Wandering through

Dear blog letter

2010-01-31T00:05:00.007-05:00

Subtext for the slight in(s)anity that is to follow:

How can an inanimate object, an object so abstract and without dimension make me feel so BAD??

Yes, this blog guilts me OUT! Not a day goes by that I don't think to myself 'I must write something on my blog'. And then I promptly tuck, shelf, brush that thought away....

And then sometimes well meaning friends (you know who you are) casually mention my blog and the guilt rises again- I imagine it lying there- unloved, empty, neglected and forgotten. So I just need to get this off my chest.

Dear Blog,

Happy New Year. How have you been? It's been a while since we talked and I don't want you to think it's because I've forgotten you. I've just been avoiding you a little.

Blog- I know you still exist. In face I miss you. We had some great times and this time last year was amazing- exciting and fun. All my friends loved you too. And yes, stuff has happened recently that I should tell you- I went to Brazil- to a whole another continent- but the fact is , I can't be bothered to tell you about it. If it makes you feel better, I don't even care about the pictures (gasp!).

Something's changed between us. I just need some space from you right now, ok? Stop looking at me like that...

The thing is, there's something else that's on my mind now. And to tell you the truth I'd much rather shelve and push you away than this other thing.

Sure, you're easy and with you I can be myself. You never make my head hurt- but that's not enough, blog! Yes, you're more fun but the other thing is serious. When things aren't going right it makes my head hurt BAD. It offers me a future, something substantial. Don't you want that for me?

Maybe I can have it all- eventually... who knows? Maybe this letter is what it's going to take to make me realize how much I value you. But right now, tonight, I need to go where my head is telling me, blog.

Right now I have to write this dissertation/damned conference paper/long-abandoned paper for publication. Yes, there's more than one competitor for my attention. I'm sorry.

So.....I hope you understand if I appear distant. No hard feelings, ok?

I'll be seeing you around.

yours,
lightlight

The tunes, they are changing...

2009-12-09T02:04:00.009-05:00

I'm currently listening to Jay Z's 2001 masterpiece of an album The Blueprint. I don't actually own the full album- I'm streaming it from a website called lala which allows me to listen to almost anything I want, for free. No wonder the record industry, like the newspaper one, is dying. Yet, it has never been easier to listen to a variety of music and discover new artists and sounds than today, just with a google search. If I wanted to listen to yemeni folk music (like my roommate sometimes does) I could do it in a second and if I wanted to listen to amateur covers of John Mayer (shoot me now) I could watch the fools on youtube do that too.

Consider the following:
10 years ago we didn't have Itunes, the ipod (or at least not everyone had one), streaming music, downloads of singles. When you wanted to hear a song you had to wait for it to come on the radio or TV or get a friend to burn it for you- now we just google it on youtube and its always there to send and share via a quick link copy-pasted. We still had music videos on MTV and when you wanted to buy an album- you got to go to a store and buy the whole thing. We didn't have the ability to carry around thousands of songs in a device the size of a cigarette pack.

It's incredible when you think about it, isn't it? Well, i'm not the only person doing this kind of pondering. As the decade draws to a close (less than 20 days people), a lot of this collective reflection is bound to happen and is already coming out. I've been listening to and reading some really interesting pieces on the transformation of music in the 'aughts' (what are we going to call the next decade? I plump for the 20-somethings). When you reflect on it the 'aughts' completely revolutionized how we listen to, buy, share and experience music (I'm talking mostly about pop music here).

NPR's All songs considered (a show that I like to make fun of for its pretentiousness and predictably obscure indie sensibility but that I neverthless respect for its erudition) did a great show on just this topic called the Decade in Music. Their focus was primarily on the impact of technology and the way our relationship to music has changed thanks to the internet and the ipod. Slate's Cultural Gabfest also did a segment on how music has changed- but their focus was more on the kind of musician that exemplifies the aughts. For them this is the era of women pop stars (Beyonce and Britney being the queens but also others such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift etc exemplify this trend). interestingly they say that even male stars like JT or Kanye fit with this feminization of music. These men are not making macho and MALE music - gone are big rock anthems or grungy sensibilities. JM of course typifies this, as fans and detractors alike would note.

The main themes that came out of it were as follows:

Technology - basically the ipod and itunes- (and with it the isolation of listening to music)- its true, I look forward to walking to school alone so I can listen to my ipod and sometimes when I run into someone I know a part of me feels a twinge of irritation at having to switch my ipod off. Sad but true. (I don't mean you of course, I mean other people.)

The revival of the single/the death of the album- Again holds true for me. The last album I bought was Battle Studies but before that I can't think of a full album that I actually bought. But then, I've always been into picking and choosing songs.

Downloading music versus buying it physically or even paying for it- I tend to pay for my music because I like supporting artists but hey, I'll cop to the occasional dicey download. This also has resulted in a dramatic change in what a best selling album means- Michael Jackson sold 40 million copies of Thriller whereas a No. 1 Album today would sell a couple of million cd's.

Fragmented tastes - it's never been easier to find music you like and share with a select group of people but this means there are fewer truly widely shared artists- hence the nostalgia for MJ earlier this year.

I would add to this one more thing- the instant availability of music and the expectation of instant access. No longer do you have to wait for an album to come out or make the trip to a store to buy it. It leaks even before you can avert your eyes (or ears if they can be averted). Songs are instantly available and what's more you can tell the artist- via twitter or something - just what you thought about it. What are we losing in the process of such instant access? Perhaps a sense of appreciation of what goes into the creation of music? The wonder of it all?

Also, as one of the discussion points said, and this fascinated me- you can indulge every nostalgic moment you have immediately. No songs are ever just lost or gone- they're on youtube. Hell, you can even use your phone to identify a snatch of a tune that's stuck in your head or playing in a grocery store. Kind of great, but also sort of sad...

Of course it's not inevitable - Heather was telling me that she still listens to albums, doesn't use her ipod in public etc. But I have a feeling she's a rarity. It is interesting to see how much of what I take utterly for granted now is really quite new and to think that even someone as comparatively low-tech as me does all these things in a blink of an eye. And it feels like I've always done it this way.

Mind-boggling.

What changes have you experienced when it comes to music? Do tell...

p.s. Later this month I will discuss and set up my best of the decade contest- so more musical musings are coming and there are sure to be embarrassing revelations like just how many times I have listened to that n'sync song!

The Diplomat's Daughter- the blog, not moi

2009-12-05T15:28:00.008-05:00

Before there was lightlight, there was the diplomat's daughter. That's right- my sister has decided to revive her blog three years (THREE years!!!) after she stopped writing it. When we last saw our heroine she was a culture-vulture type at JNU, remarking on the many oddities around her and wondering if she would ever get her transcripts. In the 3 years since she moved continents twice, got married (yup, married) and has that elusive thing I call a JOB (these awesome things that I want one day when I grow up). She spends her days educating and growing the bright young minds of tomorrow. So basically there's going to be a lot for her to write about...

This makes me happy for three reasons:

First, she's back. She always has thoughtful, if mildly intimidating, things to say.

Second, it gives me hope that someone can revive a blog 3 years after it died. 3 years!!! So fret not wandering through readers- there is hope yet.

Three, now there is more of us to read- if one of us is slacking, the other can pick up it up.

So wander over, won't you? But remember, always, where you came from.

p.s. inspired by my sister- I shall also work more on this blog. And there is plenty of exciting stuff to come in the next few weeks- for instance a trip to BRAZIL! woo hoo!! And the second attempt at baking and JM heart stealing glory...And of course copious entries and notes on the tremendous progress on my dissertation chapters. (what's that laughter I hear?)

Stay tuned friends- the party is just getting started....

The Discreet Charms of Indian Terrorism Redux

2009-12-01T12:43:00.003-05:00

Lets imagine you arrive late for a flight and it is too late to check in. What should your friends do?
Maybe pick you up from the airport?
Offer you a place to stay?
Help you catch the next flight?

This friend went a step further...

Wow- talk about a committed friend...please note my friends- I do not expect this kind of support from any of you. Ever.

Thanks

2009-11-25T20:39:00.008-05:00

So this is the time of year that all my American (and some Canadian) friends gather around lots of delicious food with family and friends to rest, relax and perhaps give thanks. I've been fortunate enough to be invited to people's houses every year- it's one example of one of the nicest things about America and Americans- their generosity towards (relative) strangers.

Last year was a bad thanksgiving- I stayed home and watched a live stream of the terrorist attacks that were happening in Bombay. It was hard to be thankful for anything when confronted with such terrible images and thoughts. This year, I shall go to a couple of events and partake of all the great food that thanksgiving brings and hang out with various friends. But it struck me that in all these years I've been here, I've never actually said thanks at any of these gatherings. Do people still actually do that?

So this evening, on the eve of thanksgiving, I say to myself- why not? Why not give a thanks or a semi-public shout out to all the things I'm grateful for this thanksgiving? Because things that you are thankful for can disappear, as is the case with the sandwich I blogged about so lovingly last year. Gone. Just like that. So in memory of that sublime sandwich, here- in no particular order are the things I'm thankful for this thanksgiving season.

First, before I get to the fun stuff, there's some serious thanking. I could skip it but it wouldn't be right...

1. I'm thankful for my family- my parents, my sister and her husband. First and foremost. No need to elaborate here but not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for them at some level.

2. I'm grateful for my friends and the people in my life (who are not my friends, haha). One of the nicest things about Syracuse, as chanbong and I were talking about yesterday, is the people here. I am surrounded by kind, intelligent, committed, thoughtful and surprisingly funny people- all engaged in an enterprise that is truly collective, when it so easily couldn't be. It is unusual, specially in notoriously competitive and isolated grad school, to have bonds and friendships like we do and it shouldn't be taken for granted. Special shout out to my room mates: they're awesome- as room mates of course but also as great friends. They do things like make stellar pesto and coffee and patiently teach me about music theory and football :)

3. I'm thankful for being reasonably well off (yes, I said that) and having the support system I do. Yes, I'm a poor grad student who's going to look for a job during a recession hit job market etc etc but I recognize my many privileges and rich experiences. Ok, so I can't make an impulse buy impulsively (Kindle anyone?) or take vacations abroad but is that really such a bad thing? Not at all!

4. Finally, this is weird... but I'm thankful for being able to see the funny side of things. In my head there resides a sarcastic person who's constantly coming up with dark little one liners that I chuckle at- whether I'm gushy or happy or miserably sad. (The voice is currently mocking and smirking at the mawkishness of this post but I'm ignoring it/her.)

ok, now on to the fun stuff...I'd like to publicly declare my thanks for:

my computer, cell-phone and ipod supposedly we lived simpler lives before these but really, I can't remember what I did before that...

Netflix/Jet Blue/Wegmans- the holy triumvirate of companies. All the others- learn from these 3 companies.

( this is commercial but hey, it's America- thanksgiving is after all followed by Black Friday)

This American Life- every week I am moved, enriched or emotionally touched in some deep way by this radio show. A radio show! In 2009! Who would have thought?
(This is a good time to just say thanks to whoever came up with the notion of a podcast. Thanks, have a slice of pumpkin pie on me.)

City Walks- I walked a 100+ blocks in New York last Tuesday. Why? Because I don't get to roam, really wander in Syracuse. Sure you can walk in a park ...but there's nothing compared to walking in a great, really alive city with the rush of people and experiences coming at you. So when I get an opportunity to do it, I do it. Thankfully.

John Mayer - if you're surprised by this, then I say "Welcome to my blog stranger!"

Blogs- I know how hard it is to find the motivation and inspiration to write a blog- it's a bit of a struggle, as you may have gathered if you've taken an interest in mine. Granted that most of the blogs I read have a readership of thousands of people but still, the ability to come up with interesting things to say every day or week is not to be underestimated. A blog, a really good blog, is a thing of beauty. It has the personal impact of reading someone's diary but then directs you to learn about things you would not have found on your own. It is snarky but also deep- it gives you an entertaining, informative and sometimes moving window into someone's life without the commitment to have to deal with them. Basically, the ideal meaningful relationship.

Days I don't brood/worry These are RARE but lovely.

Freedom- of course, freedom by itself is a good thing. I am thankful for being able to (to a large extent) travel, aspire for opportunities and live and learn with people regardless of my national, racial or gender characteristics. This is not so for everyone of course so it is something to be profoundly grateful for.I'm also happy to be free in other ways today. But right now I'm referring, more shallowly, to the application.

There's a lot more that comes to mind (like that sandwich) but that'll just make this a 'things I like' post and that's not what this is. This strange mix of the deep and the shallow are the things that I'm most thankful for tonight, as I am now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-10-13T12:22:00.001-04:00

When you're not in the mood to write, just show. After all actions speak louder than words right?

So- funniest thing I've seen for a while and I don't even know why

ah that Conan!

Free Hugs

2009-09-13T18:39:00.006-04:00

I spent part of yesterday at our annual neighborhood cultural fair. I've been a couple of times- the offerings are typically somewhat uneven but the palpable good will and warmth overcomes that easily. You always run into friends, buy a trinket or two and wander home in a pleasant state of mind.

I was wandering around (there's a lot of wandering on this blog) with my friends and taking in the fair- checking out small stalls selling identical looking beaded necklaces and African inspired bags etc., when I saw something heart warming. There in the midst of cliche-confirming sad looking clowns, bustling food vendors and an assortment of vaguely left leaning booths and kiosks (holistic healing! vegan soap! peace councils etc.) was a young guy - probably in his late teens- holding a sign that said 'free hugs'.

At first this struck me as the kind of typically well meaning but slightly hokey thing that just would happen at this festival. But as I watched the small vestige of my cynicism faded away. As the guy stood there in the middle of the street, with his cardboard sign aloft, people of all ages, shapes, colors approached him smiling. Some impulsively rushed into his arms, while others debated it in their heads before shyly going forward. Some looked smilingly self conscious or had to be goaded by friends, while others were hugging him almost the second they saw him. Some did a short half hug, joking about it even as they made contact and others held on for a tight long while. Older people were most forthcoming, while younger people- specially teenagers that were closest to the guys age were the most self conscious. Groups of teenage girls giggled and watched but were too shy (refreshingly shy) to approach.

Through it all the guy stood smiling- saying little. He looked peaceful and somehow wise despite his boyish face and unremarkable clothes.

People broke away and hurried or strolled along their way, laughing at the experience. Everyone looked uplifted in some sense - even the ones that had started ironically.

There was something transformative about the scene playing out- for all its hokeyness, or how contrived it could have been- the simple act of hugging someone, without any expectations, looked utterly warm.

I was transfixed by the sight- for reasons I can't fully understand and that my friends were also bewildered, or at least bemused, by. I don't even know why I'm writing about it now but I know I could have watched those small human interactions for hours. Suddenly these gestures that one only reads about in hipster stories made sense to me. It got me thinking about how these small gestures matter in our ever more isolated and compartmentalized existence. What would it be like to magnify that effect somehow- how could one translate the idea of 'free hugs' in some larger, meaningful sense? Sounds ridiculous even as I write it...

Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

All I'll say is that it was charming.

So, did I hug him?

No I didn't - (though I did commend him on his willingness to take on such an enterprise in swine flu season).

I'm not sure why I didn't go up for my free hug ...but he touched me all the same.

The coolest video clip you will see all year.

2009-09-10T18:36:00.008-04:00

Why you ask?

Because it has my dad in it. Simple.

I've already posted this (to much positive feedback) on facebook but then I thought it is only right that I also put it on my now much neglected and gasping for air blog...

Live Blogging Health Speech

2009-09-09T20:08:00.008-04:00

Believe it or not this was the main Obama speech of the week. Notwithstanding all the asinine nonsense about the school speech where, horror, President Obama told students to study hard and stay in school...this speech tonight is going to be the really critical one, perhaps one of his most critical speeches so far as President.

So what better thing to do than to resurrect the health of this blog, celebrate the somewhat returned health of my computer (though I'm keeping a close watch) and to renew a noble 'wandering through' tradition- live blogging!

A few caveats are in order:
1. I know very little about the health care debate. I know it is important and long over due and that I support Obama's plan (but the details of the plan itself are a little fuzzy in my head- and apparently in the heads of millions of others).
2. But I do know the American health care system is abysmal, inefficient, unbelievably misconceived and morally and fiscally bankrupt.
3. I'm not terribly interested in the debate itself- again, it's important but I don't get too excited about watching it
4. So this may be short, uninformed and poor in analysis and insight. In other words - lots of value added. Excited?

And away we go:

8:11 The pomp and ceremony that preceeds these speeches is a lot of fun to watch- I like the mingling beforehand and I wonder 'how aware are they of people watching? Is this why the smiles are extra large?"
And we have George Stephanopolous on too- what's not to like?

Random thought: Everything in America is ultimately a spectator sport- they could be cheering at the superbowl for all we know.

8: 15 Obama always looks very presidential. Great starting note- goes straight into it and reminds us of how far we've come even though there is still lots to go

8:19 First great line- "I am determined to be the last". I like the idea of talking about the length of this whole effort. This is not Obama's hobby horse- its an idea way past its time.

8: 21 Absolutely smart to appeal to America's pride "We are the only advanced democacy" to have such a shitty system. This is a such a winning discourse in America.

8: 28 I'm usually skeptical of the narrative style of telling disconnected persoanl stories - it seems to be a favored tactic in American speech making but when it comes to health care it really works- because these stories are really horrific. Shameful.

8: 29 So far he is hitting all the right notes- balanced but sharply pointing out the destructiveness and vindictiveness of the partisan nature of this debate. And now to the meat of it- the plan...

8: 30 Clear outlining of the plan- of course the usual nay sayers (read the fanatical right) will say that he was vague, no matter what he does- even if he had a power point behind him combined with interpretive dancers . But, unequivocally- he is not vague- he is clearly outlining the plan. Even I get it.

8: 34 Smart nod to McCain. And we see the old thumbs up (Wow McCain thumbs up, me live blogging = total election deja vu)

8: 36 Notes of dissoannce- people opening laughing at the line 'some details need to be ironed out'. To them I ask 'what's so funny?' Plans like these do need details ironed out. And has anyone else had a clearer plan so far? I think not.

And what was that shouting, I hear? Indian parliament flashback - warms the cockles of my heart :)

8: 41 Ummm Barack, you're asking for open mindedness and balance from extreme ideologues. That's harder than getting this plan passed.

8: 44 YES! 'Won't back down'- those are the words and that is the tone that needs to be struck. Finally some combativeness- I'm glad he's reminding us of why this deficit happened in the first place.

8: 46 I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to the deficit- that was needed to be said. Realistic? No but it needs to be said.

8: 50 So far I'm impressed by four themes and tactics:
1. Reminding us how long and overdue this struggle has been and how he is one in a long line of people who have tried to tackle this.
2. Appealing to what I see as classical tropes in American political discourse- individual choice and interest (we don't want to pay for other irresponsible people, you keep your choice etc.) and also the idea that this is unacceptable in America
3. A continual effort at making the plan and its various dimensions clear- he's explaining it to us like we're 5 year olds and it works.
4. He's meshing vintage Obama (balance, open mind, listening to views etc. ) with a new, determined, no-nonsense tough Obama...much needed. I liked his style- clear, succint, blunt and utterly balanced.

9:00 Perfect note to end on- Ted Kennedy, the ultimate way to get over the partisanship. You would have to be utterly churlish to boo that and he ends with the moral high ground firmly in his grasp.
Great move. Great speech.

9: 03 "I still believe that acrimony can be replaced by civility" hmmm...I don't but I'd like to.

Never knew a speech on health care reform could be this riveting and passionate- that's Obama for you. Too bad it's hardly going to shut the ideologues up at all- they'll carry on like the speech never happened.

Now back to the circus...

Excuse no. 56 for not blogging

2009-09-01T15:47:00.002-04:00

This one is valid.

My laptop is in the store (a store that goes by the name of a fruit that if you eat every day is supposed to keep the doctor away) and has been there for more than a week. I was supposed to get it back yesterday but of course, this being me, it is still in the queue for repair and has not even been looked at yet.

I'm most disappointed, disgruntled and dismayed (add any other 'dis' word you can think of).

How am I typing this you ask? Well of course I have a school computer but it would be most unprofessional of me to be blogging from school, wouldn't it?

So herewith a poem for my missing mac:

Oh my lovely white, shiny mac
you allow me my problems to grapple.
I desperately want you back
But you're still in the clutches of apple.

I promise I'll treat you so well,
let you rest when you're whiny and tired
take good care of your delicate shell
and never send you to get needlessly rewired.

N. Korea and Aretha Franklin

2009-08-10T09:53:00.004-04:00

Many of the IR/ foreign policy blogs have commented on Henry Kissinger's criticisms of Bill Clinton's visit to N. Korea last week which resulted in the release of two American journalists who had strayed into N. Korean territory. Kissinger argues that by sending a high profile (and Bill Clinton is definitely as high profile as it gets, even out of power) figure who just happens to be the husband of the Secretary of State - the US gave Pyongyang just what it wanted- a photo op and some much desired legitimacy.

Two reactions to this:

First, what's interesting to me here is precisely the question of what N. Korea, or more specifically Kim Jong Il wants in the first place. It's too easy and too rote to view N. Korea's behavior within two lenses- either within the deterrence/proliferation lens or the 'mad man' lens. Sure, there are elements of both but what this episode, just the latest in a series of otherwide baffling provocations by N. Korea, signifies is ultimately legitimacy and respect that a state like N. Korea desires. I doubt that N. Korea seriously sees itself as a challenger to the US geo-strategically, what it does want is the perception of being a powerful player that the US has to take seriously and contend with - more for domestic consumption than anything else. Kissinger is right that the photo op with Clinton is perhaps the biggest thing Kim Jong Il got out of the visit but if it hadn't been this one - it would have been some other piece of propoganda showing the US journalists kow towing to N. Korea.

As someone personally fascinated by the fantastic oddness of the N. Korean regime, I have read the few rare accounts of what it is like to visit and travel in the country. The most dominant image that emerges is just how concerned the N. Korean government is with image itself. The cult of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung is reinforced on a constant, larger than life level. And it appears to be targeted mostly for domestic consumption to a people already battered and indoctrinated into the cult.

The quest for respect as Aretha Franklin knows, is powerful. It's up the US to use this realization wisely and harness it to get N. Korea to behave reasonably and minimally with regard to non-proliferation.

Second, the episode underlines one quite simple thing- Bill Clinton's still potent and effective charisma. I know that this is likely to be an unpopular opinion but I think it would be a serious waste of sheer talent and built up political capital if Bill Clinton were to be wasted by the White House. It's a pity that the domestic discourse about 'too many heads' in the White House or the personal rivalry between the Clintons or between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were to minimize his potential role as a special envoy. Already, the Kissinger piece as well as other commentary in the US is focusing on whether this overshadows the Secretary of State or even the President, which is ridiculous and more a function of US media preoccupations than anything else. Clinton has demonstrated his ability to be restrained, follow guidelines and has not actively tried to hog the limelight in the aftermath of this success. And as far as I'm concerned, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as his appeal and popularity in the rest of the world goes. Again, using him wisely can only be a positive thing...

Update: Although as this video shows- Hilary might not agree.

(the return of the) D-List

2009-08-02T21:34:00.009-04:00

The only way to get out of a slump (lets just go ahead and admit it) is to try to snap out of it. So here's the easiest kind of post for me to do. Since the last D-list (back in May)- books have been read, movies watched and meals eaten so there should be plenty of fodder for this post. So lets plunge right into it, shall we?

Best Book : A slump also means that I haven't done a lot of reading for pleasure- despite it being summer. I did however do some re-reading and some reading of work related books. In never-read-before books, I finally read Upamanyu Chatterjee's English, August. English, August was one of the first of the wave of Indian writing in English that sprang up in the 1990's and I've always intended to read it but never got around to it. The book follows the lethargic, pot-filled and utterly sluggish life of Agastya Sen, in his first posting as an IAS officer. Madna, the town he gets posted to, is the stuff of modern Indian nightmares- a crumbling, unberably hot, dusty, dilapitated and provincial dump. For a Delhi-boy like Agastya, it's like being on another planet. Agastya is eminently unlikeable- superior, snobbish, lazy, cynical and a pathaological liar. Despite that and the somewhat overdone scatological references, I liked the authenticity of the book. The repetition of mindless interactions with prominent locals, the pitch perfect Indian officialese and Agastya's hours staring at the ceiling of his hot room all rang comically and regrettably true. And I think the book is still frighteningly relevant, two decades after it was first published.

Best Academic Article: This one is easy. Timothy Pachirat's “The Political in Political Ethnography: Reflections from an Industrialized Slaughterhouse on Perspective, Power, and sight." It's the kind of article, and the kind of work that can change how you view the world. Pachirat has written the kind of dissertation that us, mere mortals can only aspire to- a clever take on important questions, theoretically rich and with deep insights. It also made me give up meat.

Best Song: My best song is actually more a best 'Musical moment': Loyal readers of my blog might recall a certain fondness I have for the musician John Mayer. What? You don't remember? ...Oh well, just take my word on it. Imagine the unbridled joy of the following scenario: it's late at night and you log into twitter briefly just to see what your friends/celebs are up to. And you see a tweet from the above mentioned favorite musician alerting you to an impromptu radio show he's doing- from his apartment! Just sitting in his apartment and playing music from his laptop to thousand of fans interspersed with commentary and stories and trademark witticisms. And the music- demos, forgotten gems, oldies I never would have known or heard, rough cuts of unreleased songs from all sorts of interesting artists. All this was incredibly organic and live and unmediated- a great twitter moment!

