Tuesday Tag: The Countdown

Post-defense-lazing-around means I don’t procrastinate anymore, which, in turn, means that I have a blogger’s block. Add a badly sprained ankle in the mix, I have absolutely nothing to blog about. Unless you want to listen to me complain about my sprained ankle, how hard it is to use crutches and how the the timing for having a sprained ankle couldn’t be worse. Yeah, I thought not.

Anyway, just to keep this blog alive, I borrowed this tag from PB. Just letting you know, I am still here. Will start blogging regularly again as soon as I start working again.

Ten hows:

1. How did you get one of your scars? Trying to get my bottle (I was two) from under the bed. Apparently, not as simple a task as it sounds.
2. How did you celebrate your last birthday? By eating Rasmalai.
3. How are you feeling at this moment? Bored.
4. How did your night go last night? Uneventful. Unfortunately.
5. How did you do in high school? Not too bad in spite being a dork and a nerd. Yes both at the same time.
6. How did you get the shirt you’re wearing? Free gift from a company while interviewing with them on-campus. There are advantages of being a student.
7. How often do you see your best friend(s)? At least once a week.
8. How much money did you spend last month? A lot. But then I went to Lake Tahoe and Disney land with friends. So not complaining.
9. How old do you want to be when you get married? I find this question to be offensive. Or, may be, I am just turning into an old spinster.
10. How old will you be at your next birthday? 32.

Nine whats:

1. Your mother’s name? Really? Creativity is dead. (No, that’s not my mother’s name)
2. What did you do last weekend? Attended a friend’s graduation ceremony, took some pictures and slept a lot.
3. What is the most important part of your life? Love.
4. What would you rather be doing? Sleeping.
5. What did you last cry over? Watching the song “Kar chale hum fida jano-tan sathiyon”. That song always brings tears in my eyes.
6. What always makes you feel better when you’re upset? Some pampering.
7. What’s the most important thing you look for in a significant other? Compassion.
8. What are you worried about? Packing and moving.
9. What did you have for breakfast? Some fresh air.

Eight yous:

1. Have you ever liked someone who had a girlfriend/boyfriend? Yes.
2. Have you ever had your heartbroken? Yes.
3. Have you ever been out of the country? I have been out of a lot of countries and inside few of them. Which country are you talking about?
4. Have you ever done something outrageously dumb? Does falling in love count?
5. Have you ever been back stabbed by a friend? Yes.
6. Have you ever had sex on the beach? And have sand in my hair. NO WAY.
7. Have you ever dated someone younger than you? No.
8. Have you ever read an entire book in one day? All the Harry Potter books from book 4 onward.

Seven whos:

1. Who was the last person you saw? My room-mate. Ten minutes ago.
2. Who was the last person you texted? My friend J.
3. Who was the last person you hung out with? My room-mate. In our living room. We watched the movie Dragonfly.
4. Who was the last person to call you? My mom.
5. Who did you last hug? My friend on Saturday while congratulating her on her graduation.
6. Who is the last person who texted you? My friend J.
7. Who was the last person you said “I love you” to? None of your business.

Six wheres:

1. Where does your best friend(s) live? Stanford and Puerto Rico.
2. Where did you last go? Post Office.
3. Where did you last hang out? Living Room. Oh ok, Dishdash (Mediterranean restaurant) for lunch on Saturday with my friends.
4. Where do you go to school? Stanford.
5. Where is your favorite place to be? Stanford.
6. Where did you sleep last night? On my bed in my room. Though, now you mentioned it, I will try to sleep on the kitchen counter tonight.

Five dos:

1. Do you think anyone likes you? Of course, I am a very likeable person. Wait till they really get to know me.
2. Do you ever wish you were someone else? Always. From Cinderella to a student at Hogwarts to the heroine (heroine and not actress) of one of those chick-flicks to Doctor Who’s companion. What can I say, I have an over-active imagination.
3. Do you know the muffin man? You mean the one who lives in Drury Lane? Barely.
4. Does the future scare you? Oh yes. However, it also excites me more than it frightens me.
5. Do your parents know about your blog? Nope.

Four whys:

1. Why are you best friends with your best friend?  So that I could have a best friend.
2. Why did you get into Blogging? Procrastination.
3. Why did your parents give you the name you have? Because they had to name me some thing. I guess they didn’t want to keep calling me “bachchi” or “baby” or “ladki” or something similar.
4. Why are you doing this survey? Trying to break my blogging dry spell.

Three ifs:

1. If you could have one super power what would it be? Mind-reading. Telepathy would be cool too.
2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, would you? Nah. Despite its up and downs life isn’t too bad.
3. If you were stranded on a deserted island and could bring one thing, what would you bring? A fishing boat.

Two would-you-evers:

1. Would you ever get back together with any of your ex’s if they asked you? Never. There is a reason they are my ex.
2. Would you ever shave your head to save someone you love? Sure. What’s the big deal?

One last question:

1. Are you happy with your life right now? Depends on the day you ask me. Sometimes yes, sometimes no (Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa). 

A free for all tag. Have fun.

Wordless Wednesday: Twilight

Title: Sunset

Location: Universal Studio, Los Angeles, CA

Date: August 3, 2010

Challenge of Friendship

I have been trying to catch up with the Blogosphere these days (though not commenting on everything I read but I am reading), and as it happens so often when you are in blogosphere, there are thoughts bubbling at the surface. And sometimes, very unrelated topics click perfectly with each other. Like the current challenge at Blogadda (and no I am not participating again, just thinking aloud): ‘Friends Forever’, and a post by Shilpa on ‘the other woman’. Completely unrelated? May be, may be not.

You see its all good and nice in a friendship as long as life is simple and easy. The real challenge of friendship is when your friends does something that according to your moral compass is wrong. It can be anything from having an extra marital affair (if they are married), or having an affair with a married man/woman, or as we desis (belonging to Indian subcontinent) are raised to be homophobic and transphobic, you discover (in case you are still homophobic/transphobic) they are gay, transsexual, transgender, or even cross dresser. What do you do then?

What do you say to your friend when they share with you something that according to your moral compass is wrong? You condemn them and walk away, or you stay and support them? And by supporting I mean really supporting, and not trying to get them to change their decision, or ignoring the big elephant in the room (the two approaches that people usually take when they don’t agree with someone else’s decision) but be there for them and tell them it’s okay, as long as they are happy. To hell with right and wrong. Because you know, the rest of the world is going to condemn them anyway (including their family), so will you join the society in condemning them or will you be there for them, as one of the last shoulder for them to cry on (remember family and society is going to condemn you as well for supporting them blindly)? Friends Forever?

Jaan pe bhi khelenge, tere liye le lenge: sabse dushmani

P.S.: Happy Friendship Day. And to all of my friends, who have stood by me and will stand by me again, no matter what: THANK YOU. I promise to be there for you as well, no matter what.

Fictional Crushes Tag

Rachna tagged me. Exactly what I need right now, a tag, to get back on writing business of blogging.

