Well.. there is very good reason as to why I havent written anything for such an unusually long time - and a very good one too .. its right there on the title. My first week in Buffalo could not have been more of a travesty - when compared to what the rest of the time I have spent here promises to be. But I guess that is true of any new place ..or a new situation.
I did manage to sneak a trip to Niagara Falls - which is all of 30 minutes away from where I live (For Shame!!) , but I have hardly found any time between meeting profs and tryin to convince them that I am indeed worth their time and far far far more importantly their money, deriving inane equations in Cylindrical Coordinates, and cooking up sulfurous broths for my nightly consumption, by which I mean dinner.
The good thing about this has been I have grown used to the place surprisingly quickly - Buffalo is known for its people being amongst the friendliest - and perhaps, more seriously, racially tolerant, and I have had a pretty good experience so far. I have had friends and aquaintances who have had not so good experiences - the most smelly I have heard so far is of a guy in TAMU getting beat up by Texans - for the sole reason that he was Indian.
The bus drivers of Buffalo are a cheerful lot too- reminds me of the bus conductors back in Hyderabad - they are more than willing to chat on any damn topic under the sun, and dont mind if you are tad short on the cash..as is often the case. I have always accurately judged the general populace of the city based on its Bus operators. This may sound corky but has worked like a charm for me - Delhi's Bus conductors are "loud- and no nonsense - no time waste".. they take their business seriously, those in Bangalore speak in strict shuddhh Kannada and glare dissaprovingly at anyone who replies in any other language - the glare is the most disapproving for anwerers in Hindi, those in Hyderabad are always a tad too lazy to get up from their perch on the Bus handle enclosing the driver and make their way to the last seat to issue a ticket. I have travelled WT on numerous occasions on hyderabad buses -- aaah!! those golden days spent saving up on bus fare to consume vitriolic brews at those heavenly chaat bhandaars, always followed by a considerable time that evening spent on the pot -0! nevertheless it was worth it all. Judging by Buffalo's Drivers/Conductors - its a good place.
And while the late Professors of the department of Sociology at the SUNY Buffalo collectively spin in their graves - I shall proceed to an evening show of "Munich" - of course WT!!.
[ BTW - The shot above is one of the Niagara - my roommate risked his cell phone getting water-logged for this one.]
