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Real Talk with Shubhangni Gupta - Ep 31
49 Plays3 years ago
In this episode, we talk with Shubhangni Gupta, also known as Shubhi, who is a second-year Anthropology/Archaeology Ph.D. student at Stanford specializing in critical heritage studies in India. Tune in as we have a real chat about her experiences coming to the US, learning during a COVID world, and her life within these first two years of a Ph.D.
Links
- Shubhangni’s Instagram: @shubhangnigupta
- Indian Cow Abduction
Contact
- Show
- Twitter: @idigitpodcast
- Email: [email protected]
- Alyssa
- Instagram: aal.archaeology
- Twitter: Lyssakemi
- Michaela
- Instagram: mm_digitalized
- Twitter: m_mauriello
Affiliates
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of iDicket Podcast and Hosts
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. You're listening to the iDicket Podcast, a podcast where we talk about the student perspective of navigating the world of archaeology and anthropology. I'm your host, Michaela. And I'm your host, Alyssa.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the show.
Meet the Guest: Shuvangi
00:00:26
Speaker
Today, we have a special guest, Shuvangi, also known as Shiwi. She is a second year PhD student at Stanford in anthropology and archaeology and specializing in critical heritage studies in India. She also wanted me to say this is her first time in the US after 26 years of living at home with her parents. So first time independent woman.
Living Independently in the US
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome to the show. I love to hear it. And for first podcast here, right? Absolutely. And I'm so excited. Well, we're so honored to have you here. Thank you. Thank you. My pleasure.
00:01:06
Speaker
So tell us a little bit about yourself. How has your first couple of years at grad school been? Well, after, like I said, 26 years of living at home, I'm playing catch up on independent living. So it's two years of a lot of fuss, of course, two years of starting PhDs, starting PhD in a foreign land with making a lot of good friends.
00:01:33
Speaker
and not taking certain things for granted that I used to. And also having not seen my parents for a while, more longer than I would have thought.
COVID-19 Impact on Family and India
00:01:43
Speaker
So ever since I left home two years ago to come to the US, of course, nothing to do with me that's post pandemic and airlines constantly canceling my flights. I haven't been able to see them, which is also a bittersweet feeling in different ways.
00:01:59
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if that's the answer you were looking for, but that's the answer you're gonna get. Definitely. If that's your answer, that's the answer. We can't not talk about a COVID world right now. That's affecting everything. Wow, that's crazy. Two years. Dang. How is your family doing in India right now? Are they kind of away from all the crazy or right in the middle of it?
00:02:22
Speaker
Right in the middle of it, but thankfully okay. And right now the bar for okay is that nobody's dead. So everyone's okay. But yeah, a lot of my extended family got COVID. Some of them were also fully vaccinated. And even after that, they got COVID, which I guess is why they're still around. But I think like, hopefully, slowly and steadily things will get better. They have to. Yeah, so.
00:02:50
Speaker
Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. I've been hearing a lot about the new variants over there that are getting kind of scary. One of my colleagues I'm working with right now, she's in India right now. We met through Fulbright, but she's back home right now. Same bar has been set for her. No one's dead. I hope she's okay. What part of the country she's in? I think she's in Delhi.
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, so epicenter of everything. I asked her how getting supplies and stuff works and she said there's a really good online network for receiving groceries like your basic bread and milk and eggs and stuff.
Cultural Differences: Grocery Shopping in the US
00:03:34
Speaker
So that's been good at least. She's been able to get all the resources they need to stay at home safely.
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think they stepped up on that after like the first wave had come in, because generally, people are used to going to grocery stores. So that's one thing that was such a culture shock that nobody prepared me for when I came to the US at every grocery store is like 20 minutes away by God.
00:03:58
Speaker
as opposed to five seconds by foot, just outside your home. So anyway, there's a lot of culture just going and getting things physically, which kind of really shut down when the first wave came. So that kind of gave time and opportunity for different platforms to develop, grocery delivering, yeah, skills, opportunities, resources. But I still, it amazes me how they're maintaining their supply chain, considering everyone's shut. And yeah, there's no going anywhere.
00:04:27
Speaker
Yay, happy times. Hopefully everything just keeps working through and progressing in a positive way instead of creating more new scary variants in the world.
Academic Journey: From History to Anthropology
00:04:48
Speaker
So tell us about how you started in this career. What got you interested in archaeology? Where were you like before Stanford?
00:05:00
Speaker
It's quite, I would call it divine intervention than professional planning. So back in India, I did history. I did history, I did three degrees in history all through my undergrad master's and my infill. I was pretty charted for that career. And history in India is mostly Indian history. So you do a few courses here and there. Of course, you have an idea of the world, but when you go in for your specialization, for your research work,
00:05:29
Speaker
as genuine Indian history, most faculty and resources are created around that. And I was quite down in the dumps by the time I was in my infill, because I was like, this field is so severely underfunded in this country. And students are not seen as, I don't want to use the word workers, but rather people who produce work as opposed to study. Like, study is like, oh, when you don't have employment, you study.
00:05:55
Speaker
and for some it's like that but others so there is a characterization of work really or intellectual academic work rather which is different in the u.s especially when you you know get into a phd where you get paid where it's academic work research work as opposed to okay you're just studying
00:06:11
Speaker
So that was kind of getting to me and the academic environment at the place I was at the time wasn't great. So it was quite biased, it's divine intervention, because my now advisor, it was in anthropology, which was also a field that I'd heard of, but never engaged with. It was a very straightforward dealing with history bit. And she had started a project in India, on India, like five, four, five years ago at that point in time. But in anthropology years, that's like three months.
