A SUNDEVIL speaks!!

White Christmas

2011-12-23T10:19:00.004-07:00

I don't celebrate Christmas in its traditional sense. But I enjoy the festive feeling. Snow on the ground, smell of burning firewood in fire place, hot coffee; they are all joyful. Decorating Christmas tree and buying gifts could be fun too. Even though there is no other tradition for me per se, there is one tradition that I have been following since the year I landed in US. And that is "White Christmas".

I watch White Christmas every year on Christmas day and enjoy Bing Crosby and Danny Kay and their songs and dances and the simple deed they do for their General Waverly. I love that movie, it always makes me feel that there are good people out there who do simple things to bring others joy. I first watched this movie on my first Christmas night in US, all alone in apartment, just feeling down and depressed. I just switched on TV and White Christmas was being aired. I started watching it and was totally glued to the TV. I loved the movie like anything. I felt happy and rejuvenated. Though it was not a white Christmas in the city but it became in my heart. Since, then I follow the tradition every year and watch this wonderful and classic tale of Christmas.

What else does it mean to celebrate any holiday? We celebrate to bring happiness and realize that we are not alone. White Christmas will always remain my tradition and I hope it will become your too!

Culture is in your blood

2011-12-12T07:38:00.010-07:00

I just started reading Anita Desai's novel "Fasting, Feasting". I just finished her daughter's novel last week, The Inheritance of Loss. I enjoyed that one a lot. While reading the current novel, it suddenly dawned on me that though I have been reading non-Indian authors, both contemporary and classic, I feel closer to Indian authors and the stories they write. Some of the stories written by Indian authors actually have no bearing on my life at all or their themes are completely different than my experiences, but just the people they portray and the stories they tell, both before and after independence, are just closer to my heart.I don't agree with all their thoughts all the time, but I can understand why they write those stories.

Culture is so much in our blood. When I read " In the Convent of Little Flowers" by Indu Sundaresan, I felt as if I know these people. The stories may be fictional but the people she writes about are somewhere to be seen in India. And in her Taj-Mahal trilogy, I could see the Mogul raj and the Kings and Queen of Mogul Raj, as if I have known them all my life. I feel closer to them than Tudors :-) It's just that I have heard these stories all my life. And without even realizing they became a part of my inheritance and cultural identity.

Culture is in our blood and we can't deny it. I love O. Henry and 'Cop and the Anthem' might one of my all time favorite story but still when I read Yayati, I know him much more closely. Wodehouse's Jeeves is out of this world but still Janoba Rege is closer to my heart. It's just that something that one is born and brought up with, one can hardly forget. The people, the stories, the streets and the fights are so relevant to me till this day, that may I read tons of novels, these Indian authors I will always find relevant.

We can not deny our culture and heritage. Even when living in this beautiful country that is a melting pot of all cultures, my heritage is always with me. I don't have to shout it out or say anything about it at all or even celebrate it, I just know it in my heart.

Well, I am closer to writers and novelists, I wonder how others feel it? I know Beethoven's concertos are like God's music but still in the morning I listen to Bhimsen Joshi, by default :-)

2011-09-30T12:32:00.004-07:00

Fall is here. I can smell it in the air. Air smells clean, crisp and cool. The leaves are already falling on the ground and turning into magnificent reds and yellows. The wind is almost cold. But there is still sun-light. The mornings are wet though.
Of course, they are. It has been raining almost non-stop for two days. But even with so much rain, it is still beautiful and divine. I take a look outside my window and see leaves blowing and turning and then falling softly on the grass. Few chipmunks running amok on the grass trying to find treats. When I step outside, I smile. The cool breeze on my face makes me happy. I see people pulling on their jackets and joggers carefully zipping up their wind-cheaters. Then I realize, it is cold, it is Fall.

Back in the house, the hardwood floors are quite cool and I need to wear socks now. I pull on my sweater and then just put my hands under warm flowing water in the kitchen. It feels nice. I think about switching on the gas heater. But decide against it. I say to myself, I can handle few more days without heater. My spirits are high and I put a kettle of tea. Then I think, how lucky I am to enjoy this gorgeous weather. I have never enjoyed the cold weather, how foolish of me. It's OK to get cold and it's OK to feel the chill down to my bones; once in while. The light outside is different. It goes from dark mornings to sunny afternoons to even darker nights. Day light is getting shorter and shorter. Any time there will be dark afternoons now.

My kettle is done and I am sitting in the bed, with my warm comforter on my legs and Agatha Christie on my bed stand. I sip the tea and I enjoy Poirot's adventure. I realize how wonderful the life is. It's Fall and it is time to enjoy warm blanket, hot tea and cold weather.

A Small Town Girl at Heart

2011-06-22T11:11:00.007-07:00

Pune, my city in India is no small town. A city with more than 3 million population, one of the biggest IT hubs in India, is crowded. Thankfully, when I was living in Pune, about 7 years ago it was not that crazy. And my home in Pune, is still at a quiet location. So my home definitely has a small town quiet feel. After moving to US, I landed up in Atlanta, another metro with millions of people. Though the county I lived in was a rich one, the apartment complex was not. So it has all its negatives including terrible apartments and crime. There was never a dull moment with criminals on lose and tenants enjoying music at 3am and of course smell of marijuana in the hallways. The school was in downtown Atlanta and must say I hated that area. I have seen way too much crime and heard about much more and I was done with big cities. And then I moved to Tempe.

Tempe is not exactly a small town but it is smaller compared to Phoenix. Tempe has the best of both worlds, all the educational and employment opportunities (ASU main campus is in Tempe) because it is in Phoenix metro area but a t the same time, the cozy feel of small town. We were in great terms with our neighbors. We would visit each other on Christmas, people would borrow things in kitchen and just come by to say "Hello". That's what I am talking about. Small town feel.

After living in Tempe for a while it was hard for me to adjust in DC (my all time favorite city in US) during my internship. I would tell V, that every time I open the door people are on my face. Tempe completely ruined me because of big streets and quite neighborhoods. I always thought how would I do in a big city? And then something beautiful happened. We moved to Ann Arbor, another small city but rich with culture. That's like a dream come true. I have all the amenities I need and with UMICH right at the corner, all the educational opportunities are there. There is always something to do. But without the chaos and crowds. I enjoy sitting outside and just looking at the birds and rabbits and occasional visitors like ducks and raccoons (racoons are visiting us more and more and they are a kind of mess and make much more )I enjoy the walks in downtown, visiting library and sometimes just hanging out in Borders. Even some of the Borders staff knows me now. I love this. I see people walking their dogs, they would stop and say "Hello" if they see you. Neighbors will help you if you need anything. It's wonderful. I like this cozy feeling.

I am definitely a small town girl at heart. Though I have lived in a big city, I always enjoyed the quiet times at my grandma's place in Saswad and now I get to enjoy this every day. I hope I land up in another beautiful town in future and enjoy the smell of air there!

Eating Beef

2011-06-10T08:19:00.004-07:00

I have started eating beef. Yes, I finally did it. I have yet to explore the juicy stakes but nonetheless I am eating hot dogs and mind you I am loving them. Generally, people choose to go towards vegetarianism but I might be among the few who are heading towards "maukaterianism" (great phase I heard, meaning- eating anything you get at that moment). After being in US for almost 7 years, I strictly adhered to my preference of not eating beef. Nothing about religion per se, but since I am born and brought up in India, cows were holy to me. (When I told this to an American friend, he said only Indian cows are holy. American cows are tasty :-)) Jokes apart. But since a while I have been thinking about my eating habits and wondering why I had this mental block about beef and will it mean something if I eat it?

My family is not a vegetarian family. I ate meat since I was born. But of course, being in India meat was fish and chicken and occasionally mutton. I remember eating pork dogs once though. My mother started eating meat after she got married. She has a great attitude about it. She always says "I will try everything and if I don't like it, I won't eat it." I think this definitely influenced me when it came to trying different meats in US. But still I was particular about not eating beef. I had mistakenly had beef in chili since I had no clue what chili was. But knowingly I never ate it.

After thinking about it for a long time, I realized that I am unnecessarily restricting myself thinking that eating beef is bad. (It could be for health reasons, but my dilemma has been a moral one.) I eat pork and love then why not beef? It has nothing to do with God. I know that God doesn't care about what I eat. But still the cultural impact was so strong that at times I would urge V not to eat it. Now, I find that hilarious.

Even after enjoying pork and beef sausages I won't be eating it all the time. My diet still contains vegetables, fruits and white meat. But I want to expand my choices. Since I saw Julie and Julia, I wanted to eat Beef Bourguigno , Julia Child's Beef Bourguigno! Perhaps this prompted me to rethink about my "not eating beef mentality". As a food lover, I feel I should be open to all cuisines and foods to make my life richer and interesting.

So now since all you know about my new adventure, any suggestions for great first stake?

The Joneses

2011-04-11T12:44:00.003-07:00

I just finished watching the movie "The Joneses" starring David Duvcohny and Demi Moore. And I must say, I am surprised in a wonderful way because of the originality and thoughtfulness the director and script writer has put in it. I would hope many of you would watch it and be as delighted as I am. I don't want to ruin the movie by giving the details (but I probably would as I would be ranting about our system right away). The movie made me think about our fictitious culture overtly obsessed with appearances. For a very long time now, all of us have fallen pray to the lifestyle portrayed by the media and the TV shows and the movies where everyone looks beautiful and hip and is rich has lot of stuff. Who is the best salesman who can sell sugar to a diabetic!

When the financial crisis started rolling, we blamed the banks and wall street managers who gave out tons of sub-prime loans to undeserving people who could not pay for the stuff they bought (houses, cars and other nonsense)leading to unpaid mortgages and too many unpaid loans. It was a crime however, I am equally disappointed with people who thought they could afford all the stuff at 50,000 per annum salary. Why does everyone need a 4 bedroom house and two car garage and huge garden? Why does everyone need big cars, latest gizmo and prada bag? We are trying to compete with those so called idols on television, who don;t really have to buy the stuff they show on TV. The unattainable standards of richness and beauty and fashion are driving people crazy into the large sums of debt. The nation is in a trillion dollar debt, no wonder. We are always buying something that we don't need. It's a free country and if someone has to buy himself to bankruptcy he is allowed to. But at what cost? DO we want people buying unnecessary goods and eventually defaulting on loans that the banks have to bear the burden of? This leads to spiraling debt cycle and the nations pays the price.

I think the movie makes a wonderful comment on this issue by showing just one family and it's lifestyle. It made me think. Why don;t we make our own rules, when it comes to our own life? I will buy what I can afford. Why can't spending time with family , cooking at home, working in community garden, talking to friends, reading books make our life rich? Why do we need every little thing the market offer? There is always going to be a new gadget in the market and latest fashion trends by Prada. What we need to do is get only that thing which makes our life more meaningful and I think most of us will that thing is never available in market and it is "Family"!

2011-01-15T17:13:00.009-07:00

For last few weeks, the article that Yale Law Professor Amy Chua wrote has been circulating and has created an immense debate about "what is good parenting?" Now, Amy Chua has also published a book about her parenting style and I think this new debate has been a good publicity for her book. Of course, there are people on the both sides of the issue. Amy Chua's article brings out some good points about parenting and some extreme ones. It is her parenting and really we can only say that's her choice. We can not debate if it is right or wrong. We can choose our own styles when it comes to our children. The article and the debate made me think about my childhood and my parents.

Like many other parents I know, my parents had some flexible rules and some strict rules. Growing up we had to go to school regularly, do homework and get into extracurricular activities. I definitely enjoyed the extracurricular activities and studying was fun sometimes. I don't really remember me or my sister cringing about doing our work. We were always among the good students, may times topped our class. Ambition 'to be someone' was inculcated through talks and examples. But I don't remember the times when my parents went crazy about their expectations or resorted to horrible punishments. Of course, some times I might have felt, that they were too tough or demanding. But looking back now, I feel they struck a good balance between love and punishment. I think being a girl, there was never a hitting incidence involved but thinking, something I do might make them angry, was enough for me behave as they said.

I definitely would say that my parents made us think independently. When we were in college, many of their "have to do" s kind of vanished. We had some rules when it came to friends. We were supposed to bring all our new friends home. My parents have always been quite popular with both our friends and our friends would visit them even when we were not be there. I think at the age of 16 when I did not know how to judge people, this rule worked really well. It was kind of silent approval from parents to our friends and we never felt it was wrong or weird. As I grew older, I knew who I would take home, boys and girls included.

I definitely give 100% credit to my parents' decision to support me when I decided to pursue B.A. after 10th grade. Almost all my classmates from school opted for engineering and I knew my father wanted me to do the same. You know, how Indian mind set works. But I knew it was not for me. There were some opinion clashes but in the end I did what I wanted to do and I am extremely grateful to my parents that they support me till date even when professionally I am struggling.

