With
not even a complete year having passed since my arrival here, at
Chicago, I got to experience my first bit of nostalgia a few days back.
The occasion – my room-mate, Amit’s leaving our apartment and moving to
the suburbs since he had got a co-op. Well, skeptics might be tempted to
term it over-reaction or unnecessary emotion, but there is a certain
bonding you develop with your room-mates over a period of time, however
alike or unlike you might be. In fact, the more unlike, the more you get
to know each other, and try to suit yourself with his or her way of
life. Possibly, this is what happens when Darwin studies Biology’s
fellow science. Some sort of chemistry evolves over a period of time,
between room-mates, and kindles the occasional nostalgic emotion in you,
which is what prompted me to write this piece, a welcome respite after
having gone through a phase which every writer dreads – Writer’s Block.
Basically, I was under this misconception that emotions run low here,
and professionalism takes over every aspect of life once one arrives in
the US of A. Well, I was both wrong and right, though in parts.
Notwithstanding the fact that the degree of professionalism exhibited
here is impressive, and pervades all aspects of life, emotions do exist,
albeit not to the minimal extent that I made out. Whether it is the
land or the atmosphere or just a weird rearrangement of the chromosomes,
one should definitely accept the fact that one’s EQ (Emotional
Quotient) undergoes a transformation here (for the better or the worse,
it is up to the individual!). It is a bit similar to the feel that Ayn
Rand gives, of the land of America, though not to the same extent. The
notion of all of man’s visions and dreams taking shape in reality does
indeed confront you here, but there is a rather uncomfortable tinge of
materialism to it, add to this, some professionalism, and the humaneness
in us seems to take a back seat. Of course, I might be wrong, but this
is what I made out here. Which is why the feeling of nostalgia and
missing when my room-mate left seemed a bit strange to me. But still,
we’re humans, aren’t we?