00:06:40
Speaker
So she had launched a book, so she would be coming like every year and would be giving talks in history because anthropology is not that strong a field in India. And yeah, one of my professors at the time was like, you know, you were working on heritage. I was working on legislation around heritage at that point in time.
00:06:59
Speaker
the first legislation related to heritage, not even heritage, Monument Preservation was passed in India in 1904 and my dissertation was around that. So she was like, you should definitely go and meet this person. She's also working on heritage. And I did. And there was this Australian lady, you know, full like human sunshine, this ball of sunshine. And all my blues and my imposter syndrome was just like,
00:07:24
Speaker
Oh, my God, I need this person in my life. I think that's where it started. It was kind of like love at first sight. She did her talk. She and later on, I got to know like she had chicken gunya, which was basically a mosquito inflicted like disease. It causes a lot of heavy. It's like malaria or dungu. So you get a lot of fever, a lot of joint ache. And she was powering through that and doing her research work and field work and giving these talks. And in the midst of
00:07:50
Speaker
really humid August like this was yeah I think it was it was 21st of August I think 2018 I tell you love at first sight you remember when you need your love and then with my professor at the time she and in fact Shobna
00:08:11
Speaker
uh who's also in my cohort here all of us went out for a coffee and then we were just talking oh my god what are american institutions and systems are like and she's someone who gives a lot of power especially to female students and of course you should apply to every place you know of course your project is worth it she did she knew me five minutes and i was like if this woman who doesn't know me at all thinks that there's something worth happening then
00:08:36
Speaker
Okay, I'm applying to anthropology now. So, I mean, the way I see it is like I applied to her and I didn't apply to Stanford or to the US. Honestly, never saw myself in the US. If you would have asked me like in 2018 also, like 2018 July, I met her in August, but 2018 July, where do you see yourself? It was, my answer was not going to be the US. It was going to be in India, most probably just doing what I am, continuing on to the PhD there.
00:09:02
Speaker
So yeah. Wow. That's amazing. I'm so glad that you were able to meet her in your home. That's a really cool experience. She sounds amazing. Yeah. Well, congrats. Thank you. How was it going from like basically only history to also anthropology and having to take anthropology courses as well?
00:09:29
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good question. And I keep asking myself as well, how does it feel? Do you know anthropology? Yeah, do you know anthropology? Do you know it? I think it was, there's so much hyping that people do about the interdisciplinarity of anthropology. Everyone had kind of hyped me up, including like when I was
00:09:51
Speaker
going through my standpoint, interviews, et cetera, that your position as a person of history, your position to ace anthropology, not because of history, but because it's such a welcoming discipline. So everything is, every allied humanities, social sciences discipline is welcome. We work with everybody.
00:10:09
Speaker
And when I kind of joined classes, I was like, that is not true. Lies have been said, some major marketing has been done. But okay, I'm here, they're paying me to do it. How bad can it get? So yeah, I think the theory classes when I joined were pretty tough on me because I knew how to read.
00:10:30
Speaker
But again, like every discipline, even especially I would like to say history and anthropology are particularly deceiving because both of them are interested in similar questions, but their methodology is very different. And rather the limitations also of their methodology are very different. So kind of like, okay, at that point in time, I've been trained in history for like what?
00:10:49
Speaker
seven years, seven, eight years. And you kind of have to leave all that behind in one, like nine, 10, 10 weeks of classes. Yeah. So I was like, I'm understanding I'm able to engage, but what elements of the text and theory am I supposed to, you know, remember and build upon were very different. And that takes time. And I was like, I had time to manate when I was doing that in history, because with undergrad, like everything step by step,
00:11:15
Speaker
But yeah, like here it was. So first, it was pretty brutal. From that front, I was just like swimming. I was feeling like at a bunch of incompletes. There was and then again, like, I think the main thing that saved me was that I really got along with the rest of my cohort. So there was a lot of like, personally, I'd been I'd never been happier in my life. Professionally, I'd never been more miserable.
00:11:39
Speaker
And that was like an interesting. Yeah. So you had like friends, which was a luxury and you could like really, you know, went out to talk to who also related. So it wasn't even like sometimes with friends back home that chasm of, you know, people not having the same context kind of increases. So I really had that that kind of got me through.
00:11:59
Speaker
And the fact that I was getting paid like decently for the first time in my life was like a big, big, big. And if you know anything about Indian parents, like they don't care. They didn't care. It was Stanford. I kid you not. They didn't give a shit. It was Stanford. They're like, are they paying you? Do you need money for us? No, great. This is the best.
00:12:18
Speaker
That really was the long and short of it. And till this date, my dad's extremely, he's very, it's not, it's my parents, it would have been easier if my parents had monetary expectations from me. They don't even have that. They just get very happy when I have money in my account. So every quarter my dad's like, have you, have you gotten your stipend? So even when Stanford summer plans were like just going here and there, he was like, but they'll give you your stipend, right? They won't take away your stipend. I'm like, dad, things are, the world's a little bigger beyond this stipend.
00:12:46
Speaker
other things to do. The stipend is not why I'm here. The PhD is why I'm here,
Balancing Professional and Personal Life
00:12:52
Speaker
you know? So putting things in perspective. Yeah, but the stipend. So, but yeah, once first year was there and
00:13:03
Speaker
I would say one of the things I think that made things easier was when I made my piece with the fact that people keep saying there are bridges between disciplines, but they will not help you make those bridges. They will also not help you identify those bridges. You kind of have to go like Easter egg searching for them.
