You are a bong if....

You are a bong (bengali) if:

• You think that Bengali culture is the only cultured culture in the entire world (courtesy Proleta Datta); that all other cultures bow down to Bengali culture
• You think that to win a Nobel Prize you have to be associated to Bengalis somehow or the other; either be a Bengali, or live in Calcutta(Kolkata), or go to a college which is also in Calcutta(courtesy: in unison by Proleta Datta and Shreyasee Das)
  
• You think that without having touched the writing part of the literature world, you have lessened your existence- you have to know every single book that has ever been written and have had read it too!
  
• You think that your kids have to learn all the possible cultural activities, especially debatin!
  
• You have mastered the art of eating atleast 4 rasagollas at once and even then you can go on eating
  
• Adda maara (as in talking nonsense) is the favorite past time- no questions asked! (courtesy: Proleta Datta and Shreyasee Das in the 2001 Corolla- damn that Corolla sparks ideas)
• While addaing- you have atleast 6 cups of chaa(tea) in 40 mins. Damn bengalis have a little too much chaa paisa(money)
• You go home and if there isn't any moosuri dal, you are pissed- and if there isn't any tomato chutney you are going nuts.
  
• You hate to admit that West Bengal is going down the drain because of-- aah forget it!

Ok there are a lot more, but since I am a Bengali (a hyderabadi one) and my parents fit the definition above, I am going to stop, plus my defining skills are running out

~Shreya

CLUELESS!!!

If there is one thing Americans today are clueless about, it definitely is, hands down, Immigration. We don't know what to do with this issue. At the heart of this debate is illegal immigration. All of us agree that illegal immigration is hurting the nation, both politically and economically, but various approaches to solve this problem has created far worse of a problem- a dead end. We really are Clueless about this.

When I started writing this piece, they were talking about legalizing illegal immigrants, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I definitely was enraged. Immigration hits close to me. I was born in the US, but my parents are immigrants, well they aren't - they would go back if it weren't for me for the moment. But you get the point. They went to the US with the right visa and all that fun stuff. And today if we say that illegal immigrants can be legalized after paying a certain amount of penalty and given the same facilities that legal immigrants are furnished with, then I am sorry to say that DOUBLE STANDARDS rule! Policy making cannot have double standards. I think I can claim that I know a little about visa rules and the insides and outsides of it. Trust me none of us are ever going to see anything as complicated as this ever in our lives.
The number of loopholes doesn't even keep the whole immigration policy transparent.

What's worse is people who do things the right way are the ones who have to pay the price. For example, my dad was denied visa when he wanted to come for my graduation on grounds that he was going to immigrate here sometime soon. This to a person who has come to the US 'n' number of times and has returned. I can guarantee you that my dad has no desire to live in the US- he is better off in India. By an error of destiny I guess, his daughter was graduating from an American University. Other friends who have graduated from here, their parents weren't denied visa to do the exact same thing. The perks of being an American citizen, I say.

On the other hand, parents of 35 year olds who themselves have families and are well-established in the US, are being given visa. Reality check, they have more incentive to stay back because they are atleast 65-70 year olds. Why am I pissed you may ask? Here is what happens. They bring their parents to the US, and somehow or the other put their name in their greencard application, and if and when it is approved, the parents have a greencard and can start working too! Now where is this coming from???!!!! Illegal immigrants are getting the welfare benefits while deserving Americans aren't because apparently they have enough. Who decides who has enough?

America, today, cannot afford to do amnesty work of this sort, especially domestically. We need a tighter economy to sustain the decline. The dollar value is going down the drain, not just against the British Pound Sterling or the Euro, but against other currencies too- the Indian rupee being one of them. We really step up things right now. No one knows what is going to happen in the next few months. Gas prices are soaring through the roof, minimum wages haven't changed. Average working-class Americans are going to have hard time day by day. So at this point of time, if taxes aren't being paid properly and welfare benefits are going to undeserving people- a.k.a. people who are here illegally, have somehow managed a social security number, that surprisingly cannot be traced when IRS is in town.- then I am sure we are looking at far worse of a situation than it already is. Politically, we have to look beyond getting the Hispanic votes, yes votes are important but not at the cost of worthy citizens.