So this tag that Rachna created, is about, surprise surprise, fictional heroes (I have known Rachna since school days: she defines the word book worm. Its an accomplishment for me if I can find a book that I have read and she hasn’t! By book I, of course, mean fictional books and not course books). The tag requires to name ten fictional crushes I have ever had. I am not sure if I can name ten of them because like real crushes, my fictional crushes fades away and I don’t even remember them after a while. Yet, here is a list of my fictional crushes that I do remember(in the descending order of intensity of my crush: the top one being the most intense):

1. Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastián d'Anconia or simply, Francisco d’Anconia (Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand): I have the biggest crush ever on Francisco d’Anconia. Honestly, my heart race every time his name appears in the book. I dream about him, I wish he was real so that I can meet him just once in real life.

Why do I like him so much, you ask? He is a perfect man. He can do anything, any work perfectly and effortlessly. As Ayn Rand says while sketching his character:

Two things were impossible to him: to stand still or to move aimlessly.

"Let's find out" was the motive he gave to Dagny and Eddie for anything he undertook, or "Let's make it." These were his only forms of enjoyment.

Just my kind of person and then there is his famous money speech is a killer. Just an excerpt:

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? […]

"When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor--your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?”

2. Fitzwilliam Darcy or simply, Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen): I won’t be exaggerating if I say that he is every teenage girl crush. Well he was mine. On my sixteenth b’day, a neighborhood didi presented me with two abridged books: ‘Little Women’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Till then my reading habits were restricted to Archies, Tintin, Nandan, The Three Investigators, Nancy Drew and Famous Five. It was my first introduction to Jane Austen and I simply fell in love.

Why do I like him? In the first pass Mr. Darcy is arrogant, haughty, snob and all the other synonym of the word. But the way he changed for his love Elizabeth Bennet. All the things he did for her and the way he pursued her: simply romantic. Is it a surprise that I fell in love with him as a teenager?

3. Alan Shore (Boston Legal): The next fictional character that makes my heart go ‘ooh’, ‘aah’, doesn’t belong to a book but to a TV series called Boston Legal. But as he is still a fictional character, I think he counts. (Just so we are clear, I love Alan shore and not James Spader, the guy who plays Alan Shore. No doubt that James have done a great job but its the character that I have crush on and not the actor).

Alan is far from perfect. In fact, the first time I watched Boston Legal, I found him very inappropriate, sexist and even cheesy but his heart is in the right place. He always do the right thing even if it means being slightly off track, and even, at times, illegal. His arguments in the court, his logic, his views, his attitude, and his caring nature (despite being a lawyer), grows on you till he becomes irresistible. And the best of all, his friendship with Denny Crane. Denny Crane has completely opposite views about life, politics and everything else, as compared to Alan and yet both of them are inseparable. Difference in opinion do get in the way of their friendship and yet their friendship survives. I simply love watching that show and every time Alan Shore appears on the screen, my heart starts beating a bit faster.

4. Cole Turner (Charmed):  Yet another TV character who make my heart race. I started watching Charmed back in India (on Star Movies, I think). I am a big sucker for any TV series, book, movie based on magic, witches, wizards, vampires etc but honestly this series is very cheesy. But there are few characters that absolutely captivated me. Cole Turner (played by Julian McMahon) is introduced in season 3 as a love interest for Phoebe (played by Alyssa Milano) the youngest of the charmed sisters. He is half human and half demon, and is sent by the Source (of all evil) to destroy the Charmed sisters. But his human half fells in love with Phoebe: deeply and passionately in love. He turn against everything he has known for his entire life to be with her. Some thing or the other keep happening and the two of them never get together in real sense.

The tortured love, the bad boy, the rebellion all of these factors makes him so lucrative, I guess. He makes my heart pound. I love the season three to season five of Charmed just because of him. Coincidentally, I tried watching a lot of other movies and serials starring Julian McMahon but it was just the Cole Turner character that has that effect on me.

5. Raj Malhotra (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge): Let me start this one with the statement that I don’t like Shahrukh Khan. I think he overacts and dramatize even the simplest of the scenes. The only movie I can tolerate him in is Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and again, it has more to do with the character he played than him.

Raj Malhotra, is a party boy, an incurable flirt and yet when he falls in love, he is sincere, he is respectful and he understands Simran’s (played by Kajol) emotional turmoil of choosing between love and heart, or family and tradition. Which Indian teenager girl can resist him? I couldn’t. I have watched the movie uncountable times and each time I fall in love with him yet again.

Well that’s all the fictional characters I could think of that make my heart race. How about you? Pick up the tag if you like it. If you are a bookworm (or even a movie lover, or a TV addict), you would love doing it..

Wordless Wednesday: Stream Profiler

Not so wordless this week though. Well I have to tell you what you are seeing and not simply show you. So what you are seeing here is called a stream profile chamber and frankly, that’s what it is: a stream profile chamber. The upper 1/4the part of the photo shows you the real forest and the stream as it look if you are above this chamber (the part above the water). But then you enter this tunnel and you see how the streams really look like in nature. Can you see how the water from the small fall makes all those bubbles, the rock behind the branches going in and, of course, the fish swimming around? See how the sun rays are penetrating the stream?

It was an accidental discovery on the recent trip to Lake Tahoe (yep, that’s where I disappeared after my defense and hence, the long silence). I found this very unique and exciting and hence the picture. Or may be, years of grilling in academics have turned me to an absolute geek. No really, do you also think its cool or is it just me? Have I really lost the ability to communicate with the normal people (I was told that most of the PhDs do so I have been wondering)?

Title: Stream

Location: Rainbow Trail, South Lake Tahoe, CA

Date: July 20, 2010

(Canon EOS REBEL T2i camera, Canon 18-55mm lens @ 33mm focal length, f/10 aperture, 1/100 sec shutter speed and 3200 ISO (the reason the picture is a bit grainy) using a graduated 0.6 ND filter with darker side towards the top. Post processing: cropped slightly, straightened and increased contrast using Picasa3)

Blog Name Changed

Oh well, I am back. Yet again. Did you think I disappeared completely? Well, I didn’t. I just took a break, after my DEFENSE. That’s right! I have unofficially finished my PhD (officially, I finish in September). So, as promised, I am changing the name of this blog to “Just Life”. I am not sure when, and if, Google reader will show this change (its not showing any change, at the moment).

I am still in process of changing the blog design and will appreciate any suggestions or comments you might have.  :)

I am now officially a sinner. YAY!

I have been waiting for this tag to come around (that is, for someone to tag me officially) ever since IHM started it off. True, I don’t usually wait for the tags to come around but do them anyway, but this time I wanted to be tagged officially and do it completely legally (what if by doing it illegally, I get stuck with wrong colors). Finally, PB tagged me. A BIG thanks to her :)

So the tag is about breaking the gender stereotypes: things you do that do no belong to your gender’s characteristics as defined by the society. Hence, making you a social sinner. The tagee (the one who has been tagged) is supposed to list 10 such sins and then tag 12 more bloggers (otherwise the tagee will be cursed to wear blue clothes pants if they are a woman and pink shirts if they are a man – for next twelve years). Hence, the taggee now becomes the tagger and can officially join the facebook club of the sinners!

So here goes my list:

1. If I like someone, I usually make the first move. I actually prefer it that way. It makes me more comfortable. When I am out on a date with someone, I usually pay for myself, and often for the date as well ( I was the one who invited them for the date, then shouldn’t I be the one paying for it? Just my logic). The only trouble is that I am a big snob and hence, don’t have a crush as often (or may be its a good thing, at least good for my wallet).