Love for arts, languages, reading. theater, politics and most importantly public service is my parents gift to me. Till date , like most of the girls I have to call my mother to tell her when I see a new movie or read a new book or enjoy new theater production. Does it mean that we never had any disagreements? Hell no! I would fight with them about too many things. Like when they did not want me to continue to be a part of the theater team after the first year in college. I was so mad and upset, but after few days when the whole theater group ended up being a big political joint, I thanked them about their decision. I could never do anything if parents told me not to do. Initially it was fear of their anger and later on it was fear of making them upset or unhappy.

Small things and infractions are going to happen in any relationship. But the kind of close nit family we have, it's worth it. I don't know how others grew up, but as for me it was wonderful and happening and democratic at times. So even if some "happy child" philosophers would not agree with my parents choice of do's and don'ts; I agree with them 100%. I know that I am who I am because of them. Sacrificing a little bit of sleepovers or no theater times, was worth it!

A great setback to Democracy

2011-01-10T18:06:00.004-07:00

On Sunday, January 9, 2010; Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a meeting with her constituents in Tucson, AZ. Six other people including a Federal Judge in Arizona were dead and the congresswoman now lies in coma. The shooter was captured and is facing both state and federal charges. This news will be in air for next many weeks and pundits from all political parties and news reporters will tear the issue into the pieces using party politics, gun control, immigration and the other possible issues they can find. There will be discussion about whether the shooter is mentally ill or what was his motivation in spite many videos he posted on youtube about his ideas and thoughts. Sarah Palin's "Map" will become overtly famous and republicans will call names to all those who resort to violence. This whole drama will end as soon as we find new issue to chew on such as "Is Obama an American Citizen" or " will my taxes go down now that Republicans are getting back to power" and all those life changing and most serious issues. Hopefully, Giffords will recover and be back at her job in Washington.

I am speechless. Not frustrated, not horrified, just Speechless. The country that takes a great pride in its Democratic values and principles just saw how flimsy those values are getting or should I say the country saw no one cares about the Democracy as along as they can get few minutes of time on television or radio and use partisan politics to get elected. As Paul Krugman wonderfully wrote in his opinion piece in NY Times Climate of Hate, the time has come for the politicians to retrospect about the use of language when they are denouncing their opponents. I mean all politicians. I don't care if you are a liberal or a conservative, if you instigate your voters enough to make them kill someone, you are responsible for their actions.

I truly believe in democracy as the only method to govern any country. It is not the most perfect method but it is the only method that ensures that every single vote counts and every single opinion is heard. But when every single vote is only politically motivated, I have a problem. I believe that freedom of speech is the greatest gift that any constitution can provide. But how far do we want to take that gift? With great gifts comes great responsibility. The great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. used this gift to motivate millions of supporters to march towards "Freedom" in peace. Unfortunately, those kind of leaders are now almost extinct.

How far we want to let these political warmongers lead us? As Krugman says, as long as it brings money and time on TV, the politicians will say anything. When a commoner like me says something irresponsibly the result is me getting in trouble. But when a leader says something irresponsibly, the result is the country getting in trouble. And worse thing is, all this speech is not against some external enemy, it is against internal opponents who are viewed by thousands of the followers as "enemy". The beauty of democracy lies in the ability of having multitude of opinions. We need difference of opinions to make sure that the people don't get carried away by one side. Unfortunately, debate and arguments are no longer in the congress they are coming into our houses and into our lives. Why is that someone who has a different political opinion can never be your friend? If politics a business, why can't they argue and fight in congress and still be respectful of each other and mention that loudly to the constituents? The business of "spreading fear" is not good and the result is decided by a bullet than by a vote.

I cried blood tears over this. I am a champion of freedom for all. But I am also champion of freedom with great responsibility. Freedom is not an entitlement, it's an opportunity many do not get in their lifetime. With every bullet freedom vanishes in air and democracy dies a little bit more.

I really pray that congresswoman will get better soon and the nation will retrospect, even for a moment and see what we are giving up to achieve what!

God, Faith etc...

2011-01-07T20:07:00.003-07:00

Are you a believer? I have been asked that questions a few times and other times I asked this question to few others. I have friends who consider themselves atheists and we always have discussions about God and religion and other aspects of faith in general. This country which is definitely founded on Judeo-Christian principles, definitely looks at faith from a certain point of view. However, it is interesting to see the change in public opinion, particularly the generation between 18-40 when it comes to the matters of faith or more particularly matters of religion. Percentage of atheists is definitely on the rise and I think percentage of people questioning the aspects of religion is also on the rise. Now, this particular post is not about exploring the changing nature of religion in society, but it is about my own thinking about the matter.

Being born and brought up in India, I have been exposed to many different religions and many religious practices. However, my parents were never "ritualistic". Of course, they do believe in God and have learnt Bhagwadgeeta and enjoy the more literary aspect of the religious texts. But I do not remember many incidents when me and my sister had to follow religious traditions. We celebrated all the festivals and my father did poojas. But it was never hard and fast and we were allowed to ask questions and often disagree with parents about religious traditions. I will definitely say my parents are believers but hardly religious.

I always distinguish between religious people and the believers. Religious people, as I have seen in my family and around follow all the rules and regulations without questioning any of it. I most definitely know that many customs and rituals in Hindu traditions have particular significance that has nothing to do with God. However, unfortunately people who call themselves very traditional and religious hardly know about such significance and I object to that. Many of Hindu customs and festivals are based on cycle of nature and weather and have environmental significance. Such as Vatapaurnima when women pray to Banyan tree for long life their husbands. Now, it's good to spend time in a garden full of Banyan trees and it also gave an opportunity to women (before they became independent) to spend time with friends away from household chores. There were many tress in forest 100 years ago. However, now the Vatapaurnima does not provide that cultural and environmental significance any more (there are no Banyan tress to begin with). But religious people often do not know about the background of such days and still continue practicing them. Of course, if you enjoy such days then it's wonderful. But many times I have seen people scrapping pennies to celebrate such days or fulfill such rituals. Fasting is a good thing but fasting for nine days when you are working full time is not exactly a health advice I will give anyone. This is where I have problem with religion and champions of religion.

I am a believer and I do feel good when I say my prayers and read philosophy. But I don't really care about the rituals. For that matter, when we got married in India, we did only four rituals that I had faith in. I think religion has nothing to do with God. In fact, if there is God I don't need a big bureaucracy to answer to before I can reach him. I believe that my understanding of God and my sense of safety is completely between God and me. I don't need elaborate ceremonies to prove to me that I am doing this to appease God. Since I believe in "Karma- Sindhhanta", I know I reap what I sow. So that completely cuts down all the unnecessary middlemen between me and God.

Being a person of faith gives me great comfort. I pray because it makes me feel better. Faith has nothing to do with religion. I remember this from one of the novels I read a while ago "I don't know any religion. All I know is God".

2010-12-30T15:23:00.008-07:00

I am back to reading "Mysteries". For last few weeks I have gathered good mystery books and am on a bookathelon (If there is such word). I am of course a truly mystery lover at heart. No wonder you will find Sherlock Holmes as my permanent companion. Of course Arthur Cannon Doyle and Agatha Christie are all time favorite and respected authors but I have also taken interest in some new age mystery writing by Preston-Child and Steve Berry. These are new favorites of mine, when it comes to mystery writing and reading it my eyes literally droop. However, I recently found that my favorite TV shows "Murder, She Wrote" and "Monk" are also available in book format. The creators of these shows have also helped develop several mystery plots in book form that are true to the shows. "Murder, She Wrote" is an excellent TV show that ran on CBS from 1984-1996 starring Angela Lansbury as the clever and adorable Jessica Fletcher. "Monk" starred Tony Shalhoub as obsessive, compulsory and exceptionally brilliant detective Adrian Monk. The reason I am particularly talking about these shows is, both have characters that are called by others in the show as modern day Sherlock Holmes and both shows have characters that are personable and delightful.

While these days there is no dearth of mystery shows and novels, these two shows and the subsequent novels based on the shows stand out for me for the "mystery" part of the script. The reason I enjoy Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot because they solve mystery. The importance is to the "Mystery" unlike many new shows and books those depend heavily on details of death and other gory stuff instead of the sheer genius of the detectives who investigate such crimes. The whole genre of mystery is about how the smart detective finds the culprit. I find that portrayed beautifully in both Murder She Wrote and Monk. We know there is a dead man but watching Jessica Fletcher and Adrian Monk delving into that mystery with their own way is simply a delight to watch and read, of course.

Another thing that brings these two shows together for me is, the main character. Jessica a simple English teacher living in small town main and Adrian a weird detective living in San Fransisco. Now, they have nothing in common. What they have common is their intelligence and their personality that I really enjoy watching and reading about. Of course, the ensemble of the other frequently occurring characters is also an enjoyable experience. Both the shows have dear characters who are equally important to the success of the shows.

I have finished watching all season of Monk and for Murder She Wrote I finished about seven seasons. Now, that I have found that these stories are available as novels, I am running to library almost every other day to borrow the next Jessica book or Monk book. With time to enjoy and weather to wrap myself in blanket, these wonderful stories provide great entertainment. I am finished reading two of Jessica's mysteries and two of Monk's mysteries. With too many to read, I better stop writing and start reading :-)

White Christmas

2010-12-19T18:17:00.005-07:00

It's been almost 6.5 years since I came to US. However, contrary to popular belief in India, not all US states have snow or even flurries or even icy conditions during winter. First two years in Atlanta and then four years in Tempe, hardly exposed me to the beauty of snow in winter. Of course, in Atlanta it gets very cold and even windy and icy. But Tempe has wonderful winter with temperature in 50s and 60s and occasionally in 30s. But never snow. We used to go to Flagstaff to visit snow. It was beautiful and living in comfortable weather is definitely wonderful. But since we moved to Michigan in summer, I knew we had it coming. Oh yes, the White Christmas.

Actually we missed the first snow in Ann Arbor. We were in NYC at that time. During Thanksgiving weekend, A2 had its first snow. But NY and Boston were much warmer compared to A2. The temperature was in 40s. NY was windy, tunnel effect! But it was not terrible, as I thought I would find my first winter in North. While driving back from Boston, boy we saw tons of snow in PA. We had to stop for the night as it was too much snow and too dark. I was sweating and stressed while driving. The next day, when we passed 'State College', we got our first look into tons of snow. The vehicles were moving at 20 miles/hr. The other side of road was jammed as a truck was toppled and police cars and EMT almost stopped the traffic. We could hardly see about 10 feet ahead. Not exactly driving friendly weather, I would say. But we managed to reach home safely.

Next day, I had to get some stuff from office as I decided to work from home, I walked to the bus stop. And it was snowing. I ate some snow flakes :-) It was wonderful. Cold, yes but wonderful. I was all layered up in coats and mittens and shawl and had my big snow boots on. I had to walk 5 minutes from the bus stop to get to the office and then back to home but I did not die or anything. I really enjoyed it. I came home and turned up the heat and snuggled up in warm jacket. I just sat in window, watching snow covering up the houses, cars, roads and the creek. Everything was quiet and peaceful. The trees looked beautiful as if they had snow flowers on them. And I realized, "It's going to be first, real, White Christmas for me and V". I believe in enjoying every weather if you get a chance. Many of my friends expressed concerned about me managing the winter, as I am not exactly a winter person. And living in Arizona hasn't helped me either. But many of our new friends in Michigan told us to invest in good jackets and boots and layer up. That's what I have been doing whenever I go out. Thankfully, our landlady is kind and she hires a person to remove the snow from parking garage when it snows a lot. So V doesn't have to worry about breaking his arm cleaning the snow.

Snow is fun. People say that it's just the beginning and it will get worse. Worse than 9 F. May be, who knows. But I guess I am now used to the idea of cold weather. As of now I am enjoying it. How often do you get to see a frozen creek just in your backyard! The city is diligent in cleaning the snow. All you have to do is drive carefully. Since V drives about 5 miles one way and through the city it is not too bad, till now. And of course you can always work from home if there is weather emergency. The best part is hot coffee and soup any time you want. Winter is fun.

It has been my ritual since last 6 Christmases to watch "White Christmas" on every Christmas. And this year we will have a White Christmas outside and inside. Now that my friend is simply wonderful!

2010-10-03T15:09:00.007-07:00

It is almost two months since we have officially started living in Ann Arbor. I have to say that we are very lucky to be living here. Ann Arbor, as we all know is known for the University of Michigan's main campus. UMICH is an inseparable and very important part of the city's economy and culture. With Medical school and hospital, UMICH definitely rules the roost. But other than the university, the city offers many wonderful things. While Michigan is definitely a rural state, Washtenaw county that harbors A2, is an urban county. With population of around 322,000 the county is fifth largest in the state. However, it is also a very diverse county. And A2 of course takes the cake when it comes to diversity and culture.

What I love about A2 is whenever you walk in downtown, you will hear people speaking in many international languages. People of all over the world can be easily spotted in this "cool" city. Of course, since UMICH is a big player it is not surprising to have an amalgamation of cultures in the city. There is always something to do here. There are car shows, farmers markets, holiday markets, Oktoberfest and so on and so forth. Since, the city is most definitely a liberal city, things such as environmentally friendly technology show is not uncommon. Then there is Sunday Artisan market, where local artists sell their art. And also, book shows and book tours in Borders are tons of literary events in the Ann Arbor District Library make sure that all the book-nuts are happy.

