Top ten things about...

First month of Grad school and I think I can tell you what my economics classes are going to reiterate for eternity. So here are the top ten things about economics classes in grad school

1. Monotone increasing/decreasing
2. Concave/Convex functions.
   
3. Jensen's Inequality
   
4. The Implicit Function Theorem
   
5. Envelope Theorem
   
6. Duality Theorem
   
7. Cramer's Rule
   
8. Hessian/Hamiltonian/Jacobian
9. The Intermediate Theorem
   
10. Central Limit Theorem
    

If you haven't noticed something in the top ten, you are probably not reading it right. Its all MATH. ITS ALL MATH! My notes consist of math and then intuition. And would you know it, my intuition SUCKS!!!! Yes grad school in economics is definitionally equivalent to grad school in mathematics (oh here I go again with a nerdy talk :D)

Shreya

:(

Umm...ahem!!

Not surprisingly, I love my iPOD. The fact that I can put all my songs in that one little thing and change songs according to my mood is just plain awesome. But here's where it gets dangerous. Every evening as I wait to change my bus, something interesting happens. The setting usually is around 7 p.m. and the sun is about to set, and it goes without saying that is pretty, even in a city with so much chaos and pollution, a sun set is beautiful. And for some weird reason, I also want to listen to either Chalka Chalka or Naina Milaike, both from Saathiya. They've got a beautiful rhythm to them, and me having learnt classical dance, its kind of a dance trigger. As aforementioned though, it can get highly embarassing. So I was waiting for the bus at the Texas Medical Center, and of course I am listening to this song, but all of a sudden a sudden involuntary action leads me to act out the song with hands too and I began to do the different mudras. After about 3 mins, when the song is close to ending and I am gaining consciousness of my surroundings, I see a couple of people I know at the Medical Center standing by and watching me. Trust me, I have never been redder in my entire life. I didn't know how to react to their staring and grinning of course :( .

Well I guess its the fault of the music and not the iPOD :P

~Shreya

To be or not to be...a spy?

So apparently I have a natural inclination towards the Russian language. Weird? Quite frankly it is. I don't know how it is possible but apparently I understand Russian pretty darn well. My first year batch consists of three Eastern Europeans and a Russian, and no wonder when they are around they start to jabber off in Russian. Here's where it gets immensely crazy. They used two English words in that entire conversation last Friday and I understood word to word and did a perfect translation. It drove them nuts as to how I could understand, what was even funnier was even though I was gloating in pride that I could understand an unknown foreign language, I couldn't figure out how the heck I could comprehend it. Its a different thing if you sort of understand a couple of words here and there, but whole conversations...

So now I have gone from being Shreya- the Kid to Shreya- the Spy...can't decide which is worse(even though the former apparently still exists) ?

The weirdo in me asks me to shut up and get back to lagrangians...that's exactly what I am going to do!

~Shreya

World War III....?

(Disclaimer: This post was triggered while reading Longitudes and Attitudes. Almost all my quotes come from that book, no doubt it may seem highly biased. The whole point of this post is not to justify terrorism, please do not get me wrong on that. But I am against the way we have tackled it, a.k.a foreign policy. )


Imagine a world where 9/11 never happened. Hard to do so? Precisely. The aftermath of 9/11 has terrorized every individual so much about the potential attacks on mankind, that we have lost hindsight of a less terror filled world (we have never had a terror free world). However, one may ask if it was more so the terror or the reaction that followed the attacks, that is responsible for said behavior. There is no denying that post 9/11, the world has changed, for better or for worse. The War on Terror was an immediate answer to the attack on capitalism on the so-called capitalist guru of the world. Unnecessary was it- no one asks anymore because where lies the point in questioning itself? A lot of us after viewing a rather rash and harsh decision by the United States of America, said to ourselves - "This is the start of World War III." Ever since, terrorist attacks have become more prominent in the world. Here is where things are wrong though- we are in the middle of a war but all of us, except those soldiers fighting for vanity and their families worried if they will ever come back home, lead a normal life. That initial pizzazz to fight for what had been destroyed is gone. Don't deny it! It really isn't there anymore. Thomas L. Friedman, in his book Longitudes and Attitudes- Exploring the World After September 11, partly a collection of his articles in the New York Times, actually went ahead and pronounced it as World War III. "The people who planned Tuesday's bombings combined world-class evil with world- class genius to devastating effect.And unless we are ready to put our best minds to work combating them- the World War III Manhattan project- in an equally daring, unconventional, and unremitting fashion, we're in trouble. Because while this may have been the first major battle of World War III, it may be the last one that involves only conventional nonnuclear weapons." (World War III, September 13, 2001).