00:13:21
Speaker
English is my second language, so if my terminology or my references are completely off of beat, then just take it as that. That was perfect. But, yeah, Easter egg hunting. Who knew? They don't even have Easter in India, right? They don't. I've never seen an Easter egg in my life. This is all Buzzfeed. All my American popular culture education was Buzzfeed. I used to watch tons of Buzzfeed in India.
00:13:47
Speaker
10 ways you can make friends or something of that sort. Which character are you based on these food items? Exactly. You are a soggy french fry. That's how you roll in life. I am a soggy french fry. How did they know?
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, so I think once I started making those bridges and again finding people who were willing to recognize me, see me for who I am as opposed to what they wanted me to become, whether like professionally or personally or as Stanford likes to say it, you know, the people you vibe with, you know, like just check their vibe. If the vibe is right, then everything will be right. And I'm not, this was our orientation day. This is literally the person taking our orientation.
00:14:36
Speaker
They're like, get as much money as you can because these motherfuckers have a lot of money. Vibe with people. Just vibe. Vibes will get you a long way. They'll take you far. I know. How about the good vibes?
00:14:52
Speaker
I know that answers your question, but yeah, things are easier now, definitely. It was funny, Michaela, when I was going through my existential crisis a few weeks ago, I was talking to Shuvie about it, and she's like, you know what? Just milk Stanford for all the money they have first, and then you can quit. That's the worst they're going to do. Fail, you're already going to quit. I want to quit anyway. It's fine. Good enough.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah. Am I allowed to ask questions back at you or yeah?
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah. How's, I know, like Michaela mentioned that she's right now in the process of applying to places. So once that happens, yeah, would really want to know about that too. But listen, like how has, yeah, how has this been for you? I know, like you, from the little, I know you do come from an archeology background. You've had experience with that. You've published in that. Woo hoo. Woo hoo. I just like the graphs. Yeah.
00:15:55
Speaker
But you're still an author. I am like fifth author on a paper too. That's fantastic. I'm zero author on any paper. Let's write something together. Let's do it. Absolutely.
00:16:13
Speaker
I would say even though I had a background in archaeology, I think it was a very different background because we went to the same grad school in England for masters. That's where we met.
00:16:29
Speaker
um but England's very different in that it's very like methodology centric and not so much theory so I hadn't really touched theory at all except for like one class in undergrad maybe where we learned about Ian Hodder like that was post-processual archaeology and whatever yeah so that was the only
00:16:52
Speaker
like, taste of theory I had had before coming here. And so I find myself with the same issues, like, what am I supposed to pick out of this? Like, what's important? What am I supposed to bring up in class? Like, I don't understand what I'm reading sometimes, especially because we're reading stuff from like the 60s, and the jargon's a lot different.
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah, so I totally feel you on that. I do definitely see how like writing styles can vary a lot. Even just between like UK writing style and US writing style that took
00:17:27
Speaker
a little bit to erase from my brain because they're so different. And when I got to the UK, too, they were like, no, this is wrong. You need to write this way. And I'm like, but I've been writing this way for forever. And then when I came back here, I'm like, OK, now I need to switch back to the other way. So that was frustrating for the first term. But I think I'm OK at it. Or they're just being easy on us because of COVID. Who knows if my writing is actually good right now.
00:17:54
Speaker
No, so. Take it for what it's worth. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But Mikala, what's your background?
Michaela's Archaeology Path and Post-Brexit Challenges
00:18:03
Speaker
I'm sorry, I don't know much other than the fact that I think you are a practicing archaeologist or no? Yeah. So right now I'm currently working at a CRM job in Sacramento. So I am practicing archaeology, which is fun. I'm really happy to be in my field, especially
00:18:19
Speaker
after graduating and living in this pandemic world because, as Alyssa said, we met in England and we technically finished in September 2019 with the Masters. I stayed in England because I was trying to stay there forever and trying to find a job and work there and work in heritage and archaeology there.
00:18:38
Speaker
But because of Brexit, because they're leaving the EU, they were just very hesitant to hire internationals. And so any application, because a lot of the applications weren't even you to apply to a specific person, you apply to an online portal, and then they ask you the question, are you going to be needing a sponsorship? Or do you need a visa? And if you put yes, it just automatically boots you out. And you talk to people and I like sent various inquiries being like, I'm
00:19:06
Speaker
My name is this, I'm just finishing up my master's in this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then there's like, oh, we're not hiring internationals right now. And I'm like.
00:19:15
Speaker
Okay. So what can I do? And I had moved up to Scotland and I was just draining my savings away and trying to find a job. And I was even applying to like Starbucks and literally just trying to stay there because it's such a, it is such a historically rich city and country that I just felt at home at. So
00:19:37
Speaker
I ended up just kind of like giving up, not giving up, but it's like being a little bit more realistic. It's like sometime in the future, I will be back right now. Literally the world, this country is against this right now. So there's nothing I can do.
