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.)

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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.)

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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?)

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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?

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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.