Royal Treatement
3 months of living life kingsize has left me dreading getting back to the third world graduate life at school .
For once you get to work in a company that pay you the highest amongst interns all over. You are all set to come in when you realise you dnt have a car and no bus goes to your workplace. The gentlemen that they are , my employers agree to reimburse a cab ride for me . Whow!!!I arrive to work in a chauffeur driven car every day to work now .
Inside the brightly lit building painted in all hues of the sky you get to know the one of most intricate technologies that exist and if technology excites you , this is the place to be . They have Phds from aerospace , electrical , mechanical , chemical all bunched together making one of the best drives in the world .
And then you get to work on a really cool project . I put in only half of the effort that I did at school and my mentor asks me if i m getting awed by the work ...:-)...If thats not it , free tickets to valley fair , harry potter screening and bunch of inside activities . Just icing on the cake .
Add to it free evening , free weekends ...zero nagging by your brain about the amount of work you have left ...and money to travel ...i went all over the US in these 3 months ...:-P
The past 3 days have just been wonderful with the farewell lunches , people coming to ask you if you liked the work and what you think of the company ... now thats some respect ...hmmmm ....
Well Well but all good things come to an end ...
Now starts a new chapter with me trying to figure out algorithms in the brain ..:-D
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Indianness
I was watching Gandhi my father , the other day and then something struck me about what Indianness actually means . Before I go further I would like to recommend watching the movie . Its refreshing to see movies like this being made. Chak de would fall second in this list .
Coming back to the point , it struck me what being an Indian actually meant . Its our innate spirituality that makes us different from every one . Not falling prey to temptation and desires and practising tolerance. Thats what sets us different from these people. Since we are children we are taught in our houses that materialism is not the way to moksha , the more you can get rid of your desires , the more closer will you be to the eternal one . I believe anyone at any place in the world if he follows this is Indian enough .
This flattening of cultures poses a grave danger to the Indian culture. There are certain things you should learn from other cultures and certain things are to be avoided. Like in the case of Americans there dedication to work and perfection is something to be learnt from . Also another remarkable thing is the co-existence of so many cultures simultaneously . Unfortunately this learning process also brings along some of the other things like the fast food , dating , divorce into our cultures.
We are at a very important stage in flattening of cultures . We have never know so much about the outside world as we do now .What we choose right now and give up would define a lot of how all of us along with India in the future would end up being .
I was watching Gandhi my father , the other day and then something struck me about what Indianness actually means . Before I go further I would like to recommend watching the movie . Its refreshing to see movies like this being made. Chak de would fall second in this list .
Coming back to the point , it struck me what being an Indian actually meant . Its our innate spirituality that makes us different from every one . Not falling prey to temptation and desires and practising tolerance. Thats what sets us different from these people. Since we are children we are taught in our houses that materialism is not the way to moksha , the more you can get rid of your desires , the more closer will you be to the eternal one . I believe anyone at any place in the world if he follows this is Indian enough .
This flattening of cultures poses a grave danger to the Indian culture. There are certain things you should learn from other cultures and certain things are to be avoided. Like in the case of Americans there dedication to work and perfection is something to be learnt from . Also another remarkable thing is the co-existence of so many cultures simultaneously . Unfortunately this learning process also brings along some of the other things like the fast food , dating , divorce into our cultures.
We are at a very important stage in flattening of cultures . We have never know so much about the outside world as we do now .What we choose right now and give up would define a lot of how all of us along with India in the future would end up being .
Sunday, August 26, 2007
World is Flat
Recently have been reading this bestseller called World is Flat which is about flattening of economies world wide. It got me thinking about flattening of cultures all over the world .
Coming to US has been a eye opening to this phase which is taking over all of us with a storm . I sometimes wonder that with the pace at which this flattening of cultures is taking place , by the time we realise some thing has happened it may be too late.
For me this has been a very confusing setup. There are certain changes you have to make in the way you live when you start following a different culture. It always becomes a question as to how to decide where to draw a line.
Eating non veg is wrong acc to Brahmin Indian culture but what do you do when you get nthin else to eat . still try and find something veggie to eat ?
Wearing saree is Indian , what if I wear jeans and skirts or clothes which people in other cultures wear . Have I stopped being Indian?
Going to temple is Indian but what if I don't find going to temples pious enough . I believe in meditating in my house .
