Well, I'm at Stage 14 currently... Phew! So much for dreams...
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
All it takes is Visa Power !!
Came across this cartoon strip a few days ago. It's been doing the rounds for quite a while now, but is apt for anybody harboring dreams of studying in a US University and getting the all-so-important ticket to the land of dreams- the US Visa !! (As Jiggy says in Jaane Tu...- Sab ko nahin milta !!)
Monday, October 06, 2008
Making sense of you
I was watching this film- "In her Shoes", a few days ago. (Yeah yeah, I know, Cameron Diaz looks hot. Can we move on now!? :-P) Anyway, there's this one scene where Rose (Toni Collette) and Simon (Mark Feuerstein) are dining at a sushi joint and Simon asks Rose about the things that make sense of her as a person. Things without which her life wouldn't be complete.
That dialogue set my mind thinking. How often have we thought about the things that help us make sense of our life?! They are such ingrained parts of our lives that actually listing them out requires some thought; it's not something that is spontaneous.
Anyway, when I decided to do it, what was interesting was- the stuff I came up with was not what I'm necessarily the best at. (Of course, this is assuming that there are things I'm the best at, which is well...not quite true! ;-)) Anyway, these are things I just love deeply, regardless of the fact that there are people in the world who're a lot better than me at it. Infact, it is this very fact that drives me to be better at them. Which is why, in essence, they help me make sense of me!
Ok, now even I don't know if I've been able to express what I want to say correctly, so I'm just going to move on to this "list" I've been talking about for way too long...
1) Writing: Which is why I have a blog in the first place, so obviously tops my list. Again, I know I'm not the best writer. I've read blogs of so many random people who're absolutely brilliant at putting thoughts to words, it makes me jealous at times. But at the same time, I know I do possess moderate talent in this area (Oh, the modesty! :-D) And so, I hate it when I don't do a good job of a writing assignment. Like, when I can't complete a blogpost the way I wanted to, or when I can't edit a friend's SOP well enough, or when I write an article for a mag and it doesn't get published. When I was in school, I used to get disappointed if I didn't win an essay writing competition. Or when I got a 5.5 in AWM in my GRE, it was the greatest day of my life coz even though I had friends who'd got better scores than me, I'd topped them in the writing section. (This post was written then.)
2) Photography: Again, I am decently good in this area. But it actually bothers me when someone comments on how silly a photograph clicked by me turned out to be (even if it's true). Or when my roommate is able to capture a better frame than me. Or when I can't do that photography workshop I've been waiting for, just because the stupid photographer relocated his studio !! :-P
3) Films: Not going to say much about this, except that I don't mean "films" in the typical frivolous fashion imagined by most. The connection goes way deep and making it all come together is an ongoing quest.
4) When I was in COEP, it was Fervor- our department's annual techfest. Now while this may seem a stupid choice, my classmates and their friends know how much this event meant to me. It there's one single thing I'm proud of, in my engineering life- it's this. And though this is not a lifelong association, it gives me an amazing sort of happiness knowing that Fervor saw it's best and worst days when I was a part of it.
I guess that's it. That completes my list. It's a good exercise to practice actually; could even work as a blogtag. Question though- wouldn't it be so much better if the work we did found a place in this list!? Or is it stupid to even expect someone to say that operations research helps them make sense of their life?! Or, maybe that's not such a bad idea after all..
PS: If anyone does attempt this, do let me know what you came up with.. Would be interesting to know...
That dialogue set my mind thinking. How often have we thought about the things that help us make sense of our life?! They are such ingrained parts of our lives that actually listing them out requires some thought; it's not something that is spontaneous.
Anyway, when I decided to do it, what was interesting was- the stuff I came up with was not what I'm necessarily the best at. (Of course, this is assuming that there are things I'm the best at, which is well...not quite true! ;-)) Anyway, these are things I just love deeply, regardless of the fact that there are people in the world who're a lot better than me at it. Infact, it is this very fact that drives me to be better at them. Which is why, in essence, they help me make sense of me!
Ok, now even I don't know if I've been able to express what I want to say correctly, so I'm just going to move on to this "list" I've been talking about for way too long...
1) Writing: Which is why I have a blog in the first place, so obviously tops my list. Again, I know I'm not the best writer. I've read blogs of so many random people who're absolutely brilliant at putting thoughts to words, it makes me jealous at times. But at the same time, I know I do possess moderate talent in this area (Oh, the modesty! :-D) And so, I hate it when I don't do a good job of a writing assignment. Like, when I can't complete a blogpost the way I wanted to, or when I can't edit a friend's SOP well enough, or when I write an article for a mag and it doesn't get published. When I was in school, I used to get disappointed if I didn't win an essay writing competition. Or when I got a 5.5 in AWM in my GRE, it was the greatest day of my life coz even though I had friends who'd got better scores than me, I'd topped them in the writing section. (This post was written then.)
2) Photography: Again, I am decently good in this area. But it actually bothers me when someone comments on how silly a photograph clicked by me turned out to be (even if it's true). Or when my roommate is able to capture a better frame than me. Or when I can't do that photography workshop I've been waiting for, just because the stupid photographer relocated his studio !! :-P
3) Films: Not going to say much about this, except that I don't mean "films" in the typical frivolous fashion imagined by most. The connection goes way deep and making it all come together is an ongoing quest.
4) When I was in COEP, it was Fervor- our department's annual techfest. Now while this may seem a stupid choice, my classmates and their friends know how much this event meant to me. It there's one single thing I'm proud of, in my engineering life- it's this. And though this is not a lifelong association, it gives me an amazing sort of happiness knowing that Fervor saw it's best and worst days when I was a part of it.
I guess that's it. That completes my list. It's a good exercise to practice actually; could even work as a blogtag. Question though- wouldn't it be so much better if the work we did found a place in this list!? Or is it stupid to even expect someone to say that operations research helps them make sense of their life?! Or, maybe that's not such a bad idea after all..
PS: If anyone does attempt this, do let me know what you came up with.. Would be interesting to know...
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