Best Blog: In view of the entry above, let me say that finally after a few months of being on twitter and hardly using it- I'm slooowly warming to the concept of micro-blogging. I still think it can be very banal but there is something cool about having access to unique perspectives, ideas, experiences and thoughts from people who have important things to say in their domains - in a manageable and often, witty form.

Best Movie: I finally watched Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and was really impressed by the talent of Abhay Deol. He actually can act and he picks movies that are intelligent, with strong scripts and meaningful plot. No mean feat in Bollywood.

Best Podcast: My roommate ~~(name yet to be decided but lets use Beck-man as a placeholder)~~ Captain Picard, who is quite well versed with podcasts, introduced me to 3 really cool different podcasts this summer: First his former professor's podcast on IR and methods (what I've heard so far is really riveting and dynamically presented- rare), the big ideas podcast - lectures on a wide variety of subjects by leaders in the field and Dan Savage's Savage love- 'enlightening' to say the least.

Best Discovery: 1. Mystery theatre night at the Spaghetti Warehouse. Food was totally but I LOVE interactive theatre 2. My new neighborhood. There's a park. And a co-op. And squirrels in the roof. 3. This American Life- it takes a special show to take almost any subject and make it moving, interesting and profound.

Worst Discovery: Squirrels in the roof. Squirrels rattling in the roof. Squirrels on the porch. They are no longer cute- they are the enemy.

Best Meal: An excellent, authentic Korean feast a couple of days ago at Chorong house, a small and simple place run out of a house right near campus. Nothing like fresh kimbap and hae mul pahjong...

Best Moments: Surviving the institute, surviving the move, surviving the fourth of july, watching the epic wimbledon mens final, hanging out with my very cool and fun friends, two of whom happen to be my new roommates (they're great :) ), the cool, rainy summer, watching my goddaughter turn one and change so quickly from week to week!

Worst moments: Dealing with my summer rash and then relatedly, getting ripped off by a quack who poses as a homeopath- suffice it to say there will be extremely bad word of mouth about this particular doctor whose name is very similar to a salad named after a famous NYC hotel.

Challenges of the Month: Four S's sum it up- Sun and Skin, Squirrels and sadly, the slump.

As I write this, I realize this summer has been about catching up- catching my breath after the institute ended and the move, catching up with friends back for the summer,catching up with news and culture that had slipped me by and catching up with what I'm supposed to do. Now I just have to catch up with the summer and all will be set. At least now you're all caught up with the D-list.

happy

2009-07-26T16:34:00.005-04:00

It has been a year since I started blogging and yes, I've recently wondered if this blog would live only one year and then die an inglorious death. But I have some ideas in the pipeline and finally- after having not much inclination (but plenty of time)- its time to slowly sputter back to life.

There's lots to report - a new house, a new year, the summer in the 'cuse, new books, movies and happenings to ponder aloud etc.

Until those ideas get fleshed out though here is something I had to share- its rapidly doing the rounds on youtube but there's no harm in sharing again...

It's so utterly joyous and charming - for all you cynics there (me being the first amongst you), I defy you not to smile...

More soon...

Remember the Time? Michael Jackson (1958- 2009)

2009-06-25T22:50:00.029-04:00

As my roommate Machete and I settle down to listen together tonight to the Michael Jackson greatest hits CD, I think it's only fitting to document my devotion (there's no other word for it really) for the departed king of pop when I was a kid.

For before there was JM, for me there was only MJ. Indeed, from the ages of 12 to 14 (ok, 15) , nobody rocked my world more than Michael Jackson (well there was Steffi Graf but that's another post some time). Confession time: my room used to be dominated by two huge MJ posters ( both of which looking back were undeniably creepy but which were among my most prized possessions in the world). I know exactly who J. Randy Tarraborelli is every time he is quoted in any MJ related article because I owned that book, I recorded every video on VHS tapes that later mysteriously disappeared...In short I was somewhat of a fan. In subsequent years of course I grew disillusioned and it was no longer socially or musically cool to listen to Michael Jackson. The 'hand holding' and what not with kids didn't help, MJ steadily became more wacko than jacko and that was that- apart from the occasional listen to early MJ. But tonight it's time to remember the glory days of MJ ...

Thus, here in no particular order are my top MJ related memories.

1. Getting up at an ungodly hour to watch MJ's interview with Oprah in 1992 or 3 - I remember my dad woke up and watched the whole thing with me even though he didn't like MJ which I think is the sweetest part of the story. :)
2. Excitedly running home from the video store with the Remember the Time (Making of) video and calling my best friend at the time to come over and watch- we watched it for hours on repeat
3. Being blown away with the face morphing end sequence in Black or White and terrified of the werewolf changing scene in thriller.
4. Really, truly believing in the lyrics to 'Man in the Mirror' - with an earnestness I can't believe I possessed.
ETA: Still a great song, btw
5. Really truly refusing to believe Michael would ever hurt a child because he 'loves children'. Hmmmm...
6. My mom's horrified face when she saw some video of girls fainting during a concert. Her exact words "It's a cult!"
7. Listening to the dangerous album on my walkman every night in the dark for a few months
8. Indoctrinating my sister into the ways of MJ
9. MTV awards- "And they thought it wouldn't last"

I'll end with two snippets that capture MJ the performer who at his peak could be electrifying on stage- first, the Motown 25 performance of Billie Jean that catapulted MJ from the Jackson 5 to becoming the king of pop.

And the moonwalk, in all it's glory and courtesy slate, a lovely video of its influence on all of us

MJ, hope that you're finally at peace. Thanks for the music and for taking me back to my childhood!

#Neda*

2009-06-21T13:58:00.007-04:00

Yesterday I, along with thousands of other people, watched a young girl die before my very eyes. I'm talking about the footage of a young girl in Iran, shot by a Basij as she watched the protests on the streets. We don't know much about her - she has been given the name 'Neda' or 'the voice'. The footage is very graphic- you can find it very easily on the internet and there are hundreds of links to it on facebook and twitter so I'm not going to embed it here.

Within seconds you see people trying to revive her, while she is dimly aware of the camera and then just like that- life goes from her eyes and blood starts seeping from her eyes, mouth and ears, joining the pool of blood she is lying in. It is very disturbing - not least because of the surreal realization that you are watching the life snuffed out of someone. This is probably the first person I have seen die and as I thought about it, it began to trouble me for a host of reasons other than the obvious ones.

On one hand this video has galvanized people and has given a real, concrete image to the brutality of what the Iranian government is doing to its own people. Despite it's best efforts, the government cannot stem the steady flow of words and images coming from the people in Iran. And through our various global connections, these words now can spread faster than any government can anticipate. This has its value and is no doubt important- many Iranians are exhorting people to publicize and spread such stories and images.

But at the same time, I'm deeply disturbed by the whole phenomenon of connectedness that the Neda video symbolizes. This connectedness is a double edged sword. Why should it be so easy for us to watch someone die before our eyes? Will Neda be forever reduced to a 'trending topic', as she currently is on twitter? Will we watch these images of inhuman brutality, express our anguish for a few minutes, maybe even a day and then go on with making lunch or doing the laundry? Like I did and perhaps had to. There is something wrong about that to me and yet what is the alternative?

I'm struck with the parallels to the Tiananmmen Square massacre which we recently observed the 20th anniversary for. The Neda of that uprising was a young man, called the 'Tank man' who we all remember bravely standing up to the force of Chinese tanks. The immediate ending to that story was much more hopeful though many believe that tank man was executed shortly after- but I think the reason that image stays with us is that it was so rare and so difficult to get that kind of insight into an event like that. Now insight, commentary and images are ubiquitous. And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I think this connectedness both immunizes us and lulls us into thinking that we are participating and 'making a difference' in this uprising. Are we? I'm at a loss for words as to what the alternative is. Would I prefer for us not to be able to see and share these images? am I advocating no action at all? I think those alternatives are surely worse but there is something about the celebration of our new global 'connectedness' as a force for social good that leaves me ambivalent at best and frightened at worst.

The image of Neda's last moments on earth is haunting but also troubling for all the ethical questions it raises. I've seen over the last hours many promises on twitter, facebooks and blogs not to forget her- I can only hope this is true and that not only Neda's murder but also the indignity of it being broadcast all over the world is not in vain.

RIP Neda.

*#Neda refers to the key word that people on twitter are using to keep her death a twitter 'trending topic'.

'Inspired': The Anu Malik-ization of Election Ads

2009-05-04T23:44:00.010-04:00

Back in November after the U.S. elections were over, I was leafing through an India Today with Barack Obama on the cover when one of our department's staff remarked wonderingly "Wow...look at that- Obama on the cover of India Today." Mixed with the optimism and relief we all felt in early November (remember that?) there was bemusement in her voice: indeed, the persona of the US President went almost overnight from being the object of derision and ridicule to one that people around the world celebrate and even emulate...suddenly American politics is glamorous again. Move over Carla Bruni, Michelle is here.

Of course, the election of the US President is a pretty big deal in general and not just because of the (admittedly rare) Obama factor. US politics is so damned entertaining. Think about the last elections-the drama of Hilary vs. Obama, the Palin spectacle, the showmanship of the conventions, the side characters like Ron Paul or Joe the plumber. There were holograms on election night. I rest my case!

So maybe it's only natural that some of this glitz transfers to the ongoing elections in India (insert obligatory line about worlds largest democracy and world's most powerful one). While, there are no Obama's on the horizon- I've been interested and amused to see the message of 'get the vote out' lifted almost directly from the US election discourse. In a country where 'chalta hai' (a combination of 'whatever' and 'let it be'- what do you think of that translation, fellow Hindi speakers?) is a way of life, there's a new, discernibly pious sense of duty evident amongst the 'glitterati' and upper classes (who tend to be less electorally active than poor, rural citizens). Getting 'inked' on election day is cool in a way that I don't recall it being before. I can't help thinking that the language of 'rock the vote' and 'make a difference' is familiar but somehow inorganic. My nagging intuition got confirmed when I saw this:

Lets see...

Full of hot stars? check
Slickly shot? check
well meaning? check
earnest? check

slightly holier than thou and annoying? check.

WHERE have I seen this before? Hmmm...

I KNEW it!!! There's less swearing in the Indian one, which is also mercifully shorter but there it is...continuing a fine tradition of bollywood copying stuff it likes with its own je ne sais qoui. Ah, the triumph of American packaging- they make even Indian elections sexy.

Now lets just find our Obama...

Mega Make Up D-List

2009-05-02T23:48:00.023-04:00

It's been a while since I did a good D-List. I have 3 months to catch up on actually which is a tall order. Instead of trying to cram in 3 months worth of favs, I'm just going to pretend that I never stopped blogging and that that little writers block never happened at all...which I think is also good advice for the stuck dissertator (something we know about all too well)
So....here is the mega make-up D List:

Best Book: Three books vie for top honours here (this is fair because it's 3 months worth of posting I'm doing here, right?) The first is the intelligent and bitterly funny 'A case of Exploding Mangoes' by Hanif Mohammed. The second is 'A supposedly fun thing I'll never do again' by David Foster Wallace. And the third is 'Sacred Games',
Vikram Chandra's epic book about Bombay. This is roughly the order I read the books in. I read the books straight through (no mean feat for 'Sacred Games' which is a 1000 pages long) and each time, felt transported to different worlds. A case of exploding mangoes gave me an insight into the ultimate 'other' for many Indians- Pakistan- at once so familiar and so different, so close and yet so far. There's something about Pakistan's politics and leaders that fascinates me- they're so charismatic and colorful (whether the Bhutto's or Musharraf)- devious but dashingly so. General Zia was in power before my time so it was hilarious and educative to read this fictional portrait of the man- what could be more compelling than the story of his mysterious death and why it might have happened in the larger context of the mysteries of Pakistani politics? Mohammed has a really unpretentious style and authentic voice- actually all of them do- they're unapologetic about their styles and do not dumb it down for lazy readers. Sacred Games is about the parallel and intertwined lives of Bombay Cops and the dons they deal with. Like 'A case of..' it also is based on real life figures - Arun Gawli (the Bombay don) amongst others. Before reading this book, I had no idea how much the 'underworld' actively runs Bombay. Reading about the symbiotic lives of these people (and so many other characters - like the rising Bollywood star (modeled on Aishwarya?), slum dwellers, prostitutes, businessmen, random criminals etc.) took me into another, incredibly tough, gritty yet ALIVE world. I love that Chandra does not make he obvious allowances for foreign readers- he writes the way he wants to write, following it is up to the reader. Finally, the middle book is a selection of essays by the late, great David Foster Wallace, who I really got into really after his death last year. I liked Infinite Jest well enough but it's his non-fiction that really moves me. His essay on being on a cruise liner is just brilliant in its observation of social manners, the language and culture of American tourism and the class hierarchies and insecurities therein. I only wish I could read him without constantly thinking of how much despair lay behind someone so talented, funny, keenly observant, full of empathy for human beings (and animals) and truly intelligent. I'm sad that I'm constantly reading with his suicide in mind and interpreting his words with that knowledge in mind, much like when I listen to Nirvana. Again, he owns his style (the extensive footnotes, the digressions into literary theory, the details) and does not reward lazy readers.

Whew....This turned into a bit of a review, huh? In a nut shell, if you're interested in any of these themes- I heartily recommend these three books. ok, moving on...

Best Article: I want to say David Foster Wallace (especially "Consider the Lobster and of course the Cruise ship article "A Supposedly fun...") but it's a bit of a cop out. So I'll say I really enjoyed two articles on Iceland: the first in a book about happiness that looked at why Icelanders (?) are so happy despite the odds nature has dealt them which made an interesting and ironic foil to the article in Vanity Fair about how and why they bankrupted themselves so spectacularly last year. Both articles chalk it up to something peculiar about the Icelandic people and their isolated geographical space. Very interesting.

Best Academic article: For this category I will look to the past and to the future- to the past because I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and talking to a scholar whose work deeply informs my research: Jennifer Mitzen is not only whip smart but also very nice. So I enjoyed revisiting her excellent, thought provoking 2006 article on 'Ontological Security' (a fact that should please my dad since he liked the word 'ontology'!) - I really should revisit that work every few weeks...As for the future, part of my job allows me to look at the work of a lot of doctoral students around the country (and outside). Most of this work is not really up my alley but some projects really make me think 'wow, wish I'd thought of that.' Won't give those away but it's cool to be able to get a sense of the larger themes in the field right now. Biggest themes: post-conflict reconstruction, counter-insurgency, NGO's and women and lots of IPE. Also lots of Latin America related studies, perhaps natural?

Best Blog: Seth's Blog (which I link to on here)- and I'm not just saying that because he's my friend. Only complaint - he doesn't post nearly as much as he should. (Yes: Pot. Kettle. Black)

Best New Discovery: 1. Mail merge- I can never believe when the whole thing just comes together 2. Kamikazes (the drink not the pilots) 3. 20 bucks hidden away in one of my purses.

Best Meal: God sooo many...from ribs at Dinosaur BBQ, to the banana pudding (a meal in itself), to Turkish everythings- breakfasts, Bluebelle's Borek and Hunkar Begendi (my fav Turkish dish)- this is hard to pick. If I HAD to pick one I would say the Saravana Bhawan meal in NYC (which was also one of my top 5 NYC highlights (a blogging idea that fizzled out, in case you didn't notice)). There's nothing like a good dosa! And this was a good dosa- it immediately made me think of Bangalore and Neelgiris and many happy memories- like a good meal should.

Here is a very large Bhatura...

But apart from the wonderful dosas..the best meal should go to the Iron Chef competition that I had with Dolly. It was great fun- Dolly is a fierce competitor and we both took the fight very seriously, as did our great panel of judges (including blog favs chanbong and machete). They engineered it so that neither of us lost (very sweetly) but it was a win-win situation because of the delicious food and great laughs...Here is the eggplant part of the challenge - mine on top, Dolly's on the bottom (by the time cheese rolled around we were too stuffed to even take a picture)

Best Song: March was all about Just Dance by Lady Gaga. I'm sure I will hate everything else this person (what kind of name is lady gaga?) does but this song is hopelessly addictive and catchy. This month (as a reaction to Gaga I'm sure) I've been cleansing my palate with some classic melodies and classical music... Finally, John Mayer gave us fans a sneak peek at a couple of songs that he's working on for the new album- it's been cool to tag along for the process of making an album (via the tweets, videos and pics etc.) but songs are a different and generous matter- I liked 'Heartbreak Warfare' - it's going to be killer when it's done...

Best Moments: New York, Opening a package to find my dad's (very witty and erudite) book in it, getting a summer grant, spending a lazy afternoon eating ice cream, arguing heatedly and then giggling helplessly with con-verse and kultur vulture: truly, there is nothing as special as a lovely afternoon with good friends. The great eggplant/cheese iron chef challenge and Kultur Vulture's birthday with special friends- a night to remember and finally, watching spring unfold in all its glory. The cherry blossoms are lovely all over campus- that white tree is currently my fav tree...

Best Movie: I haven't seen too many movies but I have an (unlikely) pick. I saw an old Hindi movie (a few years old) called 'Mixed Doubles'. On the face of it this had all the ingredients for a disaster - Hindi comedy (read slapstick, over-acted hamming), about 'wife swapping' (potentially crude beyond belief), low budget (not always good in the bollywood scenario) and a lead actor who was a VJ of all things! But the actors intrigued me (Konkona Sen, Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor?) and so I gave it a go...and whaddya know? It wasn't half bad!! Konkona can ACT and Rajat Kapoor is becoming my ISI mark (what's the US equivalent?) of a decent movie- he doesn't seem to do bad ones, as far as I know.

Lessons Learned: 1. Academic snobbery is rampant. And academic snobs are really kind of pathetic. 2. Money is not funny, even in a rich man's world. 3. sometimes if you fry onions and garlic together -it turns a bright, metallic, toxic looking green (this freaked me out when it happened on the day of the iron chef challenge).

Challenges of the Months: Time change, Time itself and, as of the last few days- feeling alarmed every time I sneeze.

It must be spring..

2009-04-22T22:21:00.022-04:00

This is a pretty time of year- you can see the signs and colors of spring in little things...

A few weeks ago pine tree and I wandered into Boom Babies on Westcott street - normally it has a ton of overpriced clothes (sort of hippy like, some vintage and some stuff from India) but on this day there was a buzz of something frenetic and distinctly eostregen-y about it. Indeed, prom is just around the corner and the store was crammed with sulky teenagers and harried/pushy moms looking over shimmery gowns. There was even a sign outside that warned 'boyfriends and men' (because boyfriends are boys, not men?) to stay away from the store- which was probably wise.

Pine tree and I wandered around enjoying the bling and the conversations...

This is from the farmers market which will soon move outside...tulips are now sprouting all over the ground..

And finally, this beautiful magnolia tree outside tulips house in full bloom...

The scent was heavenly...

I don't have a picture unfortunately of the wild, outdoor block parties that also accompany the onset of Spring (which leave the air redolent with other types of scents - equally natural, more potent if you *ahem* catch my drift) or the new fashion statements that seem to appear around this time of the year but I suppose that's just as well.

What signals the arrival of spring to you?

Worth Words

2009-04-20T02:20:00.012-04:00

One of the first poems I ever knew was 'Daffodils' by William Wordsworth. If I concentrate hard, I'm sure I could still recite most of it. I probably learned it when I was 11 or 12 years old as it is a standard favorite in Indian schools. I even remember taking part in a poetry recitation/elocution contest in the 5th grade where I recited it. I came in second or third and got my first ever certificate for anything.

The funny thing is I had never actually seen a darned daffodil. In the tradition of many British references I grew up with (thanks to Enid Blyton and Wodehouse), there was no context to this poem in my real life.

So imagine my delight when a couple of days ago I was wandering around school reveling in the onset of Spring and suddenly came upon these beautiful yellow flowers.

Finally, almost two decades later-daffodils!

Here's the thing- I immediately knew that these were daffodils- solely from the description in the poem. Well done Wordsworth.

I wonder how many kids in India and around the world still learn this poem and wonder what the hell a daffodil looks like. Thanks to the internet, they may no longer have to wait!

Now, if only I could find out what kippers are...

Status update: feeling like a twit

2009-04-20T00:30:00.007-04:00

Earlier today I deactivated my facebook account. In the cyberworld, this is a phenomenon called 'facebook suicide'. I committed it once before and then came back from the dead. Deactivating facebook (you cannot ever delete your account, creepily enough) is a strange ritual- first facebook aalyzes you- it asks you why you're doing it and depending on your reply, tries to offer suggestions for how you can stay. (For the record- I have no deep reason for doing it- I'm just sick of checking it but more on that later). So if for instance you pick 'I'm spending too much time on facebook', it offers you the option not to receive emails from it. Then it tries to go for your heart strings- I was told I'd be missed by Tulip, my sister, Machete and other close friends, with pictures from my albums of them. When I continued to do it steely eyed, facebook sadly told me that it hoped I would come back soon. And then I clicked the window and sat back and instantly felt a strange combination of weird and free. Weirdly Free.

It's not going to be easy - this little break. From my previous experience I know that I will feel like there is a whole world out there that is going on without me, even though the friends I'm most concerned about are the ones I see or speak too everyday. People will slowly notice I'm not on it and will ask if I'm ok, with genuine concern. And what's more, I'll understand why they're asking. I will feel a compulsion to share bits of my life like "read an amazing book" or "had a lazy saturday" and will have no avenue in which to do it (my break also entails no twitter, which will not be hard at all). I will feel like there are happenings, events and news that I'm missing out on...in other words, it will be like quitting anything addictive- not easy but potentially good.

When did it get like this? And what does it have to do with my resuming blogging (is this a nicotine patch to the facebook cigarette)?

Well, I've been thinking about how I use technology lately and much of it has centered around my poor, abandoned blog. When I wrote my little preemptive ditty last month, I scarcely anticipated this complete silence. I thought the frequency of my posts would go down a little but no blogging at all? Sadly a month later, my blog lies in cyberspace- sad, neglected, gathering dust...I look at it fleetingly and think about it guiltily before glancing away. I promise myself 'I'll blog about it' whenever something interesting comes up and yet, never get around to doing anything about it. Like old friendships and correspondence with distant relatives- intentions never translate into anything concrete.

But there's another reason for my prolonged silence apart from the busy-ness and laziness: A couple of weeks ago Margaret Atwood (whom I admire from what little I've read of her) said in the context of blogging and the advent of twitter ""It's like everyone's blogging about how they brushed their teeth this morning." I'd like to think my posts have been slightly deeper than that but the comment got me thinking. Maybe one reason I've been so unmotivated to write anything is because there is nothing truly compelling that I have to say? And so, isn't silence better?

That sounds depressing but I'm not. I just wonder if in this compulsion to constantly 'broadcast ourselves' (to borrow from youtube), what we have to say is becoming less and less meaningful? There is just so much of it, all the time and all written in pretty much the same blogese. You know what I mean-'snark', lists, open letter format, wtf stories, mock confessions that are designed to make you look cool even as you're professing to be a nerd... it's all quite formulaic and you've seen it all on this blog too. We are constantly inundated with people telling us about themselves- through you tube videos, blogs, status updates, profiles, tweets and it's slowly become part of the rhythm of our daily lives.

I've been pondering and questioning this constant need to communicate. Who are we all communicating to? For what purpose? What kind of narcissism is this? And is it really making us stupider, less sensitive and giving us the attention spans of goldfish? The answers to these questions, from my experience and what I've been reading, are not comforting.

And it all happened so quickly and subtly. A couple of years ago I had no idea where my casual acquaintances were once they left my immediate context. People faded out of my life -as they should in the normal course of events- one heard about them once in a while and that was that. Then came facebook - initially just an innocuous, fun way to stay in touch with people from school, check people out anonymously etc. Gradually it became part of my everyday routine- check email, read news, check facebook. And I'm not even a heavy user of it. It's own evolution meant that it became more and more difficult to escape what was happening in people's lives who you don't care about but are now just permanently there I find myself wondering 'what's X doing lately?' and look him/her up only to find that they went to a party, or watched a movie and hated it or bought groceries. I might not have seen X in 3 years and have no idea about how they're really, truly doing but I know when they buy groceries. It's relentless-the constant status updates, the newsfeeds, the emails with updates, the casual way that deep, life changing things get broadcast to the world 'X is no longer listed as in a relationship' or 'Y just had a baby'. A quick smiley face on their page and you're done. Now we have twitter, which takes the vacuousness to another level altogether-and ofcourse everyone, (including yours truly) is on it.

Am I making too big a deal of it? I'm sure I am but all I know is that I've felt a need to step back from the inanity of 'broadcasting myself'.

The good news (to me at least) is that while the rest of it I deem pretty dispensable, I realized the genuine, aesthetic pleasure I find in writing. Even a small, blog that 8 people read. Even when it's shoddy. Even when it's inane. Because it's 8 people I know and who know me and whose opinions I value. And it's really the only medium in all of this that has brought me pleasure. And so here I am, blogging away at 12 in the night- and it feels good!

And to facebook? I'm sure I'll come back to your seductive ways one day but not without a fight. Don't call me, I'll call you.

A song for you...

2009-03-18T01:49:00.012-04:00

P.S. It is the middle of March and I have only posted thrice this month, the lowest since I began blogging. Normally you could safely chalk this down to my inherent laziness but this time I really have a reason.

Ahem...I am busy, my friends, and will only get busier from here on out...

(Sing this with me to the tune of 'raindrops on roses' from ~~my fair lady~~ Sound of Music (thanks Tulip) ):

There are things to be written,
And stuff for submission
Workshops to plan
Filing taxes to the 'man'
Workshops that scare every fiber of my being....
These are a few of my busiest things...