00:19:50
Speaker
So I'm going to move back home and then I went home, got to see my family, came back for graduation. And that was in January, 2020. And then as soon as I got back, everything shut down because of COVID. And so I had like applications in, I had like a couple interviews set up and then nothing. So it wasn't until August when Alyssa was leaving for Stanford that I got this job at the company I'm at because Alyssa was there previously. And then she was just like,
00:20:16
Speaker
Mikayla has like the same degree. She can do this. Take her. Take her. And so, yeah, that's how I got here. So I'm currently looking into other things because this job is technically part time that I am like making money and then I'm spending it immediately on bills and rent. And that is not a practical way to live, especially when I'm trying to keep up savings. And I'm looking into a PhD in Canada right now. And it's kind of like,
00:20:44
Speaker
Would I be saving money? I don't think the money that I would be getting would be giving me enough to actually survive for four years. So just needing to be a little bit more realistic and same now in my mid 20s. So it's just like thinking this is like I want a savings like I'm
00:21:01
Speaker
want to be comfortable and not having to stress for the rest of my life because I will be stressing for the rest of my life, but I'd like to not stress financially. Make it a little easier. Exactly. So that's what I'm currently up to and the podcast.
00:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, which is fun. So I'm able to do like my digital side with the podcast and then the editing for the Stanford Archaeology Center.
Digital Editing and Community at Stanford
00:21:27
Speaker
So that's going to be fun. Plug, plug, plug. We can plug in our own podcast. Yeah, we're plugging in something that does not exist at all, but we'll plug it down. It will. It will. Izzy and I have a meeting coming up this week where we're going to talk about it. So it's going to get us done. Wonderful. Yeah.
00:21:44
Speaker
So at the end of our podcast and their podcast, we should drop each other's names. Oh, absolutely. Check it out. We share common expertise, right? Like Mikala is going to be the common expertise on both of these things. So your name is going to be a perpetual hyperlink for times to go. Click this and it goes to my website. Oh, absolutely. Beautiful. Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
That's wonderful and that's quite quite a ride. So I really good luck. I hope like it everything will work out. They should buy shouldn't it? But yeah, I hope it works out sooner than later. Yeah, something will work out.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, Michaela didn't say so, but Michaela recently had an interview with one of the PhD professors and they really liked her and want her to come out. So she's got a big decision to make, whether she wants to do it or not.
00:22:46
Speaker
I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to leave this into the podcast. My strategy is to have the best jokes around the most controversial information so that you are really, really struggling. Should I keep this great entertainment value? But it'll destroy my life. Should I?
00:23:02
Speaker
I mean, I definitely think it's fair to like, there's always internal controversy around deciding whether to go into a grad school program or not. I don't think like having that doubt is a make or break situation because I think everyone feels it and it is a lot to consider too. It's a big chunk of your life.
00:23:25
Speaker
It's different about like the public and private. It's like private. I feel like you get more, you get stipends and everything's kind of funded, but it's like more public. You have to fund yourself. And so that's the struggle. And it's like during my undergrad and high school, it's like never really learned about grants or scholarships or anything.
00:23:44
Speaker
And so it's not even until this last year or two that I've actually learned about them. And I'm like, these exist? I didn't think I could ever apply to these things. I didn't know anything about it. I had nobody to teach me or take me under the wing to tell me.
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, so there are opportunities, whoever's listening out there. So just be sure to look for them. Google them even. They're all over the place. You just gotta find them. I feel like you get more communication with government grants than you do with random ones you'll find on the internet. There's so many that I apply to that I just never heard back. And I don't know. You have to target your grant to each grant, which is frustrating a lot of the time.
00:24:28
Speaker
Oh, that's good. That's waiting for you in year two, spring quarter proposal writing. How's that going? That's been going for the past 10 and a half hours. Precisely. I'm on draft three. And it's really, it feels like the end of my life. And this matter this quarter is the first time in my two years here, I'm like, was I better off in India, baby? I don't know.
00:24:51
Speaker
I don't know, but then my dad's like, they're still paying you, so you better not give up. Okay, dad. What are the expectations for the proposal? What do you have to produce exactly? The way they structured it, CS and RQ both do it at the same time, but of course, they have different instructors and they target different grants which are more suitable, so do those sub-disciplines. Archaeology prepares for Venergrine, CS prepares for NSF.
00:25:20
Speaker
And which is good because apparently Venergrind's more conducive to more mixed sub-theme or sub-discipline research. So the expectations are show up, do drafts, write a fuck lot. By fuck lot I mean a thousand words per week which is not a lot for people but just drains the life and soul out of me. Because I don't know if you guys notice I love talking and I can just do that. You can make me yap about anything for three hours.
00:25:49
Speaker
Which is precisely also why I asked if we could do this today. Because I was like, I'll be 10 hours not talking to anybody. So like a verbal vomit. Oh, absolutely. You guys are the casualties. It's not the worst casualty. I welcome. It's very kind of you. It's very kind of you to welcome my verbal diarrhea. Very, very kind of you. We're here for it.
00:26:14
Speaker
So yeah, and write and meet up with certain people every week. And engage with them, quote unquote, constructively, quote unquote, politely, quote, quote, intellectually. Yeah, those are the expectations. Those are the expectations. Sounds rough. I can see the pain in your eyes. I really can.
00:26:41
Speaker
all through the continent of Europe. Get ready for this list. Please tell me there's better things ahead. It gets over. It gets over because you die. That's how it gets over.
00:26:53
Speaker
First in peace, is that optimistic? Yeah. Maybe I'll quit like third term second year. That'll be my point. See, I would say definitely quit if you have to after summer quarter because that's easy money. So definitely take that fine for some money. Oh, yeah. Okay. Have a great summer. Yeah. Buy some equipment and get it reimbursed. In fact, you need to get any dental procedures now the time.
