Powerless...

US is known to be a country that has a 24hr supply of gas, water and electricity but what I missed was the underlying fact that one has to pay for them and, as I came to know, one has to have them on their name first.

10^th August, Wednesday, is the day that marked the beginning of a struggle, a week long struggle. I came back around 4 pm and saw my landlord with some other workers engaged in some sort of repair work. It turns out that our building’s gas was leaking and they had to come to fix it. I walked up to my apartment and saw that there was no electricity and I attributed it to the repair work that they were doing. It was only when the landlord came up to witness some minor fixes that I had asked him to look into that he told me that they hadn’t shut the electricity off. He said that I needed to call up NYSEG and have the electricity put in my name. I had tried doing that a couple of times before and they always used to ask me my 11 digit account number before they could proceed but, coincidentally, when I tried today it got through and they took my request. They said that my electricity would be restored by Thursday… and I thought it wasn’t so bad, just a day more… the 18^th of August! I was spellbound. I asked them to repeat and I had heard it right – 5 business days which meant at most by Thursday, the 18^th of August, because of the damn weekend the 5 business days translated to 7 calendar days! With that they gave me the information that my brakers need to be in the off position without which they would be unable to restore electricity and hence their visit would go in vain.

And thus began my ordeal of dark nights! I, at first, couldn’t imagine how I would pass the day and I thought of taking shelter at some place till the problem got resolved but I then decided to take the situation head-on. It took just about a day for the eatable in the fridge to begin spoiling and it was then that I considered myself fortunate and thanked my Mom for stuffing the readymade food into my bags even when I insisted otherwise. My meal, for the next few days, was to be bread and some warmed up dish! I began waking up in the morning and spending the time reading, something that had got neglected in the past few months and that I enjoyed doing a lot. I went over quite a few prerequisites that were a must for my course and made good use of the morning time. It was on the second day that the dying battery of my phone begged me to nourish it longer and, considering who benefits, I caved in. And so I came back at about 2 am on Thursday when my phone indicated it was completely stuffed!

In a couple of days I had formed a routine until 12^th August when my first roommate came. As soon as he came we ventured out to take a stroll in the Campus and I showed him the Libe Slope and he was instantly awed. The Libe Slope is one of the most peaceful (or the noisiest, depending at the time you go) places on the Campus and the sunset at this place is breathtaking, i.e. if you can see the sun in the Ithaca sky! We then went to the engineering atrium which is a huge hall where you’d find students working over their academic challenges in groups, some sitting in solitude with headphones to break out of the daily routine, a few squatting on a single couch taking a quick nap while others munching a quick bite at Mattin’s. This is the place that has been home to me for the past couple of days and would be so for the coming few days as well. After empowering our devices in the atrium, I can’t recall but I think, we headed over to CTB. I showed him the most happening spot in Collegetown which is further highlighted for it being the first joint one encounters when exiting the university. We fed our stomach there itself since we couldn’t have made much in the dark and upon reaching home we… well, what else, fell asleep!

The next day was going to be a packed day. We had to go get my room mate’s phone and I had to go shop for my suit because we had to wear one during our orientations the coming week. The MEng program in ORIE is one of its kinds that have a week long orientation called MEng Connect that is aimed towards professional development of the candidates, but more on that later. So we went to the commons in the afternoon and looked at different options for him to get a phone. We inquired at the store called Cell Connect that is the place where most of the students buy their first prepaid connections, if not phones, from, primarily because of the low price and a good signal. We then wandered a bit more eyeing for another store that could provide us with competitive prices and at the same time I was looking out for outlets that showcased gentlemen clothing. I came across a store called trade something and it attracted my attention. As soon as I stepped into the store I could see different sections for different kinds of apparels, and that too a huge stock for the size of the store, with people thronging the entire vicinity. It soon became reminiscent of the janpath or linking road with all the stalls aggregated under a single roof. Essentially it was a trading platform where people could sell their apparel at 40% of its resale value. I did find a tie that looked neat but I didn’t have a suit and I didn’t want to start by buying a tie. So I ventured out and bang in front of me was Benjamin Peters, supposedly the only gentleman clothing store in Commons. I went inside and found the prices to be more than my budget and more than what, I guess, I would normally find in India. Nevertheless I strolled through the store and fortunately found a clearance section. Being an average 5”9” and the corresponding waist size, I have never been lucky in a clearance sale but I guess today was different. Today, I was in USA. I was in the land where my built fell below average by a margin, as I just came to know, and today was the day I was going to take the full benefit of it! I found a good deal on a suit and tried it well enough to conclude that it was a good fit. But I still was in a double mind as to whether I should go ahead and look up Walmart since it is known to have cheap options for everything under the sun. At the end of the day, I couldn’t order the suit I saw and had to wait until the next day to purchase it.

