Here is the gist of my argument: food in events in the CMU campus in Pgh (from now to be referred to as CMU-P) is fudging fattening. On the other hand, food in events on the CMU campus in Doha, Qatar (from now to be referred to as CMU-Q) is healthy. Despite reducing my meal count every day to ONE in CMU-P, I don’t see any good happening because free food here, 97% (according to a fake Nielsen report) of times is Pizza or some other really junky crap. On the other hand, free food in Qatar is either some Arab junk food or some small number of times, Pizza. And that’s because Pizza is not such a utility as it is in CMU-P.

So what’s important to know is that there is good junk food and then there is bad junk food. Everything I end up eating in CMU-P free food events is bad junk food. Layers of floating oil on 3 levels of cheese on a pre-oiled thick whole-flour bread, i.e. pizza, leads the pack. The only available side in most cases in packs of oily fried chips, and the drink option almost always is a i-want-to-ruin-your-teeth-and-stomach soda. Or there is the occasional sandwich, with 6 layers of Swiss cheese and olive oil for taste. Not healthy as your average fruit either.

On the other hand, I consider junk food in Doha to be good junk food. Fataayer (a 1/4 in thickness bread base) is your perfect pizza replacement – often served with some tasty zaatar (a god damn herb topping) just feels like pleasure to the taste buds. And if there is the occasional halloumi cheese, there amount is limited and it not burned to perfection. Falafel and shawarma wraps are kept really simple, and the fried contents are often really little. The sides include labneh (yes, as simple as a freaking yoghurt), hummus (mashed chick-peas with occasional drops of oil), babganoush (egg-plant), tabouleh (fine chopped parsley leaves), dolma (grape leaves wrapping non-fried rice), etc. How more simple and non-fatty could good tasting food get?! Not only that – there is an intentional focus on keeping it healthy. These all happen to be very finger snack-ish, which means it is almost as simple as grabbing pizza slices or sandwiches.

And thus, my proposal: I know pizza is easily accessible and cheap everywhere around campus, and the free delivery guy doesn’t mind not being tipped, but please take some time and think about how disgusted every person like me attending your event is from eating such unhealthy food. Trust me, we will love you, do more for you and even get people to pay for your events – just if you can learn this little small lesson from free food events at our little sibling campus in the desert of the Gulf.

If you are planning an exchange semester of study in a new part of the world, your in for a roller-coaster ride whose trajectory your parents and friends cannot fully predict by merely listening to the screams of the ones with balls. Here is my heads-up on 7 things most people, schools, and websites will not tell you about planning for your experience which will play a big role in determining the quality of your experience:

1. Different ethnic backgrounds. Different cultures. But Same expectations. Same needs.

Excited about a new city, new culture & new people? Sure you are! But at the same time you wonder: “How are the people going to perceive me?” and “Am I going to be comfortable talking to (Asians, Americans, Europeans, Indians)?”. Put in a dumpster all those thoughts about if you are going to fit in and if local students would match your wave-length. Because here is the real deal: yes, they may look different. Yes, they may have different accents. Yes, they may not catch your jokes and vice-versa. Yes, their traditions, values and religious beliefs may be different. But what you need to know is that there is a lot of stuff that is common in the both of you. They are as connected, as progressive, as funny, as excited and as full of youth energy as you are. They are as “hip” as you are. They even have the same problems, same aspirations and same thoughts as you do. They are as nervous about being worthy hosts as you are about being a respectful guest. They are most willing to forgive you for the cultural mistakes you make and the norms you break in your early days. They are young students like you – and they have the very same needs and expectations from life as you do. So, don’t be intimidated, don’t be afraid to mix and question, don’t hide in your comfort zone. Be super-friendly. Be yourself!

2. Travel light. Travel smart.

If it is a common scene in your house to have your parents pack your bags a night before you fly, I wish to alert you. It is easy to get carried away when parents insist that you must carry x pairs of clothing, y packets of food and z number of body and lifestyle products. Ultimately, and more commonly, you tend to throw away most food or forcefully stuff it in your body by the end of the first month, repeat clothes more often than you thought, and simply ignore all those beauty and lifestyle products which were an integral part of your life at home. Exchange semesters are your big opportunity to explore. Learn to maximize your experience by trying local foods and finding some taste in them. Give a shot trying on clothes that local people wear. And there is just no way how you are going to stop yourself from buying a lot of souvenirs and local products – you want some space in your luggage, now don’t you? This also gives you an opportunity to save sweating out in moving those huge bags on the first few days when you are trying to settle in well. Take only the stuff you absolutely need. Those fancy boots can wait at home

