You’ve seen him. You’ve definitely heard him. And he’s probably asked you for a cigarette or two. Oh yeah, and he’s the one with the really intelligent questions that the professor can’t always answer.
 

So, I was told I should ask you if you believe in the inevitability of socialist revolution.

No.
 

No, period?

Well, I don’t know how we got to this topic to begin with, but…
 

We started with this topic.

Yeah, I know. And I’d like to know who it is that gave you that idea, but as a matter of fact I don’t believe socialist revolution is inevitable. I’m not even sure I want socialist revolution to happen, but I do believe that socialism’s time hasn’t passed yet.
 

One question I’ve been wanting to ask you is, do you consider yourself a real smoker?

Yes, yes I do.
 

Oh yeah? How often do you buy cigarettes? [Abhishek frequently bums cigarettes off me.]

That’s a charged question…let’s put it this way: when I buy cigarettes, about once a week or something, perhaps a little less, I give them away as freely as I demand them.
 

So, I thought, hey, Abhishek, he’s this skinny, usually-smoking Indian kid that people see around campus. What descriptors would you add to this?

You know, that’s the sort of thing I would really never do—add descriptors to myself. I mean, I’m not trying to be difficult here, as the subject of an interview, but I think one of the aspects of my own existence or personality is that I would not add descriptors to myself; that I leave that to other people to do, and then probably they smirk contemptuously.
 

Now, another thing I’ve been hearing you talk about lately is the Army. Are you thinking of going into the Army?

Not really, no.
 

Not anymore? What happened?

Well I mean, I never was really thinking of going into the Army, I just thought that was an amusing thing to think about for a couple of minutes. I mean, in one sense it’s a very interesting prospect.
 

What are your other prospects, post-graduation?

Um, spend a year in Germany, perhaps go back to India for a little while and do something over there, perhaps go to graduate school.
 

Do you want to teach history to high school students?

Certainly not.
 

Why not?

I don’t actually like teaching. Yet. Perhaps one day I will, but I certainly don’t now. And I don’t like high school students. In fact, I don’t like students in general, so…
 

Now, it’s one of those times where everyone’s starting to ask, did you like Macalester, what do you think about Macalester, etc…

Oh, I love Macalester, if that’s the question.
 

What about Macalester?

I love the faculty, I love my professors, I love the fact that I’ve got a wonderful education. It’s a fantastic opportunity that I did receive here, and I think I try to make at least some use of it. But yeah, I absolutely love the faculty, I love the institution for what it is. I have a lot of problems with it, of course, as everybody does and should, but overall I think it’s fantastic. Very worthwhile.
 

What kind of stuff have you gotten into at Macalester? What do you do?

What I do—and I’m not ashamed to say this in the least—what I do is academics. That’s what I do. And that’s it.
 

So, as far as academics go, you’re a double major in history and classics, with an econ core. Did you come in knowing that that’s what you were going to do, or…?

Well, I always knew that I wanted to do history, and I always believed that to study the classics would be an integral part of the education of every civilized person. There was this idea in my mind, and I think it was very well verified because there are good reasons for studying the classics, and I found them, and that’s why I did that. And I did econ, at first, because I thought it would just be, you know, something good to do, perhaps useful from a vocational standpoint. Then I got into Professor Gary Krueger’s Comparative Economic Systems class and I just fell in love with the subject for a long time. I discovered, after many years, that I didn’t really want to do econ, that my interests were different, so now I find, for example, that I’m very interested in German Studies, and very interested in Russian Studies, and these are interests that I wish I had pursued earlier. So I had some idea of what I wanted to do; I think I did make the mistake of not pursuing all my avenues properly, though. I was very focused, and there are certainly benefits to that, but there are also disadvantages.
 

Do you explore the Twin Cities at all? Where do you hang out?

We spend a lot of time at the museums, of course, like the MIA and so forth; we head to Loring Park from time to time, and we head out into the nightlife a lot…but I think in terms of exploration, what I really like to do is walk around—a ten-block radius is just perfect—and it’s pretty easy to sort of put me in a car and take me anywhere in the Twin Cities as long as there’s something to be done and homework is not immediately pending.
 