00:27:21
Speaker
Oh, I do actually. Yeah, go for it. Summer stipend. Let's go. Yeah. By the way, dental in the US is like freaking expensive. I guess it's expensive all through the world. Not in Cambodia. Well, not even in India, depending upon where you go. So I went from like free dental care to like $600 for a dental cleaning. That's like Palo Alto really.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah, Palo Alto is a different story. Anyway, sorry, I digress. So are you on the East Coast right now? Yeah, I'm in Virginia at the moment. Nice. So will you be coming back to Palo Alto in the fall if everything's online or not online, I should say? I guess because my course works over. So I was actually thinking of doing an exchange September, but I think that's kind of fallen through due to
00:28:12
Speaker
offline story will tell. But yeah, I applied for housing, all of that got through got my results. So yeah, if where you live in high rises, the cheapest, what do you think?
Quirky Housing Stories at Stanford
00:28:25
Speaker
You're right next to me, we're gonna be neighbor. Yes. In fact, I was living there. I had this fantastic, you know, like, you know, you've gotten it good. And God is really looking out for you. When your bathroom, your toilet has a window.
00:28:38
Speaker
That's when you know you've got windows. So you have like a corner apartment? Yes, on the ninth floor. And my room was the one with the sliding door. So I had this unobstructed view to like a lot of like good views. This is my second language.
00:28:59
Speaker
And I have had the slew of the most wonderful roommates, one after the other. Others have horror stories. My roommates just got better and better. So I had like three over the course of like the one, one and a half years I was living there. And yeah, the last, my last roommate, like, yeah, Afrey, this is for you. Yeah.
00:29:20
Speaker
Absolutely wonderful person. What'sapper, Nigerian inspiration. Yeah, so she and I really, really hit it off. I mean, I've been in touch with like, I think most of them. But yeah, I was living the good life paying the cheapest rent and having bang for my buck.
00:29:39
Speaker
Those are the ones like in between EVGR, right? They all have the slidey doors. They're the old, ugly ones. So some of the, that's really, they're really one of the oldest. You look at, have you ever stepped into one? No, I've never been in one. Yeah. Hence the look of admiration on your face because there should be none.
00:30:01
Speaker
cool. At least I have like airflow though. EV VR doesn't really that's that's what's going for. Yeah, I guess I've heard so bad.
00:30:11
Speaker
So it's also like freaking expensive. So yeah, I mean, depends on what apartment you get. I think one of my friends, she was living on the sixth floor and she had like a middle apartment. So yes, they had windows, but like the kitchen didn't get any light, the bathroom didn't get any light. And for me, like it's a pet peeve if bathrooms don't have like a window. Oh, I have a very nice vignette about my toilet, which I must share.
00:30:37
Speaker
I'm kind of notorious for toilet vignettes so no nothing happened but it's just a placement like a certain feature of my toilet that I really wanted to bring to your notice to our viewers and sorry our listeners today so the way so it's a corner apartment and the way it was you got into it on the left side of the bathtub
00:30:56
Speaker
and showered straight ahead you had the what you call the wash basin and on the right you had the commode right the toilet pot and right opposite the toilet pot you had the window okay which was when if you sat on it right you could really see throughout now in the olden times by olden times i mean pre-covid and pre-evgr they used to be open farmland or whatever open empty space okay so you could really like while you were doing the deed you could really like you know enjoy the views
00:31:24
Speaker
Now what happened when the EVGR project started was suddenly there was a building there and that building had people inside it. So at night when you switched on the light and you were sitting on the toilet and the window, if you looked at the window, you could literally like lock eyes with somebody. And yeah, just so my friend used to joke that this is how I'm going to meet the love of my life.
00:31:51
Speaker
by sitting on the toilet and just like locking, yeah, my toilet. Are they also on the toilet? I don't know. See, I think for it to be true love, they had to be on the toilet, I guess. Otherwise it's just one-sided love where I'm at my best and they're not. That would make a great short story. Yeah. No, so it gets better. So that's why our apartment was the first one and nobody had heard of this ever. Like it's not that unusual, but it's just unusual for the location it was in. We got window blinds installed.
00:32:20
Speaker
And that's how we got to know that Stanford had so much money because my brother went to a state school in California and they had some situation, but not in the toilet somewhere. And they said, yeah, just make your own curtains and put it. We're not just we're not going to do anything.
00:32:32
Speaker
So the fact that I could put a fixit health ticket and like a person came and was like installing the blinds and it was by the way like a female carpenter or whoever the handy person which was really cool like an older lady and she was like this is the first time a request like this has come I'm like yes because it's a very unusual situation like literally
00:32:51
Speaker
So every morning, like, you know, when you get up like in big houses, you go and open the curtains and everything. And you just like air rooms, one of our jobs is to go to the toilet and just like lines so that our toilet seat could get sunlight so it could get disinfected. So that was also like a prime real estate feature. We had natural sunlight disinfecting our toilet seat.
00:33:15
Speaker
yeah you heard it here first yeah potential soulmate finder i know if this doesn't make me famous i don't know the porcelain throne right there i know
00:33:27
Speaker
I like desperately want to animate this now. Just like short story. You have Shubhagmi on the toilet. That's how you want to remember me. This is how you want to remember me. Of all the looks I've served and curated through classes in these past 10 weeks with you, this is how you want to remember me. Like literally my Zoom profile is like me to my shoulder length and I'm sitting on a portrait now. That's what I'm doing. You will have so much happiness after finding your toilet lover.