There are methods to master
Readings come faster and faster
Packing and moving
and much home-improving,
Coping with what the end of semester will bring...
These are a few of my busiest things!

When I'm laaaazy, feeling craaaazy or just a little relaxed...
Please simply remind me of my busiest things.... and then I won't feel sooo glad....

In other words I will finally live up to my identity as a graduate student and work like a dog!

So from now until mid June, I fear blogging will be infrequent, sporadic, of poor quality and frequently of a whiny nature. Bear with me my readers (yes all 8 of you) and I will make it up to you...

That song (I was singing it as I wrote) made me feel a lot better so I'm going to go to bed now- I'll keep the lights on but at least I will try to go to sleep...good night all!

Left out

2009-03-18T01:20:00.004-04:00

On not quite so heavy a note, I've had this ironic (I think this is irony) thought over the last few days:

Who knew the death of capitalism would be such a bummer, man?

And in some epic twist of irony- guess who gets massively hit by it's demise? That's right, us idealistic, lefty grad students and academics who railed against it all along...

Some dark comedy there.

Ghost Buster: Ruminations on academics, the recession and other scary things

2009-03-18T00:26:00.008-04:00

Why am I blogging at 1:00 am? Let me tell you why.

Just came back from a late night coffee with Chanbong and K aka Kultur-Vulture (a very appropriate name, I think). Given that we are three grad students who were drinking nothing stronger than black tea (on St. Patricks day no less)- I think it is highly commendable that we a) managed to stay out significantly late b) got drunk undergrad boys to spontaneously and only half-ironically dance/gyrate for us on the street (attesting to the the power of blasting Britney Spears' Circus) and c) combined the above activities with a meandering chat about literature, East Asian pop culture and Milan Kundera.

As we were heading back and I was innocently seat-dancing to Rihanna (yes it was an unabashedly pop kind of night) K happened to bring up the fact that he has seen two ghosts in his life- one while driving with his brother and the second in his apartment complex. Actually, be brought this up because we saw a white plastic bag drifting along the street in the darkness (in a decidedly non-American Beautyish way) and I remarked how freaky it looked. This prompted K to tell the story, backed up by some impressively visible goose bumps. Anyone that knows me knows that I do not react well to ghost stories while simultaneously being fascinated by them - particularly in the night. As usual, I was terrified and curious and now here I am unable to sleep, starting at every passing noise with all the lights in the house blazing.

So what turns out to be my distinct loss (sleep), turns into the blog's gain (posting at long last)...

In the spirit (no pun intended) of the night, I shall reflect on some truly scary things - like the recession, academia and how the link between the two is really, truly frightening.

Is it just me or was this spring break not like other spring breaks? Granted that in Syracuse the term 'Spring Break' always seems cruelly inappropriate when you're wading through inches of snow and fighting arctic winds. But this time a combination of factors made this the least spring breaky-spring break yet.

It was not meant to be this way. At the start of the week I had visions of multiple long and rambling posts on the blog, slow cooked meals which I could savor and put away for later, catching up on a few good films and reading at least a few great books. Hanging out with friends and sleeping in also ranked high on the agenda. As my previous post said it was all wonderful to start with but now that it's all over, I'm confronted with the realization that I cooked one dish only, hung out with friends only on the first day of the break, watched one bad movie and read one good book. I spent 4 days in school in my usual bay, staring at the computer screen.

But there was a particular sense of blah that pervaded this break. And I'm pretty sure a lot of it had to do with the recession.

Yes it has been around for a while (and the signs are all around us) but it's only in the last few weeks that I've realized how utterly and completely screwed we are. From conversations with faculty who grimace at the words 'job market' and shrug apologetically as they admit they will NEVER retire, to the nyt article that had us all reaching for a stiff drink/xanax - it's clear that not only are things going to be miserable generally, they're going to be particularly bad for those in the early stages of academic careers and fabulously horrible for those in the final years of our PhDs. Guess where I am?

My friends, it is time to worry when the advice of faculty that previously told you to 'get out of grad school fast' becomes 'stall as long as you can' and when they won't even cheer you up with such platitudes as 'you'll be fine'. Another sign of the times is the particular new inflections and tropes in the perennial 'why did I choose this' conversation that most grad students have had (with each other or with themselves). Previously the conversation went something like this:

Grad Student 1: " I'm stressed and poor and mildly sick... and I'm never going to finish this dissertation and my friends all have jobs and houses and kids. Why did I choose this again?"

Grad Student 2: "I know! It's so hard to get a good academic job- I don't want to be stuck teaching at some crappy college. I should have just stayed in (insert much better paying, private sector job that was deemed unsatisfying and soul killing). If only I had (insert road not taken)"

Grad Student 3: "Yeah, I totally understand. What was I thinking? But now it's too late to do anything else. I'm not even sure I can do anything else. But god, I'm poor and stressed and I'll never finish this dissertation...."

(and so it goes....until)

Grad Student 4: "Yes, it's really hard and maybe we're crazy but think about it- would you really be happy doing something else? Isn't this what you wanted to do?"

Grad Student 1: "Sigh...yes, you're right. I would go crazy sitting in meetings all day."

Grad Student 2: "Yes, that's true. And I do love teaching sometimes"

Grad Student 3: "No, I really do hate this. I'm leaving/ I want out. Bye"

You get the picture. We've all had this conversation at one time or the other- and if you're lucky, you're student no. 4 and you really love teaching or you love your work and despite all the uncertainty and stresses of academia- you really never feel as alive and happy as when you're in it.

But now the conversation has changed- sure, there's no longer too many friends to compare ourselves to. Everyone is vulnerable or constrained in this atmosphere. But now there is little room for debate and ambiguity,now the conversation goes:

Grad Student 1: "God this is so BAD. We're soo screwed - no one is going to retire, no one is hiring, no one has money, there are no postdocs, no jobs....just no no no"

Grad Student 2" " Of all the rotten luck in the world! I'll do anything - heck i'd be happy to teach 4 courses in some crappy college in the middle of no where. What's going to happen to us? "

Grad Student 3: "No idea. We've got to stall"

Grad Student 2: "For how long? And on what? And for what, in the end?"

Grad Student 4: "Yes, it's really hard and maybe we're crazy but think about it- would you really be happy doing something else? Isn't this what you wanted to do?" (Voice weakly peters out...)

Deafening silence and sighs...

But it's not all bad. Let me say how much I enjoyed chatting with Chanbong and K (up until the ghost stories). There was a moment when we were sitting in the little bubble tea place and K was talking animatedly about why the Chinese are so enamored with Foucault that I thought... 'This is why I love my friends.' I'm heartened by such chats and such friends in a world and a mileu where reading and being literate in the broad sense of the term is seen as a waste of time.

So it got me thinking yet again- can one be truly literate without a vast canvas and array of interests? Or am I being naive and unfocused, to my detriment? So many successful people in academia are remarkably disciplined about how they use not just their time but also their brain space- they hardly extend themselves outside their area of research and their work. And this is the model prescribed to grad students too. On the other hand, so many of the people I admire in public life are conversant and engaged with things beyond what they do. They're interested in the human condition as it is manifested in different things- art, music, books, people, activism. I wonder often if this is a luxury you have to 'earn'- maybe after tenure or when you've done the hard slog. If so, are people like me just fundamentally misfits in the structure and rewards system of (American) academia? It's a question I've thought about often and one that I am beginning to hear more and more in the way my friends question the norms of graduate school and academic life. In the past few weeks I've heard more and more the following types of questions : Is it worth it to constantly feel stressed and competitive? Why is that the normative reasons that drive many of us to come to graduate school get taken over so quickly with the drive to succeed, compete and 'produce'? Why are those things defined the way they are? Is it worth it to not do the things you love- whether it is yoga or spending time with family or writing- in order to achieve some abstract and increasingly more uncertain reward in the future? How can we meaningfully live within these dominant norms and still be fulfilled in some deeper sense? Is asking these questions itself pointless?

I'm not sure I know how I feel about these questions. I think the balance between who you are with who you want to be is a tough one to reconcile and manage but I'm trying to internalize the value in trying not to be someone I can't be. Confused? So am I.

Day Off

2009-03-09T00:57:00.011-04:00

I watched this.
Verdict - Luscious, visually stunning but ultimately just ok. Netflix it.

I read this
Verdict- excellent, read it.

I contemplated this and this
Verdict- Gloomy. #*@! it.

I ate this and this
Verdict- delicious, cook and eat it.

I cheered this
Verdict- Brilliant. Sachin is IT.

I blogged this.
Verdict- lazy but efficient. Skip it?

So, spring break is here so copious blogging is coming your way but today, this about sums it up. All in all:

Work done = 0
Pleasure Had = Immense (except for that little recession, never-getting- a-job thing.)

New York Highlight 2: art edition

2009-02-28T13:25:00.016-05:00

I'm sitting here in a our fav. bookstore/cafe (yes the one with the sandwich) with Bluebelle and we're just catching up on things, grading (or attempting to grade) and reflecting on my presentation yesterday...which is over, and thus good.

One of the other experiences bluebelle and I shared was our first time at MOMA, in New York. I've wanted to go to MOMA for a while now and it was a must-see for me on this trip. We went (along with our dear friend Heather) on a day (that was a public holiday here in the US).

First of all, it was so heartening to see how many people make a day of it by going to a museum. The state of the arts, if our experience at the MOMA is any indication, is healthy- even in tough times such as these. It was really wonderful to see so many people taking hours out to appreciate art, telling their little children about famous paintings and to watch people of all ages, types and nationalities wandering around the museum.

I couldn't help but think back to some of the beautiful pieces of art that lie dustily neglected in museums in India because of archaic rules, bad management and an unfriendly user-experience (I'm not picking just on India but that is the context I know best). The MOMA does things right- one of the marvels for me was something as simple as the coat check system which managed to place and retrieve thousands of bags and coats in an an extremely timely, efficient and friendly manner. These small things make a big difference.

There was plenty of art I really liked- including Picasso who I always try to appreciate but never really GET. My favorites were Matisse's 'red studio', Jasper John's 'Map' and some beautiful new finds (for me) like Balla's 'Street light' But my favorite was Klimt's 'The Park'.

Very different from the quintessential Klimt in my mind, but yet very Klimt. The picture does not do it justice - but I imagine the beauty of the varied specks of green is difficult to render on film anyway.

Bluebelle and I wandered for several hours until we came across the following pieces of art that we immediately categorized into 'WTF art'. A bunch of wool and lint on the floor with mirrors in between? A string in the shape of trapeziod? A pink plastic ledge propped up against a wall? I don't get it, dude. I know that there is probably some deep explanation for it but our first reaction was "really?". So there, I've outed myself and bluebelle as philistines.

The bs explanations for each of these pieces just added to our incredulity. Here is the description of the pink ledge called (for some reason) "The Absolutely Naked Fragrance" (John McCracken). This is what the pink plastic plank ( a far better, alliterative to boot title in my opinion) represents:

"The polished resin surface recalls the aesthetic of 1960's southern California surfboard and Kustom Kar cultures, the title was drawn from advertising slogans in fashion magazines. "
(ok so we have somewhat of a reason for that title)

Further,

"The plank's interaction with both the floor and the wall is meant to call attention to the space being occupied by both viewer and object. I see the plank as existing between both worlds, McCracken says, the floor representing the physical world of standing objects, trees, cars, buildings, human bodies and everything, and the wall representing the world of the imagination, illusionistic painting space, human mental space and all that.'

Huh.

Do you see all that in this below?

Anyway, the WTF art (as bluebelle and I will forever call it), the stunning design section and the magnificent works of art in the giant, cool spaces of the MOMA building all came together to make a great experience and definitely a highlight of the New York trip.

I didn't get to copy down the explanation for the next WTF piece but following from an idea from my sister (who attempted -with her art-history chops- to come up with some sort of understanding of this), I challenge/ invite you to write a suitably arty explanation of what I will call 'Stretchy purple string':

What would the little plaque next to this say, if you were the curator at MOMA? Do weigh in below.

New York City Highlight No. 1: Banana Pudding at Magnolia's

2009-02-23T22:50:00.013-05:00

So I went to NYC last week (for a conference (ahem) more about that later). I could do a whole NYC diary but I'm not sure I have the time and you have the inclination so instead, I'll pick my top 5 best experiences from this trip. So here goes:

While I definitely left my heart in San Francisco, New York makes it beat just a little faster. There is nothing as cool as emerging from your train/plane/bus in New York and immediately melding into the crowd, amongst crisp fall or winter air and twinkling buildings. There's something about it that just makes me feel ALIVE.

But this post is not about my heart, or perhaps only indirectly in vague health-related ways that we should not dwell on right now. This post is about my stomach. It's a post about a very happy food discovery that I made this trip. And to make up for my silence, I shall start my New York posts in the most delectable way possible.

Without further ado I present to you: The Banana Pudding at Magnolia Bakery

The picture could never convey to you the greatness of this humble looking pudding- custard, vanilla wafers, ripe bananas and whipped cream!

This is all of us digging into the banana pudding for breakfast- this is after we ate it for dinner. The next day we ate it after lunch, and the day after that, FOR lunch.

If you're a sex and the city fan (I'm not) you know that this is where Carrie got her cupcakes. But an excellent tipster told us to steer clear of the cupcakes and go for the pudding and now it is only my duty to pass the wisdom along (although pretty much all my readers were actually with me in NYC eating this very same pudding, so who am I kidding).

The inside of the store is 'cute' in a very chick-lit, girly, pastel sort of way.It really looks like it could be the cover picture for a chick-lit book with curly hand writing and a giant pink shoe on a tiered cake...that sort of thing. It's set on Bleeker street (401) in a pretty neighborhood- very NYC. But really forget the ambiance, the cuteness or the pop-culture relevance. Just follow the sign and eat the banana pudding...

The adoring masses....lined up for the cupcakes no doubt, poor things- tsk tsk!

I'm back...and I'm blogger than ever

2009-02-23T21:57:00.011-05:00

Gulp.....Ahem.....Hello? Anyone there?

Yes, it's been a while....I know, I know...I've just been busy, you know? It's not like I forgot about you...Sorry....It's been nice to know I've been missed though - casual reminders from friends, Heather's comments and even a text message from randy vandal- I totally feel like a plastic (Mean girls reference)!! Anyway, I'm back! So ....are we cool now? .... Ok?.... Ok! So let the blogging begin!

There's sooo much to catch up on and blog about! In the time I've been away I had a(nother) birthday, went to New York, unpacked tons of boxes of accomplished books, worked on a document that will be ripped apart this coming Friday (joy), joined the pink chaddhi campaign, looked at apartments with prospective roomies, watched and really liked Slumdog Millionaire, realized sadly that I might be becoming an NRI and of course watched the Oscars last night!

(Speaking of which- woo hoo for Slumdog Millionaire! And A R Rahman who deserves all these accolades and more (not that Slumdog millionaire is really close to his best work but that's fine).

(Gosh I feel rusty)

So I finally saw SM and suprise..I liked it. I had not expected to. As someone on Sepia Mutiny put it "Anything having to do with the third world that masses of white people go into paroxysms over is guilty until proven innocent…" It's an uncomfortable sentiment but I understand it. I didn't want to see some exotic, cliche ridden version of India (with bright colors and poor kids who are filled with inner joy etc. which, come to think of it, SM had). I also had read the book the movie is based on and I found it far fetched and not very compelling after the first few chapters. I was also put off by the reviews of some bloggers and critics that I respect and tend to agree with. I didn't have a problem with seeing the ugly side of India per se but I did have a problem with exoticizing and spiritualizing it.

SM, I'm pleased to say, did nothing of the kind. It's just a roller coaster of a movie, shot beautifully, with excellent pacing and plot. The kids are believable and the acting decent and Anil Kapoor's supreme over the top, ham acting actually works in the film. Anil Kapoor works in a film- that alone should get it the Oscar. Anyway, it combines an utterly fantastical, uplifting story with glimpses of utter bleakness and grit. It's simultaneously authentic and escapist - and it works as a bollywood film that is so not a bollywood film. Just exhilarating.

And trite as this may sound, it made me think about all the kids on the streets of Delhi that you see every day- trailing you at PVR or reaching through a car window. Most of the time my reaction to them was one of discomfort mingled with annoyance but I had never really thought about their inner lives, what a tough existence theirs is and the brutality and violence they must see every day...

That said, I do understand why Slumdog Mliionaire riles up emotions in India. I can understand how to people that feel marginalized by the riches of neo-liberalization and globalization all around them, something as ultimately rosy as SM and the entire hoopla surrounding it can rankle. The success of SM, made by foreigners and celebrating what is a very grim existence understandably creates anger and a further haves versus have nots division. It's just a step away from the Mangalore pub incident- which I find scary, objectionable and profoundly undemocratic- but can understand intellectually all the same. I think it's very telling to see a slew of works that address this divide coming out in recent years in India, from people that have some degree of distance from extreme wealth in India and thus a more critical eye than say, the Karan Johars of the world. So White Tiger (which aroused a similar debate in India, although on a smaller scale) or Oye Lucky Lucky Oye are documenting the seamy, underbelly of contemporary Indian society. History 2 as Dipesh Chakravorty would call it. (And with that sentence I cross firmly into pretentious territory so I'll stop).

One last thing: What I find idiotic on the other hand is people like Amitabh Bachchan winging about SM out of barely concealed jealousy. Another tone I pick up on in much of the criticism of SM from Indian intellegensia is a sort of reverse snobbery- sort of like 'only we know and understand India/poverty fully, you wouldn't get it, white people.' You see such condescension in academia all the time and I have no patience for it.

Finally, on the flip-side, to those that say SM is the only realistic bollywood movie made: the comparison is utterly invalid. Bollywood is a completely different animal from 'Western' cinema- it reflects its own traditions, history, ethos and style. Comparing mainstream Indian movies to SM is a strawman argument. You're better of comparing SM to non-mainstream Indian cinema and even then, two words: Satyajit Ray.

So that's my take on Slumdog- gosh, it was hard to write that since I've been so out of touch but I'm back and I'm blogging and it's FUN!

And in no particular order my top 5 Oscar moments:

1. A.R. Rahman winning and performing at the Oscars. With people in lehengas!! I loved this humility and his simple speech and a little part of me (the part I fear is becoming predictably NRI - which is fodder for a post coming soon) said in my head 'India! Indian! Indian! India!'

2. Hugh Jackman's opening routine- he was charming and funny, talented and relaxed and I loved how cool the opening bit was. I on the whole loved the new set and the small, intimate feel of the show.

3. The whole Jen Aniston and Brangelina showdown. Team Aniston all the way (for obvious reasons)! I couldn't believe the Oscars did a whole filmfare Rekha-Amitabh thing and cut to Angelina when Jennifer was presenting- very sneaky! Anyway, I was so happy Sean Penn won because JM was sitting right behind him!

4. The previous acting awards winners handing out the new awards- there was something genuinely emotional about the way the actors seemed to react to previous greats praising their performances.

5. Ben Stiller's spot on take on Joaquin Phoenix. Just the right balance between hilarious and slightly cruel...

Grammyzzzz (barely/sorta live blogging)

2009-02-08T21:53:00.018-05:00

Coolest Grammy Moment: Jay Z, TI, Lil Wayne and Kanye AND a very,very pregnant M.I.A. singing 'swaggera like us'!! AND M.I.A. is due to have her baby TODAY so watching her bounce all over the stage in basically see through black stockings covered in patches of black and white polka dots was awesome in many ways!

ETA: (2 mins later) JM won! I will still not give it coolest moment as even JM cannot compete with the sheer visual marvel that was M.I.A. (well, he's a visual marvel in other ways) but it is a cool moment indeed.

Ok and the Radiohead performance was nothing to sneeze at either. Quite brill.

Ok, ok moving on....

Uncoolest Grammy moment: The Jonas Brothers reducing Stevie Wonder to a shrill, shrieking mess - Stevie, why??? Closely followed by Miley Cyrus- it is not a generation gap thing- she is a very poor singer. Period.

P.S. The Grammy's just make me laugh- how can Alison Krauss and Robert Plant still be sweeping these awards with so much more interesting and innovative music around? Total time warp.

Now its over, I just want to say - snooooozefest (apart from the things I mentioned and maybe Coldplay and Jay Z. And even that was stretching it. )

Goose bumps - of the good kind

2009-02-08T19:36:00.009-05:00

Just watching 60 minutes interview with the crew of the US Airways flight that ended up in the Hudson. I think the word 'Hero' is often over-used, particularly in American media/culture (I mean, I once heard a girl tell a starbucks barista that he was 'her hero' because he could make her a particular kind off coffee) but this is one time where the word is completely and truly apt.

What a calm, understated and thorough professional Captain Sullenberger is. The rest of the crew too seems utterly professional but the Captain is truly remarkable. In addition to his skills in landing the plane at the correct speed, angle and balance and his professionalism both during and after the incident- I've admired how quietly introspective, gracious and humble he has been about the whole episode. I appreciated his discomfort with the word 'hero' but his understanding of why people may need to say that.

Some people have seen in Captain Sullenberg an image of the kind of leader that America has long missed- his calm in the face of daunting odds, his humility and thorough professionalism seemed to foreshadow what people hope to see under Obama's leadership. The timing of the incident, coming so close to the inauguration, begged those comparisons. I find it an interesting thought but having seen this, I find something even more moving in the notion of a group of average people just doing their job to the best of their ability, with no thought to legacy or image.

It also was officially the first TV event of the year that made me cry... so I figure it's worth blogging about.

Meal of the Month: Asti Cafe

2009-02-01T23:14:00.005-05:00

Meal of the month deserves its own entry:

I was going to be shameless and pat myself on the back for the best yet iteration of my eggplant pahi. I made this on the night of the inauguration and nodded blissfully to myself as I thought "you're good. really good."

10 minutes later: Oh My god! What am I saying?! The eggplant can wait. No, the best meal of the month was undoubtedly Pine tree's delicious birthday meal at Asti Cafe. It was so good, I'm going to share pics:

My Ravioli was rich and satisfying with fresh cheese and an absolutely elevated vodka sauce...

Pine tree's tortellini di bernardo (spinach tortellini, mushrooms, garlic sauce and prosciutto) was very flavorful as was blue-eyes' eggplant dish which I could not get a pic of.

The Tiramisu was luscious and moist and not too rummy

But the piece de resistance was the Creme Brulee - just superb with a caramel that was just the right amount of bitter-salty.

The service was a trifle snooty but that did not detract from a great meal- I'll definitely be back at Asti and for my fellow 'cuse dwellers, check it out!

D-List: January 09

2009-02-01T21:58:00.009-05:00

To be honest, I think I'm all 'listed out' after the mega end of the year best of list. Still it wouldn't do to mess with tradition, especially at the start of the year and some of you have been grumbling about my lack of posting AND I am otherwise uninspired and (still) sort of sick....so here is your regularly scheduled monthly d-list. And then after this I promise no more lists till the end of this month!

So without further ado:

Best Movie: I didn't see a whole lot so far so this will have to go to the Dark Knight. I'm not a big super-hero fan, nor do I like action movies so this is more by default than anything. BUT as super-hero, action movies go this was pretty good. Heath Ledger was good and some of the plot twists were fun. I don't buy that this has any thing deep to say about good and evil like a lot of people have said- I just think it was good old TP (time pass), as they say in India.

Best Book: A most wanted man- John le Carre. I'm a little late to the party but this was a really solid, well paced book with some great insights about immigration, the clash of cultures and liberalism, intelligence, terrorism and the post 9/11 culture of fear. Also Arvind Adiga's heart breaking story called The Elephant in the New Yorker which in my opinion was better than White Tiger (does he have a thing for animals in his titles??)

Best Article: Now here I have a lot of contenders. I really liked this article discussing the Bush legacy through his most famous pictures, I also liked Zadie Smith's great article on comedy in the New Yorker.

Blog of the month: This has been a great month for discovering cool blogs. My favorite is one I already link to- David Lebovitz's food blog- great writing about Paris, desserts and desserts in Paris, easy recipes and lovely pics

Discovery of the Month: 1. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 2. How the heating in my apartment really works- and now I'm in T shirts 3. I'm anemic (No. 1 and No. 3 may be related to each other)

Best Moment: Probably the euphoria of the inauguration AND the birth of Violet's very coolly-named baby!

Worst Moment/ Challenge of the month: a smorgasboard of health problems and knowing I have to get over my fear of doctors :(

Well, that's that for the lists. Feb is going to be an exciting month for sure- tons of work, ISA in New York via my first time on amtrak (stay tuned for a NY diary) and the Oscars, more snow, probably more recession and yes, amidst all of this- a birthday!

2009-01-22T01:42:00.004-05:00

Dear Beyonce,

I may not be your biggest fan (except for the slightly manic 'crazy in love' and maybe 'No, no, no' with Destiny's Child and even those may be because of the rap interludes by Jay Z and Wyclef, but I digress)... So yes, I'm not the biggest fan. I've always thought you are very beautiful and talented no doubt, but a slightly too-loud singer who overdoes her songs and wears similarly glittery gowns all the time. And we won't even dwell on the robot glove.

But you left me ENCHANTED by this rendition of At Last. The moment, the Obama's dancing so sweetly, the rapturous crowds, the setting, Michelle's pretty gown, your pretty, understated gown...and your voice with real, true, honest emotion. Not one false note. It really was magical.

So thank you Beyonce. I will now try to forget 'single ladies..put a ring on it' and the robot glove (shudder).

Love,
Lightlight

And for the rest of you who may not have seen it, this is what I'm talking about.

Sigh....