What has prevented this war from escalating into World War III? Because we are not in the middle of World War III- if we were, we would all be choosing sides, unprovoked, (though in a subtle way we are), enlisting citizens in the army everyday, building up our weapons, marching off to some foreign land to kill, and most of all forming collaborations and collaterals that will fight with us. No one country would be free to sleep. It is only the US that is involved in such a war with a little help from UK and a couple more countries, but nothing as serious to call it World War III. You remember how World War I and World War II were (or at least you have been educated about it). Then how can we call this the third one, when it lacks intensity as them? We are not fighting global terrorism, we are fighting terrorism where our interests are being threatened. Now is that biased or what? The problem with our war today is that its tag line has become - It's our way or the highway. And even worse, is that it has become a war on religion. How much ever we deny that we are not against Islam, just against radical fundamentalists that have marred Islam, it sure does look like one. The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, roughly about a month back made a highly welcome comment - "Terrorism has no religion." While some people might disagree with this, I highly support his point of view. On the other hand, during the Republican debates at Drake University, Iowa, Presidential candidate and former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Guiliani said- "4 democratic debates not a single democratic candidate said the word "Radical Islamism". Now that is taking political correctness to an extreme." Is it really extreme political correctness? At a time when we have to work more closely with the Islamic world, how can we make such a statement? In his article, Smoking or Nonsmoking, published on September 14, 2001, Friedman writes, "To not retaliate ferociously for this attack on our people is only to invite a worse attack tomorrow and an endless war with terrorists. But to retaliate in a way that doesn't distinguish between those who pray to a God of Hate and those who pray to the same God we do is to invite an endless war between civilizations- a war that will land us all in the smoking section. " It is hard to distinguish the non smoking and smoking section now. To have associated this war with religion was wrong in the first place. Not surprisingly, there is no looking back.

We started the war first as a reaction to the atrocity New York City bore on that fatal morning of September 11th. Gradually it progressed to being the War on Terror, and then it became towards helping authoritarian nations build a democracy. Sound familiar? Yes, the whole idea behind ousting Communism was to bring down the Iron Wall built by the Soviets. Cold war we called it then. History books have often expressed awe as to how it never escalated into a nuclear war. Today we are just waiting when it does, cause we know it will very soon happen. Friedman writes, "Osama bin Laden- he destroyed much, he built nothing. His lasting impact was like a footprint in the desert." ( Bush to Bin Laden, October 12, 2001). Reality check, we haven't done anything significant either. Afghanistan- we claimed victory there. Bull shit. Hamid Karzai is an utter failure. We always station people in "democratic power" who we believe will side with us no matter what. If you don't believe this, go back and check what happened with Iran and yes Bin Laden, at one point of time, was funded by us. The Taliban is regaining strength in Afghanistan. All those lives lost in the desert to search for a cave man- gone in vain. We haven't built anything there that is substantial. That democracy we were so proud of over there is going down the drains. Iraq- that ball game is an open book. We can't do a darn thing to instate a democratic government. We went in thinking that everything could be solved once Saddam Hussein was executed and if we found those non-existent Weapons of Mass Destructions, things would be hunky dory again. Wrong!!! The War on What? echoes this thought perfectly- " Is America's war on terrorism going to become a war against democracy? " (May 8, 2002). During the Cold war we supported dictators who promised us various things, once they were in the government they became what they were meant to be- dictators. We are doing nothing different today. President Pervez Musharraf is a dictator, there is no denying that. Add onto that he is a General of the Army too. We never asked him to step down from the post of the General until the Sharif threat returned after Supreme Court said former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was wrongfully sent to exile and could come back to the country. Lo and behold, Musharraf steps down as General and lets exiled Benazir Bhutto to come back to Pakistan too; pressurized to do so by none other than the United States of America. Don't be fooled. The Mullahs and Taliban are gaining strength in Pakistan too. Wait for a while until the so-called liberal theocratic state goes back to the tough regimes of the Taliban. We fight for human rights everywhere else, except for the Arab states cause we know that it will stop flow of oil. Same logic why we couldn't say a thing against Hugo Chavez when he called President Bush - "A devil" at the United Nations, same reason we haven't done anything against Fidel Castro cause we know then Florida will never see the dawn of day ever again.