00:33:57
Speaker
Wow, this is going to become a thing with you right now. I'm going to tell the university to install a toilet directly across, like make that a bathroom because that's that's what it's not going to be a one-sided love. It'll be a complete sorrow. Praying, praying on my vulnerable situation.
00:34:18
Speaker
I want this to happen for you. No, as a digression to that, I remember one time I was in India sitting on the toilet and we start getting an earthquake. And the first part in my mind was forget like loved ones, family and material objects. But I was like, I can't die like this. This is the most vulnerable. I don't even I don't even have enough time to pull my pants up because you just don't pull your pants up when you're going number two. You have to like
00:34:41
Speaker
do things in and around, right? So I'm like the world's shaking and I'm like, I need to finish. Please, world. I can't die today. I need to finish. Can you not? I know. I've had the most spiritual, deep, life-changing experiences in the moment. That's what I'm saying. Across continents. I cross the seven seas to basically come and sit on the compost. That's where you get all your answers. I know. I know.
00:35:05
Speaker
I'm sure you guys weren't expecting this kind of conversation today. I'm sure of all the ready for anything. Well, I hope you get that corner apartment again so that all your toiletries can come true. I believe in you. The universe is in your favor. Yes. You've been chosen.
00:35:25
Speaker
Oh, I have been chosen unfortunately for the wrong things so far. The choosing bit has not been the problem, my dear. It's what I've been chosen for. But I've applied with a friend this time and they apparently, Stanford Housing thankfully gives you an option to apply as a group with your friends, but you choose the same housing guy so most probably I'll get a little bit with my friends. So again, roommates even get better and better.
00:35:54
Speaker
Yay! We love to hear it. That's cool. Is your friend someone in the Anthro department or did you meet them outside? She's my co-ord, so you know her called Shannono. Oh, nice. I love her. She's amazing. I love her too.
00:36:05
Speaker
Yay. Fine. I'm excited to meet anyone in person. Wow. Wow. Really frames that so nicely. I would love to meet you, Shabia. I would love to meet Chanana because I'm ready to meet anyone. No, that was a bad thing. I'm calling you out. I'm calling you out.
Humor and Camaraderie in Online Classes
00:36:27
Speaker
No, you know I love you.
00:36:30
Speaker
we're always texting like in class and it's super funny um because our class is like at the end of the day so everyone's like slightly delirious and super tired but it's fun to have like conversations and the most in fact i think one of the classes where it's 2 30 to 5 30 for you it's 5 30 to 8 30 for me right and both surina and you both in the same time you're sitting with wine glasses and beer and i don't drink so i'm sitting with like a sad ass water being like
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah guys, four more, but I'm a part of this gang. I'm going to get high on water or dehydration, whichever comes first. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, that was funny. The one day we did that, everyone messaged everyone else in the group chat and said that they were like, they were sending photos of their drinks for the second half of class. So everyone was drinking something during that class. That was funny.
00:37:26
Speaker
I'm very domestic that way. I think the other time you'd send something on, I forget what it was and I was cutting onions at that time. So I'm like, what's the most happening thing I can be doing right now? Cutting onions and Alyssa was gas so that you can feel something. I was like, where's the lido? Where is the lido? I drink water like this and then they come out like that. So that's the circle of life right there.
00:37:48
Speaker
So I want to ask what is something you wish you would have done differently or really glad you did do the way you did in your first and second year at Stanford Anthropology? I sound like an asshole when I say this. There is actually nothing.
00:38:08
Speaker
And that's for two reasons. One is, of course, things that went wrong, like I knew that it was not in my hands. And by things going wrong, there was nothing majorly that went wrong. If I struggle with classes, I will struggle with classes irrespective. I did whatever I could do and what is available at that time.
00:38:23
Speaker
And regarding other things, I am someone hashtag modesty is extremely good at learning from other people's mistakes. And I like to listen to them quite a bit. So when somebody says I remember there was a third year when I was my first year, I think a second year or third year, who was like,
00:38:41
Speaker
Yeah, dude, just take a yoga class. If you need to fully fulfill your credits, just take a yoga class. Don't don't stress so much about like, okay, cool, I won't. So I didn't take a yoga class because my advisor would kill me. But I did. But I was like very chill about like, I'll just do whatever I can. And reasonably keeps me motivated for this pursuit of education.
00:39:03
Speaker
because especially after the two harrowing years I had for my last degree, I was really emotionally drained. So that idea of getting up in the morning and feeling happy about life, that was me for the first six months. I was the happiest bitch on the planet.
00:39:19
Speaker
You'd be like, motherfuckers, here I am for this day. And yeah, I'll be flipping pancakes. I was cooking. And everybody else was miserable because differently. Adjustment, you know, getting used to, making new friends, not me. Everybody was miserable except for me. And they would get irritated with me. Like, why this bitch so happy? I used to cook all the time and just like invite people. And I have a bit of social anxiety, so it's very difficult for me to introduce myself to people. Like once they introduce themselves, then I'm like,
00:39:48
Speaker
just like cocaine on fire again maybe but you get the point as lit as cocaine on fire would be
00:40:00
Speaker
But so yeah, so I would just like invite people into and also when they would have said a high or they would have introduced themselves or something. And yeah, I had these set things that I would just make in class, I would say at my home, and I would feed them and then they would get happy and I would get a high and then the vicious cycle of ingratiating myself and embedding myself in other people's lives, whether they wanted or not continued. Yeah, I think that's about it. I think the only thing I wouldn't
00:40:29
Speaker
would have changed differently was I saw last fall quarter I was here at my family's but I still kept my Stanford apartment so I paid a quarter's worth of rent I would have done that that's the one thing I would have changed saved a quarter's worth of rent that's yeah that's the thing I would have done differently
00:40:50
Speaker
That sounds like the first two years that they're just going as they've been going for the good and for the bad. Yeah. They've been pretty great though. Can't complain. I mean, nobody said that it's going to be easy. So it's definitely difficult, but it's a good kind of difficult where you know, like your ability matches the difficulty. So, but it's like at par. So you're, it's not, if your ability is more than the difficulty, then you get bored. You don't feel challenged. And if it's the other way around, you just feel completely challenged.