But this wasn’t the end of the day. We bought my room mate’s phone and we scurried off to our place as he wasn’t feeling too well. At first it seemed like just a normal cold and weakness but it soon developed into a fever and with no power it was a tough situation. I went to the Wilson Farms, which is one of the very few well equipped grocery stores in the vicinity with others, like Wegman’s, being a few miles out south, and got some fruits. I then managed to ask my fellow building-mates to allow me to use their appliances and edible items to prepare a simple dish that I could then give to my room mate to serve as a supply of essential nutrients.

The next day I went to Benjamin Peters, purchased my suit and left it over for altering. On my way back I bought a bottle of orange juice and picked up some paranthas from another friend’s that we could eat at home. Fortunately, as I reached home, my other room mate also came with his sister and her husband and they had loads of food packed with them to last a couple of days.

I do not remember very distinctly how the rest of the few days went but I received my perfectly fitted suit on Monday. On Tuesday I had my first day of orientation and both Tuesday and Wednesday were going to be really occupied for me and we were going to get power back on Wednesday. My first room mate seemed to be recovering slowly and he seemed to be in good shape by Wednesday. With God’s grace and the promise kept by NYSEG, we were back in power by the time I came back on Wednesday. As a part of the MEng Connect, we were working on a group project and I took leave from my group since I had to check the situation and take action if it wasn’t remedied, but thankfully it was!

Life had actually become a routine during that week and we, at least I, had adjusted to the same. It was because of this sudden change that I could focus on activities I earlier, and for that matter even later, used to ignore. I spent more time reading and talking to people and I realized how computer centric our lives have become. I felt that it wasn’t a bad way to explore, rather go deeper, into other activities by abstaining from the ones that occupy the most of your time!

Down the memory lane... Toronto

Juggling between so many things – pre-requisites, meeting people, last few days for leisure before classes begin, badminton, where the next meal will come from – I tend to procrastinate tasks that have no tangible impact on my life, blogging being one of them. And this reflects on the numerous incomplete blogs I’ve started. But it needs to change this time and I need to finish what I started. It’s like a commitment and I owe it to myself to honor this commitment.

Ok. I’ll cut the chase but yeah… there have been quite a few events that have unfolded since the last time we met like the get together on 27^th Jul where a bunch of us met, my trip to Toronto, the moving into my apartment, the trip to NY and the electricity goof up!

As for our meeting, if I can remember correctly, and in no particular order, there was one girl who is doing Masters in Architecture Design, a guy doing PhD in electrical, a guy who had just completed his MBA from Johnson, a girl who was into her second term in Systems Engineering, another girl who was, I think, taking up an MS in Computer Science, if I remember correctly, and another who was doing a PhD in medical which required her to spend considerable time in the NY medical campus. It was nice to know folks from different fields as niche as they were and to go through their experiences that brought them here. One of them had studied at CMU in Pittsburgh and couldn’t stop comparing it with Ithaca that always inevitably ended up in Cornell lagging behind in the race. The Design major had some unconventional ideas of how to shape her courses in Cornell and the career thereafter. The Systems Engineer was mulling of which courses to take in the fall and was telling me that she was advised not to take any OR courses since they were known to rob you of your leisure time! The electrical PhD guy was fresh out of college and was excited to take on the challenges in the 5-6 year long stay that he has in front of him and the MBA guy was on the opposite end – had had enough life at Cornell with its ups and downs (in terms of temperature as well) and was looking forward to take up a job and start reaping the sown MBA seeds!

