Three questions - many answers

These are questions that are being thrown out there with no expecations.. this is like me shouting at the ocean on Marina Beach in Madras during one of those bouts of extreme helplessness..

The ocean just absorbs my loudest scream so effortlessly. All I get in return is a local sense of calm as the waves lap my feet.

Maybe this post will give me that same feeling. Writing a post and putting it out there on the internet, is in a lot of ways like shouting at the waves. Not that these questions need answering, but putting them out there might give a sense of relief...

1. Is there any mother out there who can go on a polygraph and pass when asked the question "do you love your daughter-in-law as much as you love your daughter?" and she replies "Yes"? (assuming she is not an ex-CIA mom who was trained to beat a polygraph..)

2. Is it safe for any woman to be a homemaker? Are there that many trustworthy men in this world who can be counted on, or should I ask "are there that many trusting women out there? In today's world it is even more difficult for a home maker to find employment (or get employed again after a long break in employment) than it is for a working mom to adapt to being a stay at home mom. This comment is not being raised in the context of the man leaving the woman, but was sparked by thoughts along the lines of the man having poor health, falling sick constantly and by extension, being a prime candidate for disability or death, leaving the woman to take care of the family.

3. Do long distance relationships have a higher chance of failure? Does this higher chance hold true for blood relations also? Is physical proximity a requirement for a blood relationship like a grandparent, parent, child, sibling or are those bonds like the frienships you form in high school or college. You haven't talked to a person for a year and you call them on the phone and you just pick up where you left off.. there is always a welcome smile and open arms. Is it like that for blood relatives? Does "out of sight, out of mind" necessarily translate to "permanently out of mind"?

The neurons fire badly and erratically this week. Hay fever and tylenol allergy sinus may not have much to do with it. The questions keep bouncing inside the head and for some strange reason remind me of a computer game we used to play a long time ago called Jeezball. You box a bunch of bouncing balls into the smallest pockets only to realize that the more you box them in, the more difficult it is to contain them.

The waves might lap at my feet or the unseen Tsunami might throw me over. There are plenty of real and virtual moms, mothers in law around me, working at a home or office and the first two questions are not with respect to anyone in particular. As most or all of you know, I have given up trying to understand women. As long as they understand you, you are fine. Maybe Moses did not part the red sea.. the red sea parted for Moses, the red sea being a lot bigger and all.. same logic.

Question 3 is part of some soul searching.

Three questions, many answers, not necessarily right or wrong answers, just many many different answers!

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Tolearati

That should be a legal word in the dictionary.

We have gliterrati, technorati, etc. so why not? and maybe it should mean "a collective body of people who live and let live"!

In case you are wondering why the request for some data, some things have been bothering me, what with the gloomy weather outside and the blog reading from the last few days.

For example, transporation! A guy who writes a "travelogue" ought to be concerned about the fate of transportation the world over, right?

We have governments monopoly on road building, public transportation, transportation routes, who makes what modes of transport at what cost, the control over the transportation modes on this world economy and environment, not to mention downright apathy on the part of governmnets the world over to provide what the common man needs to navigate today's world!

(all this after reading PK and Sauvik posts within a week and an NPR piece of who is going to be transportation secretary for the USA in the new Obama administration and how he may have a tough time balancing things)

Another example is the hoopla over Valentines day, the fact that it is Saint Valentines day and therefore is a Christian thing, how therefore it is something that Indians should not celebrate, how holding hands in public or kissing is not an "Indian" thing to do, how women going to pubs is against hinduvta, the concept of "hinduvta", how liberal is liberal, how fundamentalist is fundamentalist, how secular is secular, how free is free, how pink is pink, etc. Okay, maybe that last one wasn't on my mind as much as the other questions.

Finally, the last thing that we see is a flood of articles from the Huffington post to the Tehran times and anyone else claiming to provide news, on "India launches cola made from Cow Urine". When do a few folks doing something represent a country or its people in the world. Does the western media know that a majority of the Indian population is endorsing "Gau Jal"?, is there an official press release from the Government of India stating this cola as a product of the government, somehow this is linked to policy, etc.? Similar things happen to countries and people (USA is an equally prime example) where a few people do something and the entire country is supposed to be behind it!