"Where do you draw the line?" Republicans are stalling the immigration bill. Democrats are yelling and shouting. Independents are stepping back and looking. Look beyond. Immigration is not just getting the votes, its a tough call to make right now. Just plain political bickering is not going to help.

~Shreya

The Joy Killer

It was, what I like to call, the Perfect day. Gorgeous 58 F weather, I was listening to James Blunt on my MP3 player and finding my way to work through the trees. It was such a beautiful weather, that I actually turned off my player and was listening to the birds chirp. For those of you who don't know, University of Houston is home to a lot of squirrels, they run around the campus as if their own and actually are cute until they try and attack you (which by the way is rare in occasion). The fountains are beyond awesome on a day like this- the maintenance had cleaned the fountain, people were sitting on the grass by it and reading or taking a little nap. After all the sun wasn't that strong or that light; you lay on the green,freshly mowed grass, put your backpack under your head (since that is their primary purpose ;) ). I actually sat down and started to read my copy of The Virtue of Selfishness (arguably a bad choice of book on a day like this); until I realized that I was running late to work. And just when I was a minute away from work- there she was, my joy killer, this lady who was smoking, corrupted my air- the air I was enjoying. In a second, it was all gone. The sensation that I wanted to last for the entire day was gone in a matter of seconds. This is where I do not know what to say anything anymore. It should have been a sin, but then again she is entitled to smoke anywhere she wants to. But not right in my way...smoke away from me, not at me :-(

~shreya

Oh the PRESSURE!

Results for ICSE came out a couple of days back and it brought back bad memories of my own results. I hadn't done that well as everyone had expected me to do, but now that I look back I wonder why were we even that persistent to make it to the top. I know one way I convince myself is saying that India is a developing country with not too many opportunities like the US and so we have to push our through the assiduous hurdles on our path to the top. I made an 89% in ICSE and I know I was in shock; but in my own defense, I knew I had done well, I just didn't know how I'd failed myself and my family. My parents were definitely disappointed because I hadn't hit the 90% mark, (I was too, no kidding) but what could I have done after that. Anyways, looking back definitely brings back unwanted memories.

And then, I talked with a couple of people from this years' ICSE batch and the same thing repeated. One of them made a really really good grade, but failed to satisfy the parents. This is where I say "Enough". Kids these days have lost all motivation to study for the sake of learning. They study to please their parents. It falls under my definition of "sin". Yes setting standards is definitely good, that's good parenting, its a good motivation for the children too; but if your children have reached it or rather are close to it, be content. Where your children stand compared to others' is not important, what they do in that position is what is important. Someone who is first their entire life can be a complete failure and someone who has been struggling their entire life is probably planting seeds towards making a difference. Yes parents will be parents, but all the time demeaning your kids(their version is motivating) is not worth it- it will only drive them towards self-inducted pain. I am not saying that parents should completely let go of their kids' lives but a little understanding would help. Its bad enough with the pressure education has become, and to add on that pressure from parents. Talking really helps, figuring out where each party is coming from is important. All the shouting, disappointments, frustration leads to nothing but the same list of household disobedience. All of us need to be content and happy with what we have. In the long run, these marks aren't even going to matter- like I said, it will be what we do that is important.

~Shreya

Whims of a blogger

Its been crazy how a lot of us have gotten into the blogospehere (as we call it these days). Some of us do it because we love to write, some of us do it because its the trend. But whatever be the reason, I think all of us do it cause we love to write. And then on days like these, when I come up with wierd titles, it basically means I haven't had the right kind of inspiration to write about something. So how does a writer get that motivation to write about something? I know I am very politically/life oriented when I write. I do not necessarily thing its bad, but sometimes I think I lack creativity; which is when I turn to other blogs I read and I am in awe when I read their innovative stuff? Why do I lack it?
1. I think way too much
2. I try to be better than the others
3. I feel bad when people write things that I could have easily written about
4. I go off on tangents because I have so much to say
5. I can never match up to the skills other writers have!
6. So then, why even try?
Because its fun to sometimes whine I guess
I have never written such a random post in my life.
Ok back to reading
~Shreya

Seriously!

