Knocking on doors !!
Coming to US has taught me the beauty of something I call knocking on the doors . Although I seem like a pretty outgoing person , I have my decent share of butterflies in the stomach when I have to go and meet someone new or talk to them . I always hesitate in going and knocking on the door but then life in the US has taught a little about how nothing really bad can ever happen to you , there is always the worse you can rely on to cheer you up .
Coming back to the point , I knocked quite a few doors in my two years here and I have recieved so much love and joy from behind these closed doors that I have become a ardent believer in this concept . The first door that I knocked was of the Minnesota International center which has led to me to the homes of three wonderful families who have opened up their house and heart for us . It has introduced to me to Karin and her family who are now almost like home away from home to me . The MIC also let me to elementary schools in Minneapolis , where I got an opportunity to have lots of fun with hundreds of kids from kindergarden to the 8th grade , each one has offered me something to cherish and remember throught out my life .
The next door that I knocked was off my next door neighbours which gave me a whole group of wonderful friends whom I cherish being with ...
Then comes the door to the Barbara center for dance and the fergueson hall for music ..I almost decided to turn around and go back half way . the dance class that I wanted to join was full and I had almost decided to go back when the teacher asked me to go down and meet cythia garner who takes modern dance ..I went down the door was closed ..my first impulse was to go back but then I stayed on ..the door opened and I was ushered into a beautiful world of dance , which has given me something more than just dance moves ...an internal joy which is hard to describe...it also introduced me to a world of totally different people ..the world of artists ..the language of the heart as opposed to the language of reason that I am used to ..
And finally the latest door that I went in through..the Mc Donald Home for children suffering from long term diseases ...once again a totally different world and a entirely new experience ...
Here is my story of knocking doors and I believe I will continue to do that for a long time ..
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Graduation
I have been meaning to update my blog for so many days now but it has been by far the busiest holidays ever . So this blog is now going to be the culmination of three separate blogs .
First things first …I graduated …seems like a big word and I was supposed to and tried to feel something like an achievement done or something likethat..Unfortunately all it felt like was a nice big party day with the colorful robes, joking around with the friends and walking up the stage to receive the cover for my yet to be received certificate.
I was more excited about my one week in the wilderness of boundary waters trip as a commemoration of my graduation and to celebrate probably the longest break I will get before I start working ..i was shouting around at the top of my voice telling friends about this once in a lifetime trip , shopping etc etc .
Ever heard of smthing called how things can change in just one day ..thats what happened on this wonderful sunny Sunday in the May of ’08 . I was all dressed up to take my shinny new car to the temple and get puja done as per my dad’s wishes . The friend I was supposed to go with called in and said he cannot make it …hmm well I thought let me get some medicines for the trip just incase ..off I went to Boynton , got 12$ worth of medicines , came back joked around with friends ..just when I got a call from my trip leader ..” Hi Akhila , Laura here , I have a family emergency at home ..I am sorry but we are cancelling the trip ..”….5 sec down ..10 secs down …I was numb ..now this cannot be happening , I remember telling myself ..this was one of my most eagerly awaited trips and adventures of all times ….how can it go wrong ..I was finding it difficult to compose myself …went home called a friend , almost broke down …called one last time to confirm if all that I had heard 10 mins back was for real ..Yes it was ..Ok relax …lets put backup plan into operation ..prepone tickets to the family getogether …well as you might have guessed by the flavor of the day till now ..tickets are non-refundable , non – changeable…
Friends are starting to call in ..we have other plans for the day ..one deep breath , I composed myself and off we went in my shiny new phantom gray Toyota camry ..and well what do you expect …I drive beautifully on the highways ..my first time without a trained driver sitting next to me ..and just when we are near the lake we were meant to go to,on a local road ..My car's bumper gently kisses a red car bumper right in front of me …déjà vu ..the same numb feeling is returning to me ..10 secs blank out …well I pull over like a obedient immigrant following unknown rules in an unknown country . A totally disturbed young girl comes out of the car …I am counting my secs and there she goes ..crying away to glory …déjà vu again ..a total blank ..”crying for a gentle kiss?? “ …what do I do now …I faintly hear her telling me she needed to call some one to calm her down ..she is very disturbed etc etc ..next minute we are in the centre of a busy marketplace on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon surrounded by cops , paramedics ..the fair lady who I hit is barking out a story off how everything in her body feels numb (all due to a gentle hit at 2 miles per hour??? …Americans should be crowned hype masters ..!!!) …my other alien friends with citations in there records called up to congratulate me for joining the club of law breakers …:-)( a friend in need is a friend in deed ) …
As if that was not enough at the end of the day I gave my dear roomie a slight neck massage by pulling up the window when she was looking out of it ..don’t worry she is still alive ..:-)
Wow that was quite some day …!!!
And so it has been for the rest of the holidays till now…a vacation worth cherishing …starting from the adventures in my new car ..to jetsking at 60 miles / per hour with the water splashing on my face ..sticking up live earthworms to fishing rods and watching them being wasted away since the fish were too smart to get caught ..weekend at the resort like home of bemmu atta with wonderful dancing ,singing , cricket , pool with the family …stacking away donations at the Mc Donalds home ..followed by a weekend of blissful camping in Itasca state park munching away at barbecued mushrooms , sweet potatos , paneer with mosquito repellant flavouring ,canoeing and kayaking till all my bones broke and finally hip hopping away in the zenon dance centre …
With 2 more weeks to go there is so much more to come ..!!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
To just be
My dance and music classes this semester have been quite a revelation to me . It has been something like stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new . Its not like I have not danced or sang ever , I have been doing them ever since I remember . Its was more about doing it in a different environment with a different set of people but mostly about learning art forms which are thought of and interpreted so differently .
When I learnt dance or singing in India , it was more about going over the sequences till you got them by heart and learnt well . We never talked about our body as an instrument for singing , stressing on different parts that could help acoustically if used in a certain way . While there are a lot more technical details that I learnt in these classes , that not what I want to talk about in this blog.
