A Survey of Indian Engineering College Students Desk Grafitti

Dad just took a quick trip to BITS, Pilani, a college campus in the wilderness of Rajastan, to do some recruiting. After barreling through five hours of thick fog in the dark through the bumpy country roads and a few hours sleep at the local guest house we arrived at the campus.


I often think about how lucky I am not to have had to fight my way through the tough school and college entrance process that these good people have to do. Now after seeing the job selection process for these "freshers" I think about how lucky I am not to have to had do that either.

After putting on a short PowerPoint presentation about our company (including data about the starting salary) we give an hour and a half written exam in a FREEZING cold room:


About half of these students were sitting for my software exam, out of which the top three or four were to be selected for a face-to-face interview. While wondering around waiting for the students to finished, I noticed the grafitti on the desks.

Now when we think of grafitti back home, the themes I can remember typically run like this:

• Somebody's name
• Somebody's name with their girlfriend.
• Gang-related scribbling
• Doodles
• Unspeakable obscenities

So to further probe the psyche of this young and vibrant country, here are some examples of Indian College Student desk grafitti from with some accompanying thoughts. I put these in order of the amount of each type that I saw:

1. Technical Doodlings

Lots of Matmatical Formulas

Some C code

An electrical circuit

I asked some students what this was all about. Was this a way to cheat on exams if you happened to get the right desk on test day? It didn't seem like that kind of scribbling and the students said that your chances of writing down the exact right problem were not that high anyway.

What they said was that on a lot of their tests, they are not given any scratch paper and they end up working things out directly on the wood of the desk instead.

Lesson: Even in the face of scarcity, these students are able to make do...or they cheat a lot in obvious ways.

2. Multinational Company Names

Microsoft- Mahish Babu

Wipro happened here

Preeti, Priya Dipu, Rimpy, Rakhi : Got ekas (first) job offer: Infosys, ..., Scomain

Lesson: This was really interesting. These students have beaten all odds, one out of thousands, working harder than you or I can ever imagine to get into a place at a good school like this one. The ultimate pinicle of their success will be landing a good job at a multinational company, making a starting salary of ten to twelve thousand a year, living the good life.

When sitting in a boring class they dream of days ahead, doodling on their desks the names of these companies like we would doodle the name of a high school girlfriend, lovingly circling the name, filling it in: Wipro...Microsoft...Oracle... *sigh*

3. Inspirational

Information Systems Association Prestya - Where Excellence is the Criterion!!!

Will Miss U BITS Pilani

Dare to dream - Care to achieve

Paul Priya Aarthi - Friends Forever

Lesson: One thing we love about India is how unabashadly sentimental it is. It's a very nice break from all the cynicism and sarcasm that is around these days. The actors in the movies still burst into song, run through the fields and hug trees. And why not? Dare to dream! Care to achieve!

3. Doodles

RIP: In memory of all the people who have died of boredom in this class.

The swastika here is a Hindu symbol of God (not a Nazi thing)

Lesson: In this regard, we are all the same. When class is boring, might as well draw a picture. When the exam is tough, calling on the powers of heaven by drawing some religious symbol may be your only hope!

4. Love

Some like one
Some like two
I like one
That are you
Ninnu aa lahi hai (Ninnu is coming!) - Chubham
Where are you my sweet?

Lesson: Out of the hundreds of desks I looked at, this was the only love note that was to an actual person instead of a multinational company. Clearly that sort of thing is not really on these students' minds, or at least it is buried down deep. Maybe the prospect for many of an arranged marriage when they turn 27 is enough. This may be more representative of the typical attitude:

Girls stay away from them

On Population Density

So after much long pleading for visitors, they finally came. Our cousins arrived at the first of November, just in time for Diwali. After a week of settling in, we all decided that staying together would work out just fine and they are settled in for a 5-month stay.

The reaction that we get from most people when we tell them that our cousin and his wife and six children are staying with us for such a long time is typically "Wow," followed by a sympathetic, "So how are you doing?" like one would ask about a family tragedy or illness.