Ok so off-late people have been questioning my Indian-ness! Seriously, get off my back! I have lived in India for thirteen years, so I don't think I am a confused desi- rather I am a CONFIDENT desi- so new definition of ABCD- American Born CONFIDENT Desi- now if you can't deal with the fact that I am more Indian that some of you fobs around here, then stop being jealous and try not to americanize yourself that much. Don't tell me that I am not sure of what Indian culture means and stuff like that. I do not care much for your opinion and I will leave no stone unturned to verbalize the fact that I have taken offence to your comments. So do keep in mind about these things when you are talking with me. Just because I was born here does not mean that I am not sure where I originated from. If you are insecure do not put the onus on me. Find out why you feel that way and rectify it.
Seriously!!! Get off my back and watch your own before something goes wrong!

Shame on us

This has taken a long time for me to complete, partly because I was ashamed to even think about this. The 14th Dalai Lama was at Rice University on May 1st and delivered two speeches. The one that interested me the most, without question, was the one on religious tolerance. It amazed me how forcefully, yet simply, he conveyed the message that there was nothing wrong in accepting people of different religions, including the atheists. We could all live in harmony if only we tried. The urge to learn what other religions are about, and embrace should be our motivation, not to use it against them. Like the Dalai Lama said, the theists all derive their inspiration, their faith from the same source- GOD, while the atheists derive their inspiration from their concept of "GOD". So everyone draws their inspiration from different "sources". So where is the question of hating one another coming from?

The Dalai Lama then continued to tell the Rice Owls that the world should follow the example of India- a Secular Nation- guaranteed by the Constitution also. We are a nation of different religions; rather almost all religions in the world . To be openly glorified as a nation with so much tolerance is no small feat after all. But stop for a moment and think- are we that tolerant after all? The recent insurge of Hindutva and their "insecurity" of the declining Hinduism, has given a different dimension to our country- after "trying" to live in harmony all these years with different religions; especially with Muslims- how on earth are we threatened? We call ourselves a developing country trying to be one of the superpowers by 20whatever, but how are we going to be able to progress if we are this closed minded? We condemn Islamic fundamentalism, but gleefully condone Hindu fundamentalism. Any sane mind would agree with me that this contradiction has no grounds. Any orthodox/fundamentalist religious group is full of cynicism and is wrong. What's even worse these days is young Indian minds support this kind of fundamentalism. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT WHO WERE/ARE!!!! We are a diverse nation; that has nurtured and respected this diversity- we might as well start mandating people to speak only Hindi and no other languages; such is the case.

I hang out with the Baptist Student Ministry a lot- and whenever people hear this, they proceed to ask me the infamous questions; "Baptist!!! Why on earth do you go there? We would have never guessed you were Baptist?!" I am not. I love that bunch of people. No one has ever asked me what religion I am, whether I believe in theism or not, they have always embraced my presence with open arms. I have never had a complain with them. They are the most down to earth people I have ever seen in my life. And this coming from people who could have frowned upon me any day. Because of a couple of fundamentalists, we make the wrong judgement call of STEREOTYPING and GENERALIZING- I am of the opinion that it is sinful to stereotype.

Due to upsurge of religious fundamentalists in India these days, we are a earning a bad reputation; they have better advertising tactics and they definitely win. It is a sad trend, just like friend of mine put it. We should be ashamed of ourselves. How many of us have friends who are from different religions? Just because we are Hindustan, does not mean that we did not have non- Hindus before!