Today we went to a painting exhibitions by one of the people in my dance class. She had a bunch of these abstract paintings and I asked her why she made them the way she did . She replied that she painted mostly on intution , she just felt that something should look like smthing and then she did that . This idea was something pretty new to me . Being an engineer , for me every end result in guided by a logical reasoning as to why something else was being done .
Later on we had a discussion about this in the class , my class had a whole bunch of artsy people ...actors , dancers , historians etc . They all talked about listening to your soul or intution or inner feeling while producing a creative piece . In there words you need to just be and that is when you get your answers . My teacher is trying to design an ending for her dance piece and all she does is she "just let herself be " , till the piece finally enters her ....
A lot of my dance class has been about improvisation and understanding your body ...when I started it was all in my head zone ..I am slowly learning to let it just be ...and there is lies a totally new realm of myself that I never knew .
I am learning that in my life too ..I can think really hard about a problem trying to find answers for it or just planning things in a certain way ...then later on when I just stop doing that and let myself just be ...poof!!! the answer pops out ...
I do not know what to call this realm of myself ..something like muscle memory ..a new term I learned in the dance class ....my teacher tells us we dnt always have to remember sequences in our head ..our body knows the most natural sequence after a certain step and thats the way it goes ..it remembers them in the muscles ( if that makes any sense ..)
I would think this is what happens when you start to get in sync with what you really are ..than what you project yourself to be ..!!!
My dance and music classes this semester have been quite a revelation to me . It has been something like stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new . Its not like I have not danced or sang ever , I have been doing them ever since I remember . Its was more about doing it in a different environment with a different set of people but mostly about learning art forms which are thought of and interpreted so differently .
When I learnt dance or singing in India , it was more about going over the sequences till you got them by heart and learnt well . We never talked about our body as an instrument for singing , stressing on different parts that could help acoustically if used in a certain way . While there are a lot more technical details that I learnt in these classes , that not what I want to talk about in this blog.
Today we went to a painting exhibitions by one of the people in my dance class. She had a bunch of these abstract paintings and I asked her why she made them the way she did . She replied that she painted mostly on intution , she just felt that something should look like smthing and then she did that . This idea was something pretty new to me . Being an engineer , for me every end result in guided by a logical reasoning as to why something else was being done .
Later on we had a discussion about this in the class , my class had a whole bunch of artsy people ...actors , dancers , historians etc . They all talked about listening to your soul or intution or inner feeling while producing a creative piece . In there words you need to just be and that is when you get your answers . My teacher is trying to design an ending for her dance piece and all she does is she "just let herself be " , till the piece finally enters her ....
A lot of my dance class has been about improvisation and understanding your body ...when I started it was all in my head zone ..I am slowly learning to let it just be ...and there is lies a totally new realm of myself that I never knew .
I am learning that in my life too ..I can think really hard about a problem trying to find answers for it or just planning things in a certain way ...then later on when I just stop doing that and let myself just be ...poof!!! the answer pops out ...
I do not know what to call this realm of myself ..something like muscle memory ..a new term I learned in the dance class ....my teacher tells us we dnt always have to remember sequences in our head ..our body knows the most natural sequence after a certain step and thats the way it goes ..it remembers them in the muscles ( if that makes any sense ..)
I would think this is what happens when you start to get in sync with what you really are ..than what you project yourself to be ..!!!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Human face
Saw , heard , performed a lot of acts ( all the world's a stage and so I think the word acts encompasses all that happens around us ) in the past few weeks .
Attended a play called women of persia ..which talks about the women of persia ( mother , daughter , sister , slave and queen ) who have been left behind when there men goes to war and what these hapless souls have to go through when led by there arrogant and foolish king the persians go to war with greece , tens of thousands of men die and the persian empire crumbles . A particularly touching scene was when after coming back from the war , the king has to face the spite of all his people ..but then the same people are forced to bow to the king against there wishes,when summoned by the queen mother .
The play was a actor centric play enacted in arena ..with minimal prop used , the background score was also sung by the actors and the persian chants just added to the whole feel of the play . The scenes where the actors grieve there lost ones shook me to my core .
Then I recently saw the bbc documentary on story of India by Michael woods . I recommend it to every India , this is a must see for everyone . It talks about India right from the time of rigveda to the british invasions . Through all of it you realise that India is basically a land of immigrants , first the africans settled in south india , the aryans from central asia came into india developing the manhattan of olden times , also called mohen jo daro , then the mughals and finally british . We are a combination of all these civilizations . The world has learnt to live conveniently with each other in India ,while respecting each others differences .
I also attended a lecture by the founder member of Engineers without borders , a organization which works with underprivileged people all over the world trying to provide basic amenities such as clean drinking water , sanitation facilities etc. I will need a whole new blog to write about all that I heard about that day . One thing I wanted to mention was that when the Professor decided he wanted to build a sanitation project in a godforsaken place in south america , half of the class offered to work on it . The professor was surprised and asked the people why they were never seen near his office earlier and all of sudden were all so enthusiatic . The students replied we are here bcoz we are bored of the meaningless engineering taught in classes (namingly solving problem5.1 to problem 5.5 ) ..since what you offer to do is engineering with a purpose we want to work with you .
Today I saw the movie Page 3 . A wonderful movie on human relationships and the fraility of them . The power hungry and the ways power can fight down a person's good motives and intentions . Once again to quote the movie ..."It is no longer good have a good motive , you should have the intelligence to make sure you can translate your motivation into the change that you want to see " , " Be in the system and fight the systems ".
So what do all these non relating stories have to say ....As my Professor once said ..We become engineers bcoz we do not want to have anything to do with the people , let the managers do that ..its only when we step out of the school that we realize that its what we had been running from that we need to deal with ....
All the stories talk about a part of the human face , be it forced reverence to a foolish king due to his stature , nobody dares to stand up against the king and thats what gets passed on to generations ...reverence of the people in power ...
The foolhardiness of engineering schools when they think that having taught there students how to integrate or build a circuit board , they have made the students ready to change the world.