The university has an arboretum which we haven't paid a visit is known for beautiful Fall colors. Another fun part, which I had never experienced is the proximity of wild life. It's not uncommon to spot dears on the roads. The other day we were driving on one of the busy roads and I looked out and spotted few dears hanging out happily on the North campus. I was so excited that I almost hit the car next to me :-) Our landlady has mentioned that the dears do come in our backyard. Now, you can imagine how excited I am to see them.

The city has many many cuisines to offer and for someone who enjoys eating as well as cooking, local the grocery stores. There are many specialty stores that cater to specialty cooking needs such as Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern. I haven't visited all of them, but since I have been dabbling in cooking I will be visiting them some day or the other. There are tons of places that are open to till 2 in the night where you can definitely grab a bite to eat and some good wine to enjoy. Mind you, we moved from Phoenix where we had to decide if we wanted to eat out at 6 pm if we wanted to make it before closing which was in many cases was 9 pm. So given that, having places open so late is a boon for us.

There are many bars and dance clubs for entertainment. Got to be, after all it is a school town. I told someone describing this wonderful city as a "small" city but also a "big" city. Small in the sense that it's a college town. Not too much crowded. Still manages to keep the Midwest charm. But at the same time it is big as it has many things to offer when it comes to jobs, entertainment and diversity. I have to say we are very lucky to move here. I like to see the birds and the squirrels on the tree when I am drinking my morning tea. I enjoy just being here. Many times after work I would just walk around in downtown doing nothing. The weather is perfect now, though a little cold for me. But still I love sitting in a coffee shop and reading and watching students running with their laptops and solving homework. God, I love it here. If some one visits us here, I would tell them let's just sit down and relax and may be walk in the park and then eat in that fantastic neighborhood restaurant. That's Ann Arbor. Alive and beautiful, charming and peaceful, cold and warm, small and big, modern yet simple just what it is , Ann Arbor!

2010-09-01T15:32:00.003-07:00

ASU College of Public Programs had this great idea to photograph student with their ideas about changing the world. I loved all of them and one particular that said "by changing the (wo)man in the mirror!". Now, that perhaps is the best way to begin. Like my favorite songs from MJ, I try to change the woman in the mirror, one day at a time.

Man in the Mirror

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

2010-08-29T20:25:00.004-07:00

Finally, we have moved to Ann Arbor. It happened about three weeks ago and boy, was it a pain in the rear end. Thankfully, most of our stuff was in the storage and the guys from the storage delivered the stuff immediately after we moved in. Of course, we still had few suitcases and kitchen stuff that we carried with us. The move was definitely tiring but quite uneventful. Except, for the fact that on for the first night was had nothing to sleep on. But our landlady was kind enough to lend us a blanket. It felt like camping and made sense as the new home surrounded by lot of trees and a creek in the back yard. It took us almost a week to put everything in right place and clean and settle down. Since, I was home it did not become a horrible exerting job. I would put things I could and in the evening when V would return home, we would together move heavy stuff. After the big move in, we had friends over and started the "living" in new home.

The house is beautiful and has a lot of character. It is built in 1960s so it does have some of the old furniture and look that no longer exists. Wooden floors, gas for cooking (woo hoo!!), finished basement with another bedroom, lot of closets and storage, an amazing backyard with creek and tall trees. It was almost like a dream come true. Since, we had lived in apartments before we really wanted to live in a house, eventually buy one.

Things are now getting to routine. Hopefully this new home will bring lot of happiness and good luck to us. I welcome us to Home :-)

2010-08-03T16:48:00.004-07:00

When you are born and brought in India, you would mostly probably end up speaking at least three languages. First and foremost is your native language (which is Marathi for me), second Hindi (the national language) and third English. Now, of course some people would just speak tow of the three and some know many more. In my case , I have been very fortunate to learn and enjoy Sanskrit.

I of course love languages and for me leaning more than one language has been a great source of enjoying the classic literary and contemporary works from those language. One of the best things we got from being a British colony is the language of Brits. Who knew that English would be such a powerful language that would end up being the business language of the world. Actually, I started learning English quite young but not until High school I explored the wonderful world of English literature. Thanks o a friend of mine! Since, I already was a reader plunging into English literature was not a difficult task for me. It initially took a while to go through a book but eventually it became much more fun. Now, I can proudly say that I can finish a book within a day!

I was talking to a friend of mine who is an avid reader, about how fortunate we are to be proficient in more than one language. Not only it comes handy for higher education and work but it also opens a gateway of knowledge and never ending fun. I am a huge supporter of being a polyglot. More the merrier. A language is a tool of understanding the culture it belongs to. It goes beyond communication or business. Language connects us to the people. So it is important to understand and read and enjoy your own native language first and then definitely as many as you wish. With the current trend of not exactly be able to understand one's native language, I wonder how much one can enjoy the other language. So the idea is enjoy reading and having fun with all the languages but don't miss your native language. Because, if you don't know who you are , you would never know who others are!

Finally found a place called Home

2010-07-15T08:40:00.005-07:00

Since we moved to Michigan about three months ago, finding a permanent residence was on our agenda. We are currently living in the apartment provided by the company and it is provided only up to three months. So before August we have to move to another place. We have been looking around houses and apartments equally, to rent. But both of us had this notion of living in a house than in an apartment now. I guess we are just done with student residence. So we decided that we will only look for houses and townhouses and see if we find something to our taste. Now, taste is a little challenging issue. V wanted a backyard and front yard possibly and I wanted to have a big kitchen with gas (now they don't come that easily), and of course 2 bathrooms. So we had to agree upon a common list of must haves in rental home. Another big issue was the location. V works in Ann Arbor and we currently live about 20 miles from AA. Initially, we thought we want to live outside of AA to get the feel of small community and countryside. But soon we realized that, almost every day after V comes back from work we end up going to AA. In this area, the most vibrant and fun city is AA. There is always something to do. And of course, budgeting for fuel cost was another important consideration that kind of pushed us towards AA.

Still, we did look for houses in other cities. It was exhausting. I would be in AA for the whole day as we still have one working car. Then , during lunch or after work both of us would visit the prospective house. Then, again I would endlessly look up on craigslist for new listings. The location and the price eventually became so specific that I thought we would have to give up on the idea of renting a house.

But last week, V found this really cute house in AA. The house is built in 60s and has two sections for two different renters. It has gas (check), a small back yard (check), three bed rooms, two full bathrooms (check), lot of storage and a kitchen pantry (yahoo additional). So everything we wanted and more. The house has character and it just feels like home. We would be moving there soon. Let's hope the new home will bring many good memories and lot of fun for us and everyone who visits!

Exercising my way to glory!

2010-07-12T09:56:00.004-07:00

These days I have fallen back to my routine of working out every day and it feels great. I have always been a sports person, since my school days. But after being in US for six years, my exercise routine has gone hay-wards. Sometimes, I would follow rigorous routine the other times it just falls apart. But now, since we moved to Michigan I have decided to take the opportunity of free time at hand get back right on track, where I belong (pun intended!)

These days, I get up way early than I used to. I have morning tea, send V to work and then read news for some time. Then, I do some warm up at home and then I go to gym which is conveniently located in the current apartment complex. In Tempe, my good friends P showed me basic routines one can follow in a gym. Another good friend of mine who had lost about 20 pounds gave me some more tips to help increase stamina, such as running aerobic routines on trade mill. Following, their advice I work out for about one and half hour everyday. It included running, cycling, light weights and of course 20 minutes of yoga. While machines and weights help to build muscle yoga helps to keep my body light. I have lost flexibility over time which I am on my way to regain in coming months. My stamina seems to be getting better. When I come back from exercise I feel rejuvenated and happy. I am not behind any kind of weight reduction or fat burning per se. What I want to is to be fit and be energetic throughout the day. The exercise routine has also helped me to improve my sleeping habits. No more 1 o' clock in the night moves or eating at midnight. I sleep early and rise early and feel relaxed and fresh all the time.

I also read lot of health magazines and try to incorporate some of the exercises they suggest and some of the food routines. Of course, there is lot to improve. But one thing for sure, this routine makes me less susceptible to frustrations and crazy thoughts. I think about how I can improve my health and V's through better cooking and diet. Surely, I feel good about myself. I hope this will continue as I plan to take zumba classes once we are settled in our new place.

Until the zumba, gym is a great way to keep my mind and body sound.

My New Shoes

2010-06-15T14:17:00.004-07:00

Like any other girl, I have "a thing" for shoes. When in India, I used to think about buying many shoes but never had that many. But in last few years, since I had become the master of my own finances I have completely given to my vice of shoe-shopping. I would spend time online looking up gorgeous shoes and thinking about how would they look on my feet. I would recommend 6pm for finding great deals on shoes. I did buy some of my pairs from this website. I have found that it's cheaper to buy shoes online than in store. One can find similar brands or styles much cheaper online. 6pm has some of the fantastic deals on both men's and women's shoes. If you know your shoe size, then I would suggest you should visit this website and find some killer deals. All the shoes I bought from 6pm fit like a glove.

I have recently ordered a great new pair and can't wait to put them on. This particular pair is very similar to one of the fantastic pairs that Carrie had on during the episode "A Woman's right to shoes". Of course, Carrie's was Manolo Blahniks and I can hardly afford them any time soon. But the pair I bought is equally sleek and beautiful and way cheaper than Manolos. It will be my first pair with pointy heels that are about 3 inches high. As V said, I will be so high up that he would ask me about the weather :P

So the shoes will be home tomorrow and I can put them on and may be go for fancy dinner over the week end. Just can't wait to put them on and just be a little narcissist about beautiful feet in the beautiful shoes :-)

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy"

2010-05-23T18:11:00.003-07:00

One of my all time favorite singers is John Denver. I love his songs. I have listened to his songs many times. One of his famous songs is "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy". The song just makes my day bright as sunshine. While living in Tempe, sunshine was abundant so I never thought about this songs the way I thought today. Since we have moved to MI, the weather has been interesting. It rains one day and next day it would be clear skies. Today however, was one of the warmer days since we came here. We took the advantage of sunshine and decided to go out and just walk around in Ann Arbor downtown.

It was bright and warm. Lot of people were walking around, playing on UM lawn, reading or just sitting under the trees. We also took our lattes and sat under a tree. It was so beautiful. A little warm than I thought it would be, but very bright and just sunny! While sitting under the tree I just realized that I was happy sitting there, doing nothing and just enjoying the sunny day. At that moment I thought about Denver's song. Sunshine makes me happy too!

sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high

if i had a day that i could give you
i'd give to you a day just like today
if i had a song that i could sing for you
i'd sing a song to make you feel this way

sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high

if i had a tale that i could tell you
i'd tell a tale sure to make you smile
if i had a wish that i could wish for you
i'd make a wish for sunshine all the while

sunshine, on my shoulders - makes me happy
sunshine, in my eyes - can make me cry
sunshine, on the water - looks so lovely
sunshine, almost always - makes me high

sunshine almost al the times makes me high
sunshine, almost always

- John Denver

2010-05-15T16:02:00.003-07:00

When I was in Junior College I had a wonderful English teacher. She opened the gates to the wonderful world of English literature for me. I used to wait to go to her class even when attending college was not much in fashion :) One day she was discussing the concept of "Solitude" in class. I still remember one of her thoughts that she put well in words "We are too much surrounded by people to be alone". At that time I thought it was some literary way of defining a difficult concept of Solitude. But as grew older and especially when came to US , I found how correct she was. Too many people around us to be alone.

While growing up, I do not remember my family was inundated with guests and relatives. We did have family functions and festivals where we got together with relatives and friends and enjoyed the time. But it was never the most important thing on the list. Personal space was always important and even though my parents did not say it directly,after entering college both me and my sister did have right to be alone. I like to be with people but at the same time I value my space immensely. I think that's why I got used to the American way pretty quickly. I like the fact that people do respect your space and boundaries and do not encroach upon your life.

I had few friends who would always have relatives hanging in their houses even though they had exams or their mom was sick. I used to think how come people do that! But I think in India personal space is not a much valued concept. We try to accommodate so many people in our lives that sometimes it's hard to be alone. Of course I am not anti-social or anything. But what I like is to have some alone time when I like to do my own things or sometimes nothing.

By being left alone also includes not asking probing questions about personal life. I just don't understand why do people want to know about your life so much! And not many of those people ask you about your hobbies, career interests or which movies do you enjoy! All they want to know about is your personal life. I have heard so many questions like, when are you getting married? What does your husband do? Where did you meet? When will you have children? How many kids you want? Why did you get married in US? OMG! Just stop. Give me a freaking break. Some of these questions are not to be asked by anyone except parents. Especially about kids! I just don't understand why do people have this immense urge to probe? I recently chatted with a school-mate after about 13 years and she asked me when am I going to have children? What crap!

I think in our society where we value all these relations (I am not sure if all of them are valuable at all), we need to understand or perhaps teach kids since the beginning that it is important to give space to others and have your own. Unless, one is alone one never thinks! Being surrounded by dear ones is great but being alone is necessary to think and analyze about one's life.

