New Delhi: Life for an Indian student in the land of opportunities—United States—is full of challenges. From racism to financial crunch to competing against the best brains in the world, Sandeep Varma, Senior Analyst, Lehman Brothers, New York gives his account of the ordeal and opportunities that came his way while he made his way to the top.
Chapter1: Landing in NY
I distinctly remember my first day on US soil; I had eagerly awaited this day all my life and was so looking forward to making a name for myself in this foreign magical land. Everybody called it the land of opportunity but somehow I just knew I belonged here.
The streets were so wide n clean and the cars sped by me as I waited for the transit bus to get me to port authority. Struggling with two suitcases filled with mummy's heavy steel utensils, I finally managed to get to Ithaca with my two roomies where a friend was waiting for us at 4 in the morning.
Ithaca seemed really dull at night though I did see a few kids out on the street at Collegetown, which later became the place I hung out all the time. The first few days were spent at north campus at this friend's place who took us around campus.
As I tried to gather where I was I soon realised how lucky I was to be at such an esteemed school. I knew that I would work my ass off to live up to the school's rep and prove myself, but what followed was something I could never imagine.
Chapter 2: The Horror semester
Somehow the education system seemed weird. We would just keep running around from one class to another; the profs never came into the class as there was no fixed set of classes for a fixed group of people.
Sandeep Varma is a Senior Analyst at Lehman Brothers, New York and an alumni of Cornell University. (He can be reached at [email protected])
I could pick n choose my classes. How tough could it be to choose 4 courses after all? But the orientation had scared me, we were told we'd have no life and would be competing against the best brains in the world and I really think the place had its share of grey cells and the resources to make the best scientists out there.
Anyhow, 4 courses eh...hah, I decided to go attend about 6 of them and then drop a couple along the way. But midway through the first month, I still didn't know which classes to drop.
You see, I was still waking up everyday trying to convince myself that I was here and with studying involved it all got too overwhelming all too soon. And the kind of people I was pegged against scared me.
Now I always did decently well in school but, I never wrote a lot of code on my own at all. It was just not my thing. And what did I have to do in all my classes..CODE...damn it! The pressure started mounting, I came home every night trying to calm myself down and not knowing what to read, where to start.
I was so used to having a set pattern and a support system in place that I just couldn't handle studying along with all the other dozen chores you need to carry out when you stay without someone who manages them for you.
And everything seemed so expensive. Because everything I bought was directly multiplied by 50. I needed money, I had to get a job or a TA...
Chapter 3: Signs of Trouble
So, stressful as it was, I was still coping with my first semester at Cornell. I even managed to ace an Operating Systems class so I wasn't feeling that left out anymore...
And then it started…we went on this trip to the Niagara falls ...I still remember that day...(flashback)...It was a chilly day but we were all really excited to go see one of the most talked about places in at Cornell (guess that’s the only "happening" place in upstate NY). It really was quite alright, but getting drenched at the cave of the winds was quite an experience and I being the ‘stud’, decided that I'd just let myself dry out in those wet clothes.
Well, I think I would have caught a cold...and I wasn't eating too well either...plus there was a lot of stress, and less sleep. All in all, a perfect mix for immune breaking diseases to crawl into my system. So I started getting sick really fast.
I was tired, had started coughing but somehow I never bothered too much about it. I was busy collecting my $8 an hour on my part time job and trying to study as hard as I could. But then I broke down and finally decided to go get myself checked up. And I had pneumonia. The doc prescribed me some meds for a week and I'd supposedly be alright after that but ... I wasn’t alright. Very soon I was admitted to the ICU because the diagnosed pneumonia was coupled with something more serious. I was told I am infected with tuberculosis. I had given hopes and had almost planned returning back to India...
To be continued...
(Read part2: My Life goes into turmoil)
(Sandeep Varma is a Financial Analyst at Lehman Brothers, New York.)
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