Check your gmail from Linux command line.
Using curl, you are able to read each of your unread emails (subject and who it's from) in your command line.
NOTE: Change the username to your username, use your full email if you are a google apps user.
curl -u username --silent "https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom" | perl -ne 'print "\t" if /<name>/; print "$2\n" if /<(title|name)>(.*)<\/\1>/;'