I definitely enjoy being alone and I hope others will too understand the importance of solitude.

Arizona! A New era of humiliating legislations

2010-04-27T20:46:00.005-07:00

I love Bill Maher. Now you know of course I am a liberal who enjoys satirical political humor. Recently, while watching some of "Real Time with Bill Maher" footage on youtube I hear him say "We no longer have political left. In recent years Democrats have moved to center and Republicans have moved to mental institution" (I am not sure if these are the exact word but along the same lines). Recent health care legislation has proved this point to some extent but the recent outrageous legislations in Arizona have proved it to be exactly right. I love my friends in Arizona, but it is the legislature I can not stand. It looks that as soon as Janet Napolitano left for serving Federal government, the state has been completely taken over by complete morons. The recent legislations about buying weapons without permits was the beginning and the most recent about letting police officers checking the legal immigration is the epitome of humiliating, ridiculous legislation in the state's history. I read someone saying that "after not recognizing MLK day as a state holiday, this signing new immigration law is second black day in the state'e entire legislative history".

I completely agree with the issue of illegal immigration in Arizona. With border fencing in CA and NM, AZ has become the channel for illegal immigrants to walk through. No one is in denial of that. But as far as I know, immigration is the Federal issue. The recent legislation in AZ challenges the Federal authority saying that if Feds won't do it, we will. This is might a good calling for Feds to intervene and push a comprehensive immigration reform which is much needed. However, the point is not that. The point is is the police force eligible to understand the issue of immigration? The state is saying that the police will be trained to understand this issue. I have few points for them.
1. Isn't the police force already burdened with the duty of maintaining law and order and looking for extremely serious offenses such as robbery, homicides, sex crimes, property crimes?
2. Isn't there a department called Homeland Security and Border Safety who works on immigrations issues?
3. How is the training going to help the police to understand the immigration? First of all there are tons of documents and procedures that are involved in the immigration process. If someone is on work permit or student visa and is in process of obtaining new visa or extension or permanent residency, getting new documentation can take months. So if police catches someone who is in between in statuses, will they be able to comprehend the situation?
4. Another problem is the notion of "reasonable doubt". How do you define that? How does an illegal immigrant look? It means that the police is going to look for certain races and ethnicities even thought governor denies it. There are Caucasians who are not citizens and non Caucasians who are citizens and any one can easily understand who will be asked for papers.
5. This is going to increase mistrust of police department. For the safety of any city the harmonious relations between police force and residents is much needed. If one can not trust police then who can they trust?
6. Arizona has many vehicle thefts. Now, if someone keeps the immigrations documents in the car and it is stolen, will the police take the responsibility of getting new documentation to the person?
7. With the new gun law it is easy to get guns in this state now. So I am afraid there might be increase violence against police force.

All and all this is a completely ridiculous piece of legislations which I hope will not stand in the court. There will be lot of petitions and I really hope the constitutional test will prove the illegitimacy of this law. Hoe funny is that the Constitution is violated by the ones who always cite the holiness of it.

Given the current situation in the state I am very happy that I will be in blue state soon. Those of who don't understand the importance of being in a blue state just know this, in a blue state legislature not in an asylum!

Ode to Tempe!

2010-04-12T20:46:00.004-07:00

What makes a house a home? The people who live in it make it a home. And same is true for a city I call my second home after Pune, my love, Tempe. It's a little hard to believe that this city where I moved only to be with V has become so close to my heart that I am all emotional of the the thought of moving to MI. In last four years, Tempe has become a home where I have met all the loved ones. What started as a convenience , soon became the most valued love affair with the hep city of Tempe.
I met the most amazing people, made most caring friends, went to most amazing graduate school and lived in the most amazing city.

The sun never sets in Tempe. Almost 320 days of beautiful bright sunlight make it the destination for those who enjoy being in the sun. With the youthful crowd of ASU students the city never stops being "young at heart". Tempe is a place where I found best of both worlds. All the perks on being in Phoenix metro area and still a close community feeling. The parks and the roads and the transportation just made it a place I somehow feel, I always knew.

I worked, I played and I made a life in this city. The mill avenue, Tempe Center for the Arts, my favorite place - Tempe public library and Tempe town lake are the jewels of this vibrant city. The food, the weather, the NBA games and partying with friends, it all comes to me when I think of the time I spent it Tempe.

Many of my friends who are not from Arizona look at the state as a desert full of cacti. But what they don't know is that in this desert the cacti bloom with beautiful flowers in Spring and in winter one can still walk around the lake with just a nice jacket on. Ohhh!! Tempe! I will miss you.

When I moved to Arizona, I never knew that the state will keep its mark on me! But it did. Sometimes one has to live it to know it. Grand Canyon is the wonder of the state but another wonder is the people who make this state. My friends and colleagues and the public servants who are an integral part of my experience in Tempe are another wonder of Arizona whom I will miss because they are my family.

I love this city and the life it offers. I know I will come over and visit and it doesn't matter how far I will be since I will read AZ Republic just to be in touch with my family :)

Being in Tempe has been fulfilling and amazing. Tempe, no way this is a "good-bye" but just a "thank you" for making my stay most memorable. I love you and will always think of you as my home in US!

Hans Christian Andersen!

2010-04-02T19:24:00.006-07:00

Today is hand Christian Andersen's 205th birthday. For his fans it is surely a reason to celebrate. I don't remember at what age I was introduced to his works but I got so much mesmerized by the stories that I still can not get over them. Who can ever forget "Thumbelina", "Princess and the Pea", "Little Mermaid" and all those other captivating beautiful stories? When I first read his works I read the Marathi translations. As I grew up I read them in English. Unfortunately, I do not read Danish but it would be treat to learn the language just to read Andersen.

In winter 2009, when we drove up in California we visited a small Danish village "Solvang". On the central street they have Hans Christian Andersen's bust. I was so excited to see it that I almost shouted his name out :) Solvang has a very small museum that is dedicated to Andersen. It contains some of his famous works in original Danish print. Many of books are there those got published in different countries. It was a wonderful moment to be in that small place and read about his life and think about his work.

Andersen is alive forever, like all the other great creators are. I love him and I now own a big fat book that collects all his stories. Whenever I feel a little lonely or upset I just open any page of Andersen's story book and start reading. It makes me smile and enjoy every single moment of it. He has such a power over me and millions others who have been reading his books since they were toddlers!

I love you, Hans Christian Andersen and I am sure all of us will keep reading your books and enjoying knowing how Thumeblina finally married the prince!

Thank God!

2010-04-01T15:50:00.006-07:00

Day before yesterday night, V was out playing his favorite game and I was at home reading. So I decided to watch the movie I had not watched but really wanted to "Bruce Almighty". It's never to late to catch a Jim Carry film. And of course I loved the movie. Everyone has done a great job and Morgan Freeman as God is very convincing. The man is born philosopher :) But what I enjoyed the most about the ,movie is the thought of answering the prayers. There are millions of people including me who ask God every day perhaps many times a day to fulfill certain wish they have. Give me a job, a house, a car, a promotion or help to get over the health problem and so on and so forth. Like in the movie, if God answers all the prayers then every one will win a lottery but every one will just receive $17. What's the point in winning a lottery then?

The movie made me think about all the things we ask God to do for us or get for us. How funny is that we think if we ask he is grant the wish as if he is "Make a wish foundation". Prayer is powerful and it is important that only after testing the will and integrity of the person praying it gets answered. I am so glad God did not grant each of my wish or else I would think I don't need one. I am glad that God makes it hard for us to achieve our goals or mission or whatever we wish in our lives or else no one would remain humble and understand and think about what he/she really wants in life. One of my teachers once said that, "it's good that God makes you wait to get anything in life and he does not answer all you wishes or else he will be working round the clock as if he was servant not God".

So I am happy that God makes it hard of us to reach the destination but I am more happy that he gives the strength to stay on the right path.

A pro - choice thought

2010-03-21T22:01:00.004-07:00

The current debate in the health care reform about making provisions for "abortion" got me thinking about the issue of abortion. I had no idea in a progressive country like United States, a huge majority gives more importance to fetus who is yet to be born than to the life and choices of the woman who bears it for nine months and then perhaps for the rest of her life. I am definitely a pro choice person. I never remember having this conversation with anyone when I was in India. But after coming over to the US, I had this discussion with many of my friends. Quite surprisingly many of them think it's something "devilish" to go for an abortion. I know many girls who got pregnant because of failure of a contraceptive option. When some of them mentioned that, I asked them if they knew about morning after pill or getting rid of it before the medically possible time line and they looked at me as if I was committing a blasphemy. Well, many of these girls are smart and educated young women. But somehow when it comes to sex and abortion they wish to be traditional.
I of course all for individual liberty. But how can you have a child when you are not mentally and emotionally prepared for it? Being a parent is a wonderful thing and it brings huge responsibility "for life". So the decision should be taken with lot of thinking. Girls spend hours and even days to find a suitable outfit for wedding. Then why not use similar time to think about parenthood.
I strongly believe that whether to be parent or not is woman's right. Of course for a married woman it does include partner's choice too. But since it is the woman who is physically carrying the child, she should know what's out there when it comes to child birth and good child development. There has been evidence that unwanted pregnancy may not lead to healthy children, both mentally and physically. I am not suggesting that abortion is a good contraceptive measure. Of course not. But if there is no other option perhaps it is the last resort. Every woman knows whether she really is capable of having a child and it should be her decision to have an abortion or not. I believe that life is precious. Life of the children who are in foster care or just thrown on the streets is very much precious. Instead of giving births to these children who would end up in such facilities, if possible the option of abortion seems to be much more suitable. Only a healthy and happy mother can raise a healthy and happy child. So for me keeping the decision of abortion with the woman is the most sensible thing to do!

Language..No Barrier

2010-02-03T17:33:00.003-07:00

Today, I had an interesting experience. It was the first time I went with my friend P to the gym. It was my first day so I was looking around and trying to figure out how to use treadmill. I was looking around when two ladies entered the room. Apparently, they were there for the first time as they were not sure exactly what to do and how to use the machines. So I tried to help. However, they were from Somalia and did not know English. But somehow through few words and many hand gestures, I was able to explain how to run on treadmill. So it worked and after our workouts we started chatting with them. At that time we found that they were from Somalia. They asked us where we came from. When P said we are from India, one of the women said she loves Bollywood movies and loves Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Amir Khan. We were extremely surprised. I had no idea that Bollywood movies were so famous in Somalia. She told us that , they dub movies in Somali language. How interesting is that! Out of nowhere we meet this girl from Somalia and have a great interaction with her without speaking English and she tells that she loves Indian movies. Guess, when it comes to communication, language need not be the barrier.

Julie and Julia!

2010-01-24T18:38:00.007-07:00

I finished reading Julie and Julia. I have already seen the movie, twice and had to keep the hold on the book for almost 2 months before I got it. It took me 3 days to read the book page to page, literally! I loved, loved, loved it. The book is not only about how Julie Powell followed the recipes from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, but also is about a thirty year old girl's attempt to change her life and find a meaning to her existence.

I particularly liked that aspect of "finding meaning". When you are approaching thirty and suddenly you find you are still struggling to get to the point where you feel "worth of something", it can be very hard. However, Julie took her frustrations and failures at everything new she tried and changed it into a new meaning of learning French cooking. She had to go through many many days and nights of exertion to complete her mission. Too many failures before she could complete her project to go through Julia's book. But with each failure she got back on the track to finish the goal and in the mean time she found herself back, with the help from Julia :)

I had no idea who Julia Child was until I saw the movie. Movie made me read the book and now I am borrowing Julia Child's biography right away. Julia too learned her life's mission at the age of 37. How wonderful the thought is. One doesn't have to be successful at the age of 25. In this crazy world, when everyone want you be rich and successful before 30, Julie and Julia show how one can find success at a later stage and it is OK to be successful at a later stage of your life.

Of course, I have decided to learn French cooking as soon as I can afford the classes. Being the enthusiastic cook I am, the book made me curious about the French cooking and perhaps about the cooking in general. Thanks Julie and Julia, you gave me a great comfort when I need it the most.

Welcome the Holiday Season

2009-11-30T20:16:00.003-07:00

When you live in Phoenix, snow or even temperatures below freezing is hardly a common experience. In fact in the city where 360 days are sunny, sometimes having a day with temperature in 40s is the most awaited day. And that days reminds me that it is indeed the holiday season. But this year with recession and job loss and hard times I was not in great spirits to look forward to holiday season.

But this Saturday, we just decided to accompany few friends who had already left for Sedona and take a drive to northern Arizona and forget about the routine issues. The drive through Sedona is always beautiful and I enjoy just being there. However, even thought we wanted to stop at Sedona, we missed the exit and ended up going further north towards Flagstaff and suddenly where the directions said Flagstaff 6 miles, we realized that we had drove a little too far than what we wanted. But we were in for a wonderful surprise. When we decided to turn around and drive south, suddenly out of nowhere it started snowing! Snowflakes falling from the sky. I have seen snow after it snowed on roads but I don't think I actually saw snowflakes in last four years (first time in Galtinburg). The sudden snow made me so happy that we ended up bringing out friends from Sedona to Flagstaff.