2. Photography is my passion. To the extent that most of the people around me (usually guys), ask for my opinion before buying a camera or a lens, and at times, when their camera is malfunctioning (no, I don’t know how to fix a camera. Seriously).

Most of the photography club trips I have been to, I was the only girl amongst 15-20 odd guys. The photography trip I take alone, I usually end up talking to strangers (usually photographers). Some of them have given me excellent tips.

3. I have learned martial arts for 2 years and I am a blue belt in Kenpo Karate (I am planning to continue that once I am done with my PhD). I think I can do some damage to anyone who dares to attack me. I relish a good defense technique, even though it might mean gouging opponents eyes, or breaking their ribs, or snapping their neck, or breaking few bones, or taking off someone’s knee cap. Brilliant! The knowledge that I can do all that, gives me a lot of confidence, not that I will necessarily apply any of them in real life, unless I am attacked. However, I still don’t enjoy watching the WWFs or any other wrestling contest or any brutal sports. I think they involve unnecessary violence, done for the entertainment of some dumbos, instead of self defense.

I should point out that martial arts, among all the sports, is considered least favorable for a girl because, number 1 it’s a contact sports which means you have to be in close physical contact with the others almost all the time (and its a mixed sports, you have to work with both guys and gals). Secondly, it does involve getting hit repeatedly, which yet again not a very desirable thing for a girl, is it?

4. I am good in Maths. I have always been good in Maths (I consider it as my strength). I can solve quite a lot of questions in my brain without any need to write it down, which, for some reason, people think is amazing (or so have I been told). At times, few of them don’t believe that I have done it in my brain and accuse me of cheating or guesswork! Usually, their argument involves something on the line that a girl can’t solve those things in her brain. The girl’s brain, you see, is more adaptive in memorizing stuff than problem  solving. Or, so I have been told.

5. I read news regularly. I keep in touch with current affairs and follow the politics (world, US and India). I have political opinions. I can explain you anything from Kashmir conflict (when and why it started) to Arizona immigrant law to Tories recent budget in UK (not too many details but an overview). 

But I should confess that I am not a very good debater. I avoid conflict as much as I can.

6. I like Lego and any such puzzle solving, building things kind of toys etc. My room-mate and I put together all our furniture when we moved in our new apartment (in US, you usually get furniture in pieces with nails and everything which you need to put together). Since the age of 15 until I was 25, I was the one responsible for putting the lights up in our house on Diwali (as well as the Rangoli).

7. My specialization, Geophysics, requires a fair bit of field work. So I have roamed the villages of north-west Rajasthan, Gujarat and upper Himalayas during different field trips. And I must say, there is no better way to know the place than to do field work in that area.

8. I am an agnostic atheist. More importantly, I am anti-religion (basically, anti anyone who tell others what to believe in, how to believe, how to pray and how to reach salvation. To me its a personal business. None of us can know more about God than others, so the people who pretend they do, they are simply frauds). Though I am not sure if this is a manly stereotype or not, but there have been studies that say: ‘women are more religious than men’. So I am counting it.

9. I am not a clean/neat freak. I can easily leave dirty utensils in the sink for more than 2 days (if you live with room-mates with different cleaning habits, it stops bothering you after a while). I will prefer living in a clean place, but I am not too much bothered if I am not. It all depends on my work load. Cleaning the house is never on my priority list. I will do it if I have time.

10. Lastly, the most trivial point, which I think most of women in this decade have done: I have travelled alone. I actually travelled all by myself to a new country with no friends or family and no one to pick me up at the airport.

I am also a movie freak and love watching movies in the theater, which I usually do alone. I usually eat alone which means I can eat alone in a restaurant, even in a crowded restaurant. The stares and looks don’t bother me anymore.

 

As for tagging, I agree with liberalcynic that this tag is easier for women to write about and very difficult for men. Its easier to be a tomboy than a ‘girly’ or ‘sissy’ man. Still I would like to tag few of the male bloggers I do read and like. Hope they take up the tag. So I tag thee: Rachna, Pradeep, Viji, Gopal, Aathira, Sudipta, Broom, Titaxy, Braja. Guess, I have to wear  blue pants after all (I could tag only 9), can I wear blue jeans? Please?

Now I am off to my FB account to join the group officially. Sinners here I come..

P.S.: 1. BTW, if you want to take up the tag please do. I was being too prudish for waiting for it to come around. I don’t think you will be stuck with wrong colors for taking the tag anyway. Right IHM?

2. I should also confess that I like wearing dresses and skirts, and jewelries. I can spend hours shopping for those things as well.

For other things (as camera, laptops and other gadgets), I do like to search the market for the best deal (usually online). Am not sure which category does this fall into. (Buying gadgets vs shopping research: masculine vs feminine traits). Any ideas?

The Last Airbender

I spent two hours today afternoon watching M. Night Shyamalan’s version of The Last Airbender. Honestly, the moment I heard that M. Night Shyamalan was making this movie, I had my doubts so today I went to the theater with the lowest possible expectation and yet, I was disappointed!

You see, I am big, as in BIG, fan of the Nickelodeon animated series: Avatar, the last airbender and hence, I had to see the movie. I read the reviews before watching it today and had lowered my expectation (which were anyways very low due to M. Night Shyamalan) even further. Although, almost all the reviewers I read, none of them seemed to have watched the animated series and so they had no clue what they were talking about. These reviews actually make the source material, the animated series, look bad which it is not.

The anime series of Avatar, the last airbender (and technically, the movie The Last Airbender), is about this mythical world where the world is divided in four parts (and this sequence is important): (1) the Air nomads that live in three Air temples in Northern, Southern and Eastern air temples (they are more or less based on Tibetian monks. They are vegetarian, believe in non-violence and meditate a lot); (2) the north and south Water tribe that live on north and south pole (they, more or less, look Indian. Only look wise, other than that, nothing common with India); (3) the Earth kingdom consisting of various cities and towns, most powerful of them is Ba Sing Se (based on Japan? At least the names of Earth Kingdom cities and towns sounded Japanese like Omashu, Kiyoshi, and Ba Sing Se); and (4) the Fire nation that live on a series of islands that have volcanoes (based on south-east Asian countries, particularly Philippines (due to volcanoes)? Though the names in the Fire nation sounded more Chinese. And the fact that the first Fire benders were dragons, I am leaning towards China).

In each nation, there are few people born with the ability to bend their natural element at will, like people born in water tribe can bend water, change its temperature, etc. And then there is Avatar, the one who can master all the four elements and the one who is responsible to maintain the balance in the world. When one Avatar dies, another one is born in the next nation in cycle (cycle being Air, Water, Earth and Fire, told you the sequence is important).  He has to master all the four elements in the cycle starting with his natural element. However, 100 years ago, Avatar named Aang, who was a 12 year old airbender disappeared, just as the Fire nation began its attack on the other nation starting with the massacre of all Airbenders but one. They could do so using the fire-power of a comet that was passing the Earth at that time (it passes the Earth every 100 years. Fire-benders drive their power from Sun, and anything hot as a comet).

Now, 100 years later, the southern Water tribe teenager siblings, Sokka and Katara, discover the Avatar trapped in the glacier (he is still 12, lucky him!). But this Avatar has only mastered his natural element, Air. He has yet to master other elements. Unfortunately, the only water bender left in the southern Water tribe is Katara, who by no means a master. So Sokka, Katara and Aang (the Avatar) decide to go to northern Water tribe to learn Water-bending. The Book-1: Water, is about their journey to North pole to learn the Water bending.