I realize I am spinning in circles with this topic- its because I am really ashamed of where India has reached with religion in the backdrop. It is shameful. Unless we youngsters do something soon- we will have a religious war that will spread doom not only to us but neighboring countries too.


http://webcast.rice.edu/index.php?action=details&event=967
( This is the link to the Dalai Lama's speech, in case some of you want to listen to it)

Shreya

Conversation Specials

Things to look out for during online im's( most of them with friends back home in India)

1. Wassup?
2. Are you at work or college? ( this is to check what the hell I am doing in life)
   
3. So wassup (yes two sentences later)
   
4. Ntn much (a.k.a nothing much)
5. Wow, you do so many things together (yea then I eff them up too)
6. So what are you doing these days (same as usual)
   
7. Why/ How come you are always busy ( now that is just way too much)
8. How come you always have exams (thats how the American educational system makes sure we are on our toes, a.k.a not sleeping for more than 6 hrs a nite at the max)
9. So what else (clear boredom indications)
   
10. When are you coming to India?

If these weren't part of the conversations, then something terribly went wrong...
~Shreya

The Virtue of Idiocy

Remember those days when NDTV was THE definition of good media in India? Atleast for youngsters like us, it was definitely the hip thing since it was fancied and very westernized. Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami, Shivraj Parshad, Maya Sharma, Barkha Dutt and so many more. Now I think NDTV and Indian media are paradigms of what I call "The Virtue of Idiocy". (Where I got the title from, will be explained later). "The Virtue of Idiocy"- the act of making sure that one is deemed idiotic constantly for their pleasure.

My American readers (if any) will not relate to this but thank you for reading anyway. The reason I am so bitter, if not evident, is due to the recent extensive/intensive and unwanted coverage of the "Aishwarya- Abhishek" marraige. She is a former Miss World, he is a Bollywood actor; son of a very famous Bollywood actor- never knew that this would be a cause for loathing their existence. So much is the hype, that a couple of my Biology labmates asked me whether the marriage was over or not, and whether she wore the sari she was supposed to wear or not- this coming from Americans sitting in Houston, Texas who in no way whatsoever should be affected by this asinine of a scenario.

The day after Virginia Tech went through their massacre, I went on to NDTV.com- like every other NRI to check upon news back home in India. And to my utter surprise (all pun intended), I found the exclusive on the intricate details of Aishwarya Rai's sari. To the side of it, apparently Top News, but evidently very small and easily overlooked, news about Minal Panchal missing. Why are we glorifying something that all of us know is not going to help us in the future or for that matter in the present? We are not entitled to that sort of vicarious pleasures either! So WHAT IS THE POINT? And then of course, we come to know about the horrifying scandal about human trafficking being conducted by an Indian politician, and that news also finds its place in the Top News section that again is blinded by the Exclusive News.

Why is it so hard for us to cover news that actually matter to the public in general? The gala affair, if not anything, portrays the ever increasing bridge between the rich and the poor and the fighting middle class in a forever developing country called India. The rich get to strut their stuff, the poor think why they are poor once again, and the middle class wonder how come they end up paying for all this, since it is after all a lot of taxes. Important news is hyped in India for exactly a week or even less for a while, and then boom its gone, and who do they blame- the judiciary system (Not that things here aren't the same, but not as bad, atleast I think that). What happened in Noida, is beyond human comprehension- a whole hype, outroar of what were the Police and the Politicians doing? Questions asked, answers demanded- the outcome- Moninder Singh, the prime accused in the gruesome killing and organ transfers of now god knows how many children is acquitted. On the other hand, his accomplice, the house keeper, is being charged for the murders allegedly committed by Moninder Singh. He doesn't have a political pull and he pays the price for it. Nandigram and Singur in West Bengal are potential threats to the Communist government in that state. It is an ultimate test of capitalism in a communist state. How many of us care? Not a whole lot because it doesn't effect us. But for some odd reason, Ash getting married to Abhishek does. Most of us have absolutely zilch idea of our foreign policy. Fine if that is too far out, we don't even know what is going on in the grass root level. Our justification to our ignorance- they are all corrupt. My suggestion- look into the mirror when you are by yourself in front of it. The whole concept of NETWORKING is a fancy way of saying that I know someone that can help me in the near future to get something important done- ring a bell, yes CORRUPTION again. Maybe not in the crude form, but superficially atleast. Ask an Indian kid what they think about the history of India and unmistakeably their response is -" That boring subject that we had to once write an exam for". That definitely should not be the attitude. Important days in history are overlooked by news agencies because it will most definitely increase their TRPs. What will is poll- poll if Sachin should play, if Ash should stay with the Bachans, if India should have two cricket teams, not if the MP should have been sacked, not what people think where India stands in the global market.