My Favorite Line

2009-01-20T18:52:00.004-05:00

"we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

Indeed, these are not irreconcilable. In fact they are symbiotic. This might not have been the most grand or eloquent of his beautifully worded sentiments but this is the one that made me sigh and think 'ok, the madness has ended....'

A wonderful, moving, sobering day. Good luck Barack- if anyone can do it, you can...

Reasons to miss George Bush....

2009-01-19T14:56:00.015-05:00

Ok, I'm going to get a little subversive on you and try to outline the top 5 reasons to miss George Bush. Serious appraisals of his legacy are being made all over the news media (AIDS in Africa, no child left behind, relations with India etc) but this is NOT that kind of list.

This is an attempt to see what, if anything, on a lighter level, I will miss about Dubya.

5. His willingness to laugh at himself. Whatever you say, I must admit it took a sense of humor to poke fun at his own goof ups, to shrug off the shoe-throwing incident and to sit through the excruciating roast done by Colbert, which actually made me sympathize with Bush. Not to mention his bumbling persona- with words, with doors, with his strange smirk- strangely, oddly endearing almost. Many people say that despite their great political differences with Bush, he came across as a friendly, nice guy on a personal level. Note how you could NEVER say that for Cheney (shudder). His cooperation with the Obama team during the transition seems to point to that notion.

This story sums it up for me: I was watching a TV show today where they were interviewing a photographer for National Geographic who was documenting the White House. One of his favorite pictures showed GW staring wistfully out of the windows of the Oval office, backlit by the sun. What was he thinking, the picture seemed to ask? Reflecting on his legacy? Pondering the burdens of the Presidency? The President, the photographer said, was looking for his dog, Barney.

Something about that story summed it up for me- a simple-minded, goofy person/ frat boy who was just in the WRONG job. ETA: Maybe that's being too naive and benign but I'm feeling charitable today.

4. Laura Bush:

I like her. You always got the feeling she was slightly embarrassed by George even though she loves him, she is dignified and slightly enigmatic, she was a gracious first lady by all accounts and inspired one of my favorite books of last year- American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.

3. Barney the dog:

Watching Bush run after Barney the dog symbolized him in many ways. My sister and I once watched the Barney cam videos on the White House website in silent, horrified fascination.

2. Jokes and comedy at the expense of Bush: Reams have been written about how comics are stuck with little to make fun of about Obama. Indeed, we had such rich humor, even entire franchises, that came out of the Bush Administration.

Specifically I mourn the end of 'Great moments in Presidential Speeches' from David Letterman. That truly was one of my favorite segments on late night TV and now it is over....

To mark the end of this era, Letterman did a special compilation of the best moments from Dubya's speeches.....enjoy....

Wow, he sure was a funny and entertaining public speaker- albeit not always intentionally.

1. This is obvious, and linked to the point above, but the number one reason to miss Bush Jr. is Bushisms....ah, the beauty of Bushisms....always so resolute and so clear in its conviction and muddled in delivery. Oh.. the hours of laughter his speeches have inspired.... How could we fault a person who coined such words as 'misunderestimated'? Some of these Bushisms are so famous as to truly rank with great moments in Presidential speeches. We might never hear such inane, surreal and hilarious speeches again so we should take a moment to appreciate them...Here is the definitive collection of Bushisms for your reading pleasure and if you don't have a lot of time, the top 25 Bushisms as compiled by the chief collector of Bushsims- each one is a delight. Also check out the best of the video Bushisms).

Wow! That was tough but I found five things to miss...with a little stretching here and there.

I'm going to say goodbye to the craziness, sorrow and darkness of the past 8 years on the best note possible by leaving you you with my top 5 Bushisms:

5."I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."—discussing Tony Blair

4. "And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours."

3. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

2. "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

And for no. 1 I have this tie ...so funny, so sad, so true?

1. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

and

1. "There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.' "—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000

Hahaha......thanks for the laughs George. I think we'll all like you a lot better when you're making your hilarious speeches but are not making policy!

What are your fav Bushisms? And will you miss George Bush at all? Why? Weigh in below....

On Lasantha Wickramatunga

2009-01-16T14:24:00.009-05:00

This is a remarkable letter, published posthumously after the killing in broad daylight of Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga. He had written this statement, entitled "And then they came for me" to be published only in case he was assassinated, and as is often the case in Sri Lanka, his words proved sadly prescient. The SL government has its hands dirty as it allowed and fostered such vitriol against a journalist who exposed corruption and nepotism as well as highlighted the human cost of military 'solutions' to terrorism.

Important questions all, which have been made outside the purview of 'acceptable' public debate because that would be 'unpatriotic' and aiding and abetting the enemy. Sound familiar?

Really, the entire letter is worth reading- for its balance, courage (especially in the section where he calls out Mahinda Rajapaksa even while reflecting on their friendship) and the sheer dramatic quality of it all. I'll highlight two sections that I liked because I like that Wickramatunga also places the onus of political participation and courage on civilians:

The free media serve as a mirror in which the public can see itself sans mascara and styling gel. From us you learn the state of your nation, and especially its management by the people you elected to give your children a better future. Sometimes the image you see in that mirror is not a pleasant one. But while you may grumble in the privacy of your armchair, the journalists who hold the mirror up to you do so publicly and at great risk to themselves. That is our calling, and we do not shirk it.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: The Leader is there for you, be you Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, low-caste, homosexual, dissident or disabled. Its staff will fight on, unbowed and unafraid, with the courage to which you have become accustomed. Do not take that commitment for granted. Let there be no doubt that whatever sacrifices we journalists make, they are not made for our own glory or enrichment: they are made for you. Whether you deserve their sacrifice is another matter. As for me, God knows I tried.

So while at a macro-level, Wickramatunga's death reminds us of the need to defend journalistic freedom and free speech and spotlights the government of Sri Lanka for its increasingly undemocratic actions; at a micro-level, it reminds us of our duty as civilians to be citizens. It also targets our complacency and cynicism about such vital questions as what living in secular liberal democracy means and the institutions on which that rests. What is our role as citizens? How can we uphold these values? In the outrage against the impunity that the SL government seems to give itself that has followed this killing, we have another opportunity to reflect on these questions. So, what can I take away from this? Well, the first thing that come to my mind was to be more critical and open to criticism about things and issues that I take for granted, care about and defend. Indeed, whenever I flinch internally when colleagues or students take what I think are uncomfortable, even radical stances on politics or issues, I will try to keep in mind the value of having such spaces and the importance of dissenting voices. And I will resist the urge to instinctively label those I disagree with as 'radical', 'ignorant' etc. Though sometimes the shoe just fits!

On another level, the story makes me sad as so much of the news coming out of Lanka does. I love Sri Lanka, have many Sri Lankan friends and count my time there as amongst the happiest in my life. I am always saddened by the violence that devastates this lovely country. Here's hoping that peace will return to Sri Lanka during my lifetime.

Gained in Translation

2009-01-12T22:12:00.015-05:00

So I'm standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to take me to school on this snowy morning and what do I see?

Just a fellow-student waiting for the bus, right?

WRONG! I had just spotted an instance of 'engrish'!! Behold this wonderful sentiment on the student's backpack (I had to pretend to be taking pictures of the snow and then sneakily photograph him) ...

Ahhh...the joys of mistranslation!!

Wikipedia calls engrish 'non-standard variations of English often found in East Asian countries.' What started as a slightly politically incorrect documenting of funny mistakes in translation on instruction manuals or menus has now become a cottage industry of products (stationary, bags, t-shirts etc.) all with strange, quaint, oddly poetic examples of mis-translation.

Its hallmarks are cute (kawai), colorful, pop Japanese type motifs and designs juxtaposed with strangely worded, cheerful but oddly profound sentiments- all expressed on such important fora such as stationery, plastic containers, bags and dust bins. There's even a website devoted to all things engrish with some hilarious examples submitted by people all over.

I own quite a few 'engrish' products (lunchboxes, stationary, bags etc.) thanks to my trips to San Francisco (GREAT for Asian everything from food -dimsum, mochi and of course my beloved egg tarts which I have blogged about before- to clothes to Engrish products galore).

Now it's one thing to buy such products or look at them on the internet but quite another to make such a serendipitous find! I miss San Francisco terribly so it was nice to be reminded in such a fun way of all its little treasures...

I leave you hoping that you all have days like these and with this timeless tip. You're welcome.

India, Indian, India, Indian....

2009-01-11T21:51:00.011-05:00

I must be waaaay more patriotic/nationalistic than I thought because I just went totally nutso when A.R. Rahman won his golden globe....in a good way...

AND Shahrukh Khan is going to present? My cup runneth over...

(Edited to add: I love SRK because he is always charming, totally himself and he did not put on a weird accent- thus avoiding the sad affliction that strikes most Indian actors when they appear in Western media)

In the immortal words of my favorite 'Goodness Gracious Me' character: India! Indian! India!

(Thank you Youtube for allowing me to find this video from one of my favorite shows EVER)

And the winner is...!!!!

2009-01-06T00:05:00.010-05:00

People really DO win on lightlight's blog.... I am pleased to announce that the winner of the first annual Wandering through contest is.......

(Drumroll, fanfare, dimmed lights)

Chris M!!

Chris was the first person to submit an entry to the contest and the one to do it through fairly novel means- through facebook. So it is only fitting (in a cosmic sort of way) that he was randomly chosen from a little pink basket containing slips of paper with the names of the 18 lovely people who took part in the Wandering Through contest.

Congratulations Chris!! Thank you for taking part in my contest... a fun gift now awaits you. I'll update this post with what Chris got once we've worked out the financial stuff, contacted our lawyers and agents, figured out the taxes, ensured he is not a minor and scheduled the press conference etc.

Also we need to finalize the customs and other paperwork with Ferrari.

So, I was torn about how to decide the winner of this contest- on one hand I had my favorites amongst the entries but on the other, it didn't feel write to judge people on the basis of what was essentially their choices and opinions. So for the grand prize, I decided to go the lucky draw route.

But for the 4 runner up prizes, I decided to do a mix of 2 random lucky-draw selections and 2 'sentimental favorites' that I thought deserved to be recognized because I loved their entries. This is primarily because the runner-up prizes are super cheap haha!...

So the following people will receive mixed CD's with the best songs of 2008 according to everyone's responses to the contest (so breathe a sigh of relief - it won't be full of Mayer songs):

Lucky-draw runner ups: Vivek (whose wit and eclectic choices deserved to win) and Chanbong(whose answers are as cool as she is)

Lightlight's 'Sentimental Favorite' runner ups: Papa, Heather My dad's characteristic humor and way of putting things and Heather's lively and warm reflections sounded just like them. Those two entries made me smile throughout. (Papa, don't worry, the mixed CD is substitutable with other goods like Virginia peanuts or uni ball pens)

And now for the most important part: To all 18 of my lovely friends (Tulip, Mike, Chris, Heather, Chanbong, Rebekah, Eric, Daisycat, Claudia, Violet, Saffron, Bluebell, Kam, Pine Tree, Vivek, Vlad, Papa and Itenerant) who participated (some more willingly than others, ahem) a big, huge, heartfelt THANK YOU!! I now have so much sympathy for people that have to choose winners in contests because you truly want everyone to win. Alas, given my penurious circumstances that is not possible but you're all winners in my heart and you all rock!!! I had a great time looking through everyone's responses and I realized all over again what interesting, cool people I know. I LOVED reading all your entries and hopefully you will enjoy reading them too...

And now a stern word to those who failed to participate, despite my begging, cajoling or yes, threatening you. I will not say more but you know who you are, and most importantly I know who you are (I'm looking at you, mummy and BIL. You too Lotus). There's always next year to redeem yourself.

Jokes apart, thanks everyone- it was a blast!! And with that, I close the book on the First Wandering Through Contest.

Contest Results: (News Story and Buzzwords)

2009-01-05T22:43:00.019-05:00

News Story of the year:

The news story and buzzwords of the year were the two categories with the most consensus..

There was really one HUGE story this year. Chris summed it up best in his simple 'OBAMA. Period.' Agreeing with Chris were Heather, Chanbong, Saffron, Pine tree and Tulip.

A surprise second was devoted to the (size 10) shoes being thrown at G.W. Eric, Claudia and my dad chose this as the story of the year, with my dad adding admitting that the story made him 'happy rather than sad'.

Rebekah pointed to 'any Tina Fey impersonation of Sarah Palin' while Kam had an entry after my own heart 'Sachin dedicating his 41st century and India dominating the cricket world' (yeah!!).

Heather in her inimitable style: "the parliamentary antics of Canada’s pre-x-mas near constitutional crisis where our prime minister proved himself to be the arrogant ideologue we all know him to be and the opposition actually grew a pair (however temporarily). Thanks to actions by our Governor General (since when does she act!?) the most exciting moment in Canadian political history in a good long while pittered out and will probably be largely forgotten." (Seriously, the girl needs to start her own blog)

Gloomy stories were also covered in The blast at the Indian Embassy at Kabul (Daisycat, a personally sad story for us), the recession (Pine tree), the bombay attacks (pine tree), and the war in Georgia (Vlad).

From bluebell, a very precise and detailed response to 'best news story' and a great read: "Newsweek The Long Siege (This is a in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign)"

Itenerant was very honest: 'I am so out of news.'

But my picks of this category are the following three entries:

From Vivek a story that should make you think twice about the benefits of bananas and walking: In his own, funny, words:
" 1) Your smoothie's in big, big trouble. Contact me if require more information on the hapless Cavendish. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html
2) I feel vindicated. http://www.dailyfreepress.com/news/1.582523" (Having also picked up on the bus story, I will now stay put and wait for a bus- even in the snow. Thank you for this important public service message Vivek)

From Violet: "Is it lame to say the NPR story about Brent's dissertation project?" Answer: No, Violet, it is not at all lame. It doesn't get cooler than NPR doing a story on your husband's research!

And my vote for the funniest response of the contest:

Mike: Everyone's going to say Barack Obama, so I'm going to send some love in Eliot Spitzer's direction. wait...he's already had enough of that...

Chuckle...

Buzz word/quote of the year:

Again, a lot of consensus. let's break it down by the themes:

The Recession: "Economic Downturn." (Chris) "credit crunch" or "subprime" (Eric) "Main street" (Tulip)

"YES WE CAN" (Eric, Heather, Mike, Saffron)

Elections 08: "hockey mom." (Chanbong), "Change" (Rebekah, Bluebel), " Obamarama" (Claudia)

Vivek: "What, no one said 'Maverick' yet?"

Corporate Speak: "Synergy" (Daisycat), Dynamic (Itenerant)

Heather: “Where’s your platform? Is it under that sweater?” [this is probably not funny without the context but trust me, it was hilarious! Picture the Canadian prime minister in a sweater vest attempting to be more “friendly”] (I guess you had to be there, Heather. Kidding!) Also Research project” (heh heh) and of course, THE word that should define my year but ain’t got a thing yet on the ‘Cuse: Hahvahd. (Absolutely Hahvahd Heather- not everyone gets to say that!)

Mysterious entries, I don't fully get Kam: ‘there is no cup’ and Papa: It could have happened only in America

My picks of this category:

Bluebell: Quote “Come on! Words mean something. You can’t just make stuff up.” (Barack Obama, Indiana, September 6, 2008, quoted from NYT, September 7) (Great! Love the preciseness, details and of course appreciate the thought as a discourse analysis loving constructivist type)

Pine tree: ‘If you dream it, you can make it’

Contest Results: Most memorable Meal/Party (My favorite category)

2009-01-05T22:30:00.008-05:00

Most memorable Meal/Party:

For some reason, the nicest answers were for the category about Best meal/party. I guess there's something revelatory about recalling good times and memories that happen at memorable meals and parties...and weddings apparently, given that 3 of the entries revolved around meals at weddings). I loved reading the very personal replies to this category, so I'll just share the entries as they were written:

Papa: At Lufthansa first class terminal at Frankfurt on December 25 Caviar on toast, thai soup, thai main dish with german wurst on the side, mix and match as i liked from a buffet spread, all alone in splendour on X mas day. I have to give a special award to my dad for managing to make 1. airport food and 2. eating alone, sound so pleasurable.

Chris: Too many good meals this year, and showing the evidence therein.(Oh don't we know it too well, Chris)

Chanbong: I guess it was Taylor's end-of-year party with lots of kids smelling like poop! But it might also be that SU Press reception which we sneaked into! (Chanbong, you get the prize for least appealing food related entry ever but amen on that SU press reception that we absolutely were not allowed at)

Rebekah: Most memorable meal was a lunch this summer with my best friend at Cafe Leopold, an Austrian restaurant in Georgetown off of M Street.

Eric: Democratic Party, but seriously, Katie and Mike's engagement party. (haha!)

Vivek: Chez Gladines, Paris - roast duck in a creamy sauce, salad, potatoes, cheese, and lots of wine.

Daisycat: Breakfast at the Taj, San Francisco, on my first day as Mrs. Toth. :) This one made me smile too.

Kam: aloo-purie (He's referring to Tulip's delectable aloo-purie which I heartily second)

Violet: had to be my brother's wedding... 5 bands/musical acts and an entire room full of desserts... pretty sure that could go down as the best meal/party of my life.

Heather: First, the multiple parties thrown in part or in full to acknowledge my (ahem, temporary) departure from Syracuse. I had a thoroughly good time at the H-House bash with new and old friends AND the Pastabilities dinner was so touching it brought me to tears (not to mention the message on the cake which I will always remember) AND as if that wasn’t enough to my utter and complete surprise (thanks Light Light...) a bunch of men (and a few more women too!) were waiting for us at Faegan’s- who knew so many people were that happy to see me go!? But seriously, all those people showing up to see me off absolutely made my year. I have the best friends ever, and nothing made me realize that more than having to leave to Syracuse.I also have to include my brother’s wedding which included THE most beautiful bride in the history of anything (nothing against Daisycat but the photos of my sister in law look like they are straight out of Vogue), the most heart melting tear jerking speech from my brother and so much to celebrate and feel good about it is ridiculous. Also the Martha Stewart inspired giant pom poms were pretty awesome and getting to be a bridesmaid and bonding with my new sister my dear brother and all their friends was hard to top. (Again, great entry)

Mike: haha choosing a favorite meal is always hard for me, but for a bunch of reasons I'll say this year's PSC holiday party. Followed closely by each Grube U. victory smorgasbord (Yes, the wings!!! Truly good times)

Tulip: A certain someone's 30th birthday party - 90s theme!

Vlad: jasmine rice (a choice that is almost Buddhist in simplicity and intriguing in concept)

Itenerant: ? (Also vaguely deep)

Bluebell: ID group pot luck

Pine Tree: "new years eve 2007: steak, cocktails, movie, good conversation with friends and a movie afterwards" (what's not to like?)

Saffron: Party at the H house the weekend after comps. It felt so good to relax! (Nothing is as good as that post-comps feeling!)

Contest Results: best book, music, blog, film

2009-01-05T21:49:00.018-05:00

The first Wandering Through Contest is now done! I know you want to know who won but before that there is tons of stuff to discuss. So let's get to it shall we?

There were some great entries for almost every category in my contest and I think it is not only fun but absolutely imperative to share them. This way we can collectively marvel at the eclectic and interesting choices of our (or my) friends and also have a ready list of recommendations for our collective summer reading, listening and viewing pleasure.

Best Book: (A wide range of choices here with John le Carre being the only repeat).

Chris and Mike only read academic articles (Guys, stop making the rest of us feel guilty).
Tulip- Dewey the Library Cat Book (she does love this book, I was witness)
Bluebell chose Eat, Pray, Love! and my latest 'best book of the year':A most Wanted Man by John le Carre! This latter choice was seconded by my dad in the following way: 'the old master can still tell a tale and relate it to the mood `just now'.
Daisycat: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Claudia: Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials) series and Moazzam Begg's biography about being held in Guantánamo.
Eric: Wittgenstein's Poker
Pine-tree: Jane Goodall ‘Africa in my Blood’ consisting of Goodall's letters to her family from Kenya
Vlad: Shadow and Claw (fic); Recovered Roots (academic) 
Vivek: The Great War for Civilization, Robert Fisk, Robert Heinlein's Citizen of The Galaxy
Kam: a 1918 book on symmetry. Also foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Violet: "Empire Falls"
Heather: “I’d Rather Teach Peace” by Colman McCarthy as much for the stories as for the dedication which reminded me to always remember the reason I started this whole grad school journey and never to let myself forget it...
Itenerant- Sea of Poppies
Chanbong: Nick Hornby, SLAM.
Rebekah: The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (John Zaller) (Special mention for most intimidating entry in this category)
Saffron: “The Grandmothers” a collection of short stories by Doris Lessing that I read early last year. I also really enjoyed the book “A Thousand Hills” on post-war Rwanda.

Best Album/Song/Musical Discovery: (This category saw the most wide range and detailed entries for albums, songs and styles. Coldplay, Duffy, Neko Case were mentioned more than once)

Chris: The Raconteurs; Runner up, Cold Play, "Viva la Vida"
Chanbongl: Interpol's latest album: Our Love to Admire
Re: Coldplay's Viva La Vida 2. the classic, John Mayer (we can call him a classic right?), who appears multiple times in my Top 25 Most Played songs on iTunes. (Brownie points from lightlight for mentioning JM)
Eric: Modern Guilt- Beck
Claudia: Day & Age, The Killers!!! Or The Weepies – Hideaway
Papa: Beethoven`s symphonies, this and every year
Vivek: Nujabes, Departure
Daisycat: Warwick Avenue, Duffy
Kam: always late baroque and classical style of music
Violet: Neko Case
Heather: Radiohead- In Rainbows, Bon Iver-For Emma, Forever Ago (my recent love for this album was aided by the concert I attended in December! I <3 Cambridge!) Best Song(s) Slow Show- The National (early this year and still hooked), Good Days-Fembots (Even though they are Canadian, this song is a the perfect anthem for November 2008 in America in my humble opinion!), My Body is a Cage-Arcade Fire, Kids-MGMT. Trading mixes/albums with my musically savvy friends. Note to self: do more of this in 2009. Amen on the last thought. See why her entries rocked?

Mike: old school alice in chains
Itenerant: Kailash-Kher (Saiyaan)
Tulip: Rediscovering my favorite soundtrack, Dil Se, and using Chaiya Chaiya to get my baby to sleep. 
Vlad: John Dowland Complete Lute Music (Prize for most esoteric choice)
Asli- JT Chop me up, Damien Rice
Pine Tree: Soul’d Out- Japanese pop at its best
Saffron: My favorite new musical discovery is Neko Case, thanks to one Ms. Heather

Best Blog: (So, blogs are not a big thing with you guys. This was made obvious to me by the number of people that chose mine as their best blog! Not that I have any problems with that!)

Chris, Claudia, Saffron and Rebekah abstained on this.
Violet, Pine-tree, Bluebell, Kam and Tulip chose mine and mine alone (clearly they don't know too many blogs) while Heather and Dasiycat chose mine plus another, including Heather's brother's philosophy of science one with a rather interesting name http://hnsttl.blogspot.com/
Chanbong: foodporndaily.com -click, drool, repeat
Eric: Duck of Minerva
Papa: Sepia Mutiny
Vivek: penny-whereimat, on blogspot.
Daisycat: www.leadertalk.org and yours!
Mike: stuff white people like
Vlad: http://photomans.livejournal.com
Finally, itenerant chose an excellent blog (that he needs to update more hint hint)- his own.

Best Movie:

Ratatouille was the big winner here with Daisycat, my dad and Pine tree choosing the cutest rat but there are some other good suggestions too:

Chris: This is not a deep, profound, or thoughtful selection, but Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever; Quantum of Solace.
Chanbong: Burn After Reading (go Coens!)
Rebekah: Love Actually
Eric: Dark Knight
Claudia: erm... haven't seen any this year!
Vivek: The Boss of it all, After the Wedding, Downfall, Tekkonkinkreet.
Kam: Sherlock Holmes films protrayed by Jeremy Brett
Violet: Once - beautiful music!
Heather: Dark Knight (with honorable mention to Iron Man), also Slumdog Millionaire and Doubt but also There Will be Blood and SINGLES
Iternerant: Edge of Heaven
Mike: by the way...my "best movie" is actually my "best blog"(Prize for strangest answer).
Tulip: Wall E
Vlad: Body of Lies
Bluebell: Lives of others
Pine Tree: Fanaa (yay for Bollywood)
Saffron: If I had to pick a most memorable, I would choose No Country for Old Men. But, perhaps it was very memorable because I had nightmares about the man in the film for weeks! Ok, it was also a very good movie.

Lots of stuff to catch up on next break!

'Best of' 2008 D-List

2008-12-31T09:42:00.061-05:00

Since there's no obvious way to do this and you know I'm going to have a lot to say about my choices- lets get straight to it: Presenting yet another 'best of 2008' list! (Now with notable contenders and 'worst of' categories and multiple entries!)

Best Book of 2008: (and straight away we're off to a tie!) Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri and American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Notable Contenders: Netherland,The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a certain Qualitative Methods book

( Note: I'm chastised by the entries I have received so far for my contest. Apparently, many people interpret 'best book' to include academic books. That this did not immediately occur to me worries me a little.)

Worst Book: A Good Indian Wife NRI writing at its worst.

Best Album: Ok, so if you read this blog and you don't know what I'm going to pick you haven't been reading closely enough!
'Where the light is' sealed my love for and started my, lets admit it, slight obsession, with all things John Mayer this year. This live album showcases JM's different avatars- the acoustic singer-songwriter, the guitarist, the blues musician of the JMtrio and the pop musician with the hits, the hyper-articulate performer etc. Great.