3. Keep your expectations low.

Even more appropriately: Don’t have any expectations. High expectations are probably the biggest cause for disappointing exchange semesters. A lot of what you see in the photos and on television is overrated and not an average traveler’s experience. Even if it is, those are glorified depictions. It is very common for host universities to market their campus life as extra-ordinarily amazing. The descriptions of the cuisine in the city give a reader the impression that the food they eat at home is tasteless. And all this gets us naive undergraduates’ expectations to hit the roof. Here’s the reality: A lot of traditions and activities may not impress you. The foreign language that earlier sounded like romance-speak may later sound like cattle grazing in your ears. The food might be too sour or too bland compared to what you like. The courses at the university might just be too difficult, while the night life might be too dull. Let these not disappoint you. Take everything in the best stride and enjoy the experience for what it is. Learn to appreciate diversity. Only then will you find beauty and joy in the little things you experience (Don’t confuse this with excitement levels. You should be psyched about this experience!)

4. Facebook status and information updates are good.

I bet most of your friends and acquaintances claim to be way too overwhelmed with work or other stuff in life. Even if that means spending an awful lot of time sleeping or watching television. It’s time you stop waiting for them to ask you about what you are up to, and take an active step in telling people where you are. Use tools like Facebook and email to announce your new location, your telephone number and your willingness to hear from them. In many cases, as it turns out, your friends have great pals or relatives in this city your going to be spending your semester in. And very often, if you have at least >100 friends, somebody is going to respond to you telling you something they know about the place. Also, this way you will safely have some saving grace from those “you-did-not-tell-me-that-you-were-going-to-Madagascar!” messages. Here is why this is important: there is a high likely-hood that you may feel awfully homesick by mid-semester. You might begin to miss all your douche friends back at home uploading a million pictures every day. There is nothing you can really do about this – just try and make sure you are making quality friendships in the new city, while you are acting like a perfect tourist. Meanwhile, you may occasionally have a school friend visit you or call you once in a while to make you comfortable.

(Avoid statuses like: “This is awful! I want to go home :’(“. These make you hate circumstances even more. The “Like”s and “Awwww…” responses aren’t going to help either)

5. Stand-out at your home. Learn to become a nobody at the other’s place.

Hello Mr/Mrs Awesome! So you have the sickest ride, eh? Or are you the chick everyone is talking about? Good for you. But here is a tip if you are keen on deeply exploring another culture and society on your exchange semester: leave at home your accolades gallery and completely give-up your ego. These achievements might just become the difference between you blending in with your new schoolmates and being a complete outcast. Give a chance for others to approach you and know you better. Give yourself a chance to stop thinking of someone being worse than you at something. What you really want to be able to do is to mix in with everybody and learn about what different people are all about. You will soon realize that your discoveries in all kinds of people will become your favorite aspect about the exchange semester, and the international experience as a whole

6. Buffer is golden.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines buffer as “an old man”. Oops! Wrong definition – never mind! Buffer is actually that space or that cushion which prevents oneself from shock. And if you thought you are the world’s best planner and that does not apply to you – you might have just misunderstood the business of traveling. You should expect shocks everywhere – a surprise fee for your visa on arrival in the country, a delayed connecting flight, a missed connection, heavy road traffic, lack of enough information with the housing you are going to arrive in, no one understanding your language/accent, a delay in airport pick-up, a receipt for your meal in the airplane, etc. But if these are all unexpected, what do you do about this? Buy yourself some buffer. Print those extra reservation documents and emails about your travel, carry those returned forms from the embassy, buy yourself adequate time to catch the next flight, learn some basic conversations in the language you expect people to use – using Google Translate, carry some extra money on you (don’t expect ATMs to be as widespread as Coca-cola), etc. Do a run-through of your journey, possibly with an experienced traveler, and prepare yourself with some buffer.

7. Set goals for the semester: they tend to save you from sinking into laziness

(Read the title. It’s self explanatory)

All that taken care of, you should look forward to an experience of a lifetime. I am already so excited for you!

Thanks very much for taking the time to scroll through the images and play the video clips (and occasionally reading our boring encounters ) on Zaid’s and my blog throughout the semester. We appreciate your thoughts and visits to our rather simple blog.