Talking in my native language is Indian. Flattening means more and more Indian families prefer talking in English bcoz parents usually are not of the same native language these days.Have they stopped being Indian
Kids here in the US get confused deciding if they should behave in the way there peers behave or should they follow what there parents say . Should they go to proms , date girls and drink on weekends which a lot of there peers and there parents consider to be normal or should they stop socializing and stick to there other Indian friends whose parents think the same way their parents do . The parents are also stuck not knowing how they should raise there kids.
This is not the situation only here in the US . Students in colleges back in India , parents in metros every one faces the same question day in and day out . What acc to a person is Indian?
Now when I look back I realise how much more our lives are different from our parents. With more and more girls going out of homes. Increased interaction between boys and girls , the social structures are changing rapidly. Love marriages are becoming norm of the day. So what is it that you consider right ?
People here in the US have multiple affairs before marriage . They do not consider it wrong but are we ok with considering it right yet.
With every evolving generation the younger generation faces tougher question about how do they want to move ahead . What part of there culture do they want to keep and what is that they want to leave.
Only time will tell what this flattening of cultures will do to us . Meanwhile there will be this whole generation of youngster who have to decide on a daily basis what to pick and where to pick from ?
So what exactly does it mean to be an Indian ?
Recently have been reading this bestseller called World is Flat which is about flattening of economies world wide. It got me thinking about flattening of cultures all over the world .
Coming to US has been a eye opening to this phase which is taking over all of us with a storm . I sometimes wonder that with the pace at which this flattening of cultures is taking place , by the time we realise some thing has happened it may be too late.
For me this has been a very confusing setup. There are certain changes you have to make in the way you live when you start following a different culture. It always becomes a question as to how to decide where to draw a line.
Eating non veg is wrong acc to Brahmin Indian culture but what do you do when you get nthin else to eat . still try and find something veggie to eat ?
Wearing saree is Indian , what if I wear jeans and skirts or clothes which people in other cultures wear . Have I stopped being Indian?
Going to temple is Indian but what if I don't find going to temples pious enough . I believe in meditating in my house .
Talking in my native language is Indian. Flattening means more and more Indian families prefer talking in English bcoz parents usually are not of the same native language these days.Have they stopped being Indian
Kids here in the US get confused deciding if they should behave in the way there peers behave or should they follow what there parents say . Should they go to proms , date girls and drink on weekends which a lot of there peers and there parents consider to be normal or should they stop socializing and stick to there other Indian friends whose parents think the same way their parents do . The parents are also stuck not knowing how they should raise there kids.
This is not the situation only here in the US . Students in colleges back in India , parents in metros every one faces the same question day in and day out . What acc to a person is Indian?
Now when I look back I realise how much more our lives are different from our parents. With more and more girls going out of homes. Increased interaction between boys and girls , the social structures are changing rapidly. Love marriages are becoming norm of the day. So what is it that you consider right ?
People here in the US have multiple affairs before marriage . They do not consider it wrong but are we ok with considering it right yet.
With every evolving generation the younger generation faces tougher question about how do they want to move ahead . What part of there culture do they want to keep and what is that they want to leave.
Only time will tell what this flattening of cultures will do to us . Meanwhile there will be this whole generation of youngster who have to decide on a daily basis what to pick and where to pick from ?
So what exactly does it mean to be an Indian ?
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
5 miles
Yesterday was one of the small accomplishment day . I ran 5 miles non stop on the tread mill .
I had decided I would write a blog on the day I accomplish this .
Finishing my last mile on the tread mill I could see the whole of last year gone by before my eyes . Intially when I started , running half a mile would kill me ...i had cramps all over my body , couldn't move. Over the entire process I realised it was very easy to give up . Your body is as lethargic as your mind makes it to , as soon as it sees your body getting out of the comfort zone it sends out signals ..ohh , i m so tired ..i just cannot make it any further ..the trick is to realise that your mind is playing games with you . The minute you do not give in to your mind , the journey ahead becomes really simple .
All this while I thought running was all about having the stamina , but now I realise it just about how strong your mind is ..bcoz in the end it is just a mind game .
Obviously this nowhere means that my mind was really strong and so I got here ...it was only bcoz of the constant pestering of my geeky marathon runner friend that I got here . All thanks to him.