How long will something like this continue? We sit at home and nod our heads in sheer frustration of the ever falling and failing system, but what else can we do? We whine about these situations, but any step we take is stubbed by CORRUPT officials that do not want "things" exposed for fear of more unwanted news coming out. Where do we draw the line of tolerance? When do we cross that thin line? Or have we become so insensitive and self- absorbed that living vicariously off of someone else has become more pleasurable than finding ourselves in the real world?

Shreya

P.S The title was inspired by Ayn Rand's book The Virtue of Selfishness where she talks about how being selfish is not evil and is actualy worth one's while. A must read- she is the height of libertarian values- a little too radical though.
P.P.S I am not going to deny though that these problems exist in the media here too. But like I said, they seem to be transluscent here. I could be wrong.

The Indian Moose: Virginia Tech

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/04/17/sot.nikkPublishi.giovanni.convocation.cnn&wm=11

This is a heart warming speech by Nikki Giovvani, a professor at Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech

To all those who have lost their loved ones our heart goes out to you. Words are not enough to provide consolation. All we can do is to hope to survive this.

"No woman, no cry"

As I sat trying to finish my differential equations homework today, I remembered a great song I had once heard as a kid- "No woman, no cry" by the invincible Bob Marley. And it made me think how futile my homework was proving to be. What good is phase plane portrait going to do to the world?

That song portrays the epitome of hope. "Everything's gonna be allright" he sings and that is the entire motive behind life. Live it because you hope- just not for yourself but for everyone around you, that they make it through the day and do something good- for themselves and for the world. When a reality check occurs we become conscious of our surroundings and after a while its back to square one- your monotonous life. Remember the forgotten not today, not tomorrow but forever so that they get the respect they deserve.

Stop for a moment and think why you exist......

~Shreya

Is rational thinking that difficult?

You wake up Monday morning looking forward to another week-exams, quizzes, projects and that lovely Friday beckoning you to party it out again. And then out of nowhere you face death-of no fault of your own you stare into the eyes of death,knowing that this is the last time you are going to ever see broad daylight.

33 dead at Virginia Tech including the shooter. He lined some of them against the wall and shot them to death. Two shootings with a gap of two and half hours. The first one took place in the dorm and the campus was not locked down, an email was sent to the students that a gunman was on campus. Two and half hours later, another shooting in a classroom.

Students were allowed to get to campus even after the first shooting. How stupid is that? Sending out an email? How many of us on a monday morning waking up late get to the email? Why was the university not shut down after the first one itself? Officials say "they had reason to believe that the shooter had left campus" and hence no more measures were taken. It should have been taken more seriously.

I know the incident took place at Virginia Tech but I cannot hide the fact that I am shaken too. More like a jolt of reality. It could have been any of us over there. It could have been any of our campuses. I hope everyone you know up at VT is safe. It is hard not to be scared, but at times like these all you can do is stay strong and show that hope is the pushing factor in life.

~Shreya

Discussion, a.k.a Devil?

Why are we scared of discussing? Democracy at its best is in fact the art of discussion. Atleast, thats what I think. You vote because you form opinions about issues, and what better way to do so than discussing with peers to provide a strong foundation to what you believe in. Today's Daily Cougar had an interesting article in the Opinion section : " Religious debate should be encouraged". The issue here is not talking about religion again, its rather the notion that there are things that are non-discussable(oh here I go with forming new words).