The problem is that Fire-lord son, the banished Prince Zuko wants to capture Avatar so that he can return to his country with honor. He tracks Aang and his friends all through this book and nearly captures Aang quite a few times.

Of course, there are a lot of twist and turns and a lot of characters in the book like, my favorite, Uncle Iroh (Zuko’s uncle), or the strongest Earth-bender King Bhumi (King of Omashu). But then I have to give you blow by blow description of each and every episode of Book 1 to explain all the characters.

The anime series is really great. It is a perfect mixture of action, humor and emotions. And yet, M. Night Shyamalan took that and, completely and totally ruined it. He didn’t only neglect the humor part, he also didn’t let the characters develop any emotional bond with the audience. Like in the end of Book 1, the princess of Northern Water tribe and Sokka’s girl friend, Princess Yue sort of dies (well she goes to the spirit world), and it should be pretty dramatic and emotional scene and yet, we, as audience, didn’t feel anything. You ask, why? I will tell you why, the part of Sokka and Yue developing a romantic relationship was given as a narration of one line:

“My brother Sokka and Pricness Yue instantly became fast friends.”

That’s it! Where is the romance? Where is the emotional bond that audience develops with the Princess so that they would feel sad for her? And its just not this relationship, its all the relationships in the movie, to the extent I wouldn’t have felt a thing had he killed  Aang, the Avatar. Honestly, M. Night Shyamalan, you call yourself a director after this disaster?

And don’t even get me started with the feeble attempt to convert the 2D movie to a 3D (No, they didn’t shoot it in 3D. They simply superimposed it later and it sucks big time), or the fact that you made the fire nation as Indians! Seriously? With the names as Zuko, Azula, Sozin, Iroh, and Ozai? Do they really sounded like Indian names to you? Or did you think India has big volcanoes and it is a country consisting of series of islands? Or, did any of the Fire-nation characters in the animated series look Indian to you? Then, why?

And whatever happened to the sense of humor (the series is hilarious. It has pretty nice one-liners)? Or, simple acting? I mean, how could you okay any of those shots? It was a T-O-R-T-U-R-E.

I will never forgive you for this disaster you call a movie, Mr. M. Night Shyamalan! NEVER!! You ruined one of the bestest series on TV. 

For rest of you, if you haven’t seen the animated series, Avatar: the last airbender, please don’t judge it based on this movie. It’s an amazing series. And if you are into martial arts even the slightest bit, then this series is a must watch for you. The perfect stances, the graceful moves are simply a bliss to watch. I am not exaggerating. I wish I was half as graceful as any of them.

(*Images are linked to their sources)

P.S.: BTW, did you notice that Fire nation islands in the map looks like a smiley wearing shades and may be smoking a cigarette? He is so cute..

Finished

NaBloPoMo, that is. I wrote a post  everyday for the entire month of June, 2010! Yay!

Thanks to all of you for your comments, your encouragement. I did learn quite a bit. I just hope that the moment doesn’t die and I continue to write as frequently as I have been recently though it might disrupt a bit towards the latter half of this month as I will be travelling quite a bit (lots of photos!!).
On a side note, today I found (by accident) yet another cool male blogger that I have added in my subscription. As no one else has told me about him. I am assuming no one has found him yet, so here is his site. He is hilarious. I especially like his Tysism concept! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Bird Watching

Title: Food

Location: Shoreline Lake, Mountain View, CA

Date: June 28, 2010

(Canon EOS 40D camera, Canon 75-300mm lens @ 300mm focal length, f/7.1 aperture, 1/1600 sec shutter speed and 400 ISO. Post processing: cropped slightly and increased contrast)

P.S.: From Monday (June 28th), I have started the series “Bird Watching” on my photoblog. I will post every MWF for next few weeks. I am new at bird watching and hence, don’t know most of the bird species. I will be grateful if you can help me out.

Male Bloggers

So I recently discovered this gender analyzer (via Vector Gaming) that analyzes your blog/site and tell you whether it’s being written by a man or a woman. Lame, yes but still fun. It told me that my blog is written by a woman (Duh!). So next, I went in search for other blogs I read (about 114 odd blogs) to see how they fare on the scale. And that’s when I realize that most of the blogs I read are written by woman (in reality).

I subscribe to 23 male bloggers (4 of them are friends) out of 114  (I don’t know gender for 5 of them, I can guess but then it will be a guess). That’s 20%. And guess what? Out of those 23 male bloggers, only 2 were identified as male bloggers by the gender analyzer. I think its broken.

Anyway, the fact remains that I, for some unknown reason (it wasn’t intentional, I swear), prefer to read female bloggers more than male bloggers. Or, is it that there are more female bloggers out there than the male bloggers (do we have some kind of census/statistics about number and distribution of bloggers?)? Or, may be female bloggers tend to write more personal blogs while male bloggers stick to impersonal blogs as gadget reviews? Or, may be female bloggers are simply better writer than male bloggers and hence, get added to my subscription (its a thought)? Or, is it something about me? May be I am biased against the male bloggers. I might have developed, like Ideasmith says, an “unhealthy level of cynicism” over the years. May be, unconsciously,  I am rejecting the male bloggers for being, well, male.

So here is a request, if you know some awesome male bloggers please leave a link to their blogs in the comment space (but no gadget reviewers, please). I will, now, make a conscious effort to include the male bloggers in my subscription list.

Do tell about the distribution of male bloggers vs female bloggers in your subscription list.

Last Minute Post

The reason I didn’t ask any colleague to go through my draft :) (oh well, not really. I had help from technical writing advisor and my advisor. Didn’t think I can handle anymore correction): * Image is linked to its source.

P.S.: Coincidentally this one came out a day after my submission..

Pride Day

Today is Gay Pride day in US. Are you still there? Well I have been asked in past to refrain from writing (read associating myself) about gay community so I am not sure how many  would read this post, given it’s out and out about gay community.

Anyway, assuming all these ridiculous advices are due to our ignorance about gay community so on the pride day, I decided to go through few misconceptions (at least the one I know):

 

The first point I want to make is that homosexuals are humans, like you and me. I don’t understand why an out and proud gay usually becomes only gay and nothing else. That’s how he or she is referred in conversations. Their career, their talents, their intelligence, everything is ignored and only one of their personality trait is highlighted. There, I said it. Its simply a personality trait, a personal matter, just like being an introvert or extrovert. You won’t refer a person as introvert at all times when you talk about him or her, then why emphasize so much about this personality trait?

(On a side note, I don’t like the word ‘Queer’ associated with homosexual or gay. The word’s usual meaning is abnormal or eccentric or odd. So to use it in homosexual context is saying that being homosexual is an abnormality, which it is not. Just my opinion.)

************************************************

Now coming to all those who refer homosexuality as being unnatural. Did you know that a lot of animal species exhibit homosexuality and the reason it has not been reported in scientific journals is due to social attitudes towards same-sex sexual behavior, innocent confusion, or even from a fear of "being ridiculed by their colleagues." ?  Only recently, scientist have started reporting the homosexual behavior in animals and you will be amazed by how many of animal species engage in such behavior (the list has reference to scientific papers as well). So what was it that you were saying about homosexuality being unnatural phenomenon?