If it still isn't evident, we are getting isolated by the day. We are not the world, we need to realize that. Someone once commented as to why the President of the World Bank should be nominated by USA. Why should anyone think of New York City when the UN comes into question and not Geneva? Our allies, and not our foes, are scared of us. Friedman reports in The End of NATO that Brussels, NATO is buzzing with one issue and one alone- that the US has become way too technologically advanced to fight its war on its own, thus forgetting its allies. This is what has happened. We have become over-confident of our strength. We are not in the middle of World War III, we are in the middle of a war between USA and the Muslim world. "My fellow Americans, I hate to say this, but except for the good old Brits, we're all alone. And at the end of the day, it's U.S. and British troops who will have to go in, on the ground, and eliminate bin Laden."( Thomas Friedman,We Are All Alone, October 26,2001). We need a miracle to get us out of this mess. I don't believe in miracles. No amount of diplomacy is going to solve the farce we have created in the world. Something needs to be done....soon...


~Shreya

Doors....

I was walking through the automatic doors of the Math Building at my University, when I literally heard myself say in my head, "That's right. You open for ME!" Well I did giggle in shock cause I didn't realize I actually was being sadistic about it, but something struck me when the next door wasn't automatic. I had to push it open, basically make the effort to get through. Doors pretty much give you the feel that you are visualizing life. Sometimes in life things get done, it flows unattended cause it just has to. And dare you stop it, cause you might end up getting hurt. Just like how you do not try to force open an automatic door (unless it isn't working) because you know you aren't helping your case at all. Other hard times- you have to make the effort to get through. Obstacle after obstacle and you have to open it, conquer it and move on. Sorta like the difference between an automatic door and a "manual" door. You get the point...

Some of us take life way too easy, and some of us take life way too seriously. I hate to admit that I am in the second group. I envy those people that make both the effort to have fun and get work done. Its really hard for me to do that. I have to have things done the way a perfect world would function, and no surprise, get smacked right in the face over and over; never learning the lesson. As I walked through the aforementioned door yesterday (which has been used like a million times before though), I realized what I was missing out in life. Getting things right always doesn't matter to the world neither should it to me. It , in turn, ends up hurting me. I have to let certain things flow their course and not stop it. I have preached to a million people' "Live in the moment, let life flow the way it has to!" , but often find myself scared to practice it with myself. I am going to make the honest effort to stop myself from committing the same mistake again.

I never knew doors could teach you a lesson......phew!


~Shreya

Songs....

While I was chatting with TK before he left for the US (... again), he said something very ..umm well...profound "Songs are so underrated as memory triggers." That one sentence made me think back on my existence if life, from a view point of songs. My dad once said that usually when we listen to songs, it just so happens that we have something in the ears, very rarely do we pay attention to it, especially in this age of iPods and MP3 players. Don't believe me? Just think to yourself- homework time, travelling, at the library, it usually ends up that you have it to "concentrate" or to fend people away. And after a while- you come to the sorry conclusion that you missed your favorite song; when it comes time to go back to that song- lo and behold your battery has died out on you. Getting back to the reason of post; off late a lot of songs on my favorite list have been playing on the radio- the likes of both old ones and new ones. Needless to say, flashbacks of where I have been and what I was doing when that song originally played have been cropping every time. I even ended up calling up Murjhi and Raju the other day when I heard a certain song yesterday. International call costs, at that point of time seem too trivial to even consider- you so want to be with the person especially when they are friends you have known for over 10 years.

Here is a list of songs that trigger my memory the most- I will try putting up little itty-bitty anecdotes whenever I can (just might end up having on all of them :P )

(Most of them are in India, when its in the US, I will make a note of it )

• Truly Madly Deeply- Savage Garden - whenever this song played on MTV, Cynthia and I screamed our lungs out. We would leave everything, cooking (cause we would expt a lot then) would be transferred to her mom and we would sit in front of the TV upright, forget the world and watch that video. Lost lovers, back together.....aaa seemed ....I dont have the words for it.
• The Hero- Enrique Iglesias - that was the first song Mahejabeen (Murjhi), Rajalakshmi (Raju), Priyanka (Priya), Cynthia (Cynthia) and Shreyasee (moi- Moti) had learnt the lyrics together. Lunch time was when the boys got bugged of us cause we were sitting and practicing (yea it was this song that triggered the call yesterday).
  