The story of India made me wonder about the rights of fundamentalists trying to state that the ram mandir was at a certain place or the north indians should leave mumbai because they do not belong there . We are a country of immigrants and does anyone at the end of the day have any right to say that a certain place is ours .
People all over the world are trying to throw away others from their country because they are afraid of the people of foreign origin .They are afraid of being outnumbered or over thrown , there is so much of mistrust , fear and anger existing every where ....I guess we all need to learn from Akbar, peaceful co-existence is the need of the day and not rulers or dictators .
The same fear shows in the page 3, people who are all trying to hide behind the facade of power in the hope that it will provide them the happiness that they desire in there lives ...
I look at my own life and see influence of numerous human faces on my own life and my success and failures in dealing with them . The more I see of the world the more I realize how much this so called human face affects our lives and no matter how many technical , medical or economic advancements we make ....its the human face at the end of the day that shapes our lives ..and it is not until the time that we have unconvered the myth of these varied human faces that our lives will continue to be as chaotic as they are today .
Saw , heard , performed a lot of acts ( all the world's a stage and so I think the word acts encompasses all that happens around us ) in the past few weeks .
Attended a play called women of persia ..which talks about the women of persia ( mother , daughter , sister , slave and queen ) who have been left behind when there men goes to war and what these hapless souls have to go through when led by there arrogant and foolish king the persians go to war with greece , tens of thousands of men die and the persian empire crumbles . A particularly touching scene was when after coming back from the war , the king has to face the spite of all his people ..but then the same people are forced to bow to the king against there wishes,when summoned by the queen mother .
The play was a actor centric play enacted in arena ..with minimal prop used , the background score was also sung by the actors and the persian chants just added to the whole feel of the play . The scenes where the actors grieve there lost ones shook me to my core .
Then I recently saw the bbc documentary on story of India by Michael woods . I recommend it to every India , this is a must see for everyone . It talks about India right from the time of rigveda to the british invasions . Through all of it you realise that India is basically a land of immigrants , first the africans settled in south india , the aryans from central asia came into india developing the manhattan of olden times , also called mohen jo daro , then the mughals and finally british . We are a combination of all these civilizations . The world has learnt to live conveniently with each other in India ,while respecting each others differences .
I also attended a lecture by the founder member of Engineers without borders , a organization which works with underprivileged people all over the world trying to provide basic amenities such as clean drinking water , sanitation facilities etc. I will need a whole new blog to write about all that I heard about that day . One thing I wanted to mention was that when the Professor decided he wanted to build a sanitation project in a godforsaken place in south america , half of the class offered to work on it . The professor was surprised and asked the people why they were never seen near his office earlier and all of sudden were all so enthusiatic . The students replied we are here bcoz we are bored of the meaningless engineering taught in classes (namingly solving problem5.1 to problem 5.5 ) ..since what you offer to do is engineering with a purpose we want to work with you .
Today I saw the movie Page 3 . A wonderful movie on human relationships and the fraility of them . The power hungry and the ways power can fight down a person's good motives and intentions . Once again to quote the movie ..."It is no longer good have a good motive , you should have the intelligence to make sure you can translate your motivation into the change that you want to see " , " Be in the system and fight the systems ".
So what do all these non relating stories have to say ....As my Professor once said ..We become engineers bcoz we do not want to have anything to do with the people , let the managers do that ..its only when we step out of the school that we realize that its what we had been running from that we need to deal with ....
All the stories talk about a part of the human face , be it forced reverence to a foolish king due to his stature , nobody dares to stand up against the king and thats what gets passed on to generations ...reverence of the people in power ...
The foolhardiness of engineering schools when they think that having taught there students how to integrate or build a circuit board , they have made the students ready to change the world.
The story of India made me wonder about the rights of fundamentalists trying to state that the ram mandir was at a certain place or the north indians should leave mumbai because they do not belong there . We are a country of immigrants and does anyone at the end of the day have any right to say that a certain place is ours .
People all over the world are trying to throw away others from their country because they are afraid of the people of foreign origin .They are afraid of being outnumbered or over thrown , there is so much of mistrust , fear and anger existing every where ....I guess we all need to learn from Akbar, peaceful co-existence is the need of the day and not rulers or dictators .
The same fear shows in the page 3, people who are all trying to hide behind the facade of power in the hope that it will provide them the happiness that they desire in there lives ...
I look at my own life and see influence of numerous human faces on my own life and my success and failures in dealing with them . The more I see of the world the more I realize how much this so called human face affects our lives and no matter how many technical , medical or economic advancements we make ....its the human face at the end of the day that shapes our lives ..and it is not until the time that we have unconvered the myth of these varied human faces that our lives will continue to be as chaotic as they are today .
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Dharm
Just finished a brilliant movie on communal violence .."dharm " ..starring pankaj kapoor . It brings to light again one of the major issues that we have to deal being a part of such a diverse culture . India on its part has managed to not be a part of religious fundamentalism as compared to other nations on the earth but then we still have been part of it now and then in our own ways . Be it the cast system or hindu muslim communal rights ..they have affected us all in a way small or big .
When I was growing up we were a part of a small cosmopolitan township where caste , creed hardly made a differences . Friendships were being fostered there and it was just the person there that mattered , your ancestory did not mattered then . In our small happy world we never even managed to think that the caste , creed , status of a person actually mattered . Infact we convienently forgot that distinctions like that existed . The only distinction were the people you like to hang around with and the ones you don't .
The first time that I actually realised that distinctions like that existed where in my 10th standard when people in SC category were asked to register separately . It suddenly created a distinction which was no where to been till now . Unwantingly there was a extra line line added in my mind beside the introduction of the person . From now on it became a common theme in our lives , the people with quotas getting into colleges ahead of us ...it was a grudge everyone seemed to have ..but then later on that became a part of life and we did not think back on it ..
College was again pretty cosmopolitan , had friends from all states in india ..it never mattered where each one of them had come from , what they ate at home and once again the distinctions seemed to have been forgotten .