The honest truth is, and we are not just saying this because this is a public forum, is that it's wonderful. The kids have lots of playmates, we get paid in new furniture, the servants feel more useful, and Merinda and I get to hang out all the time with two people whom we have always truly looked up to and admired.



The reason that one might think this sort of thing would be difficult seems to be about population density. I woke up early this morning thinking about this and decided to get out my tape measure.

We have a 4-bedroom house, in which we occupy two bedrooms and our cousins occupy the other two. There is a big dining/living room and a kitchen. On occasion we had a college student named Zach crashing on the couch in the living room (and the ladies have a great story of him walking around in his tight bright green long-johns during Merinda's music class), but we won't count him or the days when other visitors are in town.

The 13 of us live in a house that is 1600 square feet. This works out to 123 square feet per person.

We also have a detached garage and above the garage there are two servants quarters. In one of the quarters, there lives Margaret, the cook, her daughter Pooja, who cleans for us, two other teenagers, Lakshmi and Shiva, and her husband Sunderaj. The other quarters are occupied by the driver, Anil, his wife Ritu, their two small children Anshul and Twinkle, a grandmother, and some other guy I think is a brother. They also frequently have other people staying with them as well, but we won't count them either. As a side note, since everybody, servants and all, have joined the Church, on a typical Sunday, 27% of the attendees are residents of our house.

The 11 of them live in the two quarters that are each 185 square feet, making about 34 square feet per person.

Before the cousins came each of us got about the space of the two servants' quarters, where there are now 11 people staying.

If we were to have the same population density as our servants did in our house, we could sleep 48 people. Needless to say, 13 isn't such a big deal at all.

In thinking about this and talking to our cousins, several thoughts come to mind. The way our servants are crowded into those quarters (which they seemed happy to have) is unfortunately not too far off from the way a lot of other people live here, especially in the cities, so it makes us grateful for the 123 square feet we each have.

It is also pretty sobering to think about the way we live and the shame it is that we really physically distance ourselves from each other in our standard way of living. Driving around lots of neighborhoods back home you see 3000 square foot homes with maybe only 3 or 4 people living inside (1000 square feet per person versus snuggling in with cousins at 123 or living like many good people here do with only 34). Lonely, huh?

Turkey Update!

Just for an update on Merinda's Turkey Article.

The smaller of the two turkeys the meat guy was able to sell for $30. The larger one remained in guy's freezer, unsold, for about a month and a half until Merinda gave up all hope and reclaimed her $60 turkey that is now sitting in our home.

The pictures don't do it justice. I'm not sure it is really a turkey. It looks more like some sort of small vulture to me. I would hate to have seen the "small one".

In spite of being scrawny, lopsided, totally freezer burned and who knows how many times thawed out due to power outages in that month in a half, we just couldn't let the guy throw away something so costly that belongs to us.

So now for a contest. We will solicit ideas for what to do with a possibly-inedible, disgusting, sixty-dollar, frozen turkey.

The winner will get a free massage or spa treatment when you come visit us for next Thanksgiving, when we will be surely eating a water-injected, factory-raised, smuggled-out-of the-embassy Butterball that came from the happy shores of the United States of the America.

Turkey Talk

Surreal. That's how life feels today. I guess it should since I live halfway around the world from what I'm hard-wired to think is reality. And I think having the Pulsiphers here has reminded me of what American life was like, thus making Indian life all the more incongruous.

It started at 2:00 am when my cell phone (which happened to be next to my ear since I talked to Rich in Bangalore before I fell asleep) rang. It said "private number" on the caller ID, so I thought it must be some emergency from the USA or Mom in Australia. But it was my Grandma Funk in Utah who meant to call her son in California but hit the wrong speed dial button. Oops. After I chatted with her groggily about how fun it is to have the Pulsiphers staying with us, she asked, "Where is everybody?" "Oh, they're all asleep, Grandma. It's the middle of the night."