• Ek Pal Kaa Jeena- Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai- Item number 1 in the year 2000-2001. Cynthia and Murjhi best impersonators of the dance- and the three of us best pushers to get them to dance. Dang they even danced at Ramoji Film City now that I think of it.
  
• Zombie- The Cranberries (US)- Location--> the Econ Undergrad Lab. About 10 of us working on the infamous Econometrics homework. Diego, who is doing Game Theory at that point of time, asks me, "What are you listening to?" When I furnish him with the answer, his immediate reaction was " When did juice start singing?" If there was ever an eruption of laughter, it was then. Most of us had already fallen off the chair and on the floor, until we saw Dr. Thornton, who eventually joined in too. De-Stressing :D
• Waqt ne kiya- Kaagaz ke Phool - Thanks to my mom, I adore the song now. Its like the best song ever. Someone asks me sing, I always do this song.
  
• Kajra rey- Bunty aur Babli (US)- Location--> Lubbock, TX- graduate student's apt- someone's birthday- all of us dancing to it and then it happened- the cops came- someone called 911. Bloody hell!
  
• Get over it- Avril Lavigne- Poornaa sang a version of it for Varun's birthday and now I am absolutely in love with the song. Its like you have life reflections with that one...there are other songs too....Thank you Poornaa for introducing me to it, and she actually did a brilliant job.
  
• Tere Bina - Guru (US)- we were driving down to an Indian restaurant when in the car this song played on the Indian radio here. We pulled off to the shoulder and finished the song. Insane. People passing us thought what the hell, they aren't even outside the car...
• What goes around, comes around- Justin Timberlake - This is the most hilarious one. TK, Shilpa, Addy and I in Addy's car and this song played. Shilpa and I remark as to how good Justin sings and acts in this video. TK, visibly oblivious to the song goes," Its a guy who's singing!!!???!!!....WHAT!!! " Laughter eruption again. :D
  
• Dil Chahta Hai- Dil Chahta Hai- This was our song ( the 5 girls mentioned in The Hero). We were all gonna be like that. But now its what Sid said- that we won't be able to meet once in 10 years either ( I forgot the exact Hindi wordings). But I am glad I met Murjhi and Raju this time. It brought back memories, this song is a trigger of all the pranks the 5 of us pulled in school.. Fun times
• Unfaithful-Rihanna (US)- Annie and I jabber all the time in the car. But when this song is on, its the like the two of us have no clue who the other one is and we sing that song. Rihanna effects you see :D.
  
• As long as you love me- Backstreet Boys (US)- Annie and I in her car again or maybe her apt, I forget and the rest should be left unsaid. :D
  

There are many more, but this has to be the end for the moment!!
........
Shreya

Build Up Part II

This post is inspired by Rajeev's post "Build Up" that describes things that happen at the gym :).

So off late, I have had a surge of motivation to go the gym and get into shape. I have never been in shape, so this is something new to me. Needless to say, the gym is quite an interesting place, even the one in my apartments(which is where most of these take place). Except for a few dedicated people, most of us go there to show off and then also to "make friends" and "hit on people".

1. If there was ever a justification as to why the iPod, the MP3 player, heck even a CD man or a walkman, was invented it was because of the existence of gym. Helps you keep away unwanted "objects".
2. You walk in and go "Awww man !!!". Why? There are Indian aunties and unkules there staring at you as you get in. They are wondering why you are dressed the way you are and are not in a salwar. And the worst is when by an error of destiny you have forgotten your savior (reference to #1) and they start up a conversation - that begins with a smile, leads up to how old are you and how much you got on the GRE/TOEFL (Geez!!!)
3. Mirror problem. Too many mirrors for people to check themselves out and the unaware ones too.
   
4. Guys don't push yourself too much, you will end up going home and cursing yourself for it. You know what your limit is , some people present in the gym also can see when you have reached the point de torture.
   
5. Dumbells (dumb bells) are meant for use, not for show off and smiling at the girl who happens to catch your eye.
   
6. Oh, Indian guys please don't end up talking about the Indian girl in the gym. As fate will have it, she will know what language you are talking about and before she leaves will make it a point to let you know that :D.
   