There have been shocks in between though ..like when 7 year old described to me how all her friends were brahmins , i did not even know a distinction like that when I was 7 . I also once heard a story of how my one of my uncle's got a tired beggar home one day to help him out and my grandfather just wouldn't have that person come into the house ..for he was a shudra ...
It was only when we reached andhra and after listening to my sister , family friends and my parents i realised how fundamentalist caste has become in andhra ...people group acc to caste in colleges and if they don't they are threatened by people from there caste . I heard my grandfather refer to one of cousins who had married a muslim , he thought that was one of the most demeaning things to do . My sister who has studied 3 years in andhra also seemed to grasp it ..she told me how people from different castes were really difficult to talk to .
Me being an outsider all this while had failed to realize the divide ...until it hit real close ....
seeing this movie now brought back all the memories ...the main character in the movie although follows dharm the way thinks it is right to the fullest , doing the toughest of vratas and working towards the betterment of brahmins ...his discipline is noteworthy ..but somewhere down the line he forgets that dharam is not just bettering one's self or betterment of people who we think are like us (due to some unfortunate ways of dividing people ).. its about rising above our differences and searching for the ultimate happiness or bliss ...and the person who will aid you in this process could very well be a muslim or a shudra ...
Coming to the US I have met people who have managed to go beyond the boundaries set by political maps and spread solidarity amongst people in the whole word.
Having said all this ...I know its easier said than done ..I myself get caught in some of its hassles and find courage failing me to get out it ...
Just finished a brilliant movie on communal violence .."dharm " ..starring pankaj kapoor . It brings to light again one of the major issues that we have to deal being a part of such a diverse culture . India on its part has managed to not be a part of religious fundamentalism as compared to other nations on the earth but then we still have been part of it now and then in our own ways . Be it the cast system or hindu muslim communal rights ..they have affected us all in a way small or big .
When I was growing up we were a part of a small cosmopolitan township where caste , creed hardly made a differences . Friendships were being fostered there and it was just the person there that mattered , your ancestory did not mattered then . In our small happy world we never even managed to think that the caste , creed , status of a person actually mattered . Infact we convienently forgot that distinctions like that existed . The only distinction were the people you like to hang around with and the ones you don't .
The first time that I actually realised that distinctions like that existed where in my 10th standard when people in SC category were asked to register separately . It suddenly created a distinction which was no where to been till now . Unwantingly there was a extra line line added in my mind beside the introduction of the person . From now on it became a common theme in our lives , the people with quotas getting into colleges ahead of us ...it was a grudge everyone seemed to have ..but then later on that became a part of life and we did not think back on it ..
College was again pretty cosmopolitan , had friends from all states in india ..it never mattered where each one of them had come from , what they ate at home and once again the distinctions seemed to have been forgotten .
There have been shocks in between though ..like when 7 year old described to me how all her friends were brahmins , i did not even know a distinction like that when I was 7 . I also once heard a story of how my one of my uncle's got a tired beggar home one day to help him out and my grandfather just wouldn't have that person come into the house ..for he was a shudra ...
It was only when we reached andhra and after listening to my sister , family friends and my parents i realised how fundamentalist caste has become in andhra ...people group acc to caste in colleges and if they don't they are threatened by people from there caste . I heard my grandfather refer to one of cousins who had married a muslim , he thought that was one of the most demeaning things to do . My sister who has studied 3 years in andhra also seemed to grasp it ..she told me how people from different castes were really difficult to talk to .
Me being an outsider all this while had failed to realize the divide ...until it hit real close ....
seeing this movie now brought back all the memories ...the main character in the movie although follows dharm the way thinks it is right to the fullest , doing the toughest of vratas and working towards the betterment of brahmins ...his discipline is noteworthy ..but somewhere down the line he forgets that dharam is not just bettering one's self or betterment of people who we think are like us (due to some unfortunate ways of dividing people ).. its about rising above our differences and searching for the ultimate happiness or bliss ...and the person who will aid you in this process could very well be a muslim or a shudra ...
Coming to the US I have met people who have managed to go beyond the boundaries set by political maps and spread solidarity amongst people in the whole word.
Having said all this ...I know its easier said than done ..I myself get caught in some of its hassles and find courage failing me to get out it ...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Little men and women
Somedays we come across certain people who make us realize how blessed our lives our ....soon after landing into the US I went into walmart to get basic supplies ..My roomie and I were getting restless in line waiting for lady in from of us to finish her billing ....they dnt take so much time here in the US we thought ....
Then I just stepped back to look at what that old lady ..probably in here late 60s or early 70s was trying to do ...she had a neatly clipped together pile of discount coupons in a sandwich bag . She was handing them out one by one to the cashier to get her total reduced ...finally when the coupons still could not get the total down ..she started handing back her items ...
then she turned around to see the sea of faces acting as they were getting busy for the most important thing in the world ...and said apologetically ..sorry i dnt get make pay till next week ...
she then fumbled around in her bag for all the money that she had to pay the bills ..the bill however was now a dollar less than what she had ..she happily stowed the bill away and said alteast I am not broke...!!!
We had hardly walked out in the chilling cold to the next store when we saw the cub food guy shivering in the cold and collecting the food carts and taking them back ..just when a lady came in a big truck and bumped into the entire train ..no matter how much the guy asked her to back up ..she just did not ..he had to go back ..put each cart individually and make way for the lady's truck ...
I will not draw any conclusions for these events ..they speak for themselves...
Somedays we come across certain people who make us realize how blessed our lives our ....soon after landing into the US I went into walmart to get basic supplies ..My roomie and I were getting restless in line waiting for lady in from of us to finish her billing ....they dnt take so much time here in the US we thought ....
Then I just stepped back to look at what that old lady ..probably in here late 60s or early 70s was trying to do ...she had a neatly clipped together pile of discount coupons in a sandwich bag . She was handing them out one by one to the cashier to get her total reduced ...finally when the coupons still could not get the total down ..she started handing back her items ...
then she turned around to see the sea of faces acting as they were getting busy for the most important thing in the world ...and said apologetically ..sorry i dnt get make pay till next week ...
she then fumbled around in her bag for all the money that she had to pay the bills ..the bill however was now a dollar less than what she had ..she happily stowed the bill away and said alteast I am not broke...!!!