I wish to update you on our lives. Zaid has finished his semester in Pittsburgh and is now excited to return to Doha for the last 3 semesters of his undergraduate life. His life has been busy – leading the planning for TEDxCarnegieMellonQatar, coordinating other DSO activities, traveling to London -> Doha -> Al-Ain -> Doha. Design is now an essential part of his life, and he has launched a very interesting blog on this critique of design: Critique-a-week. I haven’t quite asked him if he will blog on Doh Musafir this semester – do watch out for the comments on this post because I expect the answer of that question to be there.

I got done with my exchange semester at Singapore Management University (SMU) and returned to my home in Muscat, Oman. Very soon, I will heading to Pittsburgh, US, where I will be spending the next semester. Its cold, yet I am excited about the place, the people and most importantly, CMU. I have been busy with my grad school application, beauty products, giving my family a lot of time, and a couple of jobs. Inspired by Zaid, I will also be writing my own blog on something I am very passionate about: Development, technology and people. I am certainly going to try to blog this semester – whenever I get an opportunity. I am going to miss Doha.

If you think we can make an effort to make this blog more interesting (yes, we know we must blog more!), do drop it in as comments, shoot us an email, or FB message us. We will be thrilled to hear from you.

Well, the point of this mini blog entry is just to everyone how it’s like to walk around in Pittsburgh at this time of the year. Enjoy =)

As a seasonal blogger and Fakebook celebrity, I understand the need for keeping things concise and clear. And so, without spending too much time beating around the bush, here are are my top 7 reasons for loving CMU-Q:

1. Many universities, many cultures BUT One community. One family.

   As a visitor to Education City, you will not help but notice this striking aspect: there are no borders between members of different academic institutions. They are no multiple communities among students from different universities, residence halls, nationalities and cultures. There is just one community, just one big family. Americans celebrate Garangao night like it were the next best thing to Christmas, Arabs are the most enthusiastic participants of Desi events, and the presence of Christians & Hindus is just indispensable when celebrating Eid. Event organizers from TAMU-Q cannot imagine a large gathering, without the presence of members from CMU-Q and NU-Q. At most, there is 1 degree of separation between any two individuals here. You’ve simply got to love this! Texans in thobes and Egyptians in kurta-pyjamas is a familiar sight. Never before have I come across such a genius mix of people and such a hybrid, yet vibrant community atmosphere. This is in complete contrast to what you would find in a big campus at one of the home universities in the US, where most students, from say the business school, have never met students from engineering schools.

2. Opportunitistan

   As an undergraduate student, one thing you always lookout for is for people to notice your ideas & work, and give you opportunities. Its an inconvenient truth to most students that the best faculty, managers and people with power are not deeply interested in immature and less nurtured undergrad minds. Not the case with CMU-Q. Education City, especially CMU-Q, is the land of opportunities you want to be in today. Whether it be funding for student-run hobby clubs, evangelists hearing out your dreams and associated ideas, or your willingness to teach your peers and get paid for it, there is a flood of opportunities at any given moment in this city. The best part is that you don’t need the best pair of goggles or swimming trunks to dive into this flood – all amateurs are invited and learn by trying the waters

3. Access to wisdom, and the tools to be wise

   You may have the best tuxedo, degree from UK’s number one medical school, the sexiest girlfriend in town, several jobs at your doorstep, etc. But what money and effort cannot buy most undergraduates is wisdom, because wisdom comes from experience. And it is not just important in allowing you to achieve what you always wanted, it is CRITICAL. To capture this critical component, you need to have the chance to communicate with the leaders, the gurus and the knowledge creators. This is exactly what you get to do at CMU-Q. No mention of names, but I have personally had deep discussions with visitors to CMU-Q, who wouldn’t have ever offered me a 2-minute appointment at their HQ in New York. And when you get the chance to have access to them, when you speak to them, you learn more about combating challenges and reaching your goals, than any Deepak Chopra book can teach you. It just gets better, as all Education City students get access to all the facilities students in other countries can only dream about. At no extra charge, every student entering CMU-Q gets multiple opportunities to train themselves to dream big, learn about how to make them real by accessing wisdom of the experienced ones, and the right set of tools to chase them. All this, in the luxury of enjoying some of the finest education in the world.

4. Easy to become a big fish, in a medium-sized pond

   The only thing Maslow would have never predicted, when he came up with his theory on hierarchy of needs, was that students at CMU-Q, or for that matter any institution in Education City, can reach the hierarchy level of esteem without all that much struggle and effort. Lets put this in simpler words. When a reputable community is very small, such as that in CMU-Q, it is not very hard for an individual to take efforts, which are marginally better than average, and get known in the eyes of others in the community. This simple socio-economics idea is not a piece of genius, and often does not mean much to most students. However, it works like a true charm when this community comprises of knowledgeable, powerful and influential people, and the-better-than-average performer comes to be known in their eyes. This opens a world of opportunities for the new big fishes, and places these individuals nearer to the core of the more active, upcoming and powerful networks. And suddenly, the world becomes their playground. Traditionalists think of this as pampering young minds, but I would like to believe that this is a new paradigm of empowerment where newcomers can battle most experienced warriors, without having to stay in lower ranks for decades.

