she also knows the importance of being a good student at the Master's level and shall understand your decision of not waiting.

Live together, die alone in the literal sense is okay for a T.V show like "Lost". It has to be understood at a different level in our case. So then the human feeling kind of "linked to professionalism" like jealousy, does it also manifest itself in our lives here? Ohhhhhh....I am not opening that can of worms for sure!

--- Thanks to Vaibhav Jaguste for "proof reading" my first post. ---

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