00:41:17
Speaker
So it's more like, especially I would say like, even for instance, proposal writing, because that's been talked, it's a 10 week course. Everyone says, okay, editing, you know, criticism, constructive criticism, feedback, that's the way it goes. It's taken me fucking 10 weeks to write three drafts. It's drained the life out of me, but it's been like, okay, it's a process, all of us are in together, and everyone being kind. So I think I've been extremely lucky, including with you guys, that would be extremely kind to me always.
00:41:43
Speaker
So just like, yeah, kindness really helps at least me. And I guess most of us also just get through difficult times. But say it if you mean it. You're not like, yeah, you're cool. Full stop. Go. So it's. Have fun. Have fun. Never see you again. Yeah. Hags. Have a great summer. Hags. Basic responses. I think one thing you said I learned this year also was
00:42:13
Speaker
the person who told you to take the yoga class, I learned to not fill my entire schedule with anthropology and like throw other stuff in there too, because I did that for the first term or two. And it was just so exhausting to have to read like 500 or more pages per week per class for like two or three classes. And I'm like, don't want to do that.
00:42:37
Speaker
This term I took one anthropology class with one language class and then like random little filler credits like a COVID-19 class and like stuff like that where you just like kind of sit and learn and don't have to do any work for it. So I think I'm going to keep doing that for as long as I can as long as the units allow me to.
00:42:56
Speaker
take the full 18 honestly fill it in with whatever just make sure the logistics or rather the admin paperwork is in place because that kind of comes back to bite you in the eyes I don't know what took me one quarter I just think yeah I'm gonna be honest I just want to do 11 units of work so I'll just enroll in 11 and for foreign visa holders we need to be enrolled in a minimum of 8 to 10 graduate units in order to keep our visa status out like yeah it's 11
00:43:20
Speaker
And then I was like, fuck, that means that in order to make up for the extra seven, and I'm supposed to, I'll just have to take extra unisex every quarter. So I'm gonna just fill it with brown bag, just to colloquium, do things you're not even going to like, just take those fillers, do the yoga class. That's still better than yeah, because you never know when they come handy.
PhD Program Strategy and Flexibility
00:43:39
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:43:40
Speaker
Because for our program, you need to hit a minimum amount of units. They don't all have to be Anthro though. And then you have to hit a minimum amount of Anthro classes, which is like six or something like that. Yeah. So you can fill in the rest of them with whatever as long as you hit like a certain number. Are you planning to do a minor though or no? I don't know.
00:44:01
Speaker
I'm not entirely sure how that works. And I don't know how many you need for a minor. Depends on the department. So it's actually pretty easy. And again, so the way you can take courses out of department, they also count towards your minor in most places. So depending upon choosing, so I'm doing a history minor because I have groups.
00:44:22
Speaker
And that just required like 20 units of 300 level graduate courses. That's it. So that's four courses and I could do that replacing some of my anthropology and stuff. And that's it. I don't need to give exams. I need to have any to get my committee done.
00:44:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think if I was going to do a minor, I'd want it to be like in the I forget what the acronym it's like triple yes, it's like energy and whatever. But they don't have a PhD minor. And so I can't do that. Same with like geography. I don't think they have a PhD minor either. So maybe they do. I don't know. Maybe they do. But to I think to hit that
00:45:07
Speaker
course requirement, like there's only one GIS class, which is a thing I'm interested in. And then everything else would be like kind of outside of my realm of interest. So yeah, I might just take those classes and not do a minor, but like, like do the focus thing, like we were talking about how you can have a master's on the way to a PhD and then like name it what you want. So I might do that relevant to GIS stuff.
00:45:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's fine. The reason I mentioned it is like, it was so mind blowing to me that these things existed when I came to the US, because I just didn't have those options. So I used to hear about people like doing like double majors or like double masters and like having a minor in this and a major in that and like the PhD specialization like I had none of that.
00:45:53
Speaker
And a lot of these things are like bonus editions that require like, let's say 20% more effort at times, and then they look so good, and they suddenly you're like an expert in this. Of course, like then also makes you think about kind of like once you know how these things are accrued, whether like how qualitative they actually are. That's like, damn, like this is like free money, just take it. Take it, or might not take it. Yeah. That's the theme of the podcast.
00:46:21
Speaker
free money. And my Indian dad. Just take it. And toilet. Some good like real talk, real PhD talk. Real people, not a robot. Real people, not robots that are trying to sell you their university. And they make me check. Look at the traffic lights on these four by four square. Do you see traffic lights? No, you missed that corner. You need to do this three more times. You failed the course.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah. And do these letters and numbers for this CAPTCHA. I can't tell what that is. I know. And they never tell when something's uppercase or lowercase. Maybe I am a robot in this simulation of the world. Is this real? Who knows? Who really knows? Yeah, that is the real talk.