I stood near a gas station just enjoying snow on my face. It was beautiful. There were Christmas lights in the gas station and Christmas songs on the stereo. Suddenly, the economy and the recession and all those negative thoughts flew out of window and I realized "It is indeed the holiday season". Sometimes in the midst of all the problems, I received an unexpected gift of snow. My holiday season started then and there. I don't need any gifts when I have the SNOW just 3 hours away :)

Movie Marathon

2009-11-25T13:00:00.002-07:00

For some holiday season means lot of shopping and meeting family. For me it means end of school work, relaxing time to watch as many movies as I can. So taking advantage of this holiday season I am making most of it by watching new and old movies and having a really good time. So here are few ones I enjoyed recently.
New Moon - Unfortunately, the movie was not as good as I thought it would be. Interestingly, I liked Twilight better than the book. The New Moon movie followed the book but somehow it was too slow and at times boring. First of all, the book has lot of emotions that are not easy to portray on screen. The whole relationship between Jacob and Bella is amazingly written but movie doesn't do justice to that part. Secondly, Robert Pattison sucks as Edward. I thought the same way when I saw Twilight but in New Moon he sucks even more. Especially after all the "hot" werewolves, he looks pale and as if he would die if the wolf even looks at him. Somehow he doesn't look Edward. He doesn't have the charm, maturity and classiness the character calls for. The surprise item in the package is not Taylor Lautner but it's Dakota Fanning. Man, that girl can act. She is there for few minutes but it's hard not to notice her cold Jane. Especially her smile sends chills through your spines. I really liked the whole Volturi sequence. The mysterious Volturi make justice to the notion of the Highest Authority in the Vampire clan. Lastly, Jacon. Taylor Lautner does a great job and looks extremely amazing. He looks the Wolf he is supposed to look. Young but mature, sometimes childlike and sometimes possessive. Bravo, boy! Overall the movie failed to impress me. I am not sure if I would recommend the movie not worth the money you spend on it. But if you get it online, it might be "not too horrible" watch.
Harry Potter Series - It's my love, period. I enjoyed reading the books and watching movies over and over. I still have to watch the Half Blood Prince. So I decided to rerun all five before arriving at six. Believe me it is worth the time and efforts.
Journey to the Center of the Earth - This is the new one. If you are a Jules Verne fan, you will enjoy this one. I have seen the movie by the same name made for television. It was much longer than the 2008 flick. But 2008 with Brandon Fraser is definitely entertaining. However, the movie also was made for 3-D and I am sure it must one hell of an experience to watch in 3-D. Unfortunately I watched it on DVD. But nonetheless, movie is fast paced and entertaining. I would highly recommend it everyone who loves Jules Verne and enjoys the crazy ideas like parallel world in the earth's center.

These are just few ones. Of course there are vampire movies and other fantasy fictions. I am definitely enjoying the holidays.

Dressed to...

2009-09-15T19:05:00.003-07:00

These days I am interning with a very famous policy organization in the valley. Given the day to day need to be in the public eye, I need to dress professionally. Of course nothing too conservative as hardly any one can afford to wear a suit in Phoenix when it's still 100F out there. But nonetheless I need to wear formal attire which is best described as business casual. I am not exactly a suit girl but I do enjoy wearing those nice skirts and jackets at times. Apparently, I do have decent sense of dressing as these day I get complements from colleagues. Among all these complements I remember an incident in DC.

When I was interning in DC, my supervisor was flexible and did not require a very conservative attire at work. In DC, every one is well dressed. Many in suits, many in uniforms. Even while travelling in Metro, it' easy to see well dressed people. I was not exactly among them. I used to wear dress pants and a shirt but no pointy shoes as they would kill my feet. No make up or anything. Just get up, dress and then take metro was a normal routine.

But one day I decided to dress up a little. Instead of a ponytail, I kept my hair down, wore earrings, light make up and nice shoes. That day when I got off the train walked towards the office building, couple of people actually wished me "Good Morning" and a gentleman held the door for me(he was carrying coffee and yet he did)and smiled. I was surprised as it was my yet another day to work and this experience was definitely out of ordinary for me. Guess, it was the little make over. Well, what you wear has something to say about you. Of course, it did not happen every day as I immediately stopped wearing make up. Sleep was so much more enticing. But it was an interesting episode.

I think that's why they say "Dress for the position you want". I hope I am sending the right signals :)

Obama urges students to work hard, stay in school

2009-09-08T20:56:00.007-07:00

This was the speech that some idiots thought will turn into Socialists or whatever that means. But I think it was one of the best speeches to inspire students to take charge of their lives and be what they want to be. It does not matter who tells you to study and work hard. It is important to work hard to be someone who brings change. President did bring a change in this country by working hard. Let's all just work hard and achieve want to achieve. Yes We Can and We Will!

Go Mercury!

2009-08-13T13:40:00.007-07:00

Last Saturday was my friend B's birthday and for the birthday celebration we went for WNBA game Phoenix, Mercury Vs. Indiana, Fever. I have been following basketball for more than two years now but it was my first WNBA game. And it was just fantastic. The game itself was fast paced and very professional. But what I loved about the game was being in the stadium with all those cheering female fans. From 5 to 75, all age groups were present and equally vocal about the game. They were die hard fans of Mercury and perhaps much better than SUNS fans. They were cheering and shouting and dancing and enjoying themselves like anything.

I though the Mercury Hip Hop Squad was way much better than SUNS dancers. The overall experience was much more friendly and warm and informal than the one at SUNS game. Of course I love SUNS but the people who come for the games are big, rich guys who don't really like the camaraderie with the school kids like me. But at the Mercury this thing was completely opposite. There was long time Mercury supporters who were equally welcoming to the neophytes like me.

I loved the game though we lost. But the spirit was alive throghout. Any time I see women in sports I feel powerful myself :) Girl thing, I guess. I told V that from next year we are going to support Mercury as hard as we support SUNS. Go Mercury!

Twilight

2009-08-06T17:19:00.007-07:00

I just finished up reading Twilight. I was very curious about it as it has become a big book sensation. I am very proud of myself to finish it up in two days while working full time :)So here are some thoughts. The book is not bad but of course it's more directed towards teenagers. I did not like it that much. First of all I knew it was about a vampire and a human who fall in love. So that surprise was taken away. Secondly, it was too mushy mushy for a vampire story. I like my Vampires bloody and scary. I love Vampire stories and even own some of the classic vampire movies. I am huge fan of Bram Stroker's Dracula. I have read the book, listened to the audio book and have seen the movie couple of times. It's a legendary story with serious tone.
But Twilight is not bad at all. May be I will finish reading all the four books of the saga. May be they will get scary and bloody, the way I love my Vampires :P
But as of now, I think its worth trying. I am ready to watch movie. So I will get back with the movie review soon.

Confessions of a Wokaholic

2009-08-03T15:00:00.004-07:00

When you enjoy being busy all the time, it sucks when you don't have much to do some days. I am a self proclaimed workaholic. I enjoy the day when it's filled with reading, writing, home working , learning new softwares. As soon as one of these elements is missing, I go crazy. Some people get kicks from alcohol , I get kicks from working on at least 3 projects at the same time. I believe that when I get paid for working for 8 hours I need to have work for at least 10 hours. There is nothing being "Morally High" about it, it's just simple addiction to be busy ,creatively.
That's why I enjoy when school is is in session. Full time class load and research work keeps me quite occupied for the six months. I found that I am most productive when I am drowning in work. I not only perform well at professional life but I am happy and healthy in personal life. I find time to write blogs, read new novels, call family and friends, watch X files re-runs and try new cuisines. But all this kind of comes to a halt during vacation. Of course I enjoy vacations when they are about a week long. But there after I need to rush back to work.

I think this flows in blood. My father completed his law degree and another masters while working full time as an officer of the law. I have seen him coming home late and then studying for all those degrees. It always made me worship being productive and busy. I have many friends in school, who work full time and go to school full time and manage children at school. Kudos to them. It's lot of work but hey, they enjoy all this work.

Conclusion, give me more work :)

Tired of Summer!

2009-07-30T15:17:00.007-07:00

Phoenix summer is definitely hot, burning and tiring. Of course I don't like to admit it to my friends up north as they enjoy nice weather and great summer clothes. I do wear summer clothes but when there is heat warning, it's better to cover yourself up to avoid sun burns. Summer is an extremely lazy time to start anything new.Since the day we came back from Home, I have been trying to get onto on exercise routine. It worked for first two weeks but then I just became lazy and tired and gave up all the exercise. These days I come home from work and just lie on sofa and watch "The X files" back to back.

Most of my evenings are spent sleeping for two hours and then getting up realizing that it's already night. I have even stopped cooking regular dinner. Not that I enjoy cooking every day but eating out at this time is also boring. Even at 830 pm the temperature is about 100F. And of course lunch is outside most of the time. But I hate walking at noon when its burning out there.

Work is good and I like to write but as the day passes by, I start dozing off and they close the Starbucks in Downtown Campus at 3pm!!!! It's maddening especially when I am trying to get work done. So I don't work efficiently. In all I am ready to be done with Summer. The fall in Phoenix is beautiful. I love it. As for me, I need to stop cribbing and get back to work and try to hope for a good week end. Well, that's the only thing keeps me going these days :)

The King of Pop has Exited the Stage!

2009-07-01T10:05:00.004-07:00

MJ is dead! Someone told me at work and I thought he was joking. I was just looking forward to MJ's comeback in UK and even planned to go for a show when he performs in United States. But now it's going to be watching his videos on Youtube again and again. I still can't believe that he is no more. For fans like me and million more he was and the only King of Pop. My first experience to Western Music at the age of 8 was to listen to Thriller and then watching the Video of Thriller. I was so exited about the song that I tried to copy the moves (which was a very poor effort). My Father was a huge Jackson fan and along with Indian Classical, MJ's music was an integral part of my childhood.

Sometime in high school I read about his childhood and life and how he became a true Superstar. I was completely moved by his story and wanted to visit Neverland Ranch sometime in my life. Who knows if that's possible now!

Music has tremendous power to change people. As someone told to CNN MJ's music gave him a reason to be happy even with an empty stomach. I am sure there are thousands of stories like this people would like to share.

His music, lyrics, dance and performance was so magnificent that even if you are not a big fan of being in a crowd you would love to be a part of his crowd. I don't know a single person who has not listed to Thriller at least 100 times in his life. That's what we call Legacy. Even after watching many more pop stars, listening really good pop music and dancing to the tune of new hits; Jackson is the only person who makes me dance anytime and every time I listen to him.

Last year I was at a conference and we had a dance night. Some of us were enjoying being on the floor but not everyone was a part of it. But as soon as the DJ put on Thriller every single one from the room jumped to the dance floor. What else can I say about the magic of Jackson.

Jackson's life has been a tragedy. Numerous health issues, drub abuse and court cases. He has a very unhappy childhood. Someone said "He sacrificed his childhood to give us ours". How true!

Even if Michael is no longer with us, his creation will last forever. The music and the magic continues...Rest in Peace, Michael Jackson!

This can happen to ME

2009-05-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Long-Borrowed Library Book Will Be Hard to Forget Now

Billu Barber

2009-03-14T13:10:00.005-07:00

These days I run away from Hindi movies. Most of them are frivolous love sagas and the ostentatious display of love makes me neasus.But yesterday I watched Billu Barber and it was a relief from all the song and drama sequence. It's a simple story about a village barber and his childhood friend, now a Bollywood superstar. Of course there is song and dance sequence but as one of the characters if Bollywood actor, the sequence does not sound too irritating. If you know story of Krisha ani Sudama then you will find similarities in Billu's story. I love Irfan Khan. I think he is one of the most talented actors bollywood has seen recently. SRK is as usual charming. But the best part of the movie is dialogue. If you know typical Indian village then many of the scenes make more sense. There was as usual controversy about the name of the movie. Apparently, Barbers were offended by the name Billu Barber and so the word barber is omitted from the title song. What's wrong with people? But of course omitting barber does not affect the film anyways. Many of my friends did not like the movie. But I think it is quite entertaining. If you enjoy simplicity , Billu Barber is a must watch.

Hercule Poirot Marathon

2009-03-10T20:05:00.004-07:00

I am a self proclaimed mystery lover. After being tired of reading and working all day in a non fiction world, I need my quota of fun and fiction. Mystery is the best medicine to treat all my daily frustrations. And speaking of mystery who can forget the Belgian, Hercule Poirot. Agatha Christie created this peculiar detective that still captures mind of many mystery lovers. Of course he is a horizon away from Sherlock Holmes. Poirot's fairly odd personality and his methodical way of detection is simply entertaining. And David Suchet has portrayed this great detective with amazing grace as if he is Hercule Poirot. Poirot's attention to cleanliness, careful dressing style and the great mustache has kept me under spell all these years. I recently came across many Poirot episodes on You Tube. If you enjoy the mystery as much I do, I will encourage you to dive into You Tube. Since it's Spring break I am running episode marathons and just enjoying being surrounded by old British characters. It's been a while since I got hooked onto something. There are many more episodes to enjoy and so let me just go back to my marathon.