We had hardly walked out in the chilling cold to the next store when we saw the cub food guy shivering in the cold and collecting the food carts and taking them back ..just when a lady came in a big truck and bumped into the entire train ..no matter how much the guy asked her to back up ..she just did not ..he had to go back ..put each cart individually and make way for the lady's truck ...
I will not draw any conclusions for these events ..they speak for themselves...
Monday, December 24, 2007
Commemoration ....
The D -Day is finally here . I am going back to india after 1.5 years in the US ..i call it commemoration because it kinda sums up my blog ...i started 1.5 years back documenting my survival in the US ...and i managed to that for 1.5 years now ...
lot has changed ..i met so many wonderful and most importantly humble people ...learnt a thing or two about living life ...finally managed to get a a good gradepoint of 3.8 after all the ups and the downs ...grew my hair ..:-) ...njoyed nature at its best here in minneapolis ...financed myself on my own for 1 year now ..bought my own tickets...some rights , some wrongs ..overall it has been a very happening year ...
will all this in my satchel i head by to india ..every time i fly in the US and look down upon the lights of the towns below ..i always wonder how india looks from up there ..so that is the first thing that I am gonna see this time I fly back to india ...i can hardly understand how I feel right now on heady back to india ...have been waiting for this for so long now ..that when it comes you dunno how to feel about it ....time to catch up with my roots and eat some masale dar food ...india here I come ...
The D -Day is finally here . I am going back to india after 1.5 years in the US ..i call it commemoration because it kinda sums up my blog ...i started 1.5 years back documenting my survival in the US ...and i managed to that for 1.5 years now ...
lot has changed ..i met so many wonderful and most importantly humble people ...learnt a thing or two about living life ...finally managed to get a a good gradepoint of 3.8 after all the ups and the downs ...grew my hair ..:-) ...njoyed nature at its best here in minneapolis ...financed myself on my own for 1 year now ..bought my own tickets...some rights , some wrongs ..overall it has been a very happening year ...
will all this in my satchel i head by to india ..every time i fly in the US and look down upon the lights of the towns below ..i always wonder how india looks from up there ..so that is the first thing that I am gonna see this time I fly back to india ...i can hardly understand how I feel right now on heady back to india ...have been waiting for this for so long now ..that when it comes you dunno how to feel about it ....time to catch up with my roots and eat some masale dar food ...india here I come ...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Evolution of Haricutting
From Kamruddin nayi (barber) @ Jhansi , Uttar Pradesh India to Aveda Hair Cutting Institute Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA ..its been quite a journey ....coming to think of it all the barbers and the barbarians :-) {female barbers } i went to signify a lot of important phases in my life ....
From our very loving , homely local kamruddin nayi ..who gave me and my sister exact same hair cut as he would give to any of the guys in our locality to Ghadse Aunty and Jumrani which were our first attempts at getting stylised ..though we would always lack the motivation and the urge to ask them to make it actually stylised ....that were our first attempts to look city like while sticking to what we were ..Gaonwale stuck in middle of nowhere in a town called Jhansi ...
Then came hyderabad ..where ppl charged so exhorbitantly and did no better than my small modest town Jhansi ...and then came the realisation that everything from now onwards would be charged ..even if the hairdresser was making a chit chat with you ..that was added to your bills ..nthin came free from now on ..and no one was actually meaning it when they were asking you how you were ...but still we are Indians and although we dnt mean to do it ..we are always genuinely interested in others affairs ..and so I will not call all of it a fake ..
Then came Rourkela..back to being in town ...Going to beauty parlours with friends where each was trying to look better than the other ...it was great fun ...once me and Aritra got the exact same haircut ..got quite a laugh for that in our daily mess chit chat ...!!! ..At that point it was all about friends and not about the beauty parlour ladies ...
And Now coming back to the land of Uncle sam ...attempts at trying to be American ...the first time around that I went for an haircut ..I was plain tense though it was just a haircut ..no thats not it ..it was haircut in a different country all together ....Used to the Indian way of haircut I nicely took a hairbath and went out into the chilling cold...5 mins down the line I felt my hair getting heavy and to my utter dismay my hair had all been coated with layers of ice..the water in my hair had frozen..!!!! It was only later that I realised that they give you a shampoo when you get there ..you dnt have to do that ...Nyways I made it there and then came the need to make the all american small talk ..ask any Indian to do that ..we cannot .....all the people around me where discussing everything with these hairdressers ..how on earth do you do that ..eveything done ..haircut over ..I forgot to tip ..!!! Big Blunder ..nobody does that ...
Ya but then its been a year now and this time around I just new exactly the right things to do and say ..not very well though ..still I can give a pat on my back and say ..I say Good Job buddy ..!!!
God knows which other hairdresses life will take me too..!!!
From Kamruddin nayi (barber) @ Jhansi , Uttar Pradesh India to Aveda Hair Cutting Institute Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA ..its been quite a journey ....coming to think of it all the barbers and the barbarians :-) {female barbers } i went to signify a lot of important phases in my life ....
From our very loving , homely local kamruddin nayi ..who gave me and my sister exact same hair cut as he would give to any of the guys in our locality to Ghadse Aunty and Jumrani which were our first attempts at getting stylised ..though we would always lack the motivation and the urge to ask them to make it actually stylised ....that were our first attempts to look city like while sticking to what we were ..Gaonwale stuck in middle of nowhere in a town called Jhansi ...
Then came hyderabad ..where ppl charged so exhorbitantly and did no better than my small modest town Jhansi ...and then came the realisation that everything from now onwards would be charged ..even if the hairdresser was making a chit chat with you ..that was added to your bills ..nthin came free from now on ..and no one was actually meaning it when they were asking you how you were ...but still we are Indians and although we dnt mean to do it ..we are always genuinely interested in others affairs ..and so I will not call all of it a fake ..
