First I'd like to thank UANT for the camara used in this photoessay. It is a 5.1 megapixel Sony DSC-W1 smart zoom. You can take movies with it too but I didn't.

A little about myself: I am an American studying at the UPC campus of UANT and I am in my fourth year. I went to India for something completely different. I had heard about it from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and thought it would be good to do some good by going there and seeing if I could go to school and maybe help people too.

When I got there, I began computer science classes. Here they let you take the classes you want, without loading you up with things you don't, like literature and humanities. I like the computers although they running the Compaq Presario S5000V which is from like 03. That was a drag but I made friends anyway and explored the city, had a good time. I'll admit it was dirtier than I expected, and no one cleans up community areas. The Tragedy of the Commons problem kept coming to mind. The solution, however, didn't. The public transport here is pretty wild. If you can get on you just fend for yourself. I had deoderant, but sometimes it felt like I was the only one.

I got a job too, not really to make ends meet, because I was good on money, but for the experience. I worked for a tech center, and actually fielded calls from the U.S. and U.K. Never got Australia though, maybe they have their own tech support over there.

A lot of people speak English here, I was surprised. At work one day, I was fielding calls from the U.S. and the guy on the other line asked me where I was located, just out of curiousity. I told him India, and he called me a 'bullshi*ter smart a*s' because I didn't have an accent. I couldn't rip him up back though, because they monitor what you say. I just told him that I was serious and about studying abroad from UANT but he didn't believe any of that. He told me to screw myself and slammed the phone. My boss reviewed the tape and put me on fielding calls from Canada instead, shaking his head that no one in the world can get along with American customers. New perspective for me, that's for sure.

All in all, I don't know. I said to myself that I would try to make a difference, though, and it didn't feel like I accomplished that. So, I decided to do my part by adopting a child. Veeral and Jindal (twins) are coming home with me to UANT until I finish, and then we will move to Miami. Honestly, there's not much interesting in India. I would try Pakistan if you like the South Asian thing, or just stick at UANT. The air there is a lot drier.

PS: Bombay is called Mombai now.