Notable Contenders: I rarely listen to entire albums but from what little I heard I liked Modern Guilt (Beck), Duffy , the Vampire Weekend album and Sara Baraeilles and Ray LaMontagne.

Best Song: In your atmosphere (in Mayer world) and (in other music-world) Paper Planes by M.I.A. (Any song that makes me bop my head to gun shots and a cash register has to rock. Catchy as hell)

Notable contenders: Shut up and let me go- the Ting Tings, I'm not going to teach your boyfriend how to dance with you- Black Kids, Circus- Britney Spears, House of Cards - Radiohead, Lost- Coldplay, Electric Feel- MGMT, Winter Song- Sara Baraeilles, Mrs. Officer and other Lil Wayne songs I wanted to hate but can't...ok I'll stop here.

Worst Song: (Sooo many choices here) Womanizer- Britney Spears, Single Ladies- Beyonce and I was assaulted by a Miley Cyrus song once and have not yet recovered.

Best Movie: Wall-E. This movie took not-so-appealing elements for me - environmentalism, robots, scifi, cockroaches, silent movies- and made it magical, touching and profund.

Notable Contenders: The Visitor, Jab we met

Best TV:: drama, scandals, endless comedy, an audacious bimbo spoiler, teenage pregnancies, unforgettable cameos by plumbers and mooses, an irresistible tagline, celebrity appearances, audience voting and participation, a powerful steely heroine who holds her own, the older godfather who isn't quite what he seems to be, an impossibly charismatic hero prevailing in a feel-good ending...the best show this year had it all....yes, ofcourse, I'm talking about the Presidential Election 2008.

Notable Contenders: The Ivory Tower Half Hour and This Week with George Stephanopolous (which are the perfect complements to) The Hills, Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer Wimbeldon Final

Worst TV (not in a good way) : Moment of Truth. Hands down

Best Meal: I've blogged about my fav sandwich but best meal encompasses more than just food. I'm going to go with a delicious lunch I ate with bluebell and fleur in San Francisco during ISA at B star on Clement in San Francisco- edamame humus, kabocha croquettes, calamari, , satay, lychee ice teas outside in the sunny patio.

Worst Meal: The fancy lunch I had to keep down all the while our annual funding meeting was going on- didn't taste a thing, really.

Best Party: Normally this would be a slam dunk for my first entry but this was a special year and so I have a tie.

So my first party of the year was My 90's themed birthday party February 2008 The elements: the dinner with my best girl friends, the slide show (if there was a category called best ego boost, it would go to that slideshow). AND then the surprise 90's themed after party with everyone dressed up in their 90's best (read: lots of flannel, torn denim). The 90's music was the icing on an already delicious cake- and the cherry was everyone hilariously getting down to 'Baby one more time'. Thanks Tulip!! And Heather and gang for the music and everyone who helped make this the BEST. PARTY. EVER.

How could there even be another contender, you ask? Well, this was also the year my sister, Daisycat got married!! My sister's wedding May 2008 The wedding was lovely- intimate but lively, beautiful with San Francisco and our garden at its best, family and friends gathered and the cake of the year. My sister was just the loveliest, most glowing bride I've ever seen and my brother in law rocks....for the emotions and the love, this also ranks as party of the year....

Best New discovery: blogging (and other new modes of self expression)

Best podcast:: Slate's audio book club

Best trip: San Francisco (always)

Best blog: Daniel Drezner for the content, Go Fug Yourself for the laughs

News story of the year: Obama is the obvious story but two others stood out: the Mumbai attacks and the global economic crisis which I followed but am still not sure I fully understand.

Notable contenders: Olympics opening ceremony and architecture, The rise and fall of Sarah Palin, The fall of Spitzer, The fall and rise of Britney Spears, Hilary Clinton's tears, Carnage in Gaza, dodgy Chinese toys, milk and gymnasts, and Somali Pirates!

Obsession of the Year (In the venerable tradition of my obsessions such as Michael Jackson - I know but in my defense I was 12/13-, Steffi Graf, Nirvana, Sachin Tendulkar, Cricket, Cats): John Mayer

Best Days: Sister's day out and the shoes, the birth of my goddaughter, Nov 4th, days bonding with tulip in Ithaca, Seth in SF and Heather in the bay/online and baking cupcakes with the gang, seeing the QMIR book with my name on it and doing my first interview!

Funniest Moments : Sarah Palin's interviews, details of the Salman-SRK spat

Worst/Saddest Days: Bombay attacks, annual meeting May 2nd, leaving San Francisco, goodbyes, discovering what acid reflux feels like :(

Buzzwords of the year: 'yes we can', 'change', 'stock markets plunge', 30, 'John Mayer', 'Funding', 'Babies', 'Trivia'

Lessons Learned: 1. To thine own self be true. 2. Basic HTML coding 3. I have wonderful friends and family

Challenges of the year: are not over yet...

On that cheery note, I'm done!

Goodbye 2008- you gave me moments of joy (my sister getting married to a very cool person, my adorable goddaughter, conversations with my lovely friends, being able to talk to my parents so often, the Obama victory, Sachin's form). But you were also really, really tough (work frustrations in the first half, saying goodbye to people and places, that whole recession thing, the horror of 11/26 and Gaza, growing up and all that comes with it).

But you sure were eventful, 2008 - sisters getting married, pregnant friends, we're losing jobs and getting new jobs, moving on, confronting our fears, getting published, saving, thinking about the 'future', being distinctly on the wrong side of 20 or even, gasp, turning 30!

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto....

2009 is going to be 'interesting' no doubt with many uncertainties but also much to look forward to. Here's to 'hope', 'change' and all the rest of it.....and to the joys of wandering through it all....

Not for the feeble brained

2008-12-29T23:39:00.007-05:00

This looks a lot easier than it was to do...

This (from Scramble Squares) was one of my stocking stuffers from the lovely Christmas I spent with tulip's family. I'm capturing the fact that I actually successfully finished a puzzle ( and a really hard one at that) for posterity. May never happen again...

On Samuel Huntington (1927- 2008)

2008-12-27T12:28:00.013-05:00

In my world there is no figure that people love to hate more than Samuel Huntington, who passed away earlier this week. Much of this is targeted at Huntington's last few works, most notably 'The Clash of Civilizations' and 'Who are We'. The common charges are that Huntington is a (perhaps 'the') neo-conservative, is a shoddy academic because he makes grand, sweeping arguments without the requisite research, that he is anti-Islam and anti-multi-ethnic societies and has that agenda for US foreign policy, that he is arrogant etc.

What this translates into in classes is an all too easy dismissal of Huntington even before one has the chance to talk about the work at hand. A snigger here, a snarky comment there and we're done with our 'discussion'. I have rarely seen a group of otherwise argumentative and opinionated people fall into such complete agreement than when it's time to bash Huntington. I predict that in the weeks after we all come back to school, there will be much of the same reaction.

While there are some substantial reasons for some of this derision, the quality of it has always troubled me. At the very real risk of alienating or annoying professors and peers, I and a few of my peers have tried to address this in class only to be met by a unified response of incredulity and half-joking accusations at being secretly conservative! And I don't even really agree with the man on his core hypotheses.

Don't get me wrong- Huntington was too influential, powerful and successful to need defending. His work was at its best powerful and insightful and at all times enormously provocative and designed to spark debate and dissent, which by all accounts he enjoyed. Secondly, I agree that some of the arguments about the flaws in his research are valid and his conclusions, while provocative, can be troubling for those who see themselves as fundamentally liberal. So this is not a blanket statement to rescue a scholar who needs no rescuing. Instead this post is to make two observations on Huntington's legacy:

First, I think (and this is not very social-sciency of me) that Huntington's role as a public intellectual far supersedes his role as an academic political scientist or a social scientist. To those of my interlocutors who point to the flaws in his 'research design' or 'case selection' and bemoan the lack of theoretical or literature review, I can only say that that was not Huntington's aim in his later work. His early work has all of that and those are still powerful and important works in political science. But the later work, for which he is most often criticized, was all about larger ideas. Surely we can agree as constructivists that there is a core place for and a power of large ideas in the world?The charge that Huntington cannot account for Case A or Case B ignores that he is often pointing his finger at, in a prescient way, large, complex and abstract forces and phenomena in society. The role of holding up those larger patterns, and even shaping the contours of the debate on huge issues such as identity, religion and violence or immigration is a pivotal one. And it is different from the important work of 'normal science', to twist that term.

Secondly, many criticize Huntington's influence on guiding the shaping of contemporary U.S. foreign policy, specially in the post 9/11 period. The argument is that Huntington's 'Clash of Civilizations' idea predisposed a certain (misguided) interpretation of those events and strengthened the idea that this was a religious struggle rather than one over concrete political conflicts. This is a huge and un-resolvable debate in many ways and I'm not sure that we can easily separate the domain of the religious from the political in any of the conflicts Huntington was talking about; but at a very minimum shouldn't his influence on U.S.policy mean that we should engage with his ideas in a much deeper sense? How can dismissing Huntington out of hand help us truly understand the making of U.S. (or indeed other) foreign policy? Huntington's passing alerts us to the enduring problem of the harmful mutual disengagement of scholars of international relations with practitioners of foreign policy. Both see the other as misguided and out of sync with reality and because each side thus has their pet intellectuals, the bridge is harder to divide.

Thirdly, and related to the points above, to truly understand the workings and deeper sociological roots of foreign policy anywhere requires us to give up the rote conventions of academia, to be wary of political correctness and to take more seriously the arguments of those we disagree with. We owe it to ourselves as members of academia as Kanti Bajpai reminds us in a fairly devastating piece he wrote on the Clash of Civilizations in 1998. To 'pirouette dismissively' from Huntington, Bajpai says, is lazy.

Thus, I, like many others, have my differences with Huntington but I respect his contributions to our discipline, will engage with his many insights and admire his always provocative, always challenging mind.

And, in true Huntingtonian spirit, I relish any and all arguments that this post might provoke!

ETA: Here's the NYT obit
on him

Arundhati Roy and the voices...redux

2008-12-22T12:36:00.006-05:00

Read here an excellent rebuttal of Arundhati Roy's '9 is not 11' piece that I wrote about earlier. There have been other forceful denunciations of her writing about 11/26, by Salman Rushdie amongst others with good arguments made about Roy's willful disregard for geo-strategic realities etc. but this piece deserves its own post.

Abhinav Kumar, a serving IPS officer has written an open letter to Roy that brings into sharp relief for me many things that Roy's piece (and her other writing in general) lacks- balance, a willingness to think one's arguments through to their logical end, a avoidance of moral relativism and a sense of the bigger picture. And he writes pretty well too.

Kumar beings by acknowledging Roy's role as a voice that prickles our collective conscience, which I think is more generous that he needs to be but that's where the familiar sense of ambivalence ends. I think he nicely and much more succintly devastates Roy.

Kumar echoes one of my previous commentators (Jai) in the thought that Roy appears to be more interested in her own brand as the Indian voice of dissent than in formulating a genuine and original response to each issue that she wants to talk about. Thus, she has an Arundhati Roy agenda with its well establishes and predictable talking points (this is me, not Kumar). For Kumar, this means that Roy ignores the moral responsibility of a public intellectual. And he directs most of his essay at Roy's callous disregard for the human loss of the Bombay attacks and her petty at best tirade against the security forces. These parts struck a particularly sour note in her piece.

His comments on the stupidity of comparing Hindutva to radical Islam are more controversial and will not please everyone but on balance, I think he's right if you have a sense of perspective and are not excessively politically-correct.

If you're at all interested in this, you should really read the whole essay but I'll leave you with two points that impressed me particularly:

You seem to passionately believe in and defend the 'right' of the Kashmiris to ethnic, cultural, religious and geographical exclusivism. If this is correct than why should we vilify Raj Thackeray or any other chauvinist who seeks to preserve the purity (however defined) of his people (however defined) from outsiders (also however defined)?...I do hope you have taken the trouble to examine the fundamental assumptions underlying all such movements based on an assertion of a cultural identity. The creation of a hated outsider, in the case of Kashmir, the Indian; in the case of Raj Thackeray, the bhaiya of UP and Bihar; and in the case of the jihadists, anyone and everyone who does not subscribe to their virulent strain of Islam, including Muslims, is common to all these ideologies but you seem to pick and choose the bigotries you will demonize and the bigotries you will defend. Is it possible to freeze identity to a moment in time and on the basis of this demand recognition, retribution and rights for all time to come?

I wonder what Roy would say to that. Actually, I have a good idea of what she would say but indeed her defense would be hollow.

and this..

The liberties you have exercised in the past and continue to do today, however gratuitously and offensively, do not exist in a vacuum. I am not sure if any of these liberties would have a place in a Naxalite Utopia or a Jihadi Caliphate or even in a self-determined Kashmiri paradise that you eloquently espoused... In any case, the liberties that you have recently taken with the sensibilities of proud Indians too exist in a cultural, political and constitutional context, a context that is ultimately safeguarded by men such as Hemant Karkare and Major Unnikrishnan with disregard for their own life.

My anti-Arundhati voice to my pro-Arundhati voice: Take that!

Tear jerker

2008-12-22T00:06:00.006-05:00

Due to distinctly unpopular demand, I'm extending the dates to the first Wandering Through contest. I figure it's christmas, people are traveling and seeing family- the last thing they want to do is to fill up a contest on a blog....So you have till Jan 5th now to do it!! So now you have no excuses!!

It won't take more than a couple of minutes really. AND (here's where I have to level with you) it will make a poor, cold, shivering grad student (ie. me) who couldn't even go home this winter soooo happy. As I write this pleading message, it is 15 degrees fahrenheit (that is -9 degrees celsius) here, the central heating is powerless against this sort of cold, it has been snowing relentlessly for the past 3 days and the 'real feel' is more like 7 F (very, very freezing in Centigrade), all my friends are gone and it is too cold and snowy to venture out....and amidst this misery all I want is for people to take my one measly contest....

Are you feeling guilty yet? If so, you know what to do...It will be fun, there's a prize and who doesn't like making end of the year lists..huh? huh? Come on now, you can do it, now take that mouse and click here

See, wasn't that simple?

Watch now, thank me later: Yes Minister

2008-12-19T22:27:00.015-05:00

When I was a kid one of the most popular shows in our home was the 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister' series. My parents loved the show and I would watch along with them, only half following the plot. I must have been 10-12 years old and so I didn't fully understand the sophisticated humor but even then I could appreciate the excellent performances of the 3 major characters (the baffled, pompous but occasionally wily Minister Hacker, the diabolical and cunning Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne is masterful) and the naive, pedantic and slightly corruptible Bernard Wooley (who I used to have a crush on! Is that weird?). Later on, I read the brilliant spinoff books coming out of the series.

And now, years later as a political scientist (in training) and following the Obama cabinet building process I'm redicovering the show all over again via netflix (can I just say now- I love you, netflix). I marvel at how relevant the humor is even today, how sophisticated and subtle the writing is and how spot on the characters are. Then I weep for what passes for a sitcom these days.

I present to you this gem of an exchange in the episode 'Open Government':

Sir Humphrey (on a memo entitled Open Government which he naturally and virulently opposes, being a bureaucrat): "Always dispose of the difficult bit in the title, does less harm there than in the text."
Cabinet Secretary: "Yes, it's the law of inverse relevance. The less you intend to do about something, the more you have to keep talking about it'
Bernard Wooley: (uncertainly) "But what's wrong with open government? Why shouldn't the public know more about what's going on?"
Cabinet Secretary:(in utter amazement) "Are you serious? My dear boy, it's a contradiction in terms. You can be open or you can have government"
Bernard Wolley: "But..But surely the citizens of a democracy have the right to know"
Sir Humphrey :(with strained patience but utter conviction) "No. They have a right to be ignorant. Knowledge only means complicity and guilt. Ignorance has a certain dignity."
Cabinet Secretary:(profoundly) "If people don't know what you're doing, they don't know what you're doing wrong."

and this..

'We have decided to be more flexible in our application of this principle' means 'We are dropping this policy but we don't want to admit it publicly'

Classic- British comedy at its absolute best. They just don't make shows like that anymore. Does anyone else share my love for this show?

For my polisci friends and fellow lovers of British Comedy- this is a must watch...Hence the title of this post.

Arundhati Roy and the voices in my head

2008-12-17T23:07:00.019-05:00

It's hard to be neutral about Arundhati Roy.

I loved (in an unqualified way) 'The God of Small Things' (GOST). I was just out of high school when the book came out, to tremendous hype and I was determined to find it over-rated. Instead, the book blew me away - at this point it's almost a cliche to say how inventive the language is but I'll just say that it captured smells, sounds and textures in a way I have rarely seen since, though there are many bad imitations. The plot is beautifully paced, the narrative device felt utterly genuine and organic. I still feel tension and sadness as the book reaches its climax...and I still marvel at her small insights - this particular feeling of unease that I have always associated with her image of the fluttering moth in your chest since the book.

I don't think Roy could have topped GOST and so in a sense I'm glad she hasn't written more fiction.

Since GOST, Roy has become passionately committed to many causes, general and specific- the enviornment and anti-dam movement in India, taking on the neo-liberal order, anti-Indian nuclear tests, anti-Iraq war and American imperealism. Most of this is done via writing in a series of articles that have found wide circulation internationally, many of which are first found in Outlook India.

While I loved GOST, the articles - not so much. But still, I can't be ambivalent about them....

This is the internal dialogue I wrestle with when thinking about Arundhati Roy:

Pro-Arundhati voice: She really can write well- she just has a way with words.

Anti-Arundhati voice: 1. What's the point of writing well, if you're just ranting and raving. She has no sense of proportion or balance. Everything is really, really black and white for her. 2. So much of it is her marketability and persona- I get really annoyed by academics in the west who think she is the real voice of the 'Indian masses'. 3. Plus Ramachandra Guha says she's unoriginal and frequently gets things wrong (in much better words than I can muster) and I am inclined to trust his opinion.

Pro-Arundhati voice: But are you saying that because 1. she says some really uncomfortable, unflaterring things about India and 2. exposes deep rooted facets about your own privileged existence. At the end of the day, isn't she speaking truth to power? Isn't your vehemence born out of your own discomfort at being confronted by the ugly truths about the parts of of the neo-liberal world order that benefit you?

Anti-Arundhati Roy: Yes, she does make me uncomfortable for those reasons. In fact, I don't disagree with much of her agenda and where she's coming from. I want to be on her side but she's just annoyingly simplistic, quick to take umbrage and just a little smug. Not to mention a little rabid. She could make her argument so much more credibly and intelligently if she was just more balanced, nuanced and open to alternative perspectives. Also, she's intellectually lazy- by making the 'they're fascists/like Hitler' argument for anyone she doesn't agree with.

Pro-Arundhati: Why should she give more space and credence to already powerful players and voices? She has courage and she backs up her words with her deeds. You need voices like hers in the forums she has access to. We are kept honest by someone with her ability with language and her visibility to press our conscience and to give voice to people ...

Anti-Arundhati: I'll give her the courage part- but really, she is supported and lionized by the same systems and people she criticizes. I would just like to see her acknowledge that just once. I'd be more willing to listen to her if she would be willing to have a dialogue with people she disagrees with. You can't have a dialogue with Arundhati- she's an ideologue in the same way as G.W. and she is so convinced by her own stance that she is unwilling to question her own mistakes

And so it goes on....

Mostly, as I've read her work over the years (increasingly more incoherent and badly edited), the anti-Arundhati side of me has prevailed over the pro-Arundhati side...

So, after reading her latest article in Outlook entitled '9 is not 11', the debate has restarted and surprise...the pro-Arundhati voice is winning.

Yes, it needs an editing job and it lapses into her usual rant against America and also a somewhat inappropriate but understandable tirade against neo-liberalism when discussing (rightly) the excessive coverage of the Taj versus other, less glamorous targets. It's also way too rambly. But she does make some good points and in the language and style that she does like no one else.

Some interesting lines/points:
1. First, can we just agree that the '9 is not 11' title is vintage Roy- clever, simple, stark. On this desire to brand 11/26 'India's 9/11' she writes:

"We've forfeited the rights to our own tragedies. But November isn't September, 2008 isn't 2001, Pakistan isn't Afghanistan, and India isn't America. So perhaps we should reclaim our tragedy and pick through the debris with our own brains and our own broken hearts so that we can arrive at our own conclusions."

I agree. Calling 26/11 out 9/11 is easy and understandable but dangerous. Yes, the Bombay attacks were on an unprecedented scale symbolically but they were not a bolt from the blue in the same sense. It should not undermine the unacceptability of the series of attacks India has suffered. More importantly, we should be wary of equating responses to 11/26 with that of 9/11. The domestic and strategic context is different, India's identity is distinct and different and so we need to recognize and work with those differences.

2. A provocative but useful discussion on the politics of calling Muslim versus Hindu groups terrorists. This is a debate that is very much alive in India and she raises the important question - does discussing the context or root causes of terrorism amount to excusing it (Side A) or is it necessary to understand the deeper bases of violence (side B). She chooses side B. I've always struggled between Side A and Side B. I don't buy her reasoning getting to that point. or her simplistic and predictable linking of the Bombay attacks solely to domestic politics (though that no doubt fuels movements in Pakistan) but....she goes there and she juxtaposes the ugly side of 'context' with all that is 'magnificent' about the idea of the India. It is uncomfortable, perhaps too early to talk about but I think it is only by asking ourselves the questions about our own 'context' instead of just pointing the finger at Pakistan that we truly live up to all that we pride in ourselves as a secular, inclusive democracy.

Again, instead of constructing barriers to asking tough questions about our own legacy and place in the world, as happened in the US after 9/11, we would do well to have a discourse about these questions. Certainly in the non-inflammatory and less sensitive arenas that public intellectuals occupy.

3. Most of all I like the end:

The only way to contain – it would be naive to say end – terrorism is to look at the monster in the mirror. We're standing at a fork in the road. One sign says "Justice," the other "Civil War." There's no third sign and there's no going back. Choose.

Amen Sister. The choice is pretty clear to me.

Soon, no doubt you will write some crazy 50 page essay comparing Bill Gates to Pol Pot. And I'll feel vindicated in my irritation with you. But tonight, Arundhati, I'll give you half a thumbs up.

It's chaos but it's MY chaos!

2008-12-17T22:30:00.007-05:00

A nyt blogpost that tackles one of the biggest trials and tribulations of academic life: how to roganize all the materials you work with. As someone who has a gazillion documents called 'proposal', 'terr' or 'final paper' with random numbers after it this post is after my own heart.

The basic point being made is that it is so easy now to just download and save articles that you often end up with more chaos on your computer than you can handle- multiple copies of the same article with different names depending on idiosyncrasies, emails with the same paper saved every 5 minutes etc. She's absolutely right that what happens now is that you end up re-researching every paper you write, even if it is substantively close to other things you have done before. It's just easier to re-google scholar an article and download it than sift through various folders and oddly titled files named pdf.17973567. The small enviornmentalist in me is also aghast at how easy it is to print off reams of articles, most of which remain unread (studying by osmosis anyone?) and then get thrown into recycle bins. Recycling does not mean that we should be printing copies of the same article every couple of weeks.

The article suggests some new software to get around this problem that seem worth checking out. They sound like more organized and functional variants of endnote.

But it only addresses the download problem, not other hassles like how to back up work in an organized fashion or how to arrange your own materials. Also, it still means that you have to be disciplined enough to enter the information about each work into the database. If you're struggling with an impending deadline, or if endnote is bugging as it seems to on Mac, that's easier said than done.

I could be a lot more organized (for those familiar with my desk, this is patently obvious) but there are a few things that I do that seem to work (ie. I can generally find things I need, I don't have tons of copies of the same things) that I'm surprised to see my friends and peers don't. So, in the best tradition of unsolicited advice, here are some tips for more organized filing:

1. Save things in multiple places- not just on a flash drive. I strongly recommend a gmail account- there is more space than you will ever know what to do with and it's free.

2. Email yourself your work every 20 minutes or so when working on a paper. I've learned the hard way of never going too long before saving and backing up work.

3. Name your documents in a standard, logical manner with some sort of numbers. like Version/V 2 or IDpaperDec232008...it really helps later on

4. Delete! Delete! Delete! Every few months go through your computer and delete the multiple copies, the million emails with the every-20minutes-backed up paper. It makes life a lot easier and a lot less daunting to look at 600 emails all sent to yourself with identical looking attachments. Just keep the final couple of versions of any completed papers.

5. Use folders on the desktop instead of just putting individual paper icons..

Those are my words of wisdom. Now if I could only practice what I preach. I think I'm going to try extra hard...

...and give up chocolate, take up jogging and write 5 pages by 10:00 am every day. (Don't get your hopes up papa!)

Reason No. 23652: interfaith baking contest

2008-12-17T20:00:00.030-05:00

One of the many reasons I think John Mayer is cool is that he has sustained a direct and 'unmanaged' relationship with his fans despite having exploded onto the mainstream. Despite his rapid success etc. there is something genuine and unpackaged about how he comes across...

Exhibit A: For the past few weeks Mayer has been really into baking. Over the past few weeks, his blog has been taken over by all things baking....the famous obama cake, his families cakes, fan submissions and even more fan submissions (some of which are just stunning in design and concept), his live baking posts etc. That's cool in itself.

Then came the 'interfaith baking contest'. The idea was simple- send in a picture of your holiday baking. JM will then pick his favorite and the winner gets a John Mayer autographed signature series fender stratocaster, which even I with zero knowledge of guitars can tell you is a pretty sweet prize. Contest closes on the 22nd btw

The response has been really cool. JM sites and boards are full of earnest discussions about fondant and frosting and just where to get the perfect cupcake stands instead of gossip about Anniston., the email account for submissions is constantly full etc. It has been a lot of fun to follow. And to take part in!

