Unwinding the smokey way…

The four in the Arun Nathani household had an unusual American holiday this summer.  2 weeks, 5 cities, 17 universities!  Objective: Hunt for an ideal college where we can park a big piece of our heart for four years.   It was a very hectic college road trip, but we had an efficient tour guide .  At each of the stops, Misha enthusiastically kept pace, Aneesh obediently followed behind, even Ritu cooperated by not wearing her heels during extended campus tours .  Not that anybody had much of a say; I was dictating all the terms—from college information sessions and tour schedules, to choice of airlines, hotels, and car rentals—everything! Even all the passports were locked in my pouch for safe custody; there was no escape! Except Ritu’s, of course.  She didn’t let me pound her passport; I suspect, more to prove a point…

While it was turning out to be a highly productive trip from Misha’s perspective, the same couldn’t be said for her poor younger sibling.  It was quite a bummer way for a 14-year old teenage boy to spend his summer vacation.  The least Aneesh deserved was the Memorial Day’s long-weekend getaway when all the universities were closed.  And that’s how we ended up in Smokey Mountains of Tennessee midway through our trip.

The scenic drives were great, BUT an absence of wildlife was a disappointment.  The river-rafting was fun, BUT the horse riding was a drag.  Surely a nice getaway place, BUT our monsoon Mahabaleshwar and Khandala are more refreshing . Nonetheless, it was a good change of environment before resuming our campus tour marathon.  So after 3 nights of The Lodge at Buckberry Creek, the morning of Mon, May 27 found us back on the road. The destination was Asheville airport, about one hundred miles northwest of our lodge, from where we would be off to our next stop —Chicago—to check out Northwestern University and The University of Chicago. And that’s when it all started…

Before we get started on whatever got started, here is a pause-time (and perhaps one of the most debated) family question: how does our accomplished audience feel about the right choice of undergraduate education for Indian kids from “affording” families: a) Western countries (US, UK etc.) where the focus is on all-round development; b) Top Indian institutes (IIT, BITS etc.) where the focus is on exceptional academia; c) Any decent institute in own hometown (Pune, Ahmedabad etc.) where the young adult can flourish in a right balance of college and home environment?