There have been these times in my life where I have seen someone do smthing and wanted to be there ..and the day you are there just feels awesome and I guess thats what makes life worth living ...not the moment of accomplishment but the life you live since you concieve that dream , to the day you get there ...
Now on starts another goal in my life ..to sustain what I gained ..the struggle starts again ....
Yesterday was one of the small accomplishment day . I ran 5 miles non stop on the tread mill .
I had decided I would write a blog on the day I accomplish this .
Finishing my last mile on the tread mill I could see the whole of last year gone by before my eyes . Intially when I started , running half a mile would kill me ...i had cramps all over my body , couldn't move. Over the entire process I realised it was very easy to give up . Your body is as lethargic as your mind makes it to , as soon as it sees your body getting out of the comfort zone it sends out signals ..ohh , i m so tired ..i just cannot make it any further ..the trick is to realise that your mind is playing games with you . The minute you do not give in to your mind , the journey ahead becomes really simple .
All this while I thought running was all about having the stamina , but now I realise it just about how strong your mind is ..bcoz in the end it is just a mind game .
Obviously this nowhere means that my mind was really strong and so I got here ...it was only bcoz of the constant pestering of my geeky marathon runner friend that I got here . All thanks to him.
There have been these times in my life where I have seen someone do smthing and wanted to be there ..and the day you are there just feels awesome and I guess thats what makes life worth living ...not the moment of accomplishment but the life you live since you concieve that dream , to the day you get there ...
Now on starts another goal in my life ..to sustain what I gained ..the struggle starts again ....
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Sicko
One of the most touching documentaries that I have seen in recent times . It questions the medical system in the US . Privatization of medicine as compared to socialistic medicine.
US is the land of capitalism and it has always been led with the philisophy of greatest good to the greatest individual ( as in not character wise , business wise ) . The downside of this is medical care where in insurance companies are in a fierce battle to make as much money out of the medical business as any other private company but the only problem is that this profit making firm sometimes results in the lives of ppl .
US is the land of scientific discoveries and often one of the first countries to make breakthroughs in medicine , we would never imagine that ppl will not be able to take advantage of this bcoz their insurance companies think that this is experimental and so they will not cover it under insurance . The insurance companies consider money sent out as loss and the number of applications denied insurance as profits ..
The critics argue that in socialistic medicine a person who is working really hard has to shell out money in his taxes to take care for someone who cannot afford it but if you look at it the other way around every person from the bus driver to the garbage can man makes your life easier to live and for every other person that falls sick the overall productivity of the nation falls down which indirectly affects your own productivity too . After all life is governed by too many uncertainties , one day you maybear the brunt of it too.
Others may argue that it is the survival of the fittest . The fittest and the wealthiest survive , the poor on the other hand have to die . If that is so I just hope we dnt end up like the ppl in the hitch hikers guide who sent away all the barbers , technicians and gardners boz they thought their jobs were too menial . Utimately the smart ppl perished but the dumb ones formed a planet named earth .
One of the most touching documentaries that I have seen in recent times . It questions the medical system in the US . Privatization of medicine as compared to socialistic medicine.
US is the land of capitalism and it has always been led with the philisophy of greatest good to the greatest individual ( as in not character wise , business wise ) . The downside of this is medical care where in insurance companies are in a fierce battle to make as much money out of the medical business as any other private company but the only problem is that this profit making firm sometimes results in the lives of ppl .
US is the land of scientific discoveries and often one of the first countries to make breakthroughs in medicine , we would never imagine that ppl will not be able to take advantage of this bcoz their insurance companies think that this is experimental and so they will not cover it under insurance . The insurance companies consider money sent out as loss and the number of applications denied insurance as profits ..
The critics argue that in socialistic medicine a person who is working really hard has to shell out money in his taxes to take care for someone who cannot afford it but if you look at it the other way around every person from the bus driver to the garbage can man makes your life easier to live and for every other person that falls sick the overall productivity of the nation falls down which indirectly affects your own productivity too . After all life is governed by too many uncertainties , one day you maybear the brunt of it too.
Others may argue that it is the survival of the fittest . The fittest and the wealthiest survive , the poor on the other hand have to die . If that is so I just hope we dnt end up like the ppl in the hitch hikers guide who sent away all the barbers , technicians and gardners boz they thought their jobs were too menial . Utimately the smart ppl perished but the dumb ones formed a planet named earth .
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