Obviously before some of these thoughts get cleared, there were even more simple questions like what consitutes a minority, why would a majority of people divide themselves and be so polarized over things that happen to a minority of people the world over, within countries, states, why the divisions of what makes the minorities be important in the first place, what are the odds of finding a left handed lesbian pub and god loving woman in Bangalore, etc. etc. Okay, strike that last one out. It was more of an afterhought!

This post cannot continue folks! The brain needs to slow down and work off of some real data to see if all the above questions can be explained statitstically or we just have to resort to grandma sayings, aesops fables and Jataka tales. Maybe this cannot be explained in simple terms and one just has to accept it for what it is.

So, we wait for data and a deeper understanding of what drives all the insanity in this world!

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A pyramid of questions.

More questions on the doctorate, courtesy The Visitor.

Visitor : You said, having a doctorate helped you do things differently, as a result of the training that one gets while dong research. I presume that generalization is also one of the skills that grad students acquire along with their degree (a generalization?); so you could generalize about factors that entice students to go abroad for their studies?

Me : No. That is a skill I was born with! I have gotten in trouble so many times in the past for generalizing things. Every person has their reason. (Only reason that my logic sounds like generalization is because of poor use of statistics. The three Indian students who joined grad school at the beginning of the fall quarter were all Iyer boys from Madras! So the perception of the non-Indian grad students that year was generalized based on the three of us. The FOB Chinese grad student's idea of a desi dude was a Madrasi with thayir saadham in his lunch box. It is a bad idea to generalize, except for evoking humor.

Are the opportunities for a Ph.D from the West more than for a person with a Ph.D from India?

Me: It used to be. In the mid nineties, there was talks of a bill that would restrict hiring foreign grad students. It was probably more difficult for grad students from India to get jobs here. Don't know about things now. We will have to survey todays graduating class!

If getting a Professorship is more difficult in India than in the US, does it mean that the Indian professors are the best?

Me: Don't want to start a flame war in this blog, but now who is doing the generalization? Who said getting a Professorship in the US is easy? The politics here is as bad or worse than the politics in Indian Universities. You had to be a post doc for a few years, get another Ph.D on Suckuptology and eventually could become a professor, do the publish or perish thing and dream of that magical six letter word "tenure"! Changed my mind after seeing some old friends have fun in R&D labs, without worrying about "tenure".

A related observation/opinion (mine)-the IITs, IISc and BHU (you could also include the IIMs) are 'good' because of the quality of students and is not necessarily related to the quality of the faculty. Of course the faculty in these institutes may be the best in India.

Me: It is the faculty and the students. The faculty are good at motivating the kids at a time when they are easily influenced. Most of these kids have the same drive when it comes to competition!

Now a hypothetical question: Had you done your Ph.D from India, what would you be doing now? (multiple perceived endpoints are allowed).

Me: I am tempted to say something along the lines of "The verger at St. Peters!". I will refrain from a smartass answer. I would have probably ended up working for the government in some research facility. Would not have lasted as a chai driking post-doc for four five years!

Now a bonus question for anyone who would answer!

I know how difficult it is these days to hire an Indian grad student who has just finished a Ph.D, what with the H1 quota, DHS rules etc.

What does the employment scene for Ph.D's from Indian Universities look like today?

I cannot wait to post pics and videos of the little ones tomorrow. Enough talk about the past!

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Talk about LOL !

A friend sent me this yesterday.. I opened the pictures and started laughing out so loudly that I woke up the baby sleeping in the next room.

I love math ! These answers to math questions were just too hilarious.

Usually I post my own pictures, this is an exception..

Enjoy..














If you have already seen these (and judging by the fact that I got such a good laugh, these must be circulating the globe at least a few times a week in chain mails!) my apologies. If not, hope you had a good laugh.

Still working on the India Travelogs...