You’re the kind of person that I tend to see at really random parties, and I think, how does he know the person throwing this party? Are you kind of a social butterfly, do you think?

Social butterfly? Hmm…well, first of all I think there might be something to the fact that international students are generally not seen outside their tight little cliques and coteries and on-campus parties. I don’t really associate myself particularly with the international set, though I have very little against them. But I don’t consider myself one of them, and most of my friends are actually from all over—I don’t really think about that kind of stuff, so this does mean that I go meet interesting people a lot more than I think a lot of international students get a chance to do. And this of course means that I go to really random parties, so to put it.
 

Have I seen you at soccer games? Do you attend sporting events?

Um, it’s been known to happen. I couldn’t deny it emphatically. I do go to soccer games occasionally…I don’t like sports. I sort of tend to look at the world in terms of sports, and then, on the other hand, civilization. And I sort of concentrate on the more civilized aspects of human existence—art, literature, culture, music.
 

How about goals? Do you have any goals, besides not teaching high school students?

I do have goals–those are very vague and unformed and I try not to think about them. I sort of try to just lead my life and live well and do what it is that I feel like doing, and I presume, though I have no good reason for presuming this, that eventually the goals will become clearer.
 

So I hear that you cook pretty well.

Mm-hmm. I cook a lot of Indian food, but I also experiment a lot. Basically I like to cook with alcohol and with spices, so I just like to throw food together and see what comes out.
 

Do you have dinner parties?

Oh yeah, a lot.
 

Why am I not invited?

Because I haven’t known you for long enough, and these are rather exclusive parties. But don’t worry, Danielle, if this interview goes well, I assure you that you will be treated to a very fun Indian meal.
 

A few weeks ago we were discussing dating at Macalester, and you said something about how you would be sort of a big “catch.”

I have no memory—there’s a lot of rubbish that I talk, and presumably this is a part of that, but uh…a big catch?
 

Like, a big catch on campus.

A big catch on campus…no actually, I think I was probably being sarcastic and self-deprecating right there.
 

So you would not agree that you’re a big catch on campus? I think you could be a big catch.

Okay, here’s what I’d say. I’d say…nothing, that’s what I’d say.
 

Once again, no descriptors.

No descriptors; let other people decide to judge. I mean, I do make judgments and evaluations about other people, but I generally keep them to myself.
 

Are you judgmental?

Oh, absolutely. Extremely.
 

So, first impressions…

First impressions are very important for me, certainly, but I usually give people second impressions too. Not third impressions.
 

Do you often revise your first impression upon having a second impression?

It’s been known to happen…not frequently, but I’d consider myself open-minded enough to do that.
 

Is it true that you lived with a Republican your first year?

Oh yeah.
 

And he wore sweater vests?

He wore sweater vests, his name was Ryan Murray, he no longer goes to Macalester, and I lament that most sincerely.
 

Were you friends?

We were good roommates. We were not politically in tune, but we were good roommates. I had another roommate, Kevin, who is one of my best friends here, and he’s also a football player, incidentally. So I think there were three different political views in that little Dupre triple at the end of the hall. It was a very interesting place to live.
 

Now you’re a senior, and you live off-campus. Do you guys rotate chores, or how does your house function?

We live in what might be described as a perfectly anarchical commune. Things get done. How they get done is not clear. Certain extremely critical functions are rotated.
 

Extremely critical functions?

You know, such as keeping the bathroom clean, for example. And we cook, but we spend a lot of time together, and everything seems to work really well. We don’t believe in the level of formalization that some of our friends seem to have off-campus, which involves housemate meetings, and addenda, and this and that, and food with little names written on it, and “don’t you touch my food, you bitch,” or what have you. So yeah, we live in a communitarian society—a very small communitarian society of four.
 

Is it a bachelor pad, all bachelors?

Absolutely. Well…strictly speaking, no, but pretty much, yeah. It’s the attitude. That’s certainly the attitude we like to project.
 

How would you like to end this interview?

I wouldn’t. I think this interview could go on for a long time—I love talking about myself, this is fascinating. I don’t know, how about this: reluctantly.