Very early on I decided to enter the contest but I've never really baked anything! Slight problem! I had an idea but no skills, scant equipment and little courage...So I sent a message to 7 of my best friends (about whom I have a long- overdue post coming soon). I didn't really expect much of a response- it was the end of semester, people had stuff to do, places to go, parties to plan... but lo and behold a week later we found ourselves at tulip's house, baking away.

I present to you the following pictures along with an extract of the email I sent:

Title/Concept: 'The (cupcake) world as we would like it to be' (cupcakes for peace)

(Basically we took the 'interfaith' part of your contest seriously and decided to make the most inclusive, all encompassing, interfaith bunch of cupcakes we could think of). You'll see the major religious symbols sure, but also cupcakes for atheism (the white one), agnosticism (the question mark), darwinism (the jesus fish with feet), pro-gay rights (the rainbow) and even one called enlightenment (can you guess which one?).

Medium: cake mix, frosting, sprinkles, silver and other balls, icing (baking is a lot easier than I thought!!)

Having seen the really brilliant works of art submitted by fans (seriously check them out), I don't think our 'cupcakes for peace' are going to make the cut. So I may not win the fender or john mayer's heart....

But that's not even the point. I have something way more valuable....7 of the best friends anybody could ever hope for.

To my gang: thank you guys for coming in the middle of a snow storm, despite busy schedules in a crazy weekend to help me bake. It was such a lovely afternoon! I'll always remember tulip's expert baking, lotus teasing me about my 'multi-culturalism' cupcake which she thought (incorrectly) looks like nothing, bluebell's intricate evil eye and heather's irreverent atheist and darwin fish designs... Saffron's meticulous, professional looking cakes and violet's painstaking beautiful rainbow...We played with tulip's beautiful baby, devoured our cupcakes and photographed them lovingly, while laughing and chatting about life...

So with those lovely memories, I close the book on my involvement in the great interfaith baking contest of 2008. Thanks to my wonderful friends, also for my sister's and mom's sage advice about concepts and flavors from thousands of miles away, thanks to all the people that ate our cupcakes (the downside to baking 24 cupcakes is that you're left with 24 cupcakes) and of course to a certain musician for being the impetus for it all....if Mayer's aim was to foster a communal holiday spirit, I can say from our experience - mission accomplished!

I'll close with some of my fav cupcakes-( I also loved the rainbow, the atheism and evil eye but they got eaten before I could take pictures...)

I call this 'enlightenment'

This one I call 'Will I find love? Only with divine intervention' (Or something to that effect)

The Darwin Fish

And this one by saffron sums it all up...Just perfect.

First Wandering Through Contest

2008-12-12T10:29:00.019-05:00

I'm always talking to you about my book of the month or meal of the month or whatever but this isn't a one way street you know... it's time to hear what's going on in your lives too. Soooo in preparation for my mega 'Best of 2008/Reflections' entry, I'm going do the ultimate blogging thing and start a little contest for my readers. Aggressive blog promotion to follow so please bear with me.

Here's what I'm thinking: Send me an email or use the comment box to answer the following things:

Best Book you read this year:

Best Album/Song/Musical Discovery:

Best Blog: (apart from the obvious one of course)

Best Movie:

Most memorable Meal/Party:

News Story of the year:

Buzz word/quote of the year:

Ok, that should do it. You don't have to fill every category... (for people like my mom who might not have a best album of the year).

That should give me a good snap shot of what 2008 was about for my readers (who by default are my beloved friends)- I'll post about any interesting trends that emerge. It'll be like a little electronic capsule.

Send your entries in by Dec 30th 2008!

The Prize: I can't offer you tickets to concerts or vacations, the prize will be more modest: there will be a random drawing to select a winner who will receive his/her choice of either MY fav book/music of the year! 2 other lucky winners will win home-made 'best of 2008' music mixes by me- which as Heather will testify make up in earnestness and funk what they lack in quality and eclecticness...There will be a strict limit on John Mayer songs, I promise.

Now for the tough part- should this be a drawing? Or should it be a proper contest where I pick a winner? Opinion on this has been divided but I'll think about it and let you know. I promise to be fair.

Can't wait to see your submissions! Now is the time to prove a) that you read this b) your friendship (a little emotional blackmail to end this post)...

BRB

2008-12-12T10:26:00.002-05:00

Yes, blogging has been sporadic. And for the legions of my fans/readers (there's such a fine line between the two..sigh) that have been wondering where their humble blogger disappeared I say - I'll be right back! Now that the semester is winding to a close I will have plenty of time during my first winter in da cuse to blog away...

You have been warned!

Rare Lost Stills from Dr. Zhivago?

2008-12-12T09:56:00.012-05:00

Nope, just your average winter's day in da Cuse.

Woke up this morning to find these delightful sights... I'm not being sarcastic when I say 'delightful'. I LOVE snow. Specially new snow when it falls fluffily and softly on your head...

Yes, two days from now it will be slushy and ugly and yes, it makes even the shortest walk to the bus stop hazardous, mildly harrowing and disorienting (nothing like snow to make you lose you way on a 5 minute walk you do daily)

But just look at it...so pure, so pretty....this is the snow falling with the music school in the background

...and this is snow falling over the Hall of Languages - the building that supposedly inspired the house in the original Adams Family show. Old Syracuse lore.

Give me this over a sunny, sandy beach any day (blech). Now I'll stop extolling the virtues of snow because few things irritate people who have waded through snow, slid all over the road as they tried to drive or shoveled their sidewalk for hours more than hearing how beautiful it is- I know, I learned that the hard way.

D-List November

2008-12-02T20:16:00.012-05:00

It has been quite a month. There was too much going for much extra sources of stimuli and none of it really can be reflected in the monthly list tradition. But tradition is tradition and so it must be upheld. Since there were many tumultuous happenings, I'm dispensing with some of my usual categories (blog, book, article, podcast etc.) Either nothing stood out or I didn't have the time. They will be back next month when I do my best of the year D-list.

So without further ado:

Best New Discoveries: 1. The hidden depths of myself 2. the Body Shop's Hemp hand cream. Fellow sufferers of dry skin: I think we have a winner.

Best TV moment: Watching Barack Obama making his acceptance speech and the amazing pictures of the Obama's and the Biden's on election night. I might have shed a tear or two.
Close second: JM singing Sinatra on Dave Letterman. Sigh.
(Worst TV moment - watching the coverage of the Bombay blasts- for so many reasons)

Best Movie: I've realized I hardly watch any movies so this category is a bit redundant. But this month I have a clear winner. You guessed it: The Visitor. The other contender was Sex and the City (the movie) which wasn't half bad but was no competition to the Visitor. Put it on your netflix queue (it took me 5 tries to try to spell that word)

Best Songs: The Things I do- Teddy Thompson. A little melancholy, ok a lot melancholy but it works for me. And because JM provides the sound track to my life 'In repair'.

Best meal: A delicious home cooked Turkish meal cooked by my neighbor- there was a spinach-lentil dish, a peas pilaf and the piece de resistance a grilled eggplant dish with little bits of feta cheese that managed to be smoky and creamy all at once. You're supposed to eat it with meat but i could eat it all by itself. Oh...just thinking about it makes me hungry. (Hint-hint to my Turkish friends).

Best Moment: 4th November 2008. (I think the worst one is obvious)

Picture of the month:

I took this at the vigil for Mumbai held at school yesterday. When we observed silence, all we could hear was the wind and the flag poles creaking and rattling in the wind. It was sad but there was a solidarity there.

Challenges of the Month: 1. How to keep the sweet in bitter-sweet. 2. Paper cuts

Lessons of the month: 1. YES WE CAN. Yes I can. 2. In Britain they call stapling clipping.

Quote of the month: 'Then, the circle of your friends will defend the silver lining'

Next month: the best of 2008 d-list! Lots of exciting categories for me to mull over...

What good PR looks like

2008-11-30T10:01:00.007-05:00

Watching This Week with George Stephanopolous and they had the Ambassador of Pakistan Hussain Haqqani. Haqqani is a very intelligent scholar and diplomat and an excellent choice for Ambassador in my opinion. I heard him speak once at the Council of World Affairs in San Francisco a few years ago and came away extremely impressed.

He showed how such situations should be handled: hit all the Pakistan talking points (Pakistan is a democracy, also a victim of terrorism, we feel India's pain, acknowledges the Pakistani roots of the problem but blames it on non-state actors).

At the same time he acknowledged that there is a problem with Pakistan and Afghanistan being the locus of 'Jihad central'. He also did not make any pejorative claims or arguments against India.

He also made the very important point that these attacks should not be viewed in the usual India-Pakistan prism.

Throughout he was calm, progressive in thinking and articulate.

Good PR and diplomacy 101.

Immediate Thoughts on Bombay

2008-11-29T17:04:00.019-05:00

It is still too early to say anything meaningful about Bombay, while the bodies are still being counted, but here a few thoughts:

Someone held up this placard on NDTV today:

Mr. Terrorist I am alive. What can you do?
Mr. Politician I am alive despite of you
I am a Mumbaikar

Yes, there is a real, palpable anger in Bombay right now. And it is directed not just at the terrorists responsible for what happened but against politicians of all hues and the political system in general. The reaction of Bombayites and Indians all over the world is one of anger- but mostly directed against the political class. Farookh Sheikh (one of my favorite actors of the 70's and 80's and now a respected public commentator) pointed out the stark contrast between the sense of duty displayed by people like Taj GM Kang who continued to direct operations at Taj even though his wife and children had been killed by the terrorists on the one hand and the absolutely self-serving attitude of politicians on the scene.

There is much to be angry about. From politicians like Modi who tried to garner political points even as the operations were continuing, to the growing accusation that the NSG, who were thoroughly professional in their operations, were unsupported and tied up in protecting security for politicians - the disgust with the political system is apparent.

Why? Lets just take 2 examples:
This from the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patel who spoke of the attacks (translated from Hindi) in the following way: "such small incidents keep happening everywhere. It could have been much worse so there was no intelligence failure"

What do you even say to that?

Narendra Modi (about whom the less one can say the better) standing in front of the Trident as operations were still continuing, taking up valuable resources that were no doubt employed to ensure his security and announcing 1 crore rupees to the family of the slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare. This when Modi and his goons placed enormous political pressure and threatened Karkare for his investigation of possible Hindu militants involvement in the Malegoan attacks. And he had the gall to offer a crore to the Karkare family? How crass can you get? The widow of Karkare revealed her strong but dignified revulsion by refusing the money outright.

And the Thackrey's? They and the MNS who deserve whatever is coming to them - they actually blamed the attacks on 'overcrowding of the city' no doubt referring to N. Indian migrants. This when the core of the NSG, army and people who gave up their lives in Bombay were from all over India. Scum is too kind a word.

Scum is too kind a word.

Yes, there is anger. And I feel it only too strongly, sitting thousands of miles away.

Vir Sanghvi has an op-ed in todays Hindustan Times in which he notes that there are only three countries with repeated terrorist attacks today- Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. I could add iraq too but he has a point. For all their faults, the Bush administration has ensured that no major terrorist act has occurred in the US. Bali, London and Madrid were also all turning points for their countries which have not occurred again. In contrast India has suffered more attacks in the last month than Iraq, according to a startling statistic.

And yet nothing concrete changes. Something's got to give. It just did and it is time for big changes.

If that sounds vague, let me offer 6 concrete, doable things that can change:

1. Their must be a review and reform of the security of important public places. That terrorists walked into the VT station, the Taj and other such obvious symbols and centers of Mumbai is mind-boggling. Bags should be checked, metal detectors need to be places at the entrances of such areas, security personnel need to be present. At all entrances. Not just the front. This is a given - it feels stupid to even write this.

At the very minimum, politicians, celebrities etc. they should not be allowed access to such areas and in crisis situations like this unless absolutely necessary. They should definitely not be allowed to conduct mini-press conferences, touting their own party platforms when a situation like this in progress. Also free up resources be reviewing the 'z' level security provided to VIPs.

2. On a larger scale, this was obviously a colossal intelligence failure. How did 10-15 people create all this chaos? This has to have been planned for months at the very least. They came by boats, they brought bags of ammunition, they had booked hotel rooms at the Taj where they set up control rooms and stored ammunition, they knew the hotels inside out...
The most galling thing is that RAW had apparently received intercepts that talked about a possible attack on Bombay around Nov. 18 where the route would be via sea. We hear this and you wonder- and? What are we supposed to do with that?
Regardless, this is a huge wake up call for Indian intelligence-obviously there needs to be a massive investigation into the missed signals and intercepts, there needs to be greater coordination between the different agencies, more material support and infrastructure for core groups like the NSG ( a dedicated plane seems to be a minimal starting point, so is better equipment) and much more support for basic policing and law and order.
Unburden the NSG from being tied up in protecting VIP's- there must be cuts that can be made.

3. Fire/ get rid of incompetent leaders and officers. Start with Shivraj Patil who is an unmitigated disaster.
ETA 11/30/08 He quit. And P Chidamabaram is the new home minister. Good

4. We must identify and be clear about what we mean by 'elements in Pakistan'. Does this mean the government? the ISI? non-state groups? Surely not the common people? By repeating age-old rhetoric about the 'foreign hand' we fail to acknowledge the paradigm shift of events such as the Mumbai acts, we hamper cooperation between the two countries on counter-terrorism which is imperative, we create more anger among diverse groups and we fail to focus on the groups and targets we need to combat. Words and concepts matter- they should be used widely.

5. Linked to this: Reassess political rhetoric. Be more circumspect and cautious when giving public and official statements. The entire Indian political class needs a lesson in PR - words are crucially important and this entire episode has seen irresponsible, self-aggrandizing and age-old tropes in the official reactions to the crisis.

Contrast this to the simple, effective and professional conduct of the people actually in the midst of the situation with the most to lose- the NSG commandos, policemen, fire fighters, hostages, tourists, Taj staff and ordinary civilians. They were quiet, matter of fact and humane. There is a lesson there.

6. The media needs to seriously introspect about their own ethics and professionalism. I've posted about this before so I won't belabor the point but if the Indian blogosphere is any indication, they will hear the disdain of many people and should think about it.

These 6 things are not small things but they are doable - they would go a considerable way in what is to follow.

I end this post feeling what so many Bombayites must feel right now- deeply sad, angry and disgusted at the way our politicians have responded to this crisis and immensely proud heartened and touched by the stories of bravery, kindness and (lets say it) heroism (trite as that may sound) from so many nameless people.

Day 3

2008-11-28T01:53:00.003-05:00

And still this nightmare goes on...
There has been nothing like this- total urban warfare. I can't wrap my head around the idea that this is now 3 days in and Bombay is still bleeding.

And what can one do but keep a virtual vigil?

And hope and pray for everyone there, and for all.

The Taj as I will remember it

2008-11-27T22:31:00.011-05:00

The Taj of Mumbai
Originally uploaded by betta design

Taj Mahal Hotel
Originally uploaded by reidmix

I remember how stunning the Taj looked on a bright day in 2002 when I wandered around the Marine drive.
The sheer scale combined with the intricacy of carving on the facade is just beautiful. The Heritage Wing, which was just gorgeous has been destroyed in the last few days. Pictures can be found here
Pictures courtesy Flickr

Watching Bombay Unfold

2008-11-27T21:08:00.007-05:00

It's way too early but from what I see there are a few outright stories of bravery already emerging from the mayhem in Mumbai/Bombay:

First, the Taj Hotel Staff has come in for unified praise by guests who were trapped inside the hotel and made it outside. By all accounts, they appear to have been calm, clear in instructions and with a clear plan for what the guests should do. I can't imagine how people can stay professional and calm in such terrifying circumstances. Amazing.

Second, the NSG, Army, police and firemen who despite crumbling infrastructure and rampant chaos have persevered for more than 34 hours now, despite losing some very important figureheads.

Third, stories of heroism from Bombayites and from foreign visitors who focused on the task at hand and displayed an unnatural calm. This is the least surprising given what one knows about Mumbai/Bombay but remarkable nonetheless.

I will not single anyone out for criticism but I'll just say how appalled I am by the Indian news media's coverage of this whole situation- initially they were hysterical and breathless which is perhaps understandable but as time has gone by two things have really disgusted me 1. the insensitivity towards waiting relatives and 2. the absolute lack of restraint and respect for the requests of security personnel not to reveal details of the operations that are going on. They keep parroting how they've been asked not to reveal anything but then happily reveal all sorts of information that even to my untrained eye are patently sensitive.

There is a lot of growing up that clearly needs to occur but perhaps this is the turning point for how the media handles situations such as these. This reminds me of a conversation I recently had with a Professor of PR at the Newhouse school about the lessons the US media leaned from the terrible mistakes made during covering the Lockerbie bombings. There must be a lot of introspection later about the language, tactics and thrust of the way the media has covered this event.

Can someone please shut Barkha Dutt up? She might as well be directing the terrorists with a GPS system and don't even get me started on her interrogation (there is no other word) of relatives and victims.

Bombay

2008-11-26T22:41:00.018-05:00

What can one possibly say? This is just sad beyond belief.

Be strong Bombay...

NDTV
Fox news has a live stream from NDTV

Parrots and Prawns...

2008-11-24T21:31:00.005-05:00

Today is quite the day for animals, first Yang Yang the assertive Panda and now Alex the African gray parrot.

I just finished reading this NYT review of a book about Alex the Parrot. I've really been drawn to the story of Alex who seemed to have been an intelligent, loving bird with a really colorful personality.

By the way, this is what gives me pause about being non-vegetarian (although I rarely eat meat). I would totally become vegetarian except for two things- my mom's cooking and shrimp (and don't even get me started on my mom's shrimp)...

As P.G. Wodehouse knew, there is just something about prawns that is a persons undoing. Wodehouse fans should immediately get this reference. For others, go read Wodehouse for the 'story of the prawns'! But before that read the magical, heartwarming story of Alex the parrot.

Kung Fu Panda?

2008-11-24T10:19:00.006-05:00

WTF story of the day: Some genius in China got bitten by Yang Yang, a not-so-cuddly Panda recently because he thought that the Panda was cute and thus would be amenable to a hug. So he promptly decided to jump into the Panda enclosure at the zoo. The panda, of course, did not appreciate this interest and responded to the friendly overtures by biting the poor idiot, who made it out safely...

What I love about this story is the following line:

"Yang Yang, who was flown to Guilin last year from Sichuan province, was behaving normally on Saturday and did not seem to suffer any negative psychological effects.."

Of course Yang Yang is fine. S/he has the satisfaction of having much the higher IQ here.

This story reminded me of the San Francisco Zoo incident last year (curiously also around this time) when three drunken louts enraged a female tiger so much that she miraculously jumped 30 feet and mauled them. Most public opinion was firmly on the side of the tiger on that occasion too...

Moral of the story: Let sleeping Tigers/Pandas/what have you lie...

The importance of enemies: Al Qaeda's statement on Obama

2008-11-19T22:00:00.009-05:00

Its been a while since I posted something (you know how it is, life intervened) so it's fitting that I should write about something close to my mind, if not my heart- yes, my area of academic interest: the discourse of political-violence.
ETA: Not writing for a while really shows. Sorry for the clunky text that follows (though it is International Relations so how exciting could it have been anyway?)

Al Qaeda released its first statement after the election of Barack Obama and it is not pretty. Most of the media reports have been focusing on the use of racial epiteths against Obama in the statement. I think the real story is in the way AQ has wasted little time in signaling that it is business as usual for them. Those, such as Andrew Sullivan for instance, who thought that the Obama era would make it more difficult for radical groups to rail against the USA, the statement puts an end to that sort of thinking. It shows that all that will happen is that al Qaeda and other groups will adapt their rhetoric in the service of the same position against America and try to undermine the positive feeling in the US and elsewhere.

The trope that the media has focused on is that Obama is simply a stooge of 'whites' and of the establishment. This is mildly interesting to me. I don't think being politically correct is particularly important to groups like these. What is more interesting (and alarming) to me is that the statement actively states that Obama's polices are a continuation of previous policies and that there will be no let up in the 'Islamic' movement against the US. Basically, there's no trial waiting period here folks...the statement seems designed to address voices that said that having a US President with the middle name of Hussein would seriously stymie fundamentalists. Bosh.

This should not surprise those of us who take theories of identity about the fundamental self/other relationship seriously. Simply put, actors (states, groups, people) become attached and entrenched in adversarial relationships because it is a source of fundamental stability and sense of purpose to juxtapose oneself against an 'other'. In the realm of the political, the key distinction is the 'friend/enemy' distinction as Carl Schmitt told us writing in 1927. Having a stable enemy, despite the many costs it ay bring, gives actors a better and more coherent sense of self in the political arena and this is why there was never any way that there would be any active reconsidering of the US by Al Qaeda and vice versa....it's just interesting to see it all play out so starkly. It doesn't fundamentally matter who the President is, the rhetoric would have adapted but stayed the same. So if we had had Hilary Clinton, the tropes would have been undeniably sexist and violent, if it had been McCain, the trope would have been more triumphalist and Bush-centric....but the essential stance will not change.
For those who place a premium on theories of leadership, this kind of episode once again highlights my fundamental unease with theories that place too much explanatory power on leaders. It's just a lot more complex than that.

OK IR musings done... apologies to Carl Schmitt for massacring his theory, though he was a Nazi figurehead which makes me considerably less sorry.

In the end, the only comfort this statement brings me is that it makes those people that pushed the 'pals around with terrorists' argument look pretty darn stupid...once again. But oh wait, they probably don't read the papers. Or maybe they read them all but can't name a single one.

Movie Review: 'The Visitor'

2008-11-09T14:30:00.025-05:00

I just watched the best film I've seen all year. 'The Visitor' is an uncommonly intelligent movie about complex issues (immigration, belonging, loss, multiculturalism) facing interesting, realistic characters.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a disillusioned, slightly sad Connecticut College Professor who goes to New York for a conference on 'Economies in the Developing World'. He is intending to stay in his small, unused New York City apartment (one of the more unbelievable elements in the story- wouldn't he have rented it out?). He's shocked to find a couple (illegal aliens from Senegal and Syria) squatting in the apartment. Some strange combination of curiosity, kindness, rebellion perhaps, makes him agree to let the couple stay on for a few days till they find a new place. A fledgling friendship starts between the three of them...One day Tarek (the Syrian guy) is arrested in the subway and is placed in a detention facility once his illegal status is revealed.

What follows next is believable, human and moving. At no point is the story cliched, though it easily could have been. The professor, Walter (Richard Jenkins, I give you my own personal oscar now) is curious, eager to step into multi-cultural absolution but is too intelligent and nuanced to become a politically correct caricature. Tarek is friendly, warm and unguarded but Zaneb is quieter- more hardened by her circumstances, more withdrawn. Tarek's mother, who enters later in the film and is played beautifully by Hiam Abass is intelligent, cautious but compassionate. Their interactions with each other and each other's worlds ring true and are full of small illuminations, little moments where I found myself smiling in recognition of a situation, coming from my own strangely apt experience as a foreigner in the US academic space.

Other moments are heart breaking, only because they are so plausible. The everyday indignities inflicted on Tarek and Zaneb, and the way they cope with them, sometimes with laughter, other times with anger, were difficult to watch. Walter's discomfort and helplessness mirrors the viewers own.

It is clear where its agenda and loyalties lie- this is a film with a liberal agenda on immigration, no apologies made about it. But in contrast to other such movies, it does so in a very small scale, true to life way. And I think it succeeds greatly over something like 'Lions for Lambs' which was too self conscious of its own agenda and which I wanted to love but just couldn't. The ending is perhaps a little contrived but even though it pulls at our heart strings, I don't think it is implausible that very likeable, vibrant people all over the world have very unjust things happen to them under the hand of the 'law'. Not implausible at all.

Another notable thing- this movie gets Professors, and academic life in general, right. Movie portrayals of professors and university life are often terrible cliches. Professor's in Hollywood are either impossibly handsome and inspiring (Robert Redford in 'Lions for Lambs'), cool, contrarian and 'with it' (Robin Williams in any role)...in a uniform of tweed blazers and khakis surrounded by students who spout off smart one liners apathetically....OR they are stuffy, pompous and boring (and thus obviously plump, with glasses and a bald head) or sleazy and lecherous (think Legally Blonde). And of course, they all have beautiful offices with carefully placed piles of books and fabulous views of green lawns full of laughing students throwing frisbees. The students they interact with are always supposedly bright hipsters who are too lazy to care about the world until the end of the film, when its too late. Yawn.

The 'Visitor' is different. There are so many 'that's so true' moments- the insular world of professors working on similar jargony papers, the things people say that academics secretly both revel in and cringe at ( 'you have four books you must be really intelligent'), the big-buffet like atmosphere of academic conferences with the mass exodus of people from convention hotels wearing their nametags like a veritable badge, the unwillingness to talk about work when its going badly, the excuses we make to ourselves when we know we're not doing anything, the excuses made by students...all those vignettes were refesrhingly honest and bang on.

5 stars, two thumbs up...whatever rating you prefer, consider it made.

YES. WE. DID.

2008-11-04T23:00:00.009-05:00

11:03 The networks are calling Obama the winner.

YES! YES! YES!!!!

THIS IS HUGE. HUGE.

ETA: Gwen Ifill just said "We know now that Barack Obama will be the next President" and I got goosebumps...

P.S. I was wrong on all my predictions except the last one, the most important one. I've never been happier to be wrong... so much for pessimism....a new day has come.

