I just realized that although it has been a while since we started conversing through this site, I have almost no idea who you all are. Might be a good idea if we all introduced ourselves to one another.
OK...since I brought this up...
Me - Pragyan Pradhan from Nepal, a student at Hamilton College, New York - currently chilling at LSE for a year - hopefully will get a BA degree in Math and Economics in 2008. Had wasted more than a year after high school doing nothing - now in a four year college - which means another year down the drain (compared to three-year colleges in Nepal). Plans after graduation - donno yet - will probably do something in business. What else...oh ya...I will be teaching Hindi next year with Maity. Now isn't that ironic? I have never had a single Hindi lesson in my lifetime.
OK...since I brought this up...
Me - Pragyan Pradhan from Nepal, a student at Hamilton College, New York - currently chilling at LSE for a year - hopefully will get a BA degree in Math and Economics in 2008. Had wasted more than a year after high school doing nothing - now in a four year college - which means another year down the drain (compared to three-year colleges in Nepal). Plans after graduation - donno yet - will probably do something in business. What else...oh ya...I will be teaching Hindi next year with Maity. Now isn't that ironic? I have never had a single Hindi lesson in my lifetime.
Hello Hello. I'm going to assume I'm one of "you all".
ReplyDeleteI'm Yohan John from ... well my parents are originally from Kerala, India. Lived in the US till I was 9, then moved to Tamil Nadu, India. Studied in St. Stephen's in Delhi (where I met Maity) and then IIT Bombay. Now I'm at Boston University doing my PhD in Cognititve and Neural Systems.
Don't worry about "lost years". There's no need to be in a hurry, because there's nothing waiting for you at the finish line (unless you're gunning for an arranged marriage)!
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ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI am Anusha Pai and I am not too fond of being called Pai. I am from Bangalore(in South India). I went to Stephen's and studied Econs. Nisha and Maity were my batchmates and very good friends. Nish, Maity and Yohan were in a society together, while I worked with all of them on the College Yearbook.
I am currently at Singapore Management University doing a masters in Econs and hope to work after this.
And could you tell me why Maity has disappeared? I haven't heard from him in so long.
Nice to meet u guys! This group sure is diverse. There are still few more to go. Maggie and Amit must be busy getting ready for their graduation.
ReplyDeleteThe gap was there coz of my sudden decision to go and study in the US. I don't regret having a gap year though. Sometimes I feel that that period could be the only true 'gap' I will have in my entire life.
No way - marriage is nowhere in sight at this moment.
Pai - sorry to call you by this name again but let us know by what name u would prefer us to call u.
Maity is always in his room, doing god knows what. Every time I call him, he says 'I am writing an email'. He sure misses people a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE44Rt_Ch_k
ReplyDeletecheck this out.
Call me Anusha.
ReplyDeletePragyan's RA traits seem to die hard, he's already playing ice-breakers as warm-up for his glory days as Orientation leader next term. Heeheehee.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't have to do this introduction thing, so I won't.
I'm disappointed Maggie didn't give me my House fix for the week. She must be busy.
Amit has disappeared, last I heard he asked me if I had any reading recommendations for him based on his tastes, I told him to pick up "His Dark Materials".
As for Jayant joining the blog, he's a lazy bastard, doing nothing at home, watching TV. He'll amble along sometime.
As for my disappearance, it's an attempt to study, I try not get near my computer. If I do, the day is wasted "writing emails". Pragyan knows what "writing emails" refers to. Remember the letter in "The Beaver"? Hehehe. And who calls in the middle of the night to tell me about Japanese men trying to speak English?
By the way, I think we should quit the market after our disastrous start. I hope we make better Hindi tutors than stock traders.
I wonder if I should shave for the boat party tonight?
Good luck with exams, if those are coming...I'll have to do something similar quite soon.
ReplyDeleteJayant ambling in here is about the only way he'll make an entry- weren't you the one who first called him a three-toed sloth?
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ReplyDeleteBtw, that youtube vid is freakin hilarious.
ReplyDeleteOmg...this is Chinese bootleg to the EXTREME. http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/12176706.html#cutid1
ReplyDeleteHey we shouldn't be that intimidating- all of us, with the exception of Yohan, are either twenty-two or getting there. College and law school work on different timelines here (law school takes five straight years after school unless you go to a normal college, which takes three)
ReplyDeleteegjbx: an egg and jam box
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ReplyDeletePrags is brilliant. As I see it, all the procrastination is just a smoke screen to fool us all.