(Another reason that we have ignored sexuality of animals is due to our own pride in believing that animal only have sex in order to reproduce, unlike humans that form emotional bonds. Homosexuality in animals prove that animals also, are drawn to each other for reasons apart from reproduction. So much for human superiority.)

************************************************

Next item on the list is the law. Quite a few friends of mine think that when Delhi High Court overturned IPC 377 in July 2009, it made same-sex marriage legal in India. Well folks, that is sadly not true. IPC section 377 was about criminalizing homosexual activities and overturning that meant that gay couples will no longer be treated as criminals in India(We are now better than Iran, congratulations!). But gay marriage still have no legal standing in India. How does that matter you ask?

It matters because in case of death of one of the partner, the other don’t have any legal standing on the dead body of the deceased, or the funeral procedures, or over the home they build together (in case it was in name of deceased partner). Imagine being thrown out of the funeral of your spouse of 20 years. How would you like it?

(Seriously, after all the obsession Indians have with marriage and premarital sex, they are not bothered about getting gays married and avoid their premarital sex?)

************************************************

Homosexuality does not spread AIDS or HIV (yes, there is a difference between the two). Unsafe sex does. If we remove the social stigma associated with sex and talk to our children, and people, about unsafe sex practices, we will reduce the spread of this virus. The reason homosexuals have a higher percentage of HIV and AIDS is due to added social stigma associated with them, which makes it impossible for them to talk to any one about safe sex practices associated with homosexuality. There are, at least, few resources for safe sex practices for heterosexual couples, does anyone have heard about safe sex practices for homosexual couples? There in lies the problem, my dear friend. Its our social prejudice that make them vulnerable to this deadly disease and then we prosecute them for having it. How is that fair, exactly?

************************************************

Lastly, I want to point out that all the homosexuals that are out, are one of the bravest people you would have fortune of meeting. EVER. Just ask this question to yourself: would you stand up against all the social norms and face persecution from society, your own family, in order to be honest with yourself? The decision to not live a lie is a big one and I, for one, admire their courage, their honesty, their conviction and above all, their integrity.

Happy Pride day everyone.

This is rainbow flag flying atop on Seattle Space Needle. (Image is linked to its source)

P.S.: For those of you who don’t know the significance of rainbow flag: it represents diversity and inclusiveness, just like a rainbow. It can be, and has been used to represent cultural diversity, peace etc. It is also used to represent LGBT community.

On Culture

Ever since I read this post by Braja Sorensen on Lost and found in India, I have this constant debate going on in my mind and I simply can’t concentrate on work anymore. The topic of discussion in the post was opposition of Burkas in European countries. Braja opined:

…foreigners who enter a new country, a new culture, and yet refuse to adapt to it, preferring to maintain---or even impose---their own culture in that foreign land. Whatever happened to "When in Rome..."? As an expat Aussie living in India, I have a bit of a sore point about people entering a country and refusing to honor its traditions, cultures, desires, directions, or the like. Worse, I find it completely obnoxious, to be honest, when foreigners deem the inhabitants of their new country lower than them, less cultured, less spiritual, less holy---less everything, really---yet still want to live there. Obviously not as one of them, but *despite* them. It seems a rather rude premise to me.

Honestly, I do agree with the author here to certain extent but, there are a lot of “buts” involved. Yes, when in Rome, behave as Roman but does that mean completely neglecting your roots? If not, then where do you the draw the line between embracing the new culture and not loosing touch with your roots. Any one care to venture an answer?

Another Filler Post

Am too tired today. Will resume proper posting tomorrow. Enjoy this till then:

he has a point, don’t you think? I love Zach Weiner’s twisted logics!

* Image is linked to its source

What Women Want?

So Blogadda has another contest: What Women Want? No, I am not participating but simply thinking a loud.

My problem with the topic (oh yes, I have a problem. Why else will I write a post, if not complain?): who is eligible to write on such a topic?

Men are, by default, unqualified to write about this topic. How can they possibly know what women want? At the most they can ask women in their lives (or speculate, or make sexist jokes/comments) what they want and still I am pretty sure, it will be hard for them to understand it completely, let alone write about it.

Women? Can any woman, or any individual, really know what all women want? there are approximately 3 billion of us. Each of us lives in different society, have to obey different sets of rules, have different life situations and hence, have completely different needs and wants. For example, a woman in war torn Somalia would want not to be raped while a woman in India would simply want the freedom of walking on the road without a frown, to ward off any molestation attempts.  How can one woman tell what all of us want? Isn’t it ridiculous to bundle 3 billion individuals in one and wonder what they want?  And yet, we find so many theories on the subject and all start with the same claim: Women are mysteries or no one knows what women want etc. If you bundle 3 billion individuals into one and then try to decipher what they want, of course, you will be confused. It will certainly seem like a mystery.

You see, here is the thing. Women are not animals that you can study and learn about their behavior, habits, needs or desires (oh well, technically we are all animals but you know what I mean). You can’t go looking for “patterns” among intelligent individuals. We all process information differently, so is it fair that we try to categorize ourselves in such broad classes? Can we really classify the human race in two groups: man and woman, and then go defining the traits of each group? Is the question:  “What women want?” (or the question “what men want?”, for that matter) really a fair question to ask?

P.S.: I have serious objection over comments like: “Even women don’t know what they want?”, or “Even God is trying to find that one out!” etc (and these types of comments are always from, surprise surprise, a man. The individuals that are completely unqualified to say anything on the subject and yet, they have to comment). Do men really think they are better than that? Are you seriously telling me that men don’t have mood swings, or that they don’t take out their work frustrations by snapping at people closest to them, or that they don’t cry, despite all the social conditioning (the things they accuse women of and the reason they claim no one knows what they want)? Because they do. They don’t want to admit it and would probably make fun of any male, who they think does such things but at some point, they all have done that. They are, after all, humans too; and having emotions is a human trait.

Wordless Wednesday: Flower

Title: Bright

Location: Mountain View, CA

Date: June 19, 2010

Teaser Tuesday

  Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

Here goes mine:

- Love is the most dangerous craving of all, if you ask me, it turns us into people we aren't. It makes us feel like hell, and makes us walk on water. It ruins us for anything else.

- Let me tell you what happens when you cook down the syrup of loss over the open fire of sorrow: It solidifies into something else. Not grief, as you’d expect, or even regret. No, it gets thick as paste, black as ash; yet it isn’t until you dip a finger in and feel that sharp taste dissolving on your tongue that you realize this is anger in its purest form, unrefined; a substance to be weighed and measured and spread.

Yep, I broke the rules yet again. But a teaser in a single sentence is impossible to do.

The book I am reading (actually re-reading. I am not picking up a new book till my defense) is Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult. 

* Image is linked to its source

Collections

Yet another writing prompt but this time from the world wide web:

What do you collect and what would you say your collection says about you?

I collect magnets. The picture above is one side of our refrigerator.

That was the easy part. Now what do I think that my collection says about me? Hmmm…I guess it says that I like to travel, learn about different cultures and collect tiny reminder of things I saw,

    

or simply found amusing or cute.

 

What do you think that these magnets tell about me?