On the eve of election '08

2008-11-03T23:22:00.011-05:00

I'm going to stick my neck out and make a few predictions:

1. It's going to be closer than people have been saying.

2. The polls will have exaggerated things.

3. There will be massive logistical problems

(wow, cheerful stuff eh?)

and....

4. Obama will win

The last one is wishful thinking, not much more. I'm not at all one to be complacent about these polls etc- I don't trust them at all and they have been wrong so far. I think complacency opposed by zeal is the thing to be scared tomorrow.

So till we know for sure...I guess there's nothing to do but to hope for the best and vote for the best.

Is it wrong that I am more nervous about this election than any other one before this? This is just so important and historic and will impact all of us. I have to laugh at the thought that I'm turning into one of those fledgling NRI's who Jhumpa Lahiri writes about- in the Namesake she has this great line about how Indians in the US debate US politics with such passion and heat, even though they will never vote (I'm not doing it justice at all, but even as I read it in India, I knew exactly what she was talking about and now I am totally living that cliche... but it has just been such a ride. And I do political science, so this is my life...

This brings me to a huge, compelling question: what in the world am I going to do once this election is over? So much of the last few months, certainly weeks has been wrapped up in talking about, reading, thinking about and yes, writing about election '08. Now I'm going to have to find something to do.....hmm, perhaps my work?

It's going to be a big day tomorrow- we're having an election party in the department. What better way to watch the elections than with a bunch of liberal political scientists? I remember how crushing the same party was in 2004, hopefully tomorrow the US will elect Barack Obama...and this chapter will end differently and happily, for now at least.

Fingers crossed.

D- List: October 2008

2008-11-01T16:50:00.012-04:00

In keeping with the monthly list tradition, here are my picks of the month:

Best New Discovery: Three discoveries here- 1. The music of Erik Satie (1866- 1925), a French composer. Discovered it on NPR's 'All songs considered' podcast. It was haunting, spare, sad and beautiful. 2. World cat- thanks to 'Iowa-Syr-D.C.girl' 3. I like blogging

Best TV/Movie moment (behold, new category): I'm not going to go the obvious SNL route...I found the Letterman/McCain feud pretty funny. But really, there were no stand outs. What this should be about is how I have successfully cut down on TV watching. I can feel my brain cells growing back slowly but youtube keeps killing them...

Podcast of the month: Slate's cultural gabfest. Experts sit around and come up with surprisingly insightful takes on everything from Sarah Palin to Microsoft ads to whether the economic depression will make for better movies....good stuff.

Blog of the Month: Lulu loves Bombay. 'Lulu' also had previous blogs about Manhattan and London- these are great food blogs with recipes, reviews and nice pictures too. Lulu seems cool too, very cosmopolitan and an inventive cook.

Best Book: I went back to Salman Rushdie's 'Shame' this month, after reading a thought provoking essay on him by Amitava Kumar. I wanted to see again, does Rushdie over write? Are his characters thin metaphors? Is he ultimately just a talented expat writer who exoticizes South Asia? Upon reading Shame, I think not. It's still as powerful to me as it was the first time I read it. That doesn't mean his last few books weren't disappointing but Rushdie at his best is formidable.
Next week I will finally read 'White Tiger' so I'll blog about that hopefully.

Best Song: Rather than a song, I'm liking Ray LaMontagne's album Gossip in the Grain. Great lyrics, interesting textured voice...(I bet you're just happy I didn't make a JM reference. Oh... too late!)

Best Article: This was a great month for articles, so I'll present two: First, Andrew Sullivan's essay on why he blogs. Apart from being of interest to anyone who writes or reads blogs, it's a nice look at the emotions and dynamics of this relatively new (but perhaps no more) but rapidly flourishing medium. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/andrew-sullivan-why-i-blog/2
The second one was a New Yorker piece on Leonard Trilling, the Columbia University professor of English who was a famous literary critic. That's the beauty of the New Yorker, to take something that screams snoozefest and then write about it so you're sad when it ends.

Best Academic Article: "The naming and shaming" article in IO. Scarily close to my dissertation - being 'scooped' is the grad student's ultimate fear but useful over all.

Best meal: 2nd story's Ham, brie, fig jam and onion sandwich...I love it so much I even took a picture of it.

It's the kind of sandwich that makes you understand Joey's love for sandwiches on Friends. It probably means I'll never eat anything else at 2nd story (it's a book store on the second storey, get it?) though the entire menu looks good. It looks fairly easy to make too and even if you're vegetarian- the idea of melted brie and fig jam (or any kind of textured jam that's not too sweet) works very well. Oh god... now I want one.

Best Moment: Realizing that I get an extra hour...starting right now. So this is an hour of my life that I will get back...

Picture of the month: My African Violets are blooming again, for the third year in a row...My name is not Dr. Green Thumb (bonus points to anyone who catches the reference) so this is quite an achievement. Thanks to 'tulip' for the gift, which was a house warming present.

Challenge of the Month: Articulating

Lesson of the month: Good things (papers, ideas, minds, friendships, bonds, art) get better with time... if they don't, they're not good things.

Overheard in the 'Cuse

2008-11-01T00:48:00.009-04:00

Halloween Night 2008

" I say that to all the girls, even if they're ugly, makes them feel good..."- Indian guy talking to his friend after shouting "what's up cutie" to a sluttily dressed girl across the street.

See, chivalry is not dead...

"From the back I thought he was Jesus" - my friend spying a guy dressed as the 'Dude' from Big Lebowski

' Look!! Look!! Slutty Cop/Nurse/School girl/Devil/fairy/cat/bunny/referee/maid....!!" - Me every 5 minutes...

Such are the small pleasures in life....

ETA: The title of this post comes from the insanely funny 'Overheard in New York" website.

Proposition hate

2008-10-30T01:40:00.007-04:00

Proposition 8 on the California ballot aims at reversing gay marriage. I think this would be a real shame and should be defeated but it is going to be close, even in California. Regardless of our sexual and gender orientations, I think we should be concerned about proposition 8 going through for its adverse implications on justice and equality in our society.

This got me thinking: I can understand conservative arguments on many things- on fiscal matters, on abortion, on the death penalty and even gun rights. Apart from the death penalty (and even here I have my doubts), I don't really agree with any of those arguments or find them convincing but I can appreciate that there are arguments there, some more solid than others.

But I cannot truly think of a single intelligent argument against gay marriage. I'm not being sarcastic but I just can't think of one- the closest one is that it would involve opening up economic breaks etc. to gay married people too. Is that the reason why people oppose gay marriage? Are there other reasons? Whose rights does it harm? What is a good, rational argument against it? Is there one?

I'm genuinely curious....

So until I hear a good reason (and I'm not holding my breath) I'm thinking of this as proposition hate.

ETA: As we celebrate Obama's victory, the prop 8 race seems to be too close to call BUT it does not look good. What is particularly disheartening is the way the vote has broken down racially, by age and by religious background. What is wrong with people? How can you vote for equality in one direction, and deny others the same. A sad sad note (and a big one) on a wonderful night.

Reason No. 436030

2008-10-29T14:22:00.019-04:00

For your reading pleasure, John Mayer's post on Huffington Post on Obama and why hope is not a buzz word....

I won't post the whole thing here but I here is a snippet I particularly like:

That's why hope is a worthwhile commodity. To those who question whether hope is a tangible product worth building a campaign around, I'd say take a look at despair and how powerful that has been in reshaping how people think and live.

Talented, funny, smart, a good writer, and yes hot.. and supporting Obama. ....what, pray, is not to like?

Seeing Green

2008-10-25T14:35:00.013-04:00

Last post today, I promise:

Though I came to blogging rather late, I like it so far. There's nothing like the instant gratification of seeing 'Published Successfully !' exclamation point and all, when most of your life is spent thinking about, avoiding, trying to work on, working on, contemplating, dreading, writing, planning etc. an unending project that may or may not ever be published. You can see the appeal.

But I'd be the first to admit that blogging, fun as it is, is pretty passe. For every truly good blog, there are a 100 others (mine included)that are basically glorified diaries or photo albums.

That's fine with me in general but this gave me pause...a Japanese potted plant now has a blog. Yes, I said plant.

The saddest part is that there will probably be more people that are going to seriously read this plant's blog compared to my dissertation, let alone my blog...

ETA: Great, and now the friggin' plant is on SNL's 'weekend update'. What's next? A 'Bloggie'?

Who would the world vote for?

2008-10-25T14:16:00.007-04:00

Daniel Drezner has a post on data from several polls that talks about who the world would prefer to see as the next US President. Now the instinctive answer would be 'Barack Obama of course' and the polls seem to reflect that to some extent.

This reminds me of a conversation that I had with two Indian friends the other day. We were saying the usual foreign student things about the elections:
'man, if only we could vote', 'foreigners should be totally allowed to vote for the U.S. President' and 'Americans better get it right this time...' etc. until we started to think of what it would look like if the US President was popularly voted on by the whole world...

Now keep in mind that this was a rushed, 5 minute chat and we weren't thinking very seriously but this is what we thought:

China- would mostly vote McCain because of their economic interests and fundamentally realist world view.

India- a significant amount of people we thought would vote McCain because of the mis-guided perception that democrats = cuts on outsourcing etc. Also if the Desi lobby is anything to go by, Republicans are quite popular with rich Indian entrepreneurs (except for the ones that love Bill Clinton, but really, how could you not?)

Parts of central Asia = Also McCain because of the tougher stance on Russia? Interesting that the most support to McCain comes from Georgia.

At this point we hastily decided that it would not be a good idea after all if everyone in the world got to choose the US President and gave our blessings to the US elections in their current form...

Thoughts?

Not a very good book?

2008-10-25T13:44:00.010-04:00

Since I'm in a picture-y mood: Meet Rama, my best friend's cat (wow it's hard to say those last 3 words together fast- try it)

I liked the book (American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld) but Rama thought otherwise..

Funny, that's exactly how I look when I'm 'working'...

After the fall...

2008-10-24T22:38:00.022-04:00

Fall is a riot of colors in upstate New York. These pictures don't really do it justice but nevertheless here they are....

This is a magnificent tree on the street I used to live on...

Sometimes when the sun comes through the leaves, it looks as if they are glowing like fire...

I never knew trees could be pink till I moved here

Even the ivy turns pink and red...

These pictures are from the country side...

And then just like that...it is winter.

The Master

2008-10-18T14:17:00.025-04:00

Like everyone, I have a few 'triggers' that when I hear them, instantly and vastly reduce my respect for the person who said it:

Saying Paul Coelho is your favorite author or Da Vinci Code your favorite book.
Believing in 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Using the word 'gay' or 'retarded' to describe something weak, foolish or silly.
Calling someone a 'slut' as an endearment.
Liking Ann Coulter.*

Judgemental? Absolutely. But once I hear any of those things (and there are others which I will keep private) it's just done. They may be the nicest, most pleasant people but somewhere inside, a knob on my internal respect bar is irretrievably broken.

Ranking high on that list is unthinking negativity towards Sachin Tendulkar. He doesn't need to be your favorite cricketer, and you may criticize his game. But if you dismiss Sachin out of hand or ask 'what has he ever done for India', I just can't think you are very smart. By this token, there are many ignoramuses out there. And today is another occasion to say 'I told you so'.

Indeed, I'm a little late to the party but it's time to celebrate....Sachin Tendulkar is now the highest run scorer in the both Test match and one-day cricket. He reached the milestone of 12,000 test cricket runs yesterday, surpassing Brian Lara's record.

For me, before there was anyone else, there was Sachin (ETA: actually there was Steffi Graf but that's a whole another blogpost). I first became a fan when my grand father (who shares my fanaticism for cricket) pointed out the picture of a scrawny kid, barely a few years older than me, saying "this boy will play for India" soon. Well, of course he was right but I don't think anyone could have predicted the career Sachin would go on to have.

Watching Sachin in full flow is an exhilarating experience (except I may have missed some of his greatest innings because I was too nervous to look!). I would argue that he is the greatest, given the amount of cricket played in the contemporary era, the quality of bowling he has faced and his ability to dominate both the test and one day formats, and the enormous pressure from a billion Indians.

And that's not even why I admire him so much. I admire Sachin because despite all his success, he comes across as a level-headed and humble person. Reams have been written about the pressure Sachin faces in India- from the expectations of a billion people who look to him for " remission from the lifelong anxiety of being Indian" as C.P. Surendran put it (quoted by Ramachandra Guha). Add to this the fact that he shouldered the responsibility of a dependent team for much of his early career. The nationalistic fervor. The public prayers. The accusations that he 'threw' matches when it turned out that he was quietly fighting the players that did. The debates over whether it's time for him to retire. The taunts of 'experts' who write him off when he goes through a minor slump. The petty insults from ignoramuses who accuse him of caring only about money if he fails to score a century....it's relentless.

Through all of this cacophony, the man just goes about his life and plays cricket. Graciously. Honestly. With respect for the game and his opponents. And over and over, after every success, he resists the totally forgivable urge to say, I told you so.

Class act.

p.s. I met him once, at a dinner. I didn't do much rather than surreptitiously look at him and ask for an autograph and picture. He struck me as being very much like his cricketing and public persona- gracious, quiet and focused on cricket (he unconsciously practiced batting swings throughout the dinner!). One of the highlights of my life!

*I doubt this could happen knowing all of you but if I have offended any of my readers with these examples, just don't tell me, and all will continue as always : )

Joe the plumber

2008-10-15T23:56:00.007-04:00

...just spoke on ABC. Looks like a McCain voter to me from the way he talked. Sigh.

Flushing hopes. Down the drain. Needs his pipes tightened. Full of holes.

So many jokes could be made but so little will....

Update: He's not a registered plumber, and his name is not Joe. Does anyone connected to an election ever tell the truth?

Score sheet and summary debate 3

2008-10-15T21:59:00.008-04:00

Huh!? Who would have thought that the third debate would be the best one? Many people I know refused to watch and they missed out on a good debate- different questions, great moderating and discussion, controversial topics and questions.

They did NOT talk about: Iraq, Iran, Terrorism, Energy, Oil etc. Refreshing.

Ok, so apart from that here's the score sheet:

Winner: Joe the plumber, take a bow.

Bob Scheiffer- these were the best questions so far.

Ok, seriously this was the CLOSEST debate for me. I have to say...If you ignore the lies, the nastiness, the rudeness and the lack of graciousness- then McCain sort of had the edge at the start. But Obama was (as David Brooks has just said) unflappable like a redwood tree (?)...

So, for common sense and good policy- Obama
For aggressiveness- McCain

Biggest surprise: The questions, McCain going for the Ayers jab

Most annoying: Joe the plumber talk, McCain saying "good job" perfunctorily to Obama at the end.

Stupidest point: So Obama has not travelled south of the border, McCain? Shall we delicately broach the fact that your running mate didn't get her passport until 2 years ago?

Best question: The negative campaign one, for the manner in which it was asked

Worst question: None really, probably the economic ones because they were so predictable

Best moment: Me toddling off to bed. And the realization that finally, after nearly 50 debates for this election, I won't have to watch another debate for a long time.

Live blogging Debate 3

2008-10-15T21:00:00.021-04:00

Debate No. 3, the final one for Election 08 is about to start...

9:04 So they're going to be sitting down around tables (Meet the Press style) instead of at podiums which apparently will make it harder for them to be adversarial. Interesting...they should also be more familiar with this format as essentially every talk show does the same thing.
This also means McCain actually has to look at Obama tonight...

9: 05 Already I like the format a lot better- 9 minute segments with opportunity for discussion and rebuttals and Bob Scheiffer will intervene.

9: 13 "Joe the plumber"- a typical American narrative if there ever was one...

9: 20 Bob Scheiffer is not letting either candidate get away with not being specific- good for you, Bob! As a result these are some of the most clear answers they have given on the economy. They also have the time to speak without some OCD moderator (Brokaw, I'm talking to you) interrupt every 30 seconds).
Edited 9: 59 He also puts his foot down and moves topics along. I'm a new Bob Scheiffer fan.

9: 24 "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run a long time ago" GENUINELY good line, John. The rest of the answer waffled off but that was the first direct refutation of that Obama campaign point and it worked for me...(a pig with wings just walked by my room)

McCain is actually more effective when he talks directly to Obama- interesting. Obama is not as good- because he tries to be fair.

9: 28 Wow!!! Money question: about the nastiness of campaign "Are each of you willing to say to each others face what you've been saying in the campaigns"

McCain sounds hurt and sad but doesn't go for the jugular with bringing up Aiyers etc.- which he was widely touted to do. So being face to face does make it harder to lie or be vicious...blogosphere comments take note!
Edited at 9: 38 Whoa!!! Comes up with Ayers, Acorn etc.- McCain suddenly seemed to wake up and remember he was told by his henchmen to bring this up...

P.S. He totally went there- by my drinking game, you should be smashed like a pumpkin...

Obama: could have been a lot tougher on this- he should have also listed the racist, threatening stuff that has been said about him. Could have been a LOT tougher.

9: 34 YES! good-when provoked by McCain, he mentions the 'kill him' comment. Good- that needed to be stated.

News flash John, running attacks against your policy platform is NOT negative advertising. Shouting 'kill him', 'terrorist' etc. IS. Clear?

John McCain says he is proud of the people that come to McCain/Palin ralies. If he is proud of this and this , then I rest my case about why McCain would be an unmitigated disaster....There's plenty more of those where these two videos came from.

9: 43 These questions rock! Finally someone asks about VP choices. Tricky but needed to be asked.
Obama plays it safe, Biden is great etc. Poor guy, he can't tell the truth 'she's incompetent and scarily dumb'. I'm saying it for you Barack.

No Obama don't call her capable...you should just have left it at "I think that should be left for the public to decide..."
Of course McCain does not reciprocate the politeness and calls Biden wrong. And then attacks Obama.

9: 54 More picking on Asians, but with a twist. This time the bad guys are South Korea. And the culprit? Obama.

10:00 I've realized the health care plan questions are my 'refresh drink', 'get a snack', 'use bathroom' break. It's important, of course but it puts me to sleep faster than statistics classes... See you in 5...

10: 05 I just made a joke on facebook about Joe the plumber being pretty 'flushed' (get it? get it?) with all these mentions... It is a cheesy joke, but I'm proud of it so I will shamelessly repeat it here...

10: 14 Roe v. Wade question: standard answers. Obama is convincing here-refutes McCain but there is little ground for agreement here.

10:19 Wow..last question and it is about education! Excellent! Good discussion all around.

10:31 Closing Time (like the song)
McCain goes first- fairly typical stuff- and he does mention serving for the country his whole life. Been there, heard that. I actually yawned.

Obama- fairly typical stuff- does the Bush/McCain comparison, talks about change, outlines new policies, come together etc. I yawned again.

Tepid end to a great debate.

Debate Drinking Game

2008-10-15T19:57:00.005-04:00

Daniel Drezner has a great "protectionist drinking game" on his blog for tonight's debate. So I've come up with a national security/foreign policy one along the same lines (in academicky terms, I'm borrowing his framework to apply to a different substantive area, which may not be the most original thing to do but is perfectly legitimate).

(Yes, I'm aware that a) none of my readers will read this in time for it to work b) none of them will be drinking heavily anyway c) I only have a handful (albeit much loved) of readers but work with me, guys)

So, here is my Debate No. 3 Drinking Game :

Rules:
You get a sip for totally predictable things, a shot for something mildly predictable and you get to down the glass if something surprising happens...If you find yourself falling asleep, you get to have a shot to wake up....

Have a sip when:
1. McCain mentions that Obama will sit down without preconditions to talk with Iran
2. McCain calls himself a maverick/refers to Vietnam
3. The both simply refer to Ahmedanijad as 'vile', 'evil' (just noticed vile and evil have the same letters!)
4. McCain says the surge worked, Obama says he was wrong many times

Have a shot when
1. Obama mentions the real front is in Pakistan
2. McCain mentions Bill Ayers and accuses Obama of associating with him
3. McCain has a minor hissy fit

Have a full glass/down your drink if:
1. Either of them answer the question directly
2. Either directly condemn and acknowledge the use of torture
3. Obama argues that being a POW does not equate to having foreign policy or national security experience
4.Obama attacks Palin's lack of experience

Drink an entire bottle if:
1. McCain is polite and fair

Either way...you should get hammered (or very hydrated for my non alcohol drinking friends). Judging from the last debate, you'll need it....

Sadly, I will be sober since I don't fancy doing shots of beer or wine (which is all I have) and also since I take my duties as a debate live blogger seriously...

I'm angry so this might be raw

2008-10-13T23:29:00.009-04:00

A few days ago, a young journalist was shot in New Delhi at 3 at night as she drove back from work. The Delhi police is (typically) baffled and has no leads, clues or witnesses as far as I can glean. A woman being harassed, abused, raped or even killed in New Delhi is sadly not surprising news. It is a notoriously difficult city for women to live in. There are tons of blog posts on horrific encounters and everyday humiliations that women go through. I lived seven years there, for a long time on my own, and it was frequently uncomfortable and scary. Every woman has a bad Delhi story - it's just a matter of degrees.

What really enrages me, however, is the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's remark on the incident:
""All by herself till 3 am at night in a city where people believe...you know...you should not be so adventurous.''

Anyone can be suckered into giving a bad quote but in subsequent interviews and statements, Dikshit has only tried to qualify the comment in ever more aggravating ways. In the opportunism and hypocrisy typical of Indian politics (or any politics, lets be fair) the BJP has condemned Dikshit's (she's from the Congress) comment but for all the wrong reasons. This from the people who brought you valentines day vandalism, bans on the movie 'Fire' and Water etc. in the name of 'Indian culture'. So forgive my cynicism.

The lesson to take away from this, according to Dikshit is that the onus is on women to lock themselves up, be home at a 'decent' time, confine themselves to 'safe' jobs and no doubt not to drive, go to a bar, smoke, dance...you name it.

None of this is surprising in itself or even unique to India. You hear similar arguments everywhere. 'she was asking for it', 'she was wearing a short skirt', 'she was drinking alone'. Not new. And I'm the first to advocate basic common sense and vigilance, specially if you're a woman in a dangerous city. Yes, it's probably not a good idea to walk home alone at 2 am at night in a dangerous city, or accept a ride from a stranger or meet a blind date at their house - whether you're a man or a woman.
However, that does not mean you shouldn't be able to be a journalist, or wear a skirt or drive home late at night. Again, none of this is particularly revelatory.

What is really appalling to me, and I think is troubling about contemporary India, is that people like Sheila Dikshit (or whoever it is) can get away with making comments like these. Where are the watch dogs? Why is she not forced to apologize for her remarks and actually go after the people responsible for upholding the law? When does all this b.s. end?

The institutional discrimination and insensitivity to questions of gender (or other minorities) should truly trouble us as members of a large, liberal democracy. It is not enough to keep congratulating ourselves on our unexpected and against-all-odds success with the great experiment of 'democracy'. We need to recognize the challenges to the strengths of that tradition and to acknowledge the failures and systematic weaknesses in it. So to Dikshit and all the other protectors of our so-called morality, I have a simple point. At the risk of pointing out the obvious- caging women up after dark is not the answer. Providing security, infrastructure and a civilized public discourse about women is. It is tough in a city like Delhi but cannot be helped by statements and attitudes like Dikshit's.

And if you really do want to cage people- I would suggest starting with the charming men of Delhi.

Lastly, thanks a lot, Sheila. You've shown nicely why women leaders are not necessarily the best news for women's interests. I'm not going to say the word but it starts with a P, ends with a N and rhymes with a brutal, bearded Soviet Dictator.

Reasons to love John Mayer: Reason No. 63247

2008-10-08T21:32:00.012-04:00

Oh, John Mayer, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways

Mayer has been teaching/participating in music clinics/ writing songs with students this whole week at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Just because. He looks happier than he has for ages.

Here he is with his former guitar teacher at Berklee, performing for and with current students. The part when they all sing Otis Redding's 'I've got dreams to remember' together in the end is just : )

Score Sheet Debate 2: 'That one' won

2008-10-07T22:34:00.005-04:00

Quickly, before the talking heads start:

Winner: I would say it was pretty even but Obama was far more focused, more clear and more of a gentleman.

Loser: Tom Brokaw, Sheesh.

Ach! the talking heads have started and David Brooks gives it (narrowly) to Obama.

Live Blogging Debate No. 2: Q and A

2008-10-07T21:01:00.004-04:00

9: 05 And we're off...

This time I'm going to change the rules a bit, befitting the changed (town hall) format of the debate. Since the debate revolves around audience questions, I will post questions pertaining to the debate (and then proceed to answer them).

Q: How soon before I yawned and nearly dozed off?
A: 28 minutes.

Q: Does McCain do better in town hall settings?
A: Yes, and no. McCain has maintained that he prefers town hall formats - so the pressure is on him tonight for that reason too. His first answer is interesting in his body language, engagement of the questioner and audience. He's clearly going for that connection, with his body language, using first names repeatedly etc. The problem is he sounds like he's lecturing a bunch of kids.
I would like to think McCain's potshots at Obama would alienate people- it came across as churlish, unfair and petty. But the 'talking heads' are baying for blood and so maybe this works. Shudder.

Obama tried not to sound too professorial but he can't help it- he's just too smart to deal in sound bytes. He clearly has a disadvantage in this sort of setting- his voice and demeanour work better in bigger, grander settings than more intimate ones.

Q: Did the town hall setting work?
A: No, not at all. It was intensely annoying that the candidates didn't get to rebut the arguments- the 'discussion' after questions was just another related question. It left the first speaker (Obama) with no chance to address the charges (read blatant lies and misrepresentations) leveled at him- and he was then forced to take time from his next answers. Two thumbs down.