7. Friends could end up being a curse at the gym cause sometimes they are more of a distraction than a help... x-(
8. Worst is when you have no idea how to use an equipment and can't find the right person to ask about it, a.k.a some hot guy who's just about to leave(oh well yes I defied the whole point of this post :-P )
9. And then there's the phone call that needs to be attended to immediately, and sometimes like a dimwit you forget you are on the treadmill. The rest you can decipher from there.
   
10. To top it all, the vending machine right outside the gym that is a gentle reminder of what is important in life. Have that coke (might as well right :D) - the neutralization effect- you burn that many calories, you replenish them, come back home and whine. But hey! You didn't put on weight :-P . Lovely logic, aint it??

~Shreya

Update!

I got back from India on the 31st of July! India trip= Fantabulous! It was great catching up with old friends, getting to know new friends, and getting to know long-lost friends all over again. Biggest thing- I learnt how to prioritize my life. I have been holding on too many things for a really long time, and a cause de couple of people, I have realized how much I was losing in life because of that. But now I am on a different track. You just have to meet me to know what I am talking about.

But definitely a special thanks to a couple of people, from the bottom of my heart, for making the vacation worth every second. I am not going to name names, but feel free to add yourself in the list :D. I miss all of you terribly though. Its as if I have nothing to do right now, as in you know 1 paisa messaging :P

I will try and blog regularly. Just that I got back on campus for math classes and it is plain TORTURE, nothing else. I am getting back to class in the next 15 mins so I have to run! All you crazy people take care !!!

~ Shreya

.....

I am sad. I finally sent the letter to Oxford saying I won't be able to go and I can't seem to come to terms with the situation. I know I should have sent it earlier so that some eagerly waiting student could get through, but... It should have been me. I should have been the one packing my bags to go to Oxford this summer. I wanted to go there ... I guess I deserved not going too....Well I am going back to UH this Fall....its not that bad at all, now that I am closely looking into who does what kind of work and stuff....If I am cut out for grad school or not is a different question, but I am ready for it....

Goodbye Oxford I guess then....aaaa this is hard...I didn't think I would feel this way but....

Terrorism.....does it really exist?

I was watching the news this morning and a weird question hit me- Does terrorism really exist? I don't have a justification for this question, but it almost seems that we create terrorism out of anything and everything. We just need a tiny bit of opportunity and we are good to go. I don't know why it hit me , so I am going to stop here

~shreya

Executive over Judiciary over Legislative over Nation over World!

In short, I am pissed. President Bush commuted Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 30 month prison sentence; he wanted to reduce his sentence!That he was involved in the leaking of a CIA case is no matter anymore because he has the support of the President and of course, the Vice- President. These are people we attest to since they are apparently the leaders of the nation. I guess then like my dad says," What harm had Paris Hilton done?" CIA leak case- a.k.a breach of national security. How come these cases of misconduct are not deemed as terrorist activities? A jury made a decision, a judge made a ruling, that's it. END OF STORY! You face your punishment just how you gave into your temptation of leaking the identity of another CIA agent. If you ask me, 30 month prison sentence, probation and fines are still less for a crime like this. Its like sending Lindsay Lohan to drug/alcohol rehab. Might as well leak classified information to foreign agents if you are a close aide to the White House. Ken Lay should have been just sent to jail for a month then, there should be no question of capital punishment anymore and most importantly, free everyone from Gitmo Bay for the bulk of them are only suspects and not actually serving sentences.

Such an act by the President is what I call Dictatorship within Democracy. For those of you who are laughing, you know it makes sense. This is that subtle form of dictatorship that some of us condemn and some of us condone. Its amazing how the constitution allows the President do to something. That means the whole idea of checks and balances is a farce. Congress votes on something, and immediately is vetoed if it does not pertain to the whims and fancies of the President. President is unhappy with the judiciary he uses his power of clemency. Then where does democracy feature here, where does checks and balances feature here???!!!! Might as well let the President make all decisions right? Everything is guaranteed by the Constitution anyways!?! Censorship of the war is something I have not been able to gulp. No one knows what the real picture is over there, all we get to know is what they wants us to know. Fear of bringing about a revolution like what happened during the Vietnam war has brought the Cabinet to this conclusion. Then what wrong did Chavez do when he stopped the subscription of a national channel since they were apparently anti- socialist (Just for the record, I am not condoning Chavez. What he did was ghastly, atleast the US has a democracy, I consider Chavez to be a dictator). What wrong did Saddam Hussain do, we did not even have substantial evidence that he had Weapons of Mass Destruction. The President in a recent press conference said (and I paraphrase) that he didn't know why Saddam didn't have wmds. If this is the state of our desperation to justify the war, it is plain sick.