Ok. Let’s come to my trip to Toronto. This is something I had been looking forward to. Having worked at Capital One which has an office in Toronto I have quite a few folks who are either working there or were just visiting. There are just a few ways to go to Toronto – book a bus ticket with Greyhound that picks you up from the State Street Terminal and goes via Rochester->Buffalo->Toronto or try looking up for someone who is going that way and open for a ride. I actually found someone, coincidentally the folks I had met the other day and hitched a ride with them till Buffalo from where I had already booked a bus to Toronto. So it helps to meet people! We started off around 3 pm from Ithaca and reached Buffalo bus terminal around 7:15 pm after picking up a friend of theirs from Rochester at about 5:20 pm. I was in time for the 8:10 bus the ticket of which I had purchased but I was hoping to switch to 7:40 if there was space. Upon reaching I found that there were quite a few people for the 8:10 bus and just one for the 7:40 one and that made the chances of my move difficult. Megabus was what I had booked tickets on but the stop was primarily Greyhound and Coach USA’s. We had to wait for a long time before the buses arrived at 9:10 pm, all the while being told of the pathetic New York traffic that caused the delay. The Megabus staff on floor was trying out desperate tricks, actually they were being foolishly comic, to “entertain” the customers that was, frankly, more pestering than fun. Coincidentally both the buses came back to back with the 8:10 one stopping behind, and hence blocking the way of, the 7:40 one which meant that it would, ironically, leave earlier! We hopped on to that bus and, after spending about 30-45 minutes at the border, reached Toronto around midnight. While coming back I realized how lucky I was to have cleared the customs in such a short span of time.

My stay in Toronto was short and awesome. My friend from Capital One lives on the 22^nd (or is it 27^th?) floor and the view is AMAZING! The first day I went down the memory lane at U of T. Although the pita restaurant at College St. and University Ave. was closed, it felt good to be back in time, so to say J We then went to witness the liveliness at Dundas and Yonge and I was amazed to see the same street performers who used to sit there back in 2006. We had food at a Mediterranean place right in front of Eaton Center on Dundas and then we got some beer to drink at my friend’s place. Let me tell you, its an altogether different feeling to sit on the 27^th floor with the cool breeze blowing into your face, the sun setting on the horizon and dozens of ant-sized people buzzing on the ground. All this with a bottle of beer!

Other than that, we hung around a few pubs in the vicinity, met a few folks from my ex-company, went over to a pool party and that was pretty amazing and sat besides the lake, again another kind of relaxation! I was to take my bus back on Sunday but I hadn’t booked my tickets yet and when I inquired about the tickets, guess what, they were $80, CAD 80 which, they told, translated to $100 US. The same ticket when booked online costs $57. With an incentive of meeting another friend who had flown the previous day, I decided to book the ticket online for the next day that I can then have printed at the FedEx next to the Greyhound bus stop. And the decision was well made, that night went pretty well J

The next morning was terrible. With my bus being at 10 AM, I reached the stop at 9:30 only to know that Greyhound has a screwed up online schedule and the next bus would leave only at noon. Although they advised me to check if the 9 AM bus hasn’t still left and, to my utter surprise, there was a big line of about 70-80 folks including the ones for the 8 AM bus. With passengers piling up and no bus in sight the staff were helpless, or so they claimed, even to provide the basic information of when the bus would come saying that they had no means of getting in touch with the driver! Duh!! Somehow, luckily they managed to rake in another bus on way to Binghamton via Syracuse but they had no clue on how I would reach Ithaca! More astonishing and frustrating was the fact that the drivers claimed to have no idea where the bus was going even when they had boarded and began driving!

I had no idea what was in store for me at Syracuse. When I reached I was told that the only bus to Ithaca had left 30 minutes ago and the only way for me to reach Ithaca was to go all the way to Binghamton and then back following which I’d reach Cornell at about 10 pm. I told them that I had signed up for a 10 am to 5 pm ride and Greyhound is bound to uphold that reservation to which he said that the service is on a first-come-first served basis and is not guaranteed. Unaware of that fact I realized how careless and indifferent the staff was to passenger’s schedule. I went over my alternatives and mulled the option of going all the way to Binghamton but I couldn’t wait another 5 hours to reach home. Having thought out my defense I returned for another round of discussion with him and after much deliberation he agreed to refund the money. I felt victorious for a moment but quickly realized that I’ll have to shell out another $30 for a cab ride and demanded that I justly be given the extra amount since there was no reason for abandoning a passenger midway and they owed me a ride to Ithaca by 5 pm. He retributed with the example of the airlines that also operate on a first-cum-first-served principle but he soon fell flat on his words which was apparent from his pale face when I added that they compensate with $600 and provide a day’s stay in a hotel and all that am asking is $30 to cover my cab fare.

It was a sad experience and what made it worse was that the staff couldn’t own up to the situation and could not provide a satisfactory response that could alleviate the passenger’s concerns. I would think thrice before booking Greyhound!!