Barack Obama

2009-01-19T09:11:00.003-07:00

History will be made tomorrow as Barack Obama will be sworn in as the President of the United States of America. I find this more especially historic, as it is being celebrated after Martin Luther King Jr.' s birthday. The whole country is in different spirit. After being questioned and ridiculed by both opponents and party supporters, the man finally takes on the seat. I came across this interesting piece today. Just wanted to share with all.

Obama Sees His Race As Opportunity

Contacts

2009-01-12T19:24:00.003-07:00

Finally, I started wearing my contact lenses everyday. I just got them done when I was in India during summer. I have been using glasses since 11th grade and never thought about contacts then. My greatest fear was putting something ,foreign in my eye. My family has a history of weak eye sight and I am extremely scared when it comes to anything to do with vision. My sister has been using contacts for a long time now and she is younger to me. I never , kind of got the courage to put them in. This time back home, I realized that contacts will help me putting my power constant. My work and play revolve around reading. So it is impossible not read. But according to my Ophthalmologist, reading is making my power change a little bit. So I decided to be brave and made the contacts. It worked fine at home. After coming back, I put them away safely. But never dared to use them frequently. Last week I had an encouraging conversation with a favorite professor who uses contacts constantly and finds no difficulty in reading or working on computer. This encouraged me to wear them all the time and guess what it's not that difficult. In fact it's easy without glasses on my nose and best part is I get to use fancy goggles which I never could wear. Thank you professor, for one more great gift!!

Bush and His Personality!

2009-01-03T13:41:00.010-07:00

Analysis: Bush's personality shapes his legacy .

I came across the above article today. May be the man is not all that bad as we think he is!

We Wish You A Very Happy New Year!

2008-12-26T13:00:00.003-07:00

Lord of the Rings!

2008-12-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

Finally I started reading Lord of the Rings. I was thinking about it for a really long time and somehow I was a bit scared given the length of the book. Scared in the sense, will I able to finish it? I am an obsessed reader who would finish a book, once started reading. If I ever feel that I won't be finishing a book, I won't start it. I feel its a wrongdoing.

Anyways. I have been a huge , rabid fan of the movies since the day each of them was released. I have seen all the movies in theaters and then on DVD numerous times. I have seen both regular and extended editions and even done back to back LOTR runs. Now this is what I call, Obsession. But I think for me these movies and characters go beyond the magnificent productions. They are like watching Epics. I have read Ramayan and Mahabharat again and again and have followed the TV series about both Indian epics. LOTR is an epic. With all the different characters, movements and the of course the eternal conflict between good and bad.

Someone interestingly said that LOTR is based on a religious philosophy. I would say its based on philosophies of the world. How do you want live a life? "Even the smallest person can change the course of history", what an amazing thought. The lust for power and the fall of empires thereby, is wonderfully portrayed in the book. And if we take a look at the human history, nations and people have died to get control over the ultimate power.

I am totally in love with LOTR. Many of my friends find it a mere fantasy. For me it goes beyond fantasy. It is a reflection of human behavior and history. I am very excited to read the books now. Hope, everyone will read them and enjoy them as much I do.

Bush and Shoe

2008-12-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just could not help laughing and rolling on the ground!

...And its vacation!

2008-12-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

Finally my school work got over last Friday. I handed over two of my term papers and scurried hurriedly out of the 411 building. Could not wait to go home , crash and switch on the new Samsung 40". I was so tired at the end of the semester that I totally needed a long nap and guess what, I ended up sleeping for straight 12 hours. Phew!! Man, I was tired. This semester was particularly tiring for me. The course load was not unmanageable , but I think all the classes were intense. I had to read a lot every week. It was actually gratifying to go through all that work and hand over good work (according to me) at the end of the semester. Lets see ! Grades are not posted as yet.

I think I was more tired particularly this semester because of the feeling of getting out of school soon and being on the job market. Actually this should be an exciting moment , but given this economy and hiring freeze everywhere , I am really nervous about my prospects. A single thought of being idle at home, sends chills through my spine. I am almost a workaholic (I can be pretty lazy during breaks). But I need that challenge to do good and do more all the time. So what's going to happen after August , the thought is killing me. According to V , I am as always going crazy over unknown. But if you are a Type A person and working efficiently is your mantra, then such craziness is bound to happen. But I am taking some steps to see hows things will work for me and SPA faculty members and Alliance staff is more than supportive.

During the Winter break I would end up working for Alliance. The Light Rail starts running on 27th December. So it would be easy to go to downtown. As of now ,shuttle is my only preferred way of commuting and it will stop running during winters.

There is a winter class which I have enrolled in. So that would be some good amount of work. But the class starts towards the end of December. Till then I am free. I have lot of pending reading on my hands. I am just done with Tolstoy's biography written by a Marathi author. Clash of Civilizations is taking pace. Also looking forward to some of the Russell's essays on morality. Twilight and the similar are on the list.

Movies is a big deal for me all the time. I have Clint Eastwood festival planned. Let's see how that works. Hopefully Netflix has most of the movies I wish to watch.

I think this is a huge plan for one month. I am not sure how much of it will take place. But no harm in planning.

Weather is gorgeous. It's been raining for few days now. Cold and moist! Perfect weather before Christmas. Friends are coming over for graduation. So the weekend looks awesome. And yes ,forgot about Lion King at Gammage. Too many pebbles to throw in the pond.

Hope you too have a busy vacation and enjoy the festivities. Tempe looks amazing with the lights around the Mill Aveneue. I will post some pictures soon. Till then Adios Amigos!!

PM and citizens?????

2008-12-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

I recently came across an interesting article about the dissociation between school work and work experience. Well I am not too excited about it. The article gives an example of an ASU alumni and his dissatisfaction with the school's curriculum. Well I am not an education expert nor an expert in PM. However I know one thing that when you apply for fellowship that particularly deals with "How to become a good city manager", you learn how to become a good city manager. You can not expect to learn how to become a good policy analyst or evaluation expert. When you seek for being an evaluation expert you seek a school that makes you one.

I totally agree with the importance of PM in public sector. I find this field very interesting and so as an RA with AFI I have chosen my area of interest to be PM and value. This gives me an opportunity to read, know and see different approaches in PM. This is just a beginning. As I will progress in my professional area, I am sure I will be learning a lot more.

ASU has fellowship devoted for students who are interested in issues of PM. I know students who work with this fellowship because they are interested in the area of PM.
Secondly, I feel SPA is perhaps one of the few schools where you can even walk into the Director's office and discuss you concerns about program. As I understand school offers a reading and conference class if a student wishes to learn a particular subject that interests a students but is not offered as a class. Well in SPA you can definitely ask for an advice about anything and you get it.

My point is in SPA we have urban management focus, which I think goes hand in hand with being in city of Phoenix. I would personally love to see some course in PM or a module in PM. But it does not mean I can not learn it right now if I want to. After all graduate school is what you make of it.

I feel it's not very apprecitative to go on honking bad news about your Alma Mater when you land up in a position through your Alma Mater. Well to each his own. But I am confident that in SPA not a single concern goes unanswered when you know how to express it.

2008-11-30T19:40:00.001-07:00

One of the best parts of being in a school which has a program ranked 8th in US, is the famous professors to learn from. School of Public Affairs has some of the well known faculty members especially in the field of Urban Management, Public Finance and Leadership. These faculty members have been in the field for a long time and by long I mean really long even since 30 years. Last year's ASPA conference helped me understand how lucky I am to be in SPA and be with such great people.

Sometimes it's just fun to read the books and articles and cite writers from whom you take classes. It gets more interesting when you are presenting in a class. So it's like saying "As you mentioned in this article in 1989" or according to "Prof. So and So who is also the instructor for this class"...The feeling is just great to learn the material directly from the writer. How many times we get such a golden opportunity to discuss face to face with the writer of a great work.

Well these are just few things I love about SPA.

Valley Metro Experience

2008-11-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

My experience with many bureaucracies in US has been good as yet. Most of the time I found people courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. Recently I had to review "Case for Bureaucracy" for the administration theory class. The book I very interesting and though I did not agree with everything written I would strongly recommend this book for reading even if you don't need to write a book review. With the review on my mind I should talk about a small incident.

I am a huge supporter of public transport and totally find Valley metro bus service great. I have been boarding those buses for past two years and seldom had chance to complaint. But in last one month a particular route I regularly board, had some issues. Three consecutive times the bus did not show up at right time. I had to miss appointments as I ended up boarding the later bus. So when I did not catch the bus third time ,I really got upset and called Valley metro. The customer service was great. The person was patient and totally understood my concern. Actually I felt bad as I was complaining about a good service. But I had to let them know. The customer service agent filed a complaint on my behalf and got my information.

After two days I got a courtesy call from valley Metro that they were investigating my complaint and appreciate my input. What a wonderful follow up. Now all those say government does not work well, dear friends I definitely disagree. Government works and and works well. In fact you can get wonderful customer service at par with private companies. I am delighted with this experience. And very much looking forward to light rail in December.

The Change is in our hands!!

2008-11-03T20:11:00.001-07:00

Tabla- Pt Talwalkar II

2008-11-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Tabla - Pt. Talwalkar

2008-11-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got an opportunity to listen to Pt.Suresh Talwalkar live in ASU. Unfortunately I heard about it when the program was in half time. But nonetheless I could run to Murdock and enjoy some really needed Indian Classical Music treat. Pt. Talwalkar who recently celebrated his 60th Birthday is one of the famous Tabla players in India. He and his daughter I think are on USA tour. It was a mesmerising experience as for avid fan of Indian classical music, listening to Pt.Talwalkar was a wonderful journey back to memory lane into Sawai Gandharva Music Festival in Pune. Pt.Talwalkar is known as "Taal Yogi" due to his command over taal. His recitation was not mere technical but also very musical due to excellent vocal recitation. As Panditji mentioned "Tabla should never be a part of gimmicks and tricks. It should remain a true form of music." V has some video coverage for the program which I will upload soon. Until then you can YouTube Pandit Talwalkar to enjoy some treat to ears.

Happy Diwali

2008-10-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

I was waiting for the cold weather. Surprised?? Well me too. If you know me, I am a kind of person who feels nervous when the temperature drops below 70F. All my friends make fun of me all the time as for me even Phoenix is cold. But nonetheless I was waiting for the winter to begin. I could gladly take some time off from heat and sweat. Winter for me is Diwali. Festival of lights. Now with colder nights and Diwali just round the corner, I could not help missing home.

Diwali generally is celebrated in November. But this year according to Hindu calender it begins of October 25th. There are many stories attached to Diwali. The first day "Narak Chaturdashi" is about celebrating victory of good over evil. It's the day when Lord Krishna killed Narak Asura, and freed 16,000 women from his prison. Traditionally every one gets up before dawn takes a holy bath and prays. There are amazing treats during the four days of Diwali. Chakali, Ladoo,Chiwada, Anarase hmmmm...yummy. We would meet friends and family and share the joy of lights. My sister would put Rangoli in front of house and many diyas. We would hunt for the best colorful diyas days before Diwali.

The evening of the first day is "LaxmiPujan". Laxmi is the goddess of wealth. So we pray to her. We believe that if you pray to goddess this evening, you will never be short of money during the year. This ritual is particularly important for business people and you would find amazing fireworks in the evening.

The second day is BaliPratipada. It is the day to take blessings for the married couples. Husband would give gift to wife. Just thinking and understanding how important is to be together as a couple.

Last day is Bhaubeej. To celebrate love of brother and sister. Sister invites her brother/s over for lunch and they just spend together whole day.

I always thought Diwali is celebration of humanity. Just to know how important is to do good, love each other and think about how blessed we are with all the good things in our life. Lit a diya and think about all the good in the world. I am sure every culture has some way or the other to celebrate the goodness in the world. Festival is the time to meet the loved ones and just spend time together. Now a days with all the communication we are still lacking the human contact. I think just being together itself brings great happiness. I am planning to celebrate this Diwali with my friends and with family over the phone. May this festival bring light of happiness in you life...

Happy Diwali!!

Inadequate

2008-10-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Do you sometime feel that you are doing an inadequate job? At work at home at school? I am feeling this for a while now. The semester started with a big bang and I missed just 1 class in first week. It was not bad. Ia m doing my readings, homework , group work everything I should be doing. But I just feel that I am not up to the mark and I am not sweating enough. At work I am following my routine assignments and get them when as per the deadline. But still Ia m not happy. We moved to a new better place, V has a new job of his choice and everything is going well. But I just feel am not doing a good job anywhere. May be I should be more focused. V says I have this phobia all round the school year. So he is just ignoring me. With mid term on my hand I need to be better prepared. I hope I will be able to satisfy myself.

Intensives

2008-10-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Few things never change. Like my love for reading and the laziness of writing. It is for the same reason I have not written any post for almost a month. In the past month many things happened and most of them were very interesting. But me being a lazy soul these days carefully forgot to write about any of them. At last I shed my laziness and here comes some new topic. My recent liking of Intensive classes.