ReplyDeleteFive years for law school? That's pretty hardcore. I'm 22 and am nowhere near as learn'd as you guys it seems. Damn different timeline...=P
powiez: pow! leads to owiez
Haha! I guess it's the new cool thing to do in Nepal these days. Generally we Nepalis preferred staying in our own country. Probably due to the ongoing political problems or upon finding better opportunities abroad now, we have started spreading out a bit.
ReplyDeleteMost people of my age I know back home love thinking about doing crazy stuffs. Going to some of the craziest places on the planet may be one of them. Unfortunately, most of us fail to work on them after dreaming about them. This brings out another trait of most people of my age back home. At times, we do easily cross the height of laziness.
If you try, I am sure you will find quite a few Nepalis living in your hometown. We are not that rare, especially in India.
I don't think I possess anything special. Hamilton gets most of the credit for my success as far as traveling goes.
Wow I'm the oldest procrastinator in the group!
ReplyDeleteWas the Amit mentioned above Anit Chandra? He's in Houston. I spoke to him a few months ago. He's proabably one some weird mental/spiritual trajectory now.
@Anusha: It's hard to fight nicknames. Besides, they are a sign of familiarity. It shows that people are comfortable enough to take your trip. I'm reminded of that line from Snatch:
Avi: Should I call you Bullet? Tooth?
Bullet Tooth Tony: You can call me Susan if it makes you happy.
I'm that way. I have a ton of nicknames, most of which my college friends don't know about. Even my dad doesn't call me Yohan. My sister doens't call me anything. She just says "hey."
uickj: yucky luck junior.
@Maggie: I'm really not that learned, being the only one of the bunch who doesn't have so much as a college degree yet. Five years sounds hardcore, I know, but we faff around enough to make it better.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the name-tagging, Pai, but I just can't seem to go back to calling you Anusha. I don't think I've called you that after we got to know each other properly, except in front of your mother. But it's much less annoying to be called by your surname than by some generic nickname like sweetie or some such. My best friend from school took to hanging out with theatre types and I can count the number of times she's used some version of my actual name with me, on the fingers of one hand. It's deeply annoying..
cucbbxc: an unknown BBC cub reporter.
You'll can still call me Pai. Like if if you liked it, I couldn't call you thamby. Just used to Nish.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago just about everybody everybody called me Pai and I stopped hearing my name. That's when I got annoyed.
But now, lots of my friends here call me Anusha, so you guys are free to call me Pai. As long as somebody calls me Anusha..
it's thambi, no. Sorry.
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ReplyDeleteYes, Aditya Perakath, I am Chinese. I'm the minority of minorities here along with the Nepali kid. That is, until Chou shows up...whenever that may be.
ReplyDeletehthffdyl: retarded pterodactyl
Calling friends using their nicknames is so much more convenient. I remember I had to be ashamed a few times in front of their parents and even our teachers for forgetting their real names. I was too used to their nicknames.
ReplyDeleteI still don't know the surnames of half of my classmates.
Coming from a high school where we don't even use firstnames, it kinda amuses me sometimes when I see you guys using full names to call one another. I guess if you have 51 Abhisheks, 76 Yohans, 46 Anushas, 64 Nishas and 88 Adityas in one single college, that might be the only alternative left. Correct me if I am wrong.
(P.S. The figures used above are totally random and are not meant to be taken seriously.)
ReplyDeleteHello, old friends. I can't believe I've missed out on this blog for so long. Am I obligated to post something about myself, too? Because I'm going to take the lazy route and refer you to the following blog instead: http://briefpause.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteI've spent the day Facebooking and doing other such dumb things, which only means I'll be up late tonight, sobbing as I try to write a paper. Sigh.
Took me a second to figure out that Abhishek meant Maity!
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong, but aren't there like a million Thapas in Nepal?
snyrk: Lynyrk's surname.
Haha! Thapa is a lastname...Lastnames (in Nepal) are more common than firstnames. In a group of 100 people, you might find 1 or 2 Thapas, that's it. There is no dominant lastname.