Q: How annoying was Tom Brokaw's repeatedly telling the candidates to stick to time?
A: Very. First of all, they're politicians, they're going to talk- get used to it. Secondly, what's more important? Flashing lights or a detailed discussion and an opportunity to discuss things with some degree of nuance. Two thumbs down Mr. Brokaw.

10:18 Brief hope when the candidates tried to change the rules but no, Mr. Brokaw held firm and forged ahead...

Q: Most annoying thing about Obama?
A: Barack, was I not clear enough last time? Stop saying you agree with McCain and that he's right. He will just spin it in egregious ways..he actually did so tonight when you called him responsible. ..you know what they say about nice guys.

Q: What was the most enraging thing McCain said?
A: Sigh....how many hours do I/you have?
1. First of all, what is with the sarcasm, Johnny? "I've got some news Senator Obama, the news is bad". This from the man who claimed that the fundamentals of the economy were strong as wall street was collapsing??
2. Casually proclaiming that giving up veterans programs would be one of the sacrifices he would ask for? Are you kidding me?
3. 'My friends'
4. The numerous (rude and ludicrous) pot shots at Obama- 'that one', really?
5. The bad jokes
6. Calling himself the 'cool hand'

Q: Stupidest moment?
A: Came at 10: 15 So let me get this straight Mr. McCain, you won't telegraph that you'll get Bin Laden but you'll announce that intention in the debate. Hmmm...what's the flaw in logic there?

Q: Best part of watching the debate?
A: Live blogging while reading other live blogs and reactions. Best comment of the night goes to my friend Patrick "Damn it, McCain I'm not your friend" Amen, my...um...pal.

Q: Best Question?
A: The one about Pakistan, the one about sacrifices the candidates will ask for, and the last question 'What don't you know?'

Q: Best Answer?
A: Obama on Iran- intelligent, clear, within the bounds of American discourse.

Q: Worst Answer?
A: McCain on the 'sacrifice' answer. Made no sense at all. For sheet tediousness, Obama's energy policy answer.

Q: Best closing statement?
A: Pretty even actually. Both end well- with large statements and stories of humility.

Ambition

2008-10-07T17:45:00.003-04:00

Sitting in the library today, I realized that the depth of my ambition is to one day have a book (all of my own) that nestles dustily on some forgotten shelf on the 5th floor of a quiet library...
That, and to get a job.

When September Ends

2008-10-07T17:35:00.002-04:00

Slowly the leaves are beginning to turn and there are glorious glimpses of orange and red amongst the green...my favorite time of the year. More pictures when fall arrives in all its glory...

The view from my window

2008-10-07T17:22:00.002-04:00

Muddy Waters: Starbucks Water Waste

2008-10-06T10:23:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a friend for pointing me to this shocking news about Starbucks and their waste of water. According to reports from various countries, Starbucks has a standard policy of leaving a cold water tap on the entire day for reasons that I find wholly unconvincing- something about keeping taps clean and washing spoons.

According to the article, Starbucks lets 23 million litres of water literally go down the drain every day. 23 million litres. That is just mind boggling. There are all sorts of statistics in the articles about how many people that water would save but the number alone- 23 million litres - should leave us shaken.

Starbucks denial of their waste is strange- they don't deny that they do have this absurd policy, they just try to justify it. This lends itself to various 'wake up and smell the coffee' jokes but really, the argument is just ridiculous.

I'm not buying it - not the argument and from now on, not the coffee...
To quote my favorite politician of the moment "Thanks, but no thanks."

More Lists, Political One Liners and a mini-rant

2008-10-04T21:26:00.001-04:00

Just the other day, I was confessing my love of lists and look what I find...Vanity Fair is celebrating its 25th anniversary with lists of top 25 everything- books, songs, hotels..you name it. So far they just have a few categories including best book and album covers but more will be added as time goes by. The categories are interesting in themselves because they're not obvious like 'best actor' or 'best music video'. You can vote for your favorites and see how they are doing in an online poll. So a lot of fun!

Since this is sorta turning into a politics blog, I thought I'd focus on their ongoing poll of 25 best political one liners.

Some are obvious candidates for inclusion ("Ask not what your country can do for you" ...JFK or "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" Reagan or "Read my lips, no new taxes" Bush Senior) and others are more dubious but equally infamous "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"...Bill Clinton.

Of course the list is heavily skewed (actually totally skewed) towards American Presidents. What happened to the rest of the world, Vanity Fair? No Churchill? No De Gaulle? No Mao? No Saddam Hussein, even. They said some memorable/important/crazy stuff.

This brings me to one of my pet peeves: the assumption that American history/ culture is world history/ culture. Putting aside all the intellectual arguments about Eurocentrism, the interconnections of power/knowledge etc.- lets just look at it from a commonsensical point of view. I totally understand that given that this is America and Vanity Fair is an American magazine, it is natural to focus on American history and culture but why not just call it that? Call it top 25 American Political One-Liners and be done with it.

Ok, my mini-rant is done.

Anyway to correct this imbalance, I'm going to ask you (my imaginary but beloved readers) the following question (this might be something to comment on- hint hint):

What's your favorite political one liner? Extra points for non-American submissions.

I'll start with mine, it's a little cliche but I think its humor and sophistication endures:

"I think it would be a good idea" - Gandhi on being asked what he thought about Western Civilization.

Other notes:

I'm pleased to see the Secret History by Donna Tartt getting a mention for book cover. I never really noticed the cover but I have loved the book for more than 10 years now.

Palin Plan?

2008-10-03T08:59:00.000-04:00

Does Sarah Palin purposely umm...'under-perform' in media interviews so that when she can sound half way coherent, we get impressed? That's what I'm thinking after watching the debate (which I couldn't watch live as my commitment to my trivia team, I am sad to say, trumped my responsibility as a citizen of the world.)

Yes, she didn't make too many gaffes, she didn't make any obviously funny mistakes and generally kept it together. She was also vague and stuck to rehearsed stock Republican talking points. Nothing wrong with that per se but I'm just sayin'. Biden, in contrast, actually really performed- he kept a lid on his impulsiveness, handled the difficult balance between politeness and forcefulness and was much the more informed debater.

But the law of low expectations being what it is, Palin comes out looking better than she actually did.

Anyway, so as not to be uncharitable to Palin, I shall give her some free tips for when she next has to talk:

1. Tone down the folksy stuff (betcha, darn it etc.)....it may be appealing to some people but overdoing it is annoying. On the other hand it may play well as sound bites so don't abandon it all together.
2. Winking at the camera? I once saw Donald Trump fire a contestant on the Apprentice for doing that.If its not good enough for the Donald...
3. Good eye contact and body language - give your running mate some tips.
4. Please stop beginning and ending every sentence with 'also'
5. Alaska is not the US, not the world but I suppose there is no alternative thing to talk about given your ummm...experience.
6. You have in common with President Bush the characteristic of looking thrilled/smug/waiting for applause when you finish complex sentences and thoughts. I realize this is natural but this might be something to work on in the whole "we don't know who this Bush guy is" enterprise.

Tips for Palin - done. See, I can be fair.

Edited later today to say: To be truly fair, one has to acknowledge the sheer camera friendliness of Palin, as some bloggers are pointing to. She comes across as goofy, able to laugh at herself and sort of crazy but likeable...and attractive, yes. Those are important assets. Though I agree with Bill Maher when he says that he finds it crazy that Americans keep saying they want to elect someone they can have a beer with instead of wanting to elect someone who would be responsible with nuclear codes. Likeability should not be this important folks, except it is. Sigh.

Delhi Men Flashback

2008-10-02T00:25:00.000-04:00

Asif Zardari, meet Sarah Palin....

Truly cringe worthy...on so many levels.

It's not too often that I find myself sympathizing with Sarah Palin, so thought I'd share..

Edited to add: Apparently the clip has resulted in a bit of a storm in a teacup in Pakistan, with fatwas being issued, feminists getting upset and Benazir fans being offended...gotta love subcontinental politics.

Do Norms Matter part 2: the N deal

2008-10-01T22:34:00.001-04:00

Congress approved the US's nuclear deal with India today. Under the agreement, India will be able get material and technical support for its civilian nuclear program and in return will open up 14 of its nuclear sites to inspections.

This move is note worthy for several reasons:

First, it is a rare victory for the Bush administration's foreign policy, and particularly in a very bad week for the administration. I mean congress actually passed something Bush wanted- weird. Relations with India have been one of very few foreign policy successes of the Bush administration in general so we should take note of this moment.

Second, if you believe the hyperbole, this is a 'tectonic' moment in not only Indo-US relations but also in the development of the nuclear non-proliferation regime itself. Making an exception of India signals many things - it validates the idea that liberal democracies stick together (a variant on the 'democratic peace' thesis), it opens up the pressing question of demonstration effects on other undeclared nuclear states and it recognizes that there is a range of behaviors within the category of nuclear non-proliferation norm violators, eroding the salience and the legitimacy of the non-proliferation regime itself. The deal jolts the shaky foundations of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, while still showing that states want to abide by it. Third, despite the easy passage of the bill, there is much disagreement on the impact and moral salience of the bill. We are not done with this at all.

So, does this mean that nuclear non-proliferation norms have comprehensively failed? Sure looks like it- the US is actually rewarding 'bad' behavior like testing nuclear weapons, right? Not if you read Karthika Sasikumar's fascinating work on India and the non-proliferation order. According to Sasikumar, the 'norms worked' by forcing India to act in regime compliant ways, even as an outsider to the regime. By this interpretation, India should be seen as an exception that proves the efficacy of a set of still stringent rules. It will not be easy for other states to make the same case that India did and thus the standards of acceptable nuclear behavior remain high.

Of course, the counter-argument is the one that will get the most coverage in the next few weeks. This is the argument that the deal sets a dangerous precedent and will encourage other states, including 'rogue' states to also openly violate non-proliferation norms. Rebutting such behavior will be hard to justify, given the preferential treatment given to India.

My take on this: This is a toughie. On the one hand, I agree that India is a special case, given its record which stands out against the behavior of the usual suspects (A Q Khan anyone?). I also understand the benefits that the deal brings in both material and symbolic terms- not the least of which is the promise it holds for India's rapidly growing energy needs. Thirdly, the deal exposes the sham that the structure of the nuclear regime was which was built on the discriminatory premise of freezing into place the power hierarchies of the post second world war period. Out of the weakening architecture of the non-proliferation regime, comes an opportunity to rethink what non-proliferation means in todays day and age.

What I'm concerned about is the reaction from two quarters- the jingosm that I predict in India and the reaction of other undeclared states. I fear that the deal will dilute the already waning nuclear non-proliferation order.

Let me explain. No doubt there will be a lot of celebration in certain quarters in India - validating the enormous expense of developing nuclear weapons programs and the risk that comes with testing nuclear weapons with Pakistan as a neighbor. There are few things I find as disagreeable as Indian jingoism and we will see a lot of it in the days to come, specially from those that will tout India's growing relations with the US as validation of India's arrival as a great power.

Apart from the crude spectacle of excessive nationalism, we should be wary of such self-congratulation for other reasons. Even while acknowledging that India's nuclear record has been exemplary in terms of responsibility in upholding non-proliferation norms, we should worry about the resentment this will breed in the subcontinent. More importantly for me, the deal signals India's growing embrace of 'real politik'. India's great strength in the nuclear non-proliferation order was not its material capability but its ethical argument about the in built discrimination or 'apartheid' of the regime. We should not lose this moral ground by touting our 'power'.

Moving beyond India, the precedent this sets for other undeclared nuclear powers is troubling. Not because the US will be compelled to similarly reward other states (which it won't) but because this decision will erode the 'nuclear taboo' that has held strong for 50 years, despite the flaws of the non-proliferation regime. We should be alert to the demonstration effects the deal will have on other regimes and the arguments that will become 'thinkable'.

To put it mildly, the process of negotiating the deal has been turbulent - it nearly brought the current coalition government down in India when the CPIM bailed out in protest. It has been furiously opposed by left liberals in India and by Democrats in the U.S. This passage is probably not the end of the story - but it is a landmark day in the ongoing saga. It's too early to predict the long-term effects of the deal but that won't stop all of the talking heads ( including me!)

Bottom line: I don't know yet.

Edited 10/02/08 to add: According to the BBC, already Pakistan is arguing that Washington needs to extend a similar deal to Islamabad. Now this is just a bit rich. I'm no Pakistan basher (making fun of lecherous Presidents does not count) but with its rather dodgy chain of command, history of proliferation and you know, just that little matter of A Q Khan, I think this smells of a little boguosity...but, it just underlines the point about precedents set.

D-List : September

2008-10-01T00:36:00.003-04:00

I love making lists. Heck, I'm even writing a dissertation on 'lists'... I would be perfectly content to spend hours making random, disconnected lists, both profound (like the ambitious but spectacularly unhelpful "what do I want in life" or that eternal favorite, "Current Worries") and banal ("Songs to buy next month", "groceries", "annoying people").

I'm not alone- there are entire books and even magazines dedicated to lists, including this blog that became a book, as I discovered to my delight.

That said, here is the first of a series - my monthly list of recommendations for the viewing, listening, eating pleasure of my readers (now more than 1.5):

Best New Discovery: A tie between Vanilla Soy Milk and Turkish red lentil soup...

Podcast of the month: I'm discovering Podcasts in general, but particularly like the ones offered by Slate. Check out the Audio Book Club for erudite, truly insightful and often heated discussions on new and classic books, hosted by Stephen Metcalf. The 'Eat, Pray, Love' discussion is particularly full of intense sarcasm between the panelists.

Song of the month: Yes, I'm going to promote a John Mayer song (hey, it's my blog, I can do what I want) but, in my defense, this one is a duet with Eric Clapton where JM plays guitar and doesn't actually sing and it was performed for the victims of Hurricane Katrina: Broken Hearted

Book of the Month: I didn't read a truly good book this month so I'll hold off on that rather than offer up something mediocre.

Article of the Month: I'm always amazed by how I find just about anything in the New Yorker riveting. This week's article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for war veterans took something easy to treat with cliches and made it both touching and eye opening.

Blog of the Month: Jabberwock, a prolific Delhi-based blogger. His writing on film, books, cricket and commentary on issues reveal a deep intelligence and the rare combination of a lack of pretentiousness with a refined sensibility. The 'spleen' section is very funny. Intimidatingly good.

Academic Article: "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict"
International Security, issue 1, volume 33 Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth
Non-violent actions are more likely to succeed in the solution of political conflict than armed conflict. It's 'feel good' (rare in political conflict studies) and it is based on an impressive combination of large n and case studies.

Challenge of the Month: Trying to make a website and learning HTML... with the emphasis on 'trying'

Lesson of the Month: Even if you fall on your face (literally), get up and laugh....(or try to laugh).

New Month, New Template

2008-10-01T00:11:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not going to change the template every month...but it's fall, the trees are turning, the air is misty and the weather has been wonderfully grey the last few days. And this is just crisper and neater, like fall and winter. I like it already.

Do Norms Matter?

2008-09-30T23:38:00.002-04:00

IR bloggers are taking an interest in the ongoing saga of the Somali pirates who have hijacked a Ukranian ship and are demanding millions of dollars (20 at last count) in return. The pirates (I can't get over how old-school the whole concept of pirates seems- blame Johnny Depp) gave an interview to the NYT.

In it they employ some arguments that should be of interest to all of us who argue that discourse is a good gauge of the salience of particular international norms. For instance,

We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”

The Somali pirates are using arguments that appeal to our sense of justice in several ways - comparing themselves to legitimate law enforcers such as the coast guard and behaviors such as 'patrolling', appealing to our environmental concerns, and contesting language that is pejorative.

Yet, they are holding the Ukranian ship and its crew hostage and are demanding a ransom that is incommuserate with their stated reasons for wanting money.

“Killing is not in our plans,” he said. “We only want money so we can protect ourselves from hunger.”

When asked why the pirates needed $20 million to protect themselves from hunger, Mr. Sugule laughed and said, “Because we have a lot of men.”

So this begs the question, what use is it to know that actors acknowledge or (instrumentally) appeal to international norms? In the blogs I've read, the consensus seems to be that this is a case of insincere rhetoric, because it is belied by the actions of the pirates.

How, then, should we interpret the desire of the pirates to be seen as legitimate human beings? Should this guide the way the situation is handled? For instance, if the pirates said that they wanted the money to buy rum, eye patches and sail the high seas- would the ship have been stormed by now? If the pirates subscribed to a set of norms that were even less palatable, how would it effect responses?

These are the difficulties in thinking about how norms work in real life. It's a much bandied about term but it leaves us with little substance with which to think about how to formulate policy in crises.

I'm trying to grapple with these questions in my own work, so no real answers...just thinking aloud.

Final Score Sheet

2008-09-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

While the live blogging is over (see post below this), it is now time to reflect and, as is my wont, give out some grades:

Final Score Sheet:

Debate B +. No great quotes or sparks but intelligent debate all round....two worthy opponents.

McCain was surprisingly articulate, no senior moments, on point, clear and calm (apart from that little outburst on Iran). There's just that little matter of the blatant misleading and you know, LIES. He was much the ruder person too. B+

Obama was nuanced, fair, honest and so, as a result, not as easy and pat, which is great for people like me and the people that read my blog...but not so great given the black and white narratives that drive American politics. Polite, civilized and a gentleman. Great closing statement but bad slip in not addressing McCain's lack of experience barb. So, an A - from a (wannabe) academic and a B+ from a policy wonk.

Well done on both for producing a good debate- nothing too memorable but intelligent and thorough. God knows we haven't had that in 8 years.

Lehrer: firm, civilized, non-flashy A

Your Blogger:
??
A- for effort, A+ for enthusiasm, B for lack of organization...

Tips for
McCain: Good job for sticking to your GOP talking points. Stop lying, maybe?

Obama: Stop praising or giving McCain credit for anything. There is little room for civility or nuance in this kind of dirty politics. There will be plenty of time later to be honorable. Right now, look at your opponent (he did not give you credit for anything even once) - stop being nice and play the game.

Here's Daniel Drezner's live blog of the debate - wonder how many others were doing the same thing? He suggests debate drinking games like drinking every time someone says "I resent' - which actually would have meant we all would have ended up pretty sober.

With hindsight, "that's not true" would have got you hammered tonight....

Experiment: Live Blogging the First Presidential Debate

2008-09-26T21:11:00.002-04:00

10: 38

DONE! That was tough but fun! Now lets see how I compare to the talking heads....
Edited to add: Now that I've blogged about it, I find I'm not as interested in the analysis of others immediately. Interesting.

10:35

Barack, Barack, Barack...McCain just said you had no experience and he is the most experienced politician alive. And your retort? "My father came from Kenya, which is why I have my name". ?? You just let that slide? Why?

10: 28

Chaos, interruption- Indian Parliament news flashback....before Obama politely moves on....

I spaced out and when I snapped back Obama was trying to get a word in edgewise....wha??

10:18

Wow....McCain suddenly woke up and went on a little McCain rant.... Heeeeeeerrree's Johnny.......!!!

(Obama spluttered in amazement....I nearly choked on my drink...)

10:06

Obama needs to stop saying "John is right". You only play nicely with those who play nicely with you...

Clear answer from McCain about Iran as an existential threat. Clear but scary. Brings Russia in immediately, proposes "painful" sanctions on the "lousy" Iranian government....Bush the 3rd anyone?

10:04

" I got a bracelet too?" Rise above this nonsense Barack....come on....

Oh Yawn......McCain pulls out the old bracelet story now...

10:00

BURN! Obama: "coming from you who has talked about exterminating N. Korea and sung songs about bombing Iran, I'm not sure how credible that is' (on McCain talking about Obama's willingness to attack Pak)

9:55

So far if I was grading these two I would give McCain points for sticking to the question, articulating simply and effectively and for his consistency. Avoid redundancy and repetition.

Obama A- "Pay closer attention to the question and be more clear. On the positive side: Good, complex reasoning and nuanced understanding of the issues. Also extra credit for being able to pronounce Pakistan.' Points taken/ warning for saying "We have to be able to take them out"

9: 50

Now we're talking - Iraq still remains the real issue here for these two....they both look a lot more confident here. National Security and Foreign Policy is clearly much more of a comfort zone for both of them.

9: 42

McCain just repeated that he was not chosen as Miss Congeniality (which is worth another blog post, coming soon)- which is just begging for some sort of joke about Palin.

9:35

Dominant themes:

Obama: McCain is mini-Bush, Bush the 3rd, Bush's best pal.... please don't believe their lies
McCain: Talking the talk, does not mean walking the walk, cut spending, cut spending, cut spending!
Lehrer: Focus and please answer the question directly

9: 33

I'm struck by just how remarkably better both of these candidates speak than Bush. At least this is a real debate. And both men can pronounce nuclear- hallelujah for that. They also don't smirk/ grin sheepishly

9: 30

Ah! the familiar trope of Chinese children forging ahead, a perennial favorite- and it comes from Obama.

So far McCain has had the better one liners and the better campaigning buzz words (maverick, spending) , Obama sounds a lot more detailed and focused on policy- maybe too much?

Obama laughs at McCain's jokes, McCain grins as Obama speaks....much amusement.

It's getting heated now- calling each other liars, talking directly at each other, interrupting etc. That didn't take long.

Ooohh...watch out Barak- don't antagonize small business. McCain's cracking up in the corner for some reason- he's explaining why now.

9:20

This is harder than I thought- you have to listen, reflect and type while not missing what's going on- my respect for live bloggers of random awards shows has shot up.

9:16

First good punch line of the night- goes to McCain...He's already made two jokes about his age...ok, strike that, three. If you can't beat em, join em, I guess.

Obama's using first names and McCain is refusing to warm up to that usage- it's a cold Sen. Obama....I wonder how micro-planned such strategies are...
He also looks at McCain when he talks to him and McCain stares straight ahead (and now I'm done with my imitation of FOX news body language analysts)
Edited to add at 11:00- lots of the media analysts also picked up on this. Not bad for your not-so-humble blogger...

9:10

5 minutes in and I have the same comment for Sen. Obama that I often do for my undergraduate students - answer the question, please.

9:00

We're off and in the hands of the eminently capable Jim Lehrer who gets straight to the heart of the matter- the economy. The new format allows both back and forth debating as well as follow ups by Lehrer. Let's see if it gets nasty with this format- I doubt it.

My first live blogging attempt: This will be fun not only for the experience but also to see how my immediate judgement differs from that of the talking heads and media who will analyze this tomorrow.

2008-09-14T15:37:00.002-04:00

Brilliant...

I made a mental note to myself to stop this blog from becoming all about Palin but this warrants an exception....Tina Fey at her best.

Hilarious

2008-09-12T00:08:00.004-04:00

On a sad day, I thought of bringing some levity to politics.

Here starts a series I shall hopefully return to many times: "Reasons to love John Mayer"

Reason no. 34756: Talented, funny and just the right amount of cynical...

And Steve Jordan's laugh is just infectious...

Smash Box

2008-09-10T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today is the day that the Large Hadron Collider or what I like to call the giant particle/atom collider machine got switched on in Geneva. As I understand from a physicist friend, this is equivalent to someone switching on a car and then waiting a few weeks before the car starts moving. So today is the symbolic start to this enterprise, rather than a day full of action and we won't know its effects for months, maybe years.

The machine has a rather modest goal....to simulate and recreate the creation of the universe after the big bang.

Can you imagine the grant proposal for that one? "We propose to recreate the universe. Please fund us."

"Don't know whether to laugh or cry" moment

2008-09-09T21:15:00.002-04:00

This is a conversation I had a couple of days with an ex-student of mine. She's always struck me as earnest, opinionated and very, very liberal from almost everything she said in class and outside. She's almost a stereotype in the stuff white people like mold- vaguely hippyish, vegan, back packing through Chile, artistic type who loudly denounces men, marriage, meat, Western hegemony and walmart all in one go...in other words the perfect person to have a friendly political rant with the day after the Palin speech...

Or so I thought...

The conversation made me long for a large white flag and a pole from which to wave it.

(With a little poetic license)

Me: (brightly and slightly conspiratorially) "Have you been following the political news lately?"

Student: (eagerly) "Yes, I'm sooo excited about it all"

Me: (Feeling happy about evidence of political activism in the youth) "Cool, what parts?"

Student: "Well, I think it's awesome that we have a woman running for VP. She's going to be awesome."

Me: (back peddling in my mind) "Hmmm? Interesting....so, do you find her views on the issues convincing? What things do you like about her?"

Student: "It's just really important to have women- they would change stuff, and make things better.."

Me: "Hmm....So what kind of stuff do you think she will change?"

Student: "She's going to make things.... better and she'll be great for women's rights"

Me: ('polite' voice) "Umm....Ok... Well, you do know that she's very pro-Iraq war, pro-gun, anti global warming as a concept, pro-life, anti-gay rights etc. right?"

Student: "Yeah, that's true but she's a woman and I think that's cool. We really need that right now."

Me: (smiling tightly): "Interesting....well, it's going to be.....interesting"

And then I slunk away....

It's working! Oh god, it's working!

Now I'd like to think I'm sufficiently open minded not to judge people for their political views. Some of my brightest students have been conservative in intelligent and thought provoking ways. But this is just not very smart, is it?

It bothers me that I did not try to gently disabuse her of those notions- but its hard to do without sounding condescending, patronizing and rude. No wonder the dems are bafflingly polite in the face of blatant lies.

Another day, another reminder of the 'jackass problem' in democracies, as a professor once eloquently put it.