Then came Rourkela..back to being in town ...Going to beauty parlours with friends where each was trying to look better than the other ...it was great fun ...once me and Aritra got the exact same haircut ..got quite a laugh for that in our daily mess chit chat ...!!! ..At that point it was all about friends and not about the beauty parlour ladies ...
And Now coming back to the land of Uncle sam ...attempts at trying to be American ...the first time around that I went for an haircut ..I was plain tense though it was just a haircut ..no thats not it ..it was haircut in a different country all together ....Used to the Indian way of haircut I nicely took a hairbath and went out into the chilling cold...5 mins down the line I felt my hair getting heavy and to my utter dismay my hair had all been coated with layers of ice..the water in my hair had frozen..!!!! It was only later that I realised that they give you a shampoo when you get there ..you dnt have to do that ...Nyways I made it there and then came the need to make the all american small talk ..ask any Indian to do that ..we cannot .....all the people around me where discussing everything with these hairdressers ..how on earth do you do that ..eveything done ..haircut over ..I forgot to tip ..!!! Big Blunder ..nobody does that ...
Ya but then its been a year now and this time around I just new exactly the right things to do and say ..not very well though ..still I can give a pat on my back and say ..I say Good Job buddy ..!!!
God knows which other hairdresses life will take me too..!!!
Friday, September 21, 2007
Fall 2008
Its been a year since I came to the US now .... feels longer than a year though ..so much has changed , I have seen so much and learnt so much in this one year .
Its fall again , the wonderful green all around , the river blowing from the missisipi river ..i remember writing about it all around the same time last year and feel the same kind of serene feeling I felt when I saw it the first time . Nothing stands before the beautiful missisipi river and the green carpets all around in bringing serenity and desire to do better to ones life.
I saw a movie today called aap ka aasman , a art movie ...it is the story of a mentally challenged child and his parents who are in great despair bcoz of their child . They discover a brain booster medicine which changes their child into a mathematical genius but at the same time makes him emotionally zero . He takes to drugs , starts hating his parent and ultimately assaults both of them . They then discover the antidote and bring him back to being a mentally challenged kid . They then encourage him to paint , since he seems to like that and eventually get him to present in a art exhibition ...
Gave a very important message to me ..sometimes we forget to appreciate what we have ..hoping it was something else ..but when it does become something else we realise thats not what we wanted ..
Another thing that I heard recently was a speech by Steve Jobs ..he mentioned that always remember that death is great leveller ..if you were to die today ..what would you have done ...
life is too short ..try living it and not watching it pass by ...
Its been a year since I came to the US now .... feels longer than a year though ..so much has changed , I have seen so much and learnt so much in this one year .
Its fall again , the wonderful green all around , the river blowing from the missisipi river ..i remember writing about it all around the same time last year and feel the same kind of serene feeling I felt when I saw it the first time . Nothing stands before the beautiful missisipi river and the green carpets all around in bringing serenity and desire to do better to ones life.
I saw a movie today called aap ka aasman , a art movie ...it is the story of a mentally challenged child and his parents who are in great despair bcoz of their child . They discover a brain booster medicine which changes their child into a mathematical genius but at the same time makes him emotionally zero . He takes to drugs , starts hating his parent and ultimately assaults both of them . They then discover the antidote and bring him back to being a mentally challenged kid . They then encourage him to paint , since he seems to like that and eventually get him to present in a art exhibition ...
Gave a very important message to me ..sometimes we forget to appreciate what we have ..hoping it was something else ..but when it does become something else we realise thats not what we wanted ..
Another thing that I heard recently was a speech by Steve Jobs ..he mentioned that always remember that death is great leveller ..if you were to die today ..what would you have done ...
life is too short ..try living it and not watching it pass by ...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
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
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
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 .
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Turkey - Two lifestyles was the heading of a article i read in the morning today . Immediately the numerous discussions I have had for the past 1 year with my lab mates one Turkish and one Iranian came flooding back to me .
Both Turkey and Iran are Islamic states but no where else can you find such stark contrasts in how the same religion is being followed by 2 different nations . The turkish lead processions in their country when they found out that there were chances of a fundamentalist becoming the president . People took to streets bcoz they feared that their secularism was being jeopardized ....people resent a woman wearing a scarf bcoz they think it a threat to their ideas of secularism and modernity
And then on the other end stands iran , where the moral police are enforcing women to wear head scarfs bcoz they believe that unless religion is not imposed on ppl they may go wrong . Secularism is unheard of in these areas . Boys cannot talk to girls , alcohol is banned . The government has taken it on themselves to teach the people how to lead lives which are the proper muslim way of life .
Two sides of the same coin you can say , on one hand people are afraid that their govt may become fundamentalist , on the other hand the govt believes that fundamentalism is the only way .
To end on the rite note ..i like this quote which one of the guys in Turkey said
" Some people worry Turkey is in danger, but I think people who are used to modern life will never return to the age of ignorance "
This quote stands true for a lot of fundamentalist groups in India too , who believe that globalization of India is destroying us and our culture .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6596933.stm
Both Turkey and Iran are Islamic states but no where else can you find such stark contrasts in how the same religion is being followed by 2 different nations . The turkish lead processions in their country when they found out that there were chances of a fundamentalist becoming the president . People took to streets bcoz they feared that their secularism was being jeopardized ....people resent a woman wearing a scarf bcoz they think it a threat to their ideas of secularism and modernity
And then on the other end stands iran , where the moral police are enforcing women to wear head scarfs bcoz they believe that unless religion is not imposed on ppl they may go wrong . Secularism is unheard of in these areas . Boys cannot talk to girls , alcohol is banned . The government has taken it on themselves to teach the people how to lead lives which are the proper muslim way of life .
Two sides of the same coin you can say , on one hand people are afraid that their govt may become fundamentalist , on the other hand the govt believes that fundamentalism is the only way .
To end on the rite note ..i like this quote which one of the guys in Turkey said
" Some people worry Turkey is in danger, but I think people who are used to modern life will never return to the age of ignorance "
This quote stands true for a lot of fundamentalist groups in India too , who believe that globalization of India is destroying us and our culture .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6596933.stm
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Cabbies
In the land of Uncle Sam the most interesting and knowlegable conversations that you can have are with cabbies. They are the people who know it all . It just needs some respect for them on your part to get them to talk and once they do they open your eyes to a world of knowledge .
