banter again;
So yet again, I am going to post a rather ramble-y post just because.
I JUST FOUND OUT FROM AVANTI THAT CHRIS PINE STUDIED AT UCB???
Why did I not know this earlier? :(((((((( I would've run away from home for college if it meant I could walk the same hallowed ways as Chris Pine. On another sad note, Avanti has left the sunny island. She's too industrious to have a proper summer break, so she had to go back. This is why I feel like a bad person when I slack.
On a happier note, Sawnelie is returning soon (weekend!!!). I haven't been this excited in a long time...I wish I'd gone travelling with her to Aussie but like I mentioned in my previous post, I have travelled too much for my liking in the past few months. Also, the uncanny nature of my friends' travel choices continues. It is a wonder how two random friends of mine happen to be in the same random European city AT THE SAME TIME. Or American city. Or Japanese. But mostly Europe. I think it is due to the fact that a lot of my juniors are graduating (hence grad trips) and a lot of my batchmates from school are graduating (because med students + most of them study med in Europe)...but still. I think people I know generally love to travel a lot regardless of grad or not. -_- Just that it is getting a tad bit uncanny now for some reason... Anyway shout out to my globe-trotting fwens, PLEASEEEEE travel with me to any of these countries:
- Jordan
- Philipines
- New Zealand
- Cali (I know this is not a country, but it is in my heart because honestly, it never deserved to be a part of America)
- Israel
Yes, it is not wanderlust. There are places in these countries that I must see and feel for myself due to...idk, my anthropological inclinations since my youth?
That brings me to my buried interest in anthropology (because everything gets buried when one studies engineering lmao) which got rekindled recently. I had spent endless hours on the discovery and history channel as a child, watching the fascinating depictions and documentaries (due credit goes to my dad for always leaving discovery running in the background). But more recently, I met an anthropologist at a conference and he recommended some really great reads and I must say, I am hooked. For instance, I read up about the Vijayanagara Empire (not from some random source glorifying the great merits of an Indian civilisation or empire) and I discovered that Telugu and Kannada had been the dominant languages. Also, Telugu was quite prolific in the arts. I knew that Telugu was a language of choice among several Carnatic music composers (due to the abundance of soft sounds...that is the best English translation I can come up with), but little did I know that it was quite abundant in literature too. Also, Telugu is quite different from Tamil apart from the common lexicon they share due to Sanskrit borrowing or simply regional borrowing. Though they share the same origin, neither originates from the other. I read up a lot of fascinating non-fanatic things about my culture & history. I could rattle on more, like what I read up about Mesopotamia and Egypt etc, but I shall pause for now.
I shall end off on a cheery note again:
Juhi learns something new every day
~Viraj and J at discussing cost of studying undergrad in UK/US~
V: I didn't even bother applying outside of Asia after checking the fees..
J: Yeah it amounts up to crores right..
V: no wtf, where does it amount to crores? :O
J:..so Imperial is 20k per year right...isn't that like 1.7 crore Rupees per year right
V: no...how is that 1.7 crores :O
J (gleeful of her mental math): see 20k * 85 = 1700000 Rup :D
V: ...that is 17 lakhs
J(confidently): no! there are 6 digits after "1" so isn't that 1.7 crore...?
V: no...1 crore is 100 lakhs
J: oh...so crore isn't like million...
V(facepalm): no...
J: oh then its only 17 lakh a year?!
V(flabbergasted): ONLY? WTF?
J (sheepish): sorry...
You will have to excuse the ignorance. I have never really used the Indian numeric system much growing up, and even when my parents use it, the only time they sound significantly perturbed by the conversion is when it amounts to crores, which I hence naturally assumed would be 1 mil in terms of digit-correspondence.
Also, I admire him for actually factoring the financial parameter into his choices at such a tender age. I was admittedly too immature to consider the financial component of such choices and happily applied wherever I wanted and to whatever my heart desired (hahaha for those who know me, you can see how different that sounds from the Juhi we know now lmao). Not that I would discourage potential college undergrads from applying into whatever course their heart tugs them towards, but remember, there is more to account for than just emotional/mental inclination. Ultimately, you must have the realistic understanding of the path you choose and the challenges it entails. Only choose a path when you have a rigorous understanding of the sacrifices that need to be made while pursuing it as well as the potential risks/consequences surrounding it.
Sonal, the reluctant medic
~J takes Sonal to her workplace (after catching lunch together) because J needs to collect her personal laptop~
J: Do you wanna get a drink? I can get you something to snack on if you're hungry.
S (clearly ignoring me): I wanna see how CBD looks like from the top, take me on a tour!!
J: It looks like how it's photographed in all those fake fancy pics of Singapore...but ok, I'll collect my laptop first and then take you
~S follows J to her the floor on which her lab is situated~
S (peering outside the window): you're so lucky...you get to work with this view...
J: tbh, it just makes you vaguely claustrophobic after a while...
S: HOW? It looks so fancy...surrounded by tall buildings...
J: ew, why would you wanna be surrounded by tall buildings when you literally grew up in this city...
S: well...it is better than being surrounded by dying, injured or sobbing people...
J: LOL, yeah true, but hey at least you get to feel like you are doing something altruistic right?
S: yeah...except that you start questioning your existence because you just signed up for being a long-term student
J: LOL, well I have to keep studying too...you can't be adept at hacking (a term I use to generalise pen testing, malware analysis and forensics because let's be real, no layman is gonna understand either of those terms) unless you keep abreast with software and hardware devs
S: SEEEE, you get to say you're a hacker...thats so cool :(
J: yeah but being a doctor is so much greater...you save lives :')
S (visibly upset): that's the thing a lot of people get wrong about medicine...there are actually select few paths within medicine that perform such critical tasks...and to reach that level of critical importance as a doctor, you need to train and study half your life away and that is IF you are smart enough to even qualify for those paths. Also sadly, a lot of people get into the profession for the bragging rights...they don't even do anything towards the cause of preserving life.
J (walking towards pantry because I was craving 100 plus big time): yeah but still, you do contribute to saving lives. you're irreplaceable!
S (tagging along, murmuring, looking around): yeah...whatever
J (reaching the pantry): you wanna get something to eat or drink?
S (inspecting the drinks vending machine): how much do I need to pay? there's nothing written...
J: it's free..just press on anything..you can try the snacks as well (points towards snack array)
S (clearly bewildered): wtf, that's it, I'm quitting medical school
Isn't she the cutest? I am really proud of her for choosing to pursue medicine tbh. Though I know a large part of the decision might have been directed due to peer pressure (nearly half my school cohort is pursuing either medicine/law), I know she has the right disposition to be a terrific doc. :)
Also, I appreciate having free medical certs(MC) from various sources. :P
Yizhou is hard to impress
~Office wifi is sucky in the lab as usual~
Y (early morning exasperation): OC isn't working again...
J (reading the morning mail because I use ethernet directly :P): apparently... ***** is the 8th most powerful brand globally...
Y(still trying hard to connect to the office Wifi): I think I might just use the static ports and then VPN...
J (not paying attention): Wow, you need to check this out...this thing is mad selective, Microsoft and Bain aren't in the top 10 man...McKinsey is 10th lmao...
Ruoxi (also reading): Yeah...only Google made it in terms of tech coms...
J: LOL, they have already changed our email signatures to include this -________-
Y (visibly agitated): Idk how they score powerful brands but the network infrastructure isn't powerful enough
J + R: LOL
Ciao! :)
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