Luckily I did go back to sleep after Grandma's little surprise (always great to hear from her and partake of her rose-colored view of all things, even at odd hours!). But I still was up early, and quickly remembered that I needed to fix the washer hose I had broken last night. This was a relative emergency because while washing Graham's cloth diapers last night the washer had stopped when it got to the rinse cycle because there wasn't enough water. Because we live in India, we don't have the blessed luxury of constantly running tap water. We do have various mechanisms and people to try to remedy this, but they don't always work as planned. Anyway, before I went to bed I pried the hose off the tap to confirm that indeed there was no water. Made a mental note to put it back on in the morning and wake up the guard to tell him to turn on the water pump so I could get the diapers in the washer rinsed and dried before we ran out. Why, you ask, was I worrying about washing and drying Graham's diapers when I pay two people to occupy my kitchen all day and do housework? I ask myself the same question quite often. Part of the answer to the question is that you get what you pay for (though they are very well paid by local standards). The rest of the answers are partly my poor management skills and partly incomprehensible.

So I spent the better part of my early morning with a screwdriver trying to figure out how to get the hose back on. I kept reasoning aloud (with Michael Pulsipher as my sounding board, who was working on his homeschool homework) that if I could pull it off, I could certainly put it back on. But my brain needs more practice with fix-it work, so it took me a while. I was quite proud of myself, however, when we finally figured it out (by the time I did Isaac was awake and helped me finish it off).

Then David graciously took Isaac to school so he could use the car afterwards. Graham and I read some stories under the stairs and I tried to make a plan for the day. Dawn and I decided to set off with our little ones to Sarojini Nagar to fill the urgent need Isaac has for pants now that the weather has turned "cold" and mosquito-y. So we piled Russell, Graham, Michael, Grace, Katherine, Dawn, Anil (our driver), 6 sliced carrots for Isaac's Thanksgiving feast at school, 7 library books, lots of snacks, diapers and water, and me in the car and made it to Sarojini just after opening time at 11:00. We did amazingly well with our 5 kids in this crazy market full of cheap export clothing. Dawn got a skirt for Elizabeth and a bright pink Indian-looking cotton shirt with sequins and a beautiful gold crepe paisley-printed sari for herself. Russell talked me into a $5 Superman sweatsuit he didn't need. Anil followed us around and tsk-ed at the prices we were paying. But we think $2.50 for a shirt is pretty good! We took a break to take Russell to school by 12:30 and then hit it again. I found four pairs of pants for Isaac, which thankfully turned out to be just what he wanted. $5 each with adjustable waists, some with camouflage accents and zip-off shorts, which he thinks is sooo cool. He plans to use the camouflage to help him hide from his friends at recess.

Success on that count. But when we got home our good bargains quickly dissolved from my memory when I heard the news about the turkeys. Oh, the turkeys. Rich and David will be at home alone this Thanksgiving while Dawn and I take the kids to the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajahsthan. But this year we're going for a bachelor Thanksgiving party with 10 LDS missionaries joining them for their feast. So we felt like these poor homesick boys needed a turkey. I scoped out the prices of what I could get them for through friend at the American Embassy ($1.60/lb), and decided they might come cheaper locally. So I asked Margaret to look for one during her weekly trip to her favorite food market INA where "everybody knows her name" as they say on Cheers, since she's been a faithful customer for 16 years. But I neglected to give her a price point. And gave her all of this week's food budget for the 13 of us. Big mistake.

So she came home with two turkeys--a male and female with the feet still on. I think she watched them slaughtered herself. Lovely little things totaling 5 kg (about 12 lbs.). But the price . . . not so lovely. $90. NINETY DOLLARS!! For two scrawny little birds. When I asked Margaret why she would pay Rs. 3600 (half the weekly food budget) for them without consulting me, she looked at me blankly, as if to say, "Why wouldn't you spend $90 on a turkey? You throw your money around like water on everything else." Surreal. Last time I checked I'm a miser. But in India, wealth is all relative.

I was incensed by all of this, probably way more than I should have been. But to me it highlights the irony of the fact that I have hired domestic servants to help me around the house and they often cause more stress and more work and more expense than their work is worth. I cannot kick the American way of life and get annoyed when the people who work for me don't act like washing machines, dishwashers, minivans, running water, garbage trucks or security systems.

So anyway, we called the turkey shop and asked the man if we could return the birds. He said he would try to sell them, and then give us the money if he does. Cross your fingers for us! What would you buy? The bird in the refrigerator, or the one you could look in the eye and make friends with before its slaughter? I'm afraid most everyone will choose the latter.