My own cabbie Sadik is from Somalia . We often talk about customs in his country and how they are similar to ours back home . Now Somalia is nation which has been in civil war for almost 17 years now and has no government at all . Sadik told me a lot of interesting facts about Somalia . For once since they do not have a govt they are official refugees in every country . They can just drop in in any country and the govts there are supposed to support them . Minneapolis for once has a very big somalian population .
The conversation we had today was most interesting . He asked me how many siblings I have and I said one younger sister . He said thats it ...back in somalia even today ppl have 10 - 11 kids ..as many as they want . So then I asked how do ppl offord to have so many kids ..he said thats easy ..we dnt have to pay for education..actually rite now there are no govt schools ..only private schools , healthcare anyways is screwed . I asked so what about college education and he said well we dnt have any colleges .. Any body who wants to study further has to run away from the country to neighbouring countries like Kenya...and from there they can go to any country like US or Australia ..and find a Job there ...if they still want to , some of them go on to study further ..most of them dnt ...
I was shocked to find out that an entire nation of 5 million people is without education and govt ..this is the state of just one of the countries in Africa...lack of education and healthcare epidemics ..God knows how those countries even manage to survive .
In the land of Uncle Sam the most interesting and knowlegable conversations that you can have are with cabbies. They are the people who know it all . It just needs some respect for them on your part to get them to talk and once they do they open your eyes to a world of knowledge .
My own cabbie Sadik is from Somalia . We often talk about customs in his country and how they are similar to ours back home . Now Somalia is nation which has been in civil war for almost 17 years now and has no government at all . Sadik told me a lot of interesting facts about Somalia . For once since they do not have a govt they are official refugees in every country . They can just drop in in any country and the govts there are supposed to support them . Minneapolis for once has a very big somalian population .
The conversation we had today was most interesting . He asked me how many siblings I have and I said one younger sister . He said thats it ...back in somalia even today ppl have 10 - 11 kids ..as many as they want . So then I asked how do ppl offord to have so many kids ..he said thats easy ..we dnt have to pay for education..actually rite now there are no govt schools ..only private schools , healthcare anyways is screwed . I asked so what about college education and he said well we dnt have any colleges .. Any body who wants to study further has to run away from the country to neighbouring countries like Kenya...and from there they can go to any country like US or Australia ..and find a Job there ...if they still want to , some of them go on to study further ..most of them dnt ...
I was shocked to find out that an entire nation of 5 million people is without education and govt ..this is the state of just one of the countries in Africa...lack of education and healthcare epidemics ..God knows how those countries even manage to survive .
Thursday, July 05, 2007
HIV AIDS
My first confrontation with the problem of HIV aids was back in India when I worked with my fellow rotractors to increase awareness in truck drivers regd HIV aids . Till then I was pretty much like many other Indians trying to tell ourselves that the problem is not there . It is kinda justified in the situtation that we are in too , ppl in india have so many other things on their mind that they do not have time to bother about HIV till actually harms someone . It was then that I realized at what rate HIV was taking over us . What was most shocking was that the main cause of HIV was not unhealthy use of syringes , that is the main reason of HIV the world over , it was unhealthy sexual practices that were leading to AIDS in India .
I had almost forgotten about HIV till I met this wonderful lady from Tanzania , Susan . Susan is a student in sociology and her thesis is about how gender relationships in Africa are being affected due to the widespread of HIV AIDS . Gender relationships in Africa are almost similar to those in India . A woman is not considered feminine enough if her husband cooks etc . What is more important is feminity means not having you sexual preferences and subjecting to your husband or sexual partners will .
Susan is trying to study if AIDS epidemic in Africa has finally instilled a voice in African woman wherein they can go and tell there partner to go use a condom or some from of protection . It is amazing how a epidemic had the capability of changing gender balance in a entire civilization .
I plan to follow Susan's dissertation at close quarters bcoz this is the first time I am seeing epidemics from a sociological point of view . I feel we sometimes fail to see history when it is being built by our side . I am sure to follow this one bcoz no matter good or bad , HIV sure is going to bring changes to our society .
My first confrontation with the problem of HIV aids was back in India when I worked with my fellow rotractors to increase awareness in truck drivers regd HIV aids . Till then I was pretty much like many other Indians trying to tell ourselves that the problem is not there . It is kinda justified in the situtation that we are in too , ppl in india have so many other things on their mind that they do not have time to bother about HIV till actually harms someone . It was then that I realized at what rate HIV was taking over us . What was most shocking was that the main cause of HIV was not unhealthy use of syringes , that is the main reason of HIV the world over , it was unhealthy sexual practices that were leading to AIDS in India .
I had almost forgotten about HIV till I met this wonderful lady from Tanzania , Susan . Susan is a student in sociology and her thesis is about how gender relationships in Africa are being affected due to the widespread of HIV AIDS . Gender relationships in Africa are almost similar to those in India . A woman is not considered feminine enough if her husband cooks etc . What is more important is feminity means not having you sexual preferences and subjecting to your husband or sexual partners will .
Susan is trying to study if AIDS epidemic in Africa has finally instilled a voice in African woman wherein they can go and tell there partner to go use a condom or some from of protection . It is amazing how a epidemic had the capability of changing gender balance in a entire civilization .
I plan to follow Susan's dissertation at close quarters bcoz this is the first time I am seeing epidemics from a sociological point of view . I feel we sometimes fail to see history when it is being built by our side . I am sure to follow this one bcoz no matter good or bad , HIV sure is going to bring changes to our society .
Monday, June 25, 2007
Think Media .
Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about how the media is making us think . I am from India , one of the world's biggest democracies in function and now I stay in the US which is another one of the world's most successful democracies . We are believed to have the freedom of thought , speech etc and we believe that our opinion is our own and nobody can tell us what to do but it seems like we can be told what to do .
