Communication gap.

But if you wish at once to do nothing and to be respectable nowdays, the best pretext is to be at work on some profound study. -- Leslie Stephen, "Sketches from Cambridge"

After four years of research, I agree. Working on a PhD insulates you from the real world. There is no 9-5 schedule that you need to worry about. You tend to take high speed internet, unlimited disk space, student discounts etc. for granted. You have this almost unlimited amount of time at your disposal to pursue your interests, cultivate new hobbies and what not. These advantages almost offset the fact that you are perpetually broke and are deeply envious of your undergraduate classmates who were clever enough to take up jobs and own a Merc or a BMW, while you drive a beat up Honda.

Being a poor graduate student, I cannot afford a nice, big apartment of my own. You need roommates to split the rent. It so happens that one of the guys I share the apartment with is a working guy, more in touch with the real world. He has a tough time relating to the crazy world that I live in. This has led to a lot of funny situations around the house, at least in my opinion. So without further ado...

Thanks to Netflix, one of my idiosyncrasies include planning my own themes for each week/month, a la Spike TV's Thanksgiving Bondathon, or my favorite (I apologize to the non-Tamil speakers) Sun TV's Kamal Vaaram or Athiradi Puthan (I don't know how to translate it to any other language). This month has been Samurai month and the last week in particular has been Kurosawa week. So there I am watching the bonus features in the DVD, while the aforementioned housemate walks in.

Housemate walks around the living room, stares at the TV, sits on the couch, shuffles uncomfortably for a while...
Housemate: So what are you watching?
Me: Seven Samurai.
Housemate: Hmmm...
Uncomfortable silence...
Housemate: So whats the movie about?
Me: Oh! It is about this village which is being plundered by bandits. They seek the help of seven samurai to defend their village.
Finally, there is something that he might relate to...
You remember the hindi movie Sholay? It is a similar story.
May be I might seem normal for the first time! Should I mention that Sholay was inspired (read copy) of this movie? No, bad idea!
Housemate (unimpressed): So how far into the movie, are we? Is it just beginning?
Wow! A conversation which does not discuss Green's theorem, ACPI issues in the Linux kernel or the latest SCO-IBM dispute! My social skills amaze me!
Me: Oh! The movie is over. I am watching the bonus features. This guy is explaining Kurosawa's style.
Housemate (now thorougly disinterested): OK. Interesting...
Uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

Finally, my housemate gets up leaves the house. After a few minutes in another apartment in the building...

Knock! knock!
Guy living in apartment (opens the door): Hey! What is happening?
Housemate: Can I watch the football game here?
Guy living in apartment: Sure. What happened to the TV at your house?
Housemate: Arre yaar! Woh koi samurai picture dekh raha hai. (Yeah! That guy is watching some samurai movie.)
Guy living in the apartment: Want a beer?

I am sure he has a funny anecdote about how I don't know the difference between a quarterback and running back, that he tells his friends. He does not speak Kurosawa, Woody Allen or Krzysztof Kieslowski. Unfortunately I don't speak Vin Diesel, Daunte Culpepper or Kobe Bryant. How can we communicate?