What irritated me more was Nytimes. I am an ardent fan of the Nytimes what little I read from it, but when the whole commuting thing came into light, they went into the semantics of how commuting was not the same as pardoning. ITS ALL THE SAME! Pardoning is a full pardon, but commuting isn't. Why did the President not commute the probation and fines? Technically, Libby is a free man now! You cannot justify the President's action by saying, "Well they aren't the same thing! "

The executive branch has way too much power. Checks and balances are tipped over towards the executive. The people need to do something about this!!!

~Shreya

8 Random Facts

I was tagged by Kokonad for some random fun! I am that utterly jobless to post it immediately and because I take Rule#4 very seriously(all pun intended....not)

THE RULES
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
4. If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes.

Ok for the record, rule #4 should so have been 8 DAYS and not HOURS. 8 hours is just too less. Only people like me who care about two more lifetimes, care about the hours...lol...image self-tarnished.

8 Random Facts about me

1. I can make friends very quickly, and I mean it. My mom has tried to stop me on numerous occasions on various train journeys but all in vain!
   
2. I am not an ardent user of the cell phone, but it is my life. I cannot live without it, sleep without it, drink without it. It is always with me no matter where I go.
   
3. I am a great advisor- relationship issues(even though I have almost quite never had one), life issues (been there done that a lot). People come and confide in me for some reason!
4. I cannot go a day without having talked to Annie. She is my bff (best friend forever). If I haven't chatted with her, which happens very often these days since I am in India, I email her and she emails me. Its insane!
   
5. I am so jealous when my friends back home in India tell me of all their escapades, all I do in the US is study-work and occasional fun! Wait until these people get to the US and then they will face the misery I do! Ok a little sadistic there!
   
6. I am secretly trying to merge America and India together, yes the two countries. That way all the people I care for and who are spread in these two countries can be in the same place, not 24-hour flights away!
   
7. I can't sleep enough. I feel guilty when I sleep in, no kidding, you will hear me whine about it for days! Its sad. Its in the family! We are workaholics. Even though all I do is chat sometimes- its work- my fingers get the exercise. Have you ever seen my hands, damn they are nice :P
8. I pretend to work most of the time, but I am the queen of procrastination, until it is 10 hours left for the approaching horror of a deadline, I am not motivated!

In case, some of you haven't noticed, the ordering of the facts is also random. That's how much thought process I put into this. Now time to tag people :p Rajeev, Kraktik, Varun, Poornaa, Anju, Mohan, Aalta and Sandipan

Such pleasures in life :D
Have fun and please don't curse me, I am my parents' only child. :D

~Shreya

The End is....

Creek...creek...tick..tock...The rocking chair and the clock were in sync. Both had stood the test of time. Both had experienced their versions of life. The inmate of the rocking chair wasn't an exception to this rule either. But what she anticipated, no one had before- death. She couldn't wait for her to die. She recollected the night mare of a life she had led- husband murdered for honesty..son abandoned her for being the mother she was, daughter handling her own set of problems. She reminisced those days when they were a happy family- when things seemed perfect, or as perfect as they could be. They didn't need to be an Anna Karenina family, they were good the way they were.

And as she started explaining the day she had met her husband, she stopped breathing with a tinge of a smile on her face. She was happy she went that way, her friend was glad she died peacefully. The end was farther yet nearer than they had known

Oblivion

You step into it,
Sink or survive? Fighting
Through that vaugeness
Figuring out your existence
Alternative to life- where is it?
Mull over this only to
Realize it is taxing
On those eyes staring into blanknesss
On that hand your face is resting on
On that mind handling such oblivion
Eyes water lest you might forget this
A blink has never seemed so futile,
Until a jolt of lightning
Reality is back
Never will it be the same
Life seems a foggy path
That you have to tread

~Shreya

The Diva Problem

Two women. Two nations. Same post, but different job descriptions. And this is a might- President of the United States of America, the other President of India. Two highly respected women in politics. But here comes the real question- how ready are the people of either nations for a woman president?