Recently saw one of bbc's documentaries about why US went to war in Iraq ? The reasons not withstanding what caught my eye the most in the documentary was that an entire nation of free thinking people could be convinced by a carefully planned publicity program that war was the way to go about it .
And then yest I went to the movie Sivaji . The movie sure had a story but who was bothered about that . All that mattered was the whoses and the washes ..(thats the sound that you get every time Rajnikanth moves a bone in his body ) . Here again the carefully planned publicity program made sure that the a movie which no where stands up to the cadre of good movie making ...is right now making crores in 120 countries all over the world .
Public opinion ...public's opinion or opinion which is potrayed to be coming from the public ...
well its for the media to decide and tell us so that it can be called our opinion ....
Over the past few days I have been thinking a lot about how the media is making us think . I am from India , one of the world's biggest democracies in function and now I stay in the US which is another one of the world's most successful democracies . We are believed to have the freedom of thought , speech etc and we believe that our opinion is our own and nobody can tell us what to do but it seems like we can be told what to do .
Recently saw one of bbc's documentaries about why US went to war in Iraq ? The reasons not withstanding what caught my eye the most in the documentary was that an entire nation of free thinking people could be convinced by a carefully planned publicity program that war was the way to go about it .
And then yest I went to the movie Sivaji . The movie sure had a story but who was bothered about that . All that mattered was the whoses and the washes ..(thats the sound that you get every time Rajnikanth moves a bone in his body ) . Here again the carefully planned publicity program made sure that the a movie which no where stands up to the cadre of good movie making ...is right now making crores in 120 countries all over the world .
Public opinion ...public's opinion or opinion which is potrayed to be coming from the public ...
well its for the media to decide and tell us so that it can be called our opinion ....
Monday, June 04, 2007
Imagine a dollar being credited to your tax refund account bcoz some bummer somewhere in the US wrote down the same SSN number as yours and decided to send one dollar to the US govt as his expression for solidarity with Bush !! Well whatever his reasons were that guy cost me 500 bucks coz the computer just bumped over my account as it could not figure out what to do with that one dollar and bingo I never got back my tax returns . Several days and a hour length of phone call later the guy at the IRS fixed up smthing which would I think enable me to get my hard earned money back ... I m still not sure though ...
Now that happens to one in a million people ..what are the chances that it would happen to me ..
Not until today though when I start my internship at Seagate . I come in all dressed up , raring to go and the lady tells me that my name is not in the system . My manager is not in town and the lady who can fix this is in california who doesn't come in until 2 hours later. Some forms which were to be sent by my manager to that lady never went thru ..rest all of the interns head happily to the orientation while I wait there ..1 hr down , 2 , 3 , 4 ,5 ...and I see the interns all heading back happily with the orientation goodies waving at me . I m still there stuck in the lobby .... Finally they figure out a way to get me in ..only to be followed by a cold reception by a computer which doesn't like me too much ..it refuses to install any of the softwares ...The guy helping me says ..." Well its almost like you were not meant to be here ..." ..aha ..thats wat an intern wants to hear on her first day at work !!!! ...
Well so now what are possibilities of all this happening to the same person ...Pretty less you would say ..
Well I dnt think so ..get talking to people and you realize that each one of them have had these chance games ( thats what I like calling them ) ..happening to them some time or the other ...and I guess this unpredictibility is what makes life so much fun ...
Even when we think we have planned out a lot of stuff in our life ..there is still a lot of unpredictibilty involved there . I some times wonder how different my life would have been if I had stayed back in India , or maybe chosen a different university or done a MBA as I originally planned . It would sure be fun to get back into a time machine ..take up the other choices and see what they result in ...!!!!
Now that happens to one in a million people ..what are the chances that it would happen to me ..
Not until today though when I start my internship at Seagate . I come in all dressed up , raring to go and the lady tells me that my name is not in the system . My manager is not in town and the lady who can fix this is in california who doesn't come in until 2 hours later. Some forms which were to be sent by my manager to that lady never went thru ..rest all of the interns head happily to the orientation while I wait there ..1 hr down , 2 , 3 , 4 ,5 ...and I see the interns all heading back happily with the orientation goodies waving at me . I m still there stuck in the lobby .... Finally they figure out a way to get me in ..only to be followed by a cold reception by a computer which doesn't like me too much ..it refuses to install any of the softwares ...The guy helping me says ..." Well its almost like you were not meant to be here ..." ..aha ..thats wat an intern wants to hear on her first day at work !!!! ...
Well so now what are possibilities of all this happening to the same person ...Pretty less you would say ..
Well I dnt think so ..get talking to people and you realize that each one of them have had these chance games ( thats what I like calling them ) ..happening to them some time or the other ...and I guess this unpredictibility is what makes life so much fun ...
Even when we think we have planned out a lot of stuff in our life ..there is still a lot of unpredictibilty involved there . I some times wonder how different my life would have been if I had stayed back in India , or maybe chosen a different university or done a MBA as I originally planned . It would sure be fun to get back into a time machine ..take up the other choices and see what they result in ...!!!!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Remember some times in life when nothing seems to be going quite well ..i remember a few in my life ..well now would go down in the memory lane as one of them ..you dnt do well on course ..you think oh well i will make up for it ..not quite though ..you left a job back home in intel thinking jobs were not a big deal and to your utter suprise nobody here even wants to higher you for a internship ..and well to top it all your prof realizes that you have been feigning interest in his subject all this while and that you no longer are a important enough comodity for the lab ...
wat did i want to achieve when I started on this path you wonder and suprisingly you get no answers bcoz you no longer know ..but then life's not always fair is it ...
but what is not good you know ..to sit down here brooding about it all the while and wait for things to get rite ..bcoz thats just not going to work ..
having said that i should get back to work asap ...
wat did i want to achieve when I started on this path you wonder and suprisingly you get no answers bcoz you no longer know ..but then life's not always fair is it ...
but what is not good you know ..to sit down here brooding about it all the while and wait for things to get rite ..bcoz thats just not going to work ..
having said that i should get back to work asap ...
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