ReplyDeleteBut I must admit - names like Abhishek (Avishek) and Deepak aren't rare in Nepal either (relatively speaking).
Fancy Ms. Emily Tang landing up here. hehehe.
ReplyDeleteI've only known one Yohan and one Anusha, and actually even one Nisha. Aditya and Abhishek are commonplace. Last names are convenient, very rarely have I known two unrelated people with the same last names.
Oh and congratulations on graduating to Maggie, Amit and Chou.
oehbp: dyslexic call for help
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ReplyDeleteI actually had a neighbour named Yohaan John, and even a kid in school named Yohan John. My notions of uniqueness were shattered.
ReplyDeleteI've met tons of Abhisheks and Adityas.
Kerala Christian menfolk permute a few names, like John, Jacob, Mathew, Paul, Kurian, Cherian - they're both first and last names. We have separate "Family names" that are sort of like clan names for the extended family. Mine is Thayyil. Some names are really long, like Plammoottil or Ooppoottil or Padinjarakara.
Or even Perakath!
ReplyDeleteOoppoottil, haha! What does it mean? "Under the salt tree?"
haha. fancy that. Uppu is salt kannada too.
ReplyDeleteI think Ooppoottil means something else - maybe to do with paddy. It's Aparna Kurian's family name.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually lots of (non-Sanskrit) words that are similar in the Dravidian languages - like the numbers.
We've highjacked this post - it's no longer about introductions! Sorry Pragyan!
damn you guys...haha...just kidding.
ReplyDeleteThat's because they're all originally Tamil words, and Kannada, Telegu, and Malayam evolved from them later! :P
ReplyDeleteMy mom is convinced that Tamil existed before Sanskrit and Hindi did... I think that's taking it a bit far...
vsoyw: Beans, beans, good for your heart/ The more you eat, the more you fart/ The more you fart, the better you feel/ The better you feel, the more you eat/ The more you eat, the more you fart/ The more you fart, the better you feel...
So eat soya beans, they're good for your heart!
So this is how it works. Tamil is believed to be the oldest of the Dravidian languages. Kannada and Telugu split from the original proto-Dravidian language, as opposed to Tamil. Sanskrit influenced all the languages, but Tamil least.
ReplyDeleteTamil is definitely older than Hindi, which evolved in the 1000s or later, during Muslim rule. Tamil is from BC times. Malayalam gradually grew away from Tamil, starting around 800AD or so.
Tamil is quite possibly as old as Sanskrit, but it's hard to prove.
[I'm an amateur linguist! Hehe.]
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ReplyDeleteSanskrit, mostly. And then different regions have their own versions of it- Hindi in, say, Bombay is very different from the language in Delhi or Hyderabad.
ReplyDeleteYou know the other funny thing about Mallu Christians in College? They were nearly always related- like somebody's fifth cousin's third cousin's neighbour's aunt would turn out to be a classmate. I seemed to be the only person of Mallu extraction in my batch who wasn't related by blood or marriage to anyone.
And now we really have hijacked the commentspace- unless there are more intros awaited.
bcdpu: a Bong saying "VCDs? Pooh!"
Nisha, if you have a connection to Kottayam, Thuruvalla or Pala, you're probably distantly related to some Stephanian. Even if you don't have realtions there, it's a possibility.
ReplyDeleteSo Hindi come from Sanskrit, but mainly from the various Prakrits of the time, and the intermixing with Persian. From a linguistic perspective Hindi and Urdu are the same language (identical grammar, different vocab). Urdu means "of the camps" - it was the language of the army camps, where soldiers from all over mingled.
I was also told by Prof. Kamiya that Tamil has strong links to Japanese as languages. I don't know how much truth there is to this, I'm not much of a linguist. Do you know anything about this Yohan, or will we need to call Mr. Chomsky?
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Maityman!
ReplyDeleteJust in case you check back here..happy birthday!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard about this Japanese- Tamil link. But profs should know more than grad students, right?
ReplyDeleteHeppy Buddy Mighty.
*Does St Vitus's Dance!*
Hello, I too am a Y o h a a n J o h n (y-o-h-a-A-n with 2 a's). Nice to see others around ... parents also from kerala .. grew up in tamil nadu .. then later came to the US.
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