P.S.: I know, I know. I am getting in to the rambling zone now. I am back to work so I guess the quality will improve soon..

Today’s media

(Image is linked to it’s source)

I miss good old days of Doordarshan when the news used to be 20 min. long and used to report only the news. No analysis, no opinions, no drama.

I wish there was a place in today’s world where they only tell you what happened in the world that day, instead of their and some XYZ’s opinion. I can form my own opinion, thank you very much.

What say you? Would you prefer the over-analyzed news programs that ignores the smaller news articles or the to-the-point news reports?

Writing Prompt: Time Travel

Well I haven’t done a writing prompt for quite a long time now. I guess, it’s about time I revisited them. And look what I found (actually chose out of many):

If you could go back in time and meet your 16-year-old self, what three things would you tell yourself?

Gosh! 16 year old me! That silent, shy, extremely introvert girl with zero self confidence or self esteem. I think the first thing I would tell her is that she is pretty. No matter how much people point to her dark skin tone or to her non-existent fatness, and remind her how ugly she is. She is pretty. Those people have a very screwed up idea of beauty.

Second thing on the list would be a bit tough to explain. How can I explain my 16-year-old self that she is not responsible for the action of all the perverts roaming on the Indian road? It’s not her fault. It’s the failure of our society that not only fails to protect our girls and women from such scum, but it instead dares to blame them for its failure.

This concept would demand her to unlearn everything she knows in matter of minutes or hours (depends how much time I am given to explain it to her). I don’t think it can be done in a short time period. After all, how wise can you expect a 16-year old to be? Nevertheless, it remains in the list. It’s worth a try.

Last thing that I want to tell my 16-year-old self is that no matter how bad things become, no matter how much she feels that she can’t make out of it, SHE WILL. And it’s worth it. This one is for the darkest hours of her life yet to come.

I know I can expand a lot on all of them and the last point is a bit anti-climatic, but these are my honest replies to the question and in that order. And honesty wins over the aesthetic sense any day. At least in my book.

So is there anything you would like to tell your 16-year-old self? If you would like to do a post about it, consider yourself tagged (it’s an interesting topic), otherwise put it in the comment here. :)

Conversation with a six year old

- While accompanying her to the Jungle gym, she asks me to do what she is doing. I confess that most probably I won’t be able to do it (due to back ache), she tells me “if a six year old can do it, then then then..how old are you Richa.”
Me - “31”
J - “then a 31 year old can do it too.”
Me - “Right.”

- 10 minutes later she asks me, “Richa, are you married?”
Me - “No, I am not.”
J- “But you are 31!”

- “How do you say one in Hindi, Richa?” She has an Indian boy in her class now.
Me - “Ek.”
J - “Huh?”
Me - “Ai-k.”
J - “Like stomach ache?”
Me - “Yes, exactly like stomach ache.”

- J - “C (her 2 year old sister) is sweet.”
Me - “Yes, but you are sweeter than her.”
J - “Really?”
Me - “Yes.”
J - “Okay. But don’t say that when she (her sister) is older.”

- “Why were you standing behind the Indian flag instead of US flag on the international day at school, J?”, her mom asked.
J - “Because Richa is our family and she is Indian.”
Her mom - “No. We love Richa as family but she is not related to us.”
J - “oh..”

:) Is it a surprise that I look forward to spend time with her?

American or Indian

Lately I have been told, more often than not, that I have become an American. This has nothing to do with my current visa status, or green card, or citizenship. No point arguing on those front. The reasons for which people have announced that I am no longer an Indian but have, in fact, transformed into an American never made sense to me. May be they will to you. So here they are:

1. My best friend in Stanford is an American and that too, gasp, an African American. Not that I don’t have Indian friends. I simply get along with her more than any Indian friends in Stanford.

2. My room-mate/flat-mate is also an American. In fact in US, I rarely had an Indian room-mate and to be frank, for the brief times that I had one (Indian room-mate), I didn’t get along with him or her, anyways.

3. I love peanut butter. I am actually in love with peanut butter. I will eat anything if it has peanut butter in it (Peanut-butter is to me what chocolate is to most people). I agree peanut butter is an American/western food (so is chocolate and yet I am the one who is American). In my defense, I have always been a big fan of peanuts. Even in India. So is it so surprising that when I found peanut butter, I fell in love with it?

4. I watch movies like Shrek, Alice in the wonderland, Avatar etc. which according to Indian populace are kids movies. If you argue otherwise, you are too Americanized.

5. I go for Karate (oh ok, I used to go for Karate) and absolutely love it. Indian girls aren’t supposed to like sports, you see. And then karate is, oh my God, a contact sport, and hence a complete no-no (was told so by an Indian guy who disapproved of me going for karate).

6. I go for a run.

7. I wear shorts when I go for a run (in summer, of course). Completely American, or so  I have been told.

8. I like Photography and usually travel alone to take photographs. Too American (I think they meant too independent).

Do these make things really make me American? Why?

Wordless Wednesday: Special Edition

PB, as per your request. :)

Title: Accomplishment

Date: June 16th, 2010

Location: Stanford, CA

P.S.: 1. Unlike most universities, Stanford has a system of submitting the draft copies of the thesis to the committee instead of final bounded copies before the defense. The final copies are made after all the corrections have been incorporated. This makes sense to me: What’s  the point of making final bounded copies if there  are going to be correction anyways? Hope other universities will someday follow this tradition and make life easier for the students. And yes, this is the draft I submitted today.

2. Note I didn’t put a copyright sign on today’s photo.

Wordless Wednesday: Walk

Title: Nostalgic

Location: Mountain View, CA

Date: June 12, 2010

A filler post

Submission is tomorrow. So today I am cursing the day I signed up for NaBloPoMo (I have assigned fifteen minutes to write this post. I have already spent 5 minutes to find the video below). But the good news is, that I have already crossed the half way mark. I think taking one-day at-a-time approach is working. Guess I do have commitment tissues. I haven’t had to resort to a filler post so far. Well at least till today. (I know I am rambling. You try be creative  in 10 minutes).

So today I am filling up this space with this video and keeping my commitment with NaBloPoMo. It is a great comment on the social networking. It’s funny, and quite sad, to see how relationships in virtual space have become more important than the real world relationship. How number of friends on such sites have become the measure of “coolness” in this modern world.

I am not necessarily against these social networking sites. I have found so many friends due to the increased contacts with old friends. (Once, via a common friends I found out about an old friend living two blocks from my place!) I also like sharing photos with my friends and family all at once, instead of sending an individual email to each of them.

Social networking has a lot benefits (a cousin of mine reconnected with an old friend via facebook and now, they are getting married!) despite how much media makes fun of it.

Your thoughts?

Absent mindedness

As I am nearing my submission date and then defense date, I am becoming more and more absent minded (not to mention, sleep deprived and extremely cranky).  But don’t they say that you ain’t defending your PhD if ain’t absent minded yet. Oh okay, I totally made it up but it still remains more or less true. I have heard quite a few incidents from friends and acquaintances about their days before defense.

Anyway, so the worst thing I have done yet (I still have more than a month to go), you ask? I introduced myself as Rachna, instead of Richa. Yep, I forgot my own name! Not that I have a long name. In fact I don’t even have a second name (surname), or a third name (middle name) to remember. I have a simple five lettered name: RICHA. And I love my name too. And yet, I did that.