Off-late we are all frightened of having discussions/ debates because sensitive people might take offense to it. Their loss if they don't want to talk to you after that, you will definitely find someone else better! We go around banal topics just to save ourselves the trouble of finding topics that drive close to home. Are we scared that discussing issues might change us? I am sure some of you can relate to this. I, myself, find myself in situations like these. When some of us from the economics dept sit around and talk about things, the discussion somehow leads to free vs. fair market. Participants in the discussion include- a confused liberal Indian, a.k.a moi, a libertarian, a moderate conservative and a couple more here and there. We have the most random conversations and come out with changed or stronger opinions. Hell, we even sit in class together and whisper free or fair market (Yes that's a little too much, but you get the point). You learn more that way. Now, I am not going to go preaching that join our group, cause more often than not, you would be disgusted with us, but do not be afraid to discuss important things. How long are you going to discuss Anna Nicole's baby drama? Or the fact that who's going out with whom, or where are you going with your life? I am sure you are not actually interested in them. The worst are those that have no opinion at all since they think its a waste of time. Why say that, when we are all aware of the advantages of talking through things? Only when things affect us, are we more aware or rather finally aware of the situation we find ourselves in- and then we perform the classic act- BLAME GAME! At that point, such people need to really shut up and bear the consequences of their ignorance. Its never too late is just a feel-good phrase. Don't make it your lifestyle. "What do you think of such and such" is not a scary question. Answer it, and it will make you feel better. You might not always be in the mood to talk about certain things, but you certainly can talk about it sometime.

I don't know if any of this made sense, but I guess thats that.

Shreya

I drag my feet on the empty street,
Not knowing where life will take me.
Earphones plugged in, Johny Cash playing,
Cell phone in hand,
I remain oblivious to the passing land.
What am I thinking, or am I thinking at all?
The courage I lost, I try to regain,
But the inner self makes me refrain.
What have I done all these years, I ask
The answer though evident is not lucid.
My heart wants to stop for a while
It is tired from taking this stride.
Don't get it wrong, it wants to go on,
But a little rest would help.
Why do we deny it that luxury?

The selfish ME emerges
I am on a lonely street and I still want to be alone
Loneliness is a crowd by itself
Does earth have a place for people like me
Society has killed me- I have turned into a fake being

Oblivion though haunts me naught.
For it is mysterious and adventurous
Tie not your life with unwanted chains
Help me for I am not lost,
I have not found anything either.
I just want to live
No one has found out to live means
Help me be the one who does.

Umm today my ramblings are going to be very less.....

What I wanted to do though......http://www.youtube.com/EmergencyCheese
The website has videos of my mentor from Georgetown analyzing the presidential campaigns. Its a nice little political geeky analysis. He was recently on CNN and the Post! So check it out and have fun! And yes I am very proud I was his mentee! He's a lot of fun...and here's his own website www.jameskotecki.com

Have Fun!

Shreya

God or no God? The worst that will happen is that I will die, but oh wait- I will be dying some day no matter what?

The reason I am talking about God today (yes surprising since I don't bring this topic up too
much), is because a friend of mine up at UTD made me read A Modest Proposal for anonymous reasons. One of the articles talked about how America would be a godless nation once the Democrats came to power in 2008. Since when did Liberalism become non-godism? Not that I am preaching that all of us should get down to our knees and acknowledging the existence of god(I am better off not doing it), but what gives one the right to say that deny his/her/its existence will be the doom of our existence? Here's another of my REALITY CHECKS- believing in god questions your inherent capabilities and also acquired skills. "Believe in yourself", its really not that hard! God exists or not is a whole different scenario! Go ahead and believe in him but don't shove it in my face or for that matter that of the others if we don't believe that. If it really were true that God was responsible for the happenings on earth, oh boy would we have actually had a different landscape! People would be EQUAL, opportunities would be EQUAL, hell life would be better. And if you(ardent believer in God) are denying this and saying that we create our own lives, then hell yes you are already contradicting yourself--> you make your own decisions, you are responsible for your sins, you are responsible for your good deeds. I am not asking you not be a God-believer, just stop hating me for questioning God's existence or rather not believing in God.