5. Qatar needs YOU

   Let’s be downright honest. The Education City exists because of a simple idea: (this is the part that most people think is more important) to provide young minds of the region with an opportunity to get the finest education in world, without having to travel abroad, (but actually, this is the more important part) so that these nurtured and knowledgeable minds can stay in the region and contribute to the local economies. It is clear: Qatar needs YOU; Qatar needs analytical, reasoning, ambitious, competitive, bullish & broad thinking minds. Every student from Education City is a big asset to the economy. Being appropriate in accounting lingo, every student is an investment, and Qatar needs to maximize their return from this investment. The finest planners of the country are desperately waiting every year to tap into the enormous potential in the community. I hope the next time someone from these universities wonders if they would get a job after they graduate or not, the answer should be clear: if you are good, no matter what, there is a nation that believes in you and will have you build it well, at any cost

6. Creating and innovating systems and traditions

   It has been less than 8 years, since CMU-Q has come into being. While cultures, beliefs and practices are being imported from the home campus of the university, there is a very fascinating phenomena happening in campus in the Qatar: traditions and values are having sex, and all of a sudden, new hybrid systems and traditions are emerging. This is that phase in the life of the university when systems, processes and norms are in their infancy. You may wonder what is so beautiful about this. What is beautiful is that all the members of this community today are getting an undisputed chance to contribute ideas in how they want these traditions to be, and what are the ideal ingredients to making this never before cooked recipe. This is special and not happening anywhere else in the world at this scale. This is just one of the many advantages no one realizes they will become a part of, and often base their decisions on applying to these universities on how hard it would be to explain to every second individual on how legitimate the education and degree is.

7. Experiments have its perks

   Education City is probably one of the largest experiments of its kind. For one, we all know that when researchers conduct big experiments, they give in all their resources and energy in making these first experiments successful, because they do not want to fail. The word “fail” is not even in the dictionary of the Qatar Foundation. And so this experiment also has its perks: the administration of all the universities go all out in making the student experience very very special. Beginning with extremely well-worked out orientation programs, to grand and massive graduation & convocation ceremonies. Financial aid, research funds, free food at events daily, trips to around the world, 5-star-hotel-like university buildings, all-year-long celebrations, paid work opportunities, classy accommodation at residence halls, personal wellness, undue attention from faculty, and more. Just some of the many reasons why this experiment is worth applying to

(This post became too serious! Funnily, I started off with thinking about writing this as I was not being a perfect social fit in Singapore – here, much like most other places in the world, students celebrate by drinking a lot of booze. I just began to think about how my non-drinking-habit never affected me one bit in Doha )

And yes, I think the frown on my face was due to the facilities around the place, and lack of space. Sorry!

Video courtesy: Celine Deschilder

Second runners up at TATA Crucible

Has your mommy ever told you that when you plan for something, and prep really hard, you kinda don’t get it? But when you don’t plan, and don’t think too hard about it, you do??! No?! Okie, screw you, my mommy told me that. I don’t think I care about this theory of hers, but for once, it did turn out to be that way.

Two weeks ago, I asked a friend, Sayanee (I met her at this refining innovation workshop) to join me in participating at the TATA Crucible Quiz in Singapore. I am not surprised you haven’t heard of it – yes, it is not Who wants to be a millionaire? But it is rather popular among young quizzers in India, and I had watched few clippings of this quiz on television (yes, it is a TV show, unlike Education City Quiz Challenge ) So I was only half serious about taking part. This can be believed from my comment before and after the quiz: “if I had to pay even a dollar of registration fee for this, I wouldn’t be taking part“.

It was a day before the quiz was to take place, and while there were streams of emails from the organizers on how we needed to prepare ourselves for it, me and Sayanee were yet to share our contact numbers or even a message on how we are going to go about this. Breaching all privacy rules, I hereby share my email to her, just a couple of days before the event, and her subsequent reply:

Varun: Unofficial reminder, as promised: Tata Crucible Quiz on 29th Oct at Suntec City You are partnering a not-very-smart guy, so be ready!