One of the interesting part of the MPA program is the number of intensive classes offered through out the semester. Let's define intensive class. It is a class which generally will be there for two or three week ends instead of 15 weeks of regular per week class. But for those 2/3 days the class will go on from 9-5 or 8-4. I was very hesitant initially before signing for the class. But I had to as the class I am taking as intensive is only offered as intensive. The three day week end of class is totally grilling. It's feels as if you are hogging over the knowledge for three days uninterrupted :)But the best part is once you are done withe two week ends , the in class work is done. it does not mean the work is over. You will keep completing take home assignment or projects through out the semester. But the weekend deal is good. Especially for working professionals. They just need to take 2 week ends off.The caveat is for someone like me who likes to be in class every week just to be on track , you have to be very careful not to lose the track. It's important that the work is updated ,group discussions happen and use of blackboard is frequent.

The class itself has many breaks in between. So don't think that you would be in the room for 8 hours. But overall it's a worth experience.

I would recommend an intensive if possible. It's a different learning experience. And trust me we are totally capable of learning a lot withing those six days. All you need a good lunch and hot coffee to go with. The best deal comes when the instructor gets of best bagels.

I am just done with one week end and loads of work is yet to be completed. I like it. A different experience. What's the point of being a student and missing this innovative learning experience :)

2008-09-05T16:35:00.001-07:00

After being away from Tempe for almost three months I returned finally, last Thursday. I missed Tempe ! It’s funny that I was visiting home in India but still thinking about going back to Tempe. As time passed, the new place which initially was just a university town started meaning more. I did not understand that initially but a prolonged absence from the neighborhood made me feel “Oh I miss you Tempe!”

I am staying in Arizona for last two years and now it is my home. I was glad to be away for the summer but at the same time kept thinking about how hot the summer is going to be this year. When I was in DC nearly 100% humidity hit me badly. I was telling my roommates that in AZ we just get roasted but we still are OK with the dry heat. I never knew that humidity would be bothering me a lot.

Even at home, when I was chatting with friends, I would talk a lot about how beautiful Arizona is! And many of my friends who think [ US = NY + CA ], this statement comes as a shock. “Are you kidding me? How can a desert be beautiful??” But for me who has been enjoying the stable weather, desert is beautiful. I never knew that Cacti bloom with beautiful flowers. Never knew the fun with almost 360 days of clear sun, no storms, no snow …Just bear the summer for 4 months and for the rest of year enjoy the gorgeous weather. This summer I got a chance to travel along the US and visit many interesting cities. At times I felt if I should move to another place. But soon I realized that I really love Tempe. The campus, the students, the happening Mill Avenue, the parties, the compact feel of the place…everything I just love being in that vibrant community. I am moving back to Tempe soon and I am really excited about it.

Hail Tempe!! Here I come…

Indian Rain

2008-08-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

It has been raining since 12:30 in the night. I was waiting for this since I came to Pune. Monsoon has finally returned to Maharashtra. In fact it has rained so heavily in many areas including Mumbai that public transportation got a set back. Dams are almost full and the water supply now seems to sufficient for the next year.

I love Indian monsoon..

Chai Garam

2008-07-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today I was looking for some coffee in the kitchen. I was almost about to make French Roast when I saw a box of Chai which I did not see before. So I picked the Chai and opened the lid of the brewer and guess what someone before me made the same Chai :) Guess today I was supposed to enjoy a hot cup of Chai.

Take Me Home

2008-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

It’s time to go home. This is the last week of my internship in DC. So I am wrapping up stuff which I need to get done before I leave. Writing a small report, uploading documents, updating web site and some more small assignments. 10 weeks was not a too little of time but they just flew with a speed of a lightening. I was lucky to find a decent apartment with good roommates in Foggy Bottom which is one of the vibrant parts of the town. Living neat GWU campus and minutes of walking to metro station was the best part of the stay.

In between I had to move along with my roomies as they found a new place nearby. Well the new place is sunny and bright and I am having a decent time there. I got to visit Georgetown many a times. Spent good money at the shopping malls, visited National Archives and US Capitol, two of the “Must Visit” destinations for me. Also got to see some movies, club and in general strolling on the beautiful roads of DC. In all the stay was productive and interesting.
Work was good and it did get a little bit monotonous in between but overall a good experience. Met good colleagues and a wonderful supervisor who is also arranging a small farewell party for me. I am moved by this gesture!

So far so good. V is coming to town on Thursday and then Saturday we are driving to NJ. And then next Monday I am flying home to India, Pune….To the place I belong :)

Almost heaven, west virginia

Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads

Words and music by bill danoff, taffy nivert and john denver

2008-07-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

If you are a student in SPA, one of the two important classes you would end up taking early in the program are 501 and 502. The research methods classes. 501 is the one which teaches you what is a research paper, what different approaches to research are, how to ask a question for research and how to write a paper. Well to tell the truth, even with a degree in Economics, I did not know anything about writing research paper. After taking 501, no when I think about horrible papers I wrote before, I feel like going back to time and redoing all the work. Now at least I know how to approach a problem. Of course as I will keep on working, my writing will be improved.

502 is the next in sequence which we can call Regression Analysis or if Introductory econometrics per se. In the first stage, we learn how to approach a problem and in the second stage we learn how to actually quantify what is measured.

Both the classes are rigorous and require lot of hard work. But I must say that those two are among the best classes I ever took. No matter what grade I got, I learnt so much that I now feel confident that I can write a small decent paper. Of course there are tons of more things and techniques to learn. But I enjoyed every single moment of my class. With excellent faculty members every single class came with new ideas, techniques and new questions. I read research papers which were written the way we were expected to write.

I know many of us have this inherent fear of “anything that looks like mathematics”. But trust me in both of these classes mathematics and statistics comes along as something that can be totally entertaining.

Field of social science is not easy to quantify. There is no way we can put value to human life and any aspect of it. But methods class gives a direction that helps to understand the importance of quantifying these “un-quantifiable” entities and how we can utilize this knowledge to attempt to solve different social issues.

I really hope everyone enjoys these classes and finds how analysis changes the approach towards solutions.

2008-07-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

Time passes by very quickly. My Internship started in May and before I thought about it, it’s almost time to leave. Just this week and next and I will be done. It has been a good experience. I got some insight to kind of work association does. Though my work was mostly regarding publication and compliance center; because I was also surrounded by people from International section, I had a chance to get a small glimpse of their work.

It was a great opportunity to understand what a great job local governments do. The publication, requesting for permissions, answering queries, compiling news articles, doing some HTML coding all was a great learning experience.

I think the experience matters! Though the internship will not be like a full time job , but the insider’s view of the work helps not only in future endeavors but also develops a great deal of respect for all who strive for perfection to make things happen in the organization.

2008-07-09T18:59:00.001-07:00

Today I got into an argument with V about "language". We were arguing about English. The point of argument was if English is a good language. I was of the opinion that English is the most straight forward, simple and professional language I have learnt. And V was saying that even with these qualities English need not be considered as "Interesting" language. He had some good points. He said that English is very simple ,easy to learn and of course a good language for communication. But it is not necessarily a good language for literary values. I am not sure of the literary values so I said that Shakespeare wrote in English and he is certainly one of the most well known and well respected authors in the world. However, according to V , Shakespeare gave some masterpieces because he was a genius. But English is not great because of that. In fact he gave some literary jewels to the world and English happens to be the language he used for it.

OK. The jist of the argument was that English has limitations when it comes to expressing some emotions, feelings or I should say that there are many other languages such as French, Italian, Spanish etc which make even most mundane expressions more poetic. Such as Senor is sweater than Mr. Of course I can not comment about this as the only foreign language I know is English. The rest are Indian languages.

Ladies and Gentlemen let your thoughts flow in this debate. I am an ardent supporter and a huge English lover. I think its the language of knowledge and wisdom.

What do you want to say about it?

I like Emraan Hashmi

2008-07-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

I like Emraan Hashmi. I know you are balked at this statement. You must be thinking what’s wrong with me. The girl who worships Kamal Hassan and does not miss Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks movies, what has suddenly gone wrong with her! But well with all due respect to everyone who hates Hashmi, I will say firmly that I like him.

This long week end I got to watch three of Emraan’s movies almost back to back. I started my movie run with Jannat (2008 hit) and ended with Aksar. I have to say I totally had great time. Even with few “Rated” scenes and weird dressing sense of all of the actors, the movies were entertaining.

I know Bhatt camp comes up with all these flicks where there is always a twist in tale and Hashmi is running behind the girl with all his appeal (!). But one thing which I admire about these movies is, they have no star actors and still grab most of the fame and lot of money. When Jodha-Akbar and SarkarRaj are struggling to save the face, Hashmi’s movies are becoming big hits of Bollywood. And mind you Hashmi is doing a better job by each film. Jannat was very interesting and even the new comer girl has done a good job. Music is good, script is cool and pace of the movie is super fast. I think what I liked about the movies was the “Pace”. There was not a single dull moment. Something was happening all the time. Even with all the routine song-dance sequence the thrill did not go down. I guess Bhatts very smart to introduce Hashmi and even with his “not so positive” image they are able to collect good money on their productions. I don’t know if the movies are good or even ok for most of the audience. But I have to say I would any time and every time Prefer Hashmi to Karan Johar. At least I know “Mera Paisa Wasool Hain!”

2008-07-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

Being in DC on Independence day was an interesting experience. My day started with 4th of July parade and ended with amazing fireworks on Lincoln memorial. Enjoy some of the fireworks...

2008-07-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

Working full time is no fun. Even if you are working with the best employer, good work, wonderful people and relaxed work environment; still you are bound to get tired. It’s not about what you don’t like it’s about that 9 to 5 routine you get your self into. Work gets monotonous and after a while it loses the magic it had. It’s inevitable that you will be starting your work week thinking about week end and especially if it’s a long week end then everyone around you asks you the same question all week “What’s for the week end?”

Americans live for work and I completely agree with this statement. We have few holidays, less breaks, less vacations and lot of work days. Technically being generation Y kid, I should be giving more preference to family over work. (I just read an interesting article about Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y people and their work priorities) But I love to work. I think America got into my skin quickly in this regard :)

Anyways the purpose of this post to crib about work and not to say how much I like it :) Well when I am in school I am the happiest person on the earth. Even with loads of assignment, GA work, classes I am very happy as I am busy with all those great new ideas. I can work all week long during school year as it’s always new work, new class, new home work, new project , new research. The new work is always exciting. Spending hours on internet, in library and in instructor’s cabin is totally fantastic as I learn something new constantly. So all the hard work and stress does not matter much. However, when I started working over the summer, there was great excitement in the beginning as I was learning new work, system, sources etc. But soon as I got used to it I became a little tired of the “same old same old” feeling. Work is still good but I just think the initial zeal has gone down. Now many things I can work on even with my eyes closed. I am glad that I could contribute to resources at work and was able to get some backlog done really quickly.

DC is great and I have much fun everyday but still the routine kind of makes me less enthusiastic. Of course the experience is going to be rewarding. Just that I fear, what will happen when I start full time job? Hmmm hope I would be able to keep my zeal even if I need to re charge myself now and then.

Well guys what do you think? DO you feel the same?

2008-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

I am blessed to be in the field of public service. This feeling has always been in there but now days I work in the field actually, I feel how lucky I am to be here.

Yesterday I went for a wonderful presentation about the Association’s program in Afghanistan. Along with Federal Agency my organization works in many countries with their local governments. As the Afghanistan program director mentioned, the aim is not to bring sweeping changes in those countries but just to be an addendum to the wheel to better governance. Afghanistan has been in the discussion for more than forty years now. The conflict, instability, continuous distraction and all these factors leading to unstable country and unstable economy. Many cities do not have the basic infrastructure with water , electricity, schools ,roads , waste management etc and association is working with localities to build these facilities.

The director mentioned about the safety issues there and even said that we had to withdraw from some cities due to the security concerns. We were unfortunate to lose 25 of local staff in one of the cities due to security situation. But still the on site staff is working with the same zeal, even if they need to wear heavy armors sometimes.

Then there was a story about a girl who could not go to school. Not because her parents did not let her but because she had to fetch water from river all day to keep enough water at home. Now with the water faucet in her home, she does not worry about drinking water. Now she goes to school. What a simple situation! But as we never face this problem, it’s hard to comprehend the gravity of these things. Association did not do any thing drastic. We just got a water faucet that brings safe drinking water. Very small change but a huge impact.

Then there was Women’s market which is built and operated by women. It’s a market where women can shop without a man being present. Not something radical but a project that made a difference.

I think, the satisfaction I get even thinking that am attached to an organization which is able to bring very small but important changes in the lives of many, makes me feel grateful. I am extremely satisfied with my decision to be in this field. I am truly blessed to be here.