I'm praying they do sell, because I've already committed to buy a frozen turkey imported from the US from my friend. I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm hoping it's a Butterball one with a pop-up plastic button that tells us when it's done!

After the turkey rage and drama died down (mostly) I headed to the church to teach seminary to my class, which was well-attended today: 1 boy and 6 girls. We talked about how Moses learned to delegate and as I taught the students about how important it is for leaders to share their load and accept help and for us to support and help our leaders, I realized how much the Lord is teaching me as I clumsily get leadership practice at the expense of everyone around me. And as I taught them about Mt. Sinai and how the children of Israel were content to let Moses ascend that holy place and talk with God in their behalf instead of being worthy to enter themselves, I learned other whispered truths spoken to my heart about personal revelation and total trust in the Lord and His plan for me.

On the way home from Seminary we dropped off several girls, one of whom was a girl who is investigating our church named Sonam. It seems that Sonam has never ridden in a car before because it made her so sick that she vomited repeatedly out the window after she and I quickly crawled over and around each other so she could get there. Cars honking, hazy air, giggly girls chatting in an incomprehensible tongue in the backseat, rubbing Sonam's back and she vomits out the window again while we crawl forward in traffic. Surreal. But maybe it's more real and raw than anything I've ever experienced in America, and that's why it still shocks me even after two years. Why it breaks my heart and makes me question everything I thought I understood, or perhaps understand it better.

Stay turned to hear the fate of our poor rejected birds . . .

Into the Mighty Punjab

Here's a video record jaunt into the Punjab to see the Sacred Golden Temple and the Pakistan Border. The person singing in the music is from none other than our new driver, Brother Anil Kumar!

D-962 NFC, 3/4 Floor Apartment

Here's some of the photos of the house we looked at for our cousin-brother and his family to possibly live in when they come to India.

Living RoomDining Room
Kitchen (with small stove, refrigerator, and water purifier)
Family Room/Sitting Room
View from the back on one of the most beautiful parks in the area. I think you'll have to walk around to enter from the gate on the right side, but it will be very close.
One of the bedrooms. There are three big bedrooms, each with attached bathrooms. There's also a half bath near the terrace.Here's the realtor (agent) Osama on the terrace. There were beautiful potted plants everywhere and marble table for serving food for parties!
Here's the view from the front of the house of the Mata Ki Mandir Temple. It may get a little loud sometimes to be so close, but you'll get a bird's eye view of all that goes on there.
Here's the street in front of the house (same view as above, just the street below). It's usually a lot more busy than this. Again, you'll get a nice view of all the commerce and people in the neighborhood, but it won't be all that quiet with all the cars and people using the road.
View from the entrance of the apartment. That's the dining/living room on the right and Russell is walking toward the family room/bedroom area. If you walked the opposite direction you'd get to the half bath and terraces. There's two levels of terraces. The second on is where the two servant's quarters are and a giant generator.

Qutb Minar with Our LDS Pals

These days there are more American/Canadian Mormons in Delhi than we ever dreamed we'd have. There's so many of us we had to start a yahoogroup to make sure we all got the message when we do things together. We've been doing girls' nights and playdates and dinners. I find it so comforting to have so many people like me around to hang out with. It's like chocolate and ice cream. Yum.

So here we are on a playdate to the Qutb Minar. A kid paradise. Things to climb everywhere.

(L to R) Chase Jordan, Russell, Owen Reynolds, & The Smiths: Hannah, Becca, Mary, Naomi, Aaron, Lizzie, Ben Russell says, "Chase is older and smarter, but I'm faster." I'm never quite sure how to respond to this, but I was happy to notice in this picture that they're holding hands while running. Maybe Russell's decided they can both be smart and fast.
Bryce, Russell, Chase, Owen & Graham
Chase Jordan, Russell's best friend. We'll miss them so much when they leave in a few weeks, but we're glad that they will be in Utah since we always go there.

Bobette Leavitt, Merinda, Michelle Jordan, Kerali Reynolds, Amy Smith, Amber Flake