Sayanee: Well, i think partnering some fun, wacky guy is the key… which I will be doing :p

Anyways, the night before, we reached a consensus that we would meet and go for this quiz. We got to the venue after a 20-minute walk, cracking jokes about how we were the biggest misfit for the competition. As we entered the hall, where over 140 teams of two from different universities in Singapore were seated for the preliminary round, we decided to sit in the front rows so as to get a better view of the stage in the finals

The picture tells the rest of the story. The preliminary round questions, in my opinion, were just plain simple and direct. We walked out of that round with smiles, nevertheless uncertain of what would happen. Had free food, came back, realized we made the cut into the top fourteen, and needed to play a wildcard round. Got the second spot, just enough to make it in the finals. Were amused in the finals on a score of 0 until the third round by the thoughts of the iPod touch, which was a guaranteed gift to all finalists. Gave a couple of wild answers until the last round, in order to walk out with some shame. What we did not realize was that all other answers were coming from just 2 teams. And only later did we realize that exactly 3 teams were going to walk away with big prize money. And the joke continued: we were tied with another team for 3rd place at the end of the quiz (at a really low score). Tie-breaker begins. Question asked. They hit the buzzer first. Now you can figure out how we won that tie-breaker.

Now the more interesting facts: (1) it was a business quiz. Sayanee is an engineer, and myself, a programmer. The closest we get to business is taking one or two business classes at uni (2) I almost jeopardized my participation into the quiz in the interest of dancing an extra 2 hours for the dance group I am a part of (3) the quizmaster remembers me as the guy who was 3rd runner up in his IT quiz in Oman, and so, after everything was said and done, he asks: “..and what are you doing here?!” (4) I ate 3 meals in a duration of 4 hours of the quiz. When your excited, your stomach does not speak to your brain. Scientists, learn!

I started getting wall posts and text messages from my friends at 5pm Eastern time since it was midnight in Doha! Until now I’ve got 106 happy birthday wall posts (facebook counts them now, i didn’t go counting all of them! Point being, I was touched by every single one of them. I want to reply to every wall post, and I will try my best to do that!

The best thing ever, though, was Varun’s video. Varun, I was expecting a video since we did one for shivani (oh and creepy is the new cool btw) but you blew me away man! I’ve put it up here as well. I love you bro!

Apart from that a few people in doha actually celebrated my birthday with a cake and all. They had a picture of me and made it look like I was cutting the cake and blowing the candle and everything…they had me on a videocall watching and they sang for me and everything

My point is, you guys all made me feel really lucky today, and seriously made me realize how much I miss all of you. I wish you all the very best, and I really can’t wait to come back and meet all of you again. I’m counting down the days!

Coincidentally, 26th October was also the first day of the NBA season! I met up with a bunch of guys from UPitt at Koubaa’s house and we watched Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat… I was like the only one cheering for the Heats! It was a close match, but Celtics deserved the win, their teamwork was amazing. We had a barbeque with it, and pizza and everything, it was great!

Best 22nd birthday ever!

So I promised a video of the best view you can get in Pittsburgh (read this: http://dohmusafir.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/pittsburgh-the-city-of-bridges/)

and voila… i found it! The camera really doesn’t do it any justice.. maybe I’ll try getting a video of it again sometime.

Coming soon: How my minor courses are going, about my Kung Fu lessons, and maybe about my trip to Niagara falls with Samee and Allan.

Also, just a quick word of appreciate before I close: Dr. Randy Weinberg, Professor and Head of the IS department over here, graciously invited the IS students from Qatar over, where Barbara (his wife) and Dr. Raja (our IS course professor)’s wife, Viji, cooked us an amazing dinner, something we hadn’t had for a while!

From left: Dr. Raja, Dr. Weinberg, Allan, me (woohoo!), Samee

Dr. Weinberg loves Qatar!

More posts coming (hopefully) soon!

When you see a bunch of simple and cute girls standing on a stall promoting their student organization for Bollywood dance, you would mostly expect them to take you through self-made and/or readily adopted classic Bollywood dance movie steps. But that was not how it was turning out to be! From Hip-pop to Salsa, the group essentially shakes their booty to every style of dance on Bollywood music. And just if you thought it wasn’t high-quality enough – a pro dance instructor comes to the dance studio at the university every week to teach us the simplest steps he can offer. Mind you, these are really hard for us! And some stretching and socializing, joking and laughing gets us to be able to do this:

This is the group’s performance at SMU Challenge, one of the annual events at the university. Hope you enjoy it (Oh yeh, you will also figure out a number of reasons why I love the dance club )