How about you? What’s the worst absent minded thing you have done? I bet you can’t top mine..

Written Hindi: कि or की?

Yet another post for Red Marker Blogathon.

If some word/phrase/idiom/spelling/syntax/punctuation incorrectly used drives you up the wall, blog about it.

The only rule is that you must explain what is wrong with the usage that it bothers you so and you must also explain the proper usage.
 
Today I am talking, er, writing about a mistake that even native-Hindi speakers make all the time while writing Hindi. This mistake has been driving me up to the wall since I was a kid.

The mistake being interchanging the words की and कि (sorry have to do this one in Devnagari script. Can’t explain this in Latin alphabet system). A mistake in matra usually irritates me a lot but this mistake takes the cake. So what is the difference between the two, you ask?

कि is a conjunction and is equivalent to ‘that’

की is a postposition and is equivalent to ‘of’

For example:

ध्वनि ने कहा कि प्रथम के पास उस ताले की चाभी है|
Dhvani said that Pratham has the key of that lock.

So कि is used to connect two phrases like ध्वनि ने कहा and प्रथम के पास उस[…]  (conjunction), while की is used to connect two nouns (or a noun and a pronoun) like ताला and चाभी (postposition). Simple, no?

Anyway, that’s all from my corner on Red Marker Blogathon. If you have, your own peeves with something you don’t like in any language, do share.

P.S.: I am confused about usage of equivalent. Whether it should be कि  is equivalent to ‘that’, or कि is the equivalent of ‘that’? Or, are both correct? For some reason, I am always confused when it comes to English.

Spoken Hindi: ka, ki, or ke?

So Sue has this Blogathon going called Red Marker Blogathon.

If some word/phrase/idiom/spelling/syntax/punctuation incorrectly used drives you up the wall, blog about it.

The only rule is that you must explain what is wrong with the usage that it bothers you so and you must also explain the proper usage. 

Unlike most of the entries in the marathon, I am writing about my peeves in spoken Hindi: some very common mistakes made by non-native-Hindi speakers while speaking Hindi. I wouldn’t say that all of them drives me up to a wall but I have this uncontrollable need to correct whenever someone get these wrong.

So what are my peeves, you ask? The use of postpositions ka, ki and ke (in Hindi, we have postpositions instead of prepositions as  they are placed after the noun or pronoun: just FYI). You see, most non-native-Hindi speaker often get confused whether it’s, for example, tale ka chabhi or tale ki chabhi (key of lock); uska patni or uski patni (his wife), etc? So how do you decide?

The rule of thumb in this case is very simple:

Gender of the postpositions ka, ki, or ke is same as the gender of the noun after the postpositions ka, ki, or ke.

So in case of chabhi and tala, the noun after the postposition, chabhi,  is feminine so it is tale ki chabhi. Similarly, in the second case, since patni is a female, the right form here is uski patni.

Now coming to a very good example, my special peeve:

- aloo ka paratha ( paratha of potato),  aloo ke parathae
- aloo ki roti,  aloo ki rotiyan.

First thing first. Yes, there is a ‘ka’ in the middle of aloo and paratha. Calling it ‘aloo paratha’ is wrong Hindi. And this one gets me to grind my teeth and close my fist while trying hard not to hit any thing. (Deep breath, count backwards. Okay. Where were we? Right..) Please don’t use the term, 'aloo partha'. It takes a micro second more to add a ka, ki or ke in middle.

Moving to the second point. Did you notice how ka becomes ke when we have multiple parthae (mmm, yummy), but ki remains ki even if the quantity of roti changes? Yep, you got it. The plural form of ki is also ki, and not ke (another fairly common mistake).
Similarly, we say gobhi ke pakode and diwali ki mithaiyan.

Hmm, I don't know about you but all this talk about parathe, pakode, and mithaiyan have made me hungry. I am heading to the kitchen for a mid-evening snack while you digest this information.

P.S.: 1. I refrained from using Devnagari script here as I was not sure how many people can read Hindi. Hope that's okay.
2. Just to be clear: ka is का;    ki is की;  ke is के|
3. Another post on the subject matter by yours truly is here.

Friday Meme

I stole this one from PB. It seems interesting and as I am currently swamped with work, so small talks, I mean, small posts have to do.
BTW, I loved doing it. Hope you like reading it. Just a bit more stupid things about my life..
1. Graduated high school. (Thankfully!)
2. Kissed someone.
3. Smoked a cigarette.
4. Got so drunk you passed out.
5. Rode every ride at an amusement park.
6. Collected something stupid.(Photographs from newspaper. And wedding invitations. Don’t ask..)
7. Gone to a rock concert.
8. Helped someone.
9. Gone fishing
10. Watched four movies in one night.
11. Lied to someone. (Not good at it though. I usually confess pretty soon.)
12. Snorted cocaine.(And somehow, I don’t want to either. Call me crazy.)
13. Smoked weed.(I will pass, thank you.)
14. Failed a subject.   (Oh yes. English. Class III.)
15. Been in a car accident.(More than once.)
16. Been in a tornado. (Not looking forward to it either.)
17. Watched someone die.
18. Been to a funeral.
19. Burned yourself.
20. Run a marathon.(Though I want to..)
21. Cried yourself to sleep.
22. Spent over 10,000 bucks in one day.(Bucks can be Rupees too, right?)
23. Flown on an aeroplane.(Want to fly one now..)
24. Cheated on someone.
25. Been cheated on. :(
26. Written a 10 page letter. (And never got a reply back. Yes, my life is a tragedy.)
27. Gone skiing. (And hated it.)
28. Been sailing.
29. Cut yourself. (Not intentionally, though.)
30. Had a best friend. (Still have one. I think.)
31. Lost someone you loved. (Yet, another tragedy.)
32. Got into trouble for something you didn't do.
33. Stolen a book from the library.
34. Gone to a different country. (Living in a different country now.)
35. Watched the Harry Potter movies. (Each and everyone of them. I am a die-hard HP fan.)
36. Had an online diary. (It must be somewhere around. Let me look.)
37. Fired a gun. (And loved doing it. Turns out, I am a natural at shooting (in shooting range))
38. Gambled in a casino. (And never will.)
39. Been in a school play. (Wanted to but they wouldn’t take me. I wasn’t pretty (read fair) enough.)
40. Been fired from a job. (Have been on the bench though.)
41. Taken a lie detector test.
42. Swam with dolphins. (I think I will be scared to death.)
43. Voted for someone on a reality TV show.(I don’t watch reality shows.)
44. Written poetry.(if Haiku counts.)
45. Read more than 20 books a year. (It includes course books too, right? Just kidding.)
46. Gone to Europe. (Yay!)
47. Loved someone you shouldn't have. (Tragedy!)
48. Used a coloring book over age 12. (Still do!)
49. Had a surgery.
50. Had stitches. (In my jaws, no less.)
51. Taken a Taxi.
52. Had more than 5 IM conversations going on at once.
53. Been in a fist fight.(if mock fist fights during Karate practice counts. Otherwise, if fighting with siblings count..)
54. Suffered any form of abuse. (I am counting the daily abuse that women suffer on the Indian roads)
55. Had a pet.
56. Petted a wild animal. (A wild deer. At India-Pakistan border. Some adventure.. )
57. Had your own credit card & bought something with it.
58. Dyed your hair. (Want to. Wondering how would I look, if I go blonde.)
59. Got a tattoo. (No, thank you.)
60. Had something pierced. (My ears.)
61. Got straight As. (That too at Stanford! Yes, I am rather proud of it! Call me arrogant, or whatever you want to..)
62. Known someone personally with HIV or AIDS.
63. Taken pictures with a webcam. (I take pictures with any and every camera.)
64. Lost something expensive.
65. Gone to sleep with music on. (And I love doing it. I also love waking up to a nice melody)
Again a free for all tag! Have fun..