Shreya

The recent much-awaited exit of the Indian cricket team from World Cup 2007 (no sarcasm intended) brings me to be creative again. I love how failure gives us things to talk about. So yes a country with 1. whatever billion people and not to mention the rest who are stationed outside, all geared up to watch a disappointing finale (again). WASTE OF TIME and MONEY, and this is not coming from an economics major this is coming from anyone with a tad bit of common sense. All the hype for no good reason. Why do we even compete anymore? Just for some vicarious pleasure?

This brings me to my new definition of Indian democracy- CRICKETOCRACY. We are not a democracy anymore, we just vote for the hec of it. Had it been cricketers running for government, we would have 100% voter turnout. Don't smile at this, it doesnt seem too far when this is going to be true. Saurav Ganguly kicked out of the team! Result--> PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED!!! What the hell....Politicians are discussing why he should be on the team and not how to eradicate that ever lasting poverty rural India has found itself for god knows how many years. Power play never has and never will get us anywhere...Cricket my friend has become a power play. And whats this all about killing yourself over their loss? You weren't part of it! If someone should feel guilty it should be the team and not you, so save your life and live it. Don't give it away for no good reason, especially if its something called SPORTS! And what's this new thing about two teams? One seniors and one for the newbees! We seriously need some other distraction in India. Find one, or induce one! Its pathetically ridiculous. Why cannot we flow this sort of unwanted attention to the greater part of the economy? Crores of money spent towards nothingness! And little attention towards the shaking foundation of a nation's mixed economy.

Shreya

So the day after break as usual half the college is TRYING to get back on track. But thats a whole different ball game. As I picked up my dose of The Daily Cougar, my saving grace during boring classes since it has Sudoku and the Crossword, something very regular during this time of the year caught my eye. "SFAC report: increase fees" This is an oft repeated headline during spring semester since the University works on the budget. SFAC, for those of you who are wondering what it is, is the Student Fees Advisory Committee. They have proposed a 5.11% increase in the fees. While this might seem not too much to a few of you, imagine a University with more than 30,000 students and wonder how much revenue that would increase. Still guessing- its going to be a whopping $687,516. The first time I read it, I went oh my gosh, these undergrads next year are going to be oblivious to what hit them, and was delighted about the fact that I wouldn't be in that situation anymore since I was graduating. But then it hit me that I was still going to be a student in some University and was going to have to bear that brunt wouldn't I?

Here's my question. Why is it that all of the revenue making policies are guided towards students? It's not like we are making money like the faculty and staff. Almost all of us are on some loans of sorts. The more the tuition and fees increase the more we have to bear the brunt. The chair of SFAC expressed his regret towards not being able to curb the rise, but that is not going to help. We hear the same whine every single time, and we have always seen atleast 5% rise in the fees, to do what? Increase the number of buildings, give faculty and staff the pay raise they get every year? Yes faculty and staff get some sort of a rise, some bonus sort of situation! Ask them to donate to fund raising groups on campus, and a few handful will be glad to do it.

EDUCATION HAS BECOME A BUSINESS (those of you are denying this fact, you need some SERIOUS reality check) and it is irrespective of where the educational institution, which is one of thre reasons I have begun to hate the whole institution of learning, atleast the way we are used to it these days. If you can pretty much base a school/college and charge the students, you are on your way to having a decent amount of moolah. You cannot get a degree if you learn by yourself, since you weren't part of a reputed school. What the hell does a college/university have to do with your degree- all they do is basically guide you. If you really had the will and urge to learn, you would do it by yourself. Yes I am being cynical about the situation, but can you blame me? We go to school/college since its the thing to do. A typical question-" What would you be doing otherwise?"- my answer to that- Living life the way it should be lived. I can learn when I want to, when I dont want to. And more over why does learning have to be only through books? Explore the world and you will learn more, I promise. Which is one of the reasons I loved D.C. All those conversations I had with people, helped me "find" myself.