00:47:15
Speaker
I feel like we as archaeologists should know the most about that, though, if we are actually anything. Next topic. Are we holograms in this episode of the podcast? I'm obsessed with simulation theory, though. I love that theory so much.
00:47:36
Speaker
I'm excited for June 1st, we shall be learning from the US government about potential aliens and UFOs.
Cultural Humor: UFOs and Indian Cows
00:47:42
Speaker
But it's kind of like, why would only the US have this information? And why are they the only ones giving out the information? So if anything really is happening, other countries would just be like, yeah, we've known about this. Other countries know about this. US doesn't know everything. Don't come from me FBI agent who's watching me.
00:48:02
Speaker
No, let me give you some mind blowing information straight from India. So we have like, we have this god awful hashtag extremely awesome. Like it's so it's so bad. It's so good. Kind of a news channel. It's called India TV. And they I kid you not and this went viral in India. This was a few years back about alien abduction of cows. Okay. And Indian cows in specific because if you know anything about India, like we're obsessed with our cows.
00:48:29
Speaker
So they were like, do aliens, and this was like in very chaste, Hindi, and very earnest, very earnest. And with like infographics, I like these animations, okay? Do aliens abduct our cows? Do they abduct our cows because they like drinking milk? Why do they like drinking milk? Like just the line of logic. Of course they abduct cows, they abduct cows because of milk, and they abduct cows because they like drinking milk.
00:48:53
Speaker
then why do they want to drink milk the way we give our babies milk do they also give their babies milk and then they had like this like cartoonish like vertical image of this this uh UFO coming and then just like beaming a light and picking like a couple of cows up and yeah
00:49:08
Speaker
This is real, I can send it. Please, please, please post that on Instagram. Somebody was high while just writing that. Oh my god, I love it. That sounds hilarious. Like I said, and UFOs would be interested in Indian cows, like not even like cows, like Indian cows. That's the thing, because Indian cows are special. High quality cow.
00:49:32
Speaker
My countrymen hype up themselves the way nobody can. We need nobody else. We're best. We're best. Our cows are best. Cows are best because the milk is best. UFOs also know that. Aliens also know that Indian cows are the best. What other proof do you need?
00:49:50
Speaker
That's amazing. Hashtag Indian Cows, number one. Hashtag Indian Cows, title of the podcast. As our teachers say, you need a topic sentence. This is your topic sentence. Don't have too many topic sentences because then you won't be able to choose. What's the topic? Have you talked about Indian cows in any papers?
00:50:13
Speaker
No, because they're self-evident together. You don't talk about things that are just world-established truths. You talk about things that require investigation. Yes, very true. Exactly, that's why I have this. And I will not be discussing this ever again, because it's just so self-evident and so established.
Closing Thoughts and Social Media Sharing
00:50:31
Speaker
Indian cows are the best, okay? This was purely for educational purposes. Yeah, just in case any of the listeners did not know. How did they not know, though? Ignorant.
00:50:42
Speaker
The listeners are learning so much today about toilets. I'm going to get lynched on the street when I go back to England. That's what I'm saying. I cannot go back. Two years, fuck that. I can't go back to the next 36 years. I know that generation of people with this memory like just goes away. It's on the internet. It'll be there forever. And then as a digital archaeologist, it will be here forever. Material remains and all that shit.
00:51:13
Speaker
I'm going to put it in stone, which is the one of the most preserving forces of nature for anything written. I'm going to write out this entire episode. The new Hammurabi's Cove. Hashtag Indian cows at the top. And then do like a little UFO one. What does it mean? And a toilet seat. Yes, exactly. Beautiful.
00:51:42
Speaker
Do you have any links that you want to say or give out or any shout outs that you want to give?
00:51:49
Speaker
Any social media links? Other than this absolutely important, yeah, news occasion, vignette, self-confirmation, confirming news, the English. So, sure. Yeah, I mean, you can follow me on Instagram. It's as, it's not simple, I don't know. It's Shubhangni, Gupta, but everyone, it's just too many letters. Yeah, too many letters.
00:52:18
Speaker
Over at it down in the description. Awesome. So I am a freelance artist. Sometimes I paint and I sketch and I post stuff on Instagram. So that's cool. I don't use Facebook, LinkedIn. What is that even? Academia.edu not really there. In terms of shout out, I would like to give a shout out to you guys. Like this was so much fun.
00:52:38
Speaker
Oh, honestly, like this was this was like me popping my podcast Terry. So thank you so much for that. I wouldn't I wouldn't have wanted to want it to do it with anybody except for you guys. This was a great year first.
00:52:54
Speaker
Beautiful. So happy to have you. Cheers with my empty water bottle. Cheers with my day old coffee. Cheers with a stuffed penguin from Edinburgh. Fantastic. You guys are killing your theory. I want to end on saying I would like to commission a painting from Shimi. And I want it to involve toilets and cows. Wow.
00:53:22
Speaker
Yes. And I will hang it in my living room. So I have to humiliate myself for posterity. Got it. So that anybody who visits you and I'm the creator of my own destruction. Got it. Yes. I would love. Thank you. Anything for you. Any toilet seat for you. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. And thank you, Shubhi. Thank you, Shubhi. See you next time. Bye. Bye.
00:54:07
Speaker
This show is produced by the Archaeology Podcast Network, Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle, in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Collective. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.