American Birds and Human Lives

I have been refraining myself from commenting, blogging or tweeting about the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill in US. So much so that I have been refusing to follow any news these days as they do pop this topic more often than not. I know, sooner and later, it will get me.

What got to me finally wasn’t the news about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill but the news about the rejection of extradition of Warren Anderson, former chairman and CEO of Union Carbide. Let me put the two news pieces in perspective for the readers who don’t know about one or both news articles.

So on April 20th 2010, a drilling rig in Gulf of Mexico (offshore US) exploded killing 11 workers. The oil from this well has been spilling in the Gulf of Mexico ever since. There have been many attempts to either cap off the spill or to collect the oil. There have been huge cry about this spill in US news. There is a public outrage against the company, which happen to be a British company operating on the US soil. The reason: there have been photographs of oil soaked birds on the front page of all the newspaper and American people, being so environment friendly (and yet, consuming 25% of oil production of the world) can’t bear and hence, the outrage.

Let’s go to the second news piece now. The year was 1984, place Bhopal a city in center India. On December 2nd of that year, there was yet another leak: Methyl Isocyanate escaped the plant of Union Carbide company and spread through the city killing, killing, about 22,000 humans. 22,000 human lives! After about 25 years of that leak, the region is still suffering from it’s aftermath in form of eye problems, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties and birth defects among children born to affected women. Yep, even 25 years later. The cause of the leak? Cost cutting by the company leading to safety issues that finally resulted in the disaster.

A physiotherapist holds the leg of a seven year old child at a clinic run by a non-governmental organization to cater to victims of the gas tragedy in Bhopal, India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das; Nov., 2009). Image is linked to the source.

Yet again, it was a foreign company operating in the country of disaster. Only the company was American, Union Carbide. 25 years later (yes, I know. Indian Judicial system sucks. They took 25 years to do so..), Indian government requests for the extradition of then chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson, an American citizen. They are rejected by US government!

The man responsible for the 22,000 deaths is going free while Americans are shouting themselves hoarse for few oil soaked birds.

How is that fair?

P.S.: 1. Warren Anderson was arrested on December 7th, 1984 and later let out on the bail. He is absconding ever since. Wish we had stringent airport securities back then!

2. And yes, he knew about the possible safety risk. An year before the tragedy happened, a worker died due to a leak in the plant. And to quote then Bhopal police chief Swaraj Puri, who arrested Warren Anderson and later died due to the exposure:

“When an employee dies, the whole management knows about it. So, it will be a lie if Anderson says he did not know about the leak and the death of an employee.”

3. A better post, by Annie, on the subject matter can be found here.

4. I don’t mean to belittle the suffering of the families who lost their family members on April 20th, 2010 or the fishermen who are impacted by the oil spill. I just want to draw attention to something else, something worse, by contrast.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy is just one such case (though one of the worst), there are other such cases where an American company got away after doing lot worse than what’s happening in GoM, without paying ANYTHING (honestly, they didn’t pay anything for human lives lost or for cleaning up the mess after them, unlike BP). As long as it doesn’t affect US environment or US people, it is okay. American birds are more precious than the human lives around the world.

* All images are linked to their source.

Wordless Wednesday: Evening Walk

Title: Day meets night

Location: Mountain View, CA

Date: June 03, 2010

P.S.: Taken using iPhone

Nostalgia, Anniversary etc.

Usually, I don’t believe in celebrating blog-anniversary though I do remember the anniversary of this blog every year. Just because it falls on the Marriage Anniversary of my parents: 9th June. Yeah, yeah, I know I am a day early in writing this post (well technically it’s the eve before, so I am ok, right?) but I don’t think I will get much time tomorrow and this year it’s kind of important.

You see, three years ago when I started this blog, I didn’t think that I will last this long. This is my third blogging attempt. So when it came to picking the name for the blog, I simply picked the first thing that came to my mind. And that’s how “Grad Life” came into being. It was just a fling. And yet, here I am three years later still kicking and blogging. Okay not so much kicking due to the back pain that this grad life has given me, but still blogging.

So why is it important, you ask? Oh well, the trouble is that now my real grad life is coming to an end (FINALLY!). So I can’t continue a blog named “Grad Life”, can I? Oh, don’t worry I am not deleting the blog. I simply want to rename it and yes, change the decor too. But that has to wait. My official date of graduation is September 23rd, but unofficially I finish in July. And I want to officially change name of this blog then (in July). I will finish up the decor work later.

Anyhoo, my problem is that I need to pick a new name for my blog. The ones I could think of so far are:

- Post- Grad Life (Lame, I know)

- Just Life ( I actually do like this one)

- Daydreamer

- My Dhvani (I am leaning towards this one. Yes Rachna, I do love the name Dhvani.)

Do you have a preference? Or a suggestion? I will appreciate any comment on this subject matter. Also, as it’s my blog’s third anniversary, I will appreciate it if, for once, you please comment on the blog. That is, if you do read my stupid ramblings and I am not simply talking to thin air (This is my feeble attempt on emotional blackmailing, please relent).

Quality of Posts versus Frequency

The downside of participating in NaBloPoMo and writing a post a day, the quality of posts decreases drastically. I have 2-3 topics on which I can possibly write post and all I could do is rant. Not that I don’t always rant but those rants are still have some creativity, some flow, some meaning. All I have been able to come up since yesterday falls in the category of “Please stop writing” (See the graph). It might be due to the approaching deadlines, lack of sleep, irregular meals or may be just the frequency of posts. Anyhoo, I thought I will make the graph that at least reflect my quality of posts versus frequency of posting..

          (The graph is made using Cheezburger.com.)

So what do you think? You agree with this graph?

Haiku: A Syllable Dilemma

Warm Saturday night

Neighbors party raucously --

I work quietly.

This is my first attempt at writing a Haiku, a traditional Japanese poetry form. As I have often said, I can’t rhyme to save my life. So here is an alternate form of poetry for people like me. YAY!

So how does a Haiku work, you ask. Oh well, it is a three line poem, which is usually divided in two parts using a colon or a dash. While both sections must enrich the other, they should be independent of each other. Usually, each Haiku contains a season word as cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow indicate winter, and mosquitoes indicate summer. 

That’s the easy part.

The difficult part is that each line of Haiku has to have certain number of syllables. So instead of rhyming, it’s syllable counting. The total number of syllables in a Haiku must be 17. The first line of the Haiku should have 5 syllables, the second line 7 syllables, and the third line 5 syllables.

So what do you think? Any Haiku expert out there? Or, a syllable expert?

P.S.: I used a syllable counter for this one. Not that I don’t know how to count syllables. It’s just that English is a funny language, and my second language. So I would like to be extra sure.