They say that life is a vicious cycle- what goes around comes around? But this present system of education defies all norms. If saying that one fine day, us sucking out the marrow of money from the students is our payback, then I have to say that it is sick! Us kids today are scared of education- we just hate to admit it since we are all part of it. Will save it for later!

Shreya

(Having lived in India for 13 years, I have seen India "progress" through the years, and visiting India last December after a mere span of three and a half years, it definitely shocked these pair of eyes)

I was reading Atanu Dey's blog on India's Development, and this one particular post about Employment vs. Production got me thinking- so what is India essentially doing wrong? We've been hearing that the country is a developing country, but for how long? I know this is not an easy task with a population of 1.04 billion and still counting, but we should be doing something right to show hope to these people, or is it too much to ask(and here's where my free traders hate me, since I am trying to be fair)? To sum up what Dey was saying (and I could have misconstrued it) was that India needs to start focusing more on production rather than employing people for a while since only with increased production will we have increased output to distribute to the people to help the country in general develop more. Agreed! Sounds like a good plan (and no sarcasm intended whatsoever), but in a country with such a huge population with an ever increasing work force, how do we solve the problem of employment? We talk about enhancing the IT sector to push the economy towards being more organized, but then what are we going to do with the unemployed? (I know this is a circular problem where a clear cut solution is not possible, lets consider for a while that we are all in a Devil's Advocate situation, or atleast I am).

As banal as this might sound, why is creation of jobs a forgotten concept? Didn't FDR do it when the US was spiraling downwards during the Great Depression? FDR's motto- "Find some job". If not the sole reason, it did help bring the nation back on track. And how much of this employment drain is due to outsourcing of jobs into India? Is specialization just another trait that needs to be forgotten, or is it needed even more so that we can screen the all rounders and make monotonic workers? Is finding something to do and getting paid minimum wage that hard to do in such a big country? Like I said, I am all for advancing tech and R&D, but what about those people who get replaced by hi-fi computers, by machines that INCREASE production in a matter of minutes? We definitely have to find them some decent replacement, or maybe we could start giving them unemployment insurance? Well then again, we are going to have some serious drain on the funds, because a work force this large, with so many unemployed is going to chew away those funds in no time!

So yes, what is India doing wrong? India Shining went down the hills like a setting sun, never to shine again! It doesn't seem like we have an economic policy that is going to help the poor rise from the ashes! We talk about Africa being under a poverty trap, I think we need to look in our own yard first. We have a huge population that is living under the poverty trap. But no matter what we do, the middle class has been and will be paying the price for a while. Every bit of their hardwork, either goes to helping the downtrodden or surviving themselves or making up for the mistakes that the rich have committed? Do we stop insourcing or augment it? Multinationals have been gaining increased access into the country, but other than increasing consumerism, aka, materialism, I don't see any util of their investment. (Again, please correct me if I am wrong in this analysis!) We are all about the cliche ideas, but implementing them is way out of the league. We are always competing but never stepping back and looking back if any of our policies are working or not. A couple of people the other day were mentioning how India had grown 9% in GDP, but completely forgot to mention the 5.6% inflation that India faced in the last quarter! An alarming fact but completely forgotten, since we are trying to mask the flaws~ the number of chain mails I receive saying India is going to be a super power by 2015 or something (the year keeps changing everyday), it drives me nuts. Poverty is not going to run away in the next 8 years, its a near impossible task~ be it allowing the markets to work on their own or have government intervention. You cannot be a super power if over 30% of your population is under shackles. You need to bring the people be at a comparable range of standard of living. 2015 or 202o is nuts for that matter. Its like the Millennium Development Goals wishing that by 2015 all of the poverty is going to be washed away like it were some dirt that was stubborn and thats it. No! Thats not how it works! But that is a different story all together!

I am actually running out of things to say, and am sorry if this all seems incoherent, but like I mentioned before these are ramblings but with due thought in them. So bear with it please.

Later
Shreya