2008-06-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today I started working on a new project. Being the professional association my organization publishes many reports, articles and books. The published material is not only for professional managers but also for elected officials. In fact we have been producing some handbook for elected officials which kind of "How to be a part of elected official profession?" I actually got an old handbook and I found it very interesting. I knew about lot of material which is out there for management professionals. In fact the whole MPA/MPP programs designed for a career in city management. But I was not aware of any such materials for elected officials.
The handbook was interesting and it was targeted towards policy making. If we wish to admit the 'politics-administration dichotomy' then policy making is the function of elected officials (al though these boundaries have changed and more overlapping than strictly dichotomous functions).

Anyway the point here is having a guide book for officials to learn about policy making process or how to efficiently design policies, how to conduct public meetings, how to be efficient decision makers etc is a very innovative idea. I never thought about being an elected official as a profession. I think it’s a great resource of elected officials and I am sure that many of them would be using it.

2008-06-18T14:00:00.001-07:00

Today, I completed one month in my current intern position. Time flies….It has been a very happening one month. Coming to DC, getting settled into apartment, getting to know about Association and my work, meeting new people. All has been very fast and interesting. I just don’t remember a single dull moment during this time and I hope this continue until the end.

Most of my work need me to work of computer and internet researching about new material, information, legislation about the preference areas. I have visited many governmental web sites and something I found common was not very robust websites. Of course I am talking about local governments as federal and state governments do have more robust and up to date websites. E government is one of the most talked and preached term these days. I had to chance to work on a small e government index project with Alliance which was based on Association's survey. Interestingly when I was working on that project I was surprised to think that why we need a question like “DO you have a web site?” and now I know the answer. Many smaller jurisdictions still need more resources to provide information about the interesting practices they are following.

Given the information age and the computer oriented world today, not even having a web site makes it difficult for someone who is not in the area and wants to contact the particular local government.I once tried to contact a jurisdiction and the email bounced back saying that the mailbox does not exist. I was taken aback. If I can’t contact the government for a small inquiry, how am I supposed to get my information going?My point is am not expecting a great Google website but all I want is simple and easy where I can just go and find all the information I need without calling 1800 number listed.

I don’t want to underestimate any part of work government and the agencies do. But I would just like to mention that “I need to know your great work and please give me access easily”.

The City of Power

2008-06-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to call DC as the “City of Power”. When I visit some place I just think about what names I would like to give them. For me New York is “Young and Vibrant”, San Francisco is “Truly International”, San Antonio “Beautiful” and DC is definitely is “Power”. I am sure many of you will agree with me. Being the capital of one of the world’s strongest country (both economically and politically) Dc has the charisma which just makes me love it more everyday.

When I first visited the city I just spent time in and around the mall. So it was more like a cultural experience for me. But after that I had opportunity to visit DC again and now am here for 10 weeks. The first day when I was coming to work, I could see all the professionals walking briskly on the roads. All those huge federal buildings and cops around capitol. Seeing the bureaus and institutes about which I read only in texts or online was an experience. Isn’t it wonderful to see what you cherish all the time?

May be DC is overwhelming for some but if you are into policy and administration, DC is the place you want to be. It’s the land of federal and many important non profits, professional. Research institutes. It has the speed of NY without the too much crowd of it.

I found an apartment in Foggy Bottom and Georgetown is just a walk away. I love to walk there and feel the magic of it whenever I can. I could not believe how lively the neighborhood was even at 12.30 on the night. No wonder young professionals hang around there.

I simply am loving this experience. I hope I would be able to enjoy this city for a long time in futur

2008-06-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

If you go to ASU School of Public Affairs, then Association is not a new name for you. SPA professors do recommend Association publications as their course materials. ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins is quite a favorite among SPA faculty. I think, SPA students are very much familiar by Association than some of their counterparts in other schools. Especially if you are interested in local government (which is an important concentration SPA) then Association are you household name. I was lucky to know about Association and also work on some of the projects while working with ‘Alliance for Innovation’.

Currently I am working on two projects. E-library which is an online resource for local government managers, students, professionals and researchers. We have recently introduced some more topics of interest in the library and keeping the library up to date is a big task. I have come across really good resources which are easy to read and understand. If you are a local government professional then getting resources which will help you do your job better is very important. As we all know how busy the professionals are. So focus is more on practical and easy to process materials. This does not mean that professionals don’t read or appreciate sophisticated research.

Another project I am working is the LGEAN. The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) is a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff. It is one of the many compliance centers EPA has. It’s interesting to keep members updated with latest news/ regulations/programs etc.

Most of my work is related to updating and as easy as it sounds, it is not. In fact time comes when I just get lost in tons of information. But finding related and useful information is the trick of the trade. Sometimes I do get to anser memeber queries and in that case sending research articles is very much fun.

I think it’s a small way to start my way towards some of these issues. I hope to know more about them in coming days.

2008-06-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like being at Association is the work environment here. Staff is friendly, team leaders are understanding and outfits is not too “Formal”. On my first day my supervisor told me that I don’t need to wear a suit everyday. Isn’t it cool? I still kept on having a suit as it was for the first time I had a suit J However, for me suit is no fun especially in the hot DC weather. So this suggestion was a great “Thank God!” moment.

I was very surprised to see many Indian staff on board. I knew about few of them but I did not expect so many. The great surprise came when I heard two of my colleagues speaking Hindi. But then I came to know Association's International department does have many international people and so listening to a language other than English is not a very uncommon thing.

Soon I got my responsibilities and it’s interesting to learn about the CMS, LGEAN and Smart Growth projects. I think this is a very valuable addition to my real life learning experience. Answering the local government queries about these issues actually makes me understand what exactly the “need” out there is. Until now my work in DC is coming up well and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Internship

2008-06-10T12:57:00.001-07:00

Internship is the most valuable experience for any degree program. Especially if you are in public administration or policy program and you don no that have public sector experience; internship I would say is mandatory. First, public sector works differently than private sector and it’s not sufficient to read about it in the text books but the real life experience is helpful in understanding the theory. Secondly, an internship is also helpful for a future job prospects with organization you did an internship with and also helps with the other organizations. Even if it’s an internship which is not exactly a job, you still get the experience where you get a little insight to the public sector or non profit work culture.

Well to land up with a good internship the key is start early. Many good organizations have application deadline as early as December. So it’s helpful to start looking for one since October. (At least I did) You have to decide what kind of work experience you are looking for. Does a specific organization attract you? (local government, federal government, PPIC, Cato Institute etc) or are you looking for particular skill to learn while working (budgeting, performance measurement, communications, survey research etc) Focusing on “what I want” will help to think and visit the websites of the organizations you are interested in.

Many of the famous research organizations have applications in a specific format. The prospective employers may ask you to write about a specific policy issue or submit research /policy analysis work along with resume and cover letter. Read the instructions carefully or you may end up not sending the complete application (You may send something later on but this may mean that you are not careful enough to begin with) Most of the employers will ask for 2 or 3 references. Depending upon your academic and professional background think about the appropriate references. If you applying for budgeting internship giving the reference from the budget class might be useful. Of course you need to request this in advance. My experience is all the SPA faculty members are more than helpful when a student is seeking an internship.

Not all internships are paid. If getting paid matters it’s advisable to look for certain internships. Unfortunately, in this case some good opportunities pass by.

Where to find them? SPAN is a great resource for these internship opportunities. Also you can contact the career services. If you have friends or family working in some particular place of interest do not hesitate to inquire about the opportunities there.

Once you receive the internship letter, you still have to do formalities such as registering to the appropriate course, getting paperwork done with HR in the organization etc. Especially if you are an international student, I would strongly suggest contacting International Students Office as soon as possible. International students need to apply for CPT and it’s helpful to get all the paperwork done at least 2/3 weeks before the internship start date. This may sound like a big buffer, but given the kind of paperwork needs to be submitted in different administrative offices, earlier the better. You will get all the support from SPA staff, so you do not have to worry about it at all. But the other units may not be as quick as SPA.
Once you are done with all these chores you are all set to land your new job and learn great many things about practice.

Immigration

2008-06-09T20:27:00.001-07:00

As a part of my work with Association I am compiling some resources about immigration and local government. Immigration has been a hot topic for quite a long time especially with the upcoming elections this topic has become one of the most debated issue among the candidates.
Generally when we discuss immigration we think about Federal legislation, panelists, senators and congressmen. However this is hot even for local and state governments. Last week I got an opportunity to listen to experts debate about economic impacts of immigration on low skilled native born workers. Of course some economist had already developed a model for this.
But today I came across some interesting research done by Heritage Foundation scholars. I think those interested should have a look at http://www.heritage.org/research/immigration/. The link gives access to articles, fact sheets about many aspects of the immigration debate. Definitely a worthwhile resource to tap.

GO SPA!

2008-03-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

A recent email from Dr.Denhardt to SPAN mentioned that "The U.S. News and World Report ranking of schools of public affairs was just released. I am pleased to report that two programs in the ASU School of Public Affairs were ranked in the top ten nationally. Our program in urban management was ranked sixth and our program in public administration was ranked eighth. In addition, our work in budgeting and financial management was ranked eighteenth. Each of these rankings represents our highest ever national rankings in these areas and all are substantially higher than our rankings five years ago. " I am really excited to be a part of this.

SPA has been doing some very interesting work to achieve the well deserved ranking in US news. Alliance for Innovation , Morrison Institute, Center for Urban Innovation contribute greatly to the research wing of SPA. Of course great faculty is the best part of the school. I am sure everyone will agree with me that we do have faculty at SPA, who are not only academicians but also wonderful people to take classes from and to work with.

I am sure that SPA will keep climbing the ladder every year. Well I will keep posting more interesting things about SPA and not to forget about ASPA conference which was a great opportunity given by SPA. More about ASPA conference in coming post.....

2008-03-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep and you study entire week end almost every week end...You are up due to heavy cold and post a blog at 530 in the morning.. Life preety much sucks for me at this point.

I recently read somewhere that there is some kind of 'Flu' wave going on in US mostly in some pockets. Guess I am the 'lucky one' in the pocket and have been trying to get rid of my cold for last two weeks. Unfortunately a medication helped my runny nose and sneezing problem but it has not affected the congestion problem.. (God this congestion... On road ,in my nose.. seems like a big policy issue!!!) Anyways so now tomorrow or should I say today morning at a decent time my first goal is to reach that all almighty doctor and at least get my nose fixed. (City of Phoenix is working on getting traffic fixed).

Sleep is precious to me and without it I am at my worst output level.I have to get it fixed as soon as possible so that I can enjoy ASPA this weekend.

Well enough with my cranky mood. I hope you guys are not facing this cold and cough problem. Eat healthy think better!

Can I really hate reading??

2008-02-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

You might be thinking what I am talking about...But as my good friend "complemented" I am really a voracious reader. Not a single day goes by when I don't have any interesting book to read. When I was working (which I did not really enjoy) my only lifesaver was "book". An eight hour day was based on forty minutes of reading during lunch and tea breaks. I used to work so that I could take breaks and read more. I read "Altas Shrugged" during my lunch time and never had better fun than that. My whole life for eight months was centered around those books (thanks to Tempe Public Library). Riding valley metro everyday was OK with a great reading in hand.

Even when I was educated unemployed for three months, books were the biggest asset for me. I was upset and not so happy about my situation when I read Paulo Coelho,Ayn Rand,APJ Abdul Kalam,O.Henry to name a few. All those fictions and non-fictions were a great source of support for me. (Mind you I am not undermining my greatest support V).

But unfortunately these days I am kind of shrugging when I listen word "new book". One important benefit of being a social science student is, to get to read about many social issues and theories and research which is equally informative and exciting. However, the other side is that you keep reading tons of pages and a time comes when you say out loud "stop reading". Especially when your research is also centred around reading from websites and other scholarly sources , you pitty your eyes. After all one can read only so much. Of course it does not mean that I don't like to work on the innovative work but just that after a day full of reading I am just too tired to read anything for fun.

The only other reading is Google news, washingtonpost.com and nytimes.com!! (Oh! I miss the days when I used to hold print edition of a newspaper).

On the first day of my class one professor asked what do you do for fun? I said "read" and instantly I realised that I read for work,for school and for fun...God help me, it's not surprising that I have glasses. I need to change my habit I guess. I am a totally lazy person when it comes to go out hiking or driving or any open door activity. I would rather sleep on couch with a big fat book like "Marriage and Morals" or a total fun one like "Bridget Jones' Diary" or a courtroom drama like "Pelican Brief" and then keep burning my eyes whole day. V keeps on saying I need to go out and enjoy some other things...Given my sudden nausea of reading , I think I need to listen to him.But until then how about "Three Musketeers"?

Welcome To my blog

2008-02-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Its been a while since I have written anything other than class notes , homework and class papers. I used to write a lot when I was doing my bachelor's degree. Even after entering grad school I kept writing to my parents and friends in India regularly. Guess as I grew older I lost the zeal to write and even the blog I started few years back went dead. But now I have this wonderful chance to talk about SPA, Phoenix and life of a graduate student , my favorite topics.

Well being in school with mid terms just around the corner I won't be posting too much this time but hey nonetheless I am writing again !!! (My mom would be so happy to know this...She is always bugging me to go keep writing something every day..A bit too much , I know)

Welcome to my blog !! Lets talk about everything and anything.....