Forget for a moment their powers if and when they get the job- they will essentially represent the highest authority in either of the countries; irrespective of a parliamentary or presidential form of government. But like I said earlier- how ready is the general public? In India, I am quite certain that the citizens are ready for a woman to be the head of the state. After all, we have had Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister. Pratibha Patil's nomination was welcomed, but not by all. But in general, it was viewed with pride for she was a woman, who had stood the test of time in politics and worked her way up in a testosterone packed scenario. She is widely respected and deserves to be President, or at least for the moment nominated. Why are Indians ready, you might ask? We are a developing nation that still needs to taste success of a healthy economy, in spite of what some of our highly optimistic politicians and citizens say. Women in this nation need to get out and prove their worth. It is predominantly a male dominated society and sporadic incidents of a woman emerging in any field is definitely worth one's while. Now how competent she is a whole different issue but Indians in general are willing to trust a woman president/ prime minister

Take a 24-hour long, nerve wrenching, tiring flight towards the West, and you hit the United States of America. Currently in the midst of numerous internal turmoils, one of them being a highly extravagant Presidential campaign, more than a year before elections. One of them contesting is Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton. But this whole gaining a day thing, will tell you almost the same story but with a different outcome! Never had a female president, is a predominantly male dominated political arena, is a super-power; ready for a female president- absolutely not. Youngsters like us are skeptical of her too. She does not have the experience she needs to be the president. She is playing the Bill-Clinton-card way too soon. She is easily threatened by Barak Obama and she is clearly doing the girly thing- trying her hand at the sympathy votes. I remember Annie saying she would move somewhere else if Clinton became president, and I actually echoed her feelings, even though I am a democrat(at least I say so). Some of her plans seem like they were pulled right off the box and put on a teleprompter.

So how do citizens cast their vote in a situation like this, where you sort of have the same problem, but in different scenarios. I know a lot of people who would vote for a female candidate just because there has never been a female head of the state! Naive you might say, and without question it is, but they voted and did their duty! How informed one is, will definitely matter.

Divas will come and go, diva presidents... are here to stay

~Shreya

COPY PASTE JOURNALISM

Of the very few cable channels that my TV has been gifted with (the TV in India), I usually swap between NDTV, Star World, MTV and AXN (aah the typical America returned you might call me!). I woke up on Tuesday morning and was watching the news; they were talking about the upcoming G8 Summit in Germany and one of the most to-be discussed topic-none other than Global Warming. Ever since George W. decided to pay some commemoration to this problem, all the other countries have added their concerns. It would be wrong to say that they weren’t before this, but now that the so-called great America has voiced its concern, it’s as if the issue has gotten more important. But that is not what I am talking about (this is a whole different issue).

Prajna Datta Varma was anchoring that news cast and I was rather listening intently to her. When the special reporter started the news, I was shocked that her’s and Prajna’s words were the exact same thing. I know you must be wondering why I was shocked- wouldn’t you be too! It’s as if they had no other words for the report. How is this possible? Why use the exact same sentences while you are presenting? No wonder Microsoft Word is so useful even in journalism- COPY PASTE. I guess they thought that viewers wouldn’t realize their mistake (for lack of a better word). This is what I call Copy Paste Journalism.

Lack of originality is a major problem in broadcast journalism today. Everyone tries to copy the other journalist because they are not confident in their own capabilities and they try to better the other. In the mean time, they forget that their stupidity is actually portrayed lucidly. Journalism as far as I remember, used to be an art of presenting what is the way it is, not presenting what is by adding in some sort of a masala. Like I had written in The Virtue of Idiocy, irritating details of the humane world are thrown light upon, while important ones are given a nod and shown the door. I don’t think anyone in India is aware of how grave the situation in Venezuela is, ever since the shutting down of a news channel because of its so-called anti-socialist ideas that did not go well with President Hugo Chavez. Breach of freedom of speech? Most Certainly! But what do we (Indians) care about now a days? Whether Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama will become President? Might I remind everyone that they haven’t even won the Democratic primaries yet and that the elections are in 2008- so can we really stop obsessing what is happening in the West? Who can come with the most amount of gossip first is the race, not who is giving the real news. I used to want a journalist a long time back, still do somewhere in the corner of my heart, but such sort of ridiculous propaganda of the unimportant details of life make me want to question my desire to present reality to the world. It’s as if we have brainwashed people to forget to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong, important and unimportant.

It really is shameful! I am at a loss of words. I guess blogging is the closest I can go towards presenting what is and what we forget these days! That’s all I can say!

~Shreya

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