Age limit for study?

I am sure most of you who did your undergraduation and (post) graduation in India would know about CSIR. For those of you who do not know about it, CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) is an organization that funds and heads many research programs throughout India. They usually conduct an exam for PhD entrance and if you manage to get a good score, you can start your research in a lab of your choice (or probably assigned to you, not sure). This exam is similar to GRE, but more scientific and they don't really bother you with verbals! It is definitely a very competitive exam and is opined to be difficult to pass. Passing is difficult not because the questions are too specific and tricky, but just that though you have nothing to do with evolution and botany, they have this weird rule which expects you to answer questions from these and very many subjects unrelated to you, like Geography!



Having given a brief introduction to what this organization is about and their roles and responsibilities, let me get to my point. By passing a CSIR exam, you get into various schemes as told here. One of those is getting a JRF and then 'maturing' further in an SRF and finishing your finishing your PhD in about 5-6 years (at the end of 5 years of painstaking research and sometimes having loads of professor-given insults to your credits, you would have earned just about Rs.10,000 per month but let's not get into it). My brain totally fails to understand why CSIR poses an age restriction for those people who write their JRF exams. Or should I say an age limit of 70 years makes more sense than 28 years. A SRF has an age limit of 32 years!! What is the logic behind not letting people do a PhD after 28 or 32 years? Their website (above link) reads - Their idea is "Identifying budding talent having aptitude and aspirations". Sadly they think as one gets older he/she lose their capacity to do a PhD. That is being totally insane!



One of my friends lost an oppurtunity to do her doctoral degree only because she was 29. People choose to do a PhD later in life for reasons CSIR unfortunately does not seem to understand - One good reason for girls would be family pressures and for guys, would be low monetary benefit which will easily surpass ones passion. I think CSIR can be sued under social discrimination for not letting somebody write a PhD entrance for a simple reason of being older than 28 years. One of my MS classmates here in the US was 40 and he was planning to get into a school to do a PhD in the next 2 years. That is when research grows. Age cannot be a blockade to scientific thinking. I really wish CSIR changes its (absurd) rules for good.

Redefining beauty

Beauty is not defined by the usual norms anymore – fair skin, tall, long legs, photogenic, slim, money, etc. are not the only characters of an attractive woman. There is much more to her life than trying to look good. Here are some ways I redefine beauty. Of course some of these are important but are not the only important things.

Beauty – Myths and truths?

Color of skin? – Color of thoughts.
Painted face? – Smiling face.
Ramp walk? – Confident walk.
Color choices? – Career choices.
Wealthy? – Healthy.

And the most beautiful thing about a woman is Motherhood! And to add a little bit of science into it, Motherhood yields a healthy and a happy baby only till about an age of 30. After that, the chances of the non-disjunction monster stealing the health of your baby gets higher as the mother gets older.

First job interview!

Phew..I am going to be in a real formal phone call first time ever in my life - a job interview. I have never been through this in US yet! I am very bad at phone conversations. I would have rather been more confident if I had to meet interview panel in person. I wonder if this being weird as I have heard a lot of people getting nervous about face-to-face interviews! I literally cracked those personal interviews I have had in India. And always, if I had made it to the interview level, I knew that the job was mine! Hope I have the soft skills that I talked about here which I guess are really important to impress people! Fingers crossed!

(I am going to keep my blogger mouth shut for a couple of days!)

Soft skills are Hard!

I was on a late evening stroll with my husband yesterday. We were talking about how our day passed. An incident about what happened at his work brought us to the topic –

Soft skills "Hard"ly taught/emphasized in India -

Here is a short, but not an exhaustive list we came up with.

1) Saying thanks to somebody who helps you – Ex. At the end of a talk with a colleague or customer service representative
2) A firm handshake - when you meet an executive of your company for an instance.
3) Introducing yourself to somebody – may be in an interview
4) Dressing up to suit the place you visit
5) Approaching your boss for a favor – Here I should say about this person who was looking for MS project went to a professor requesting a project in his lab. She requested, “Professor, I have been to talking to the other professors in the department. If nobody takes me will you please accept me in your lab??” Sob sob!
6) Being on time for a meeting – be it official or personal, respect the other person’s time
7) Last but not the least, talking aloud in a language that is not understood by everyone in the room/ the group. This is very true with a lot of Indians who live outside India.

Feel free to add more!

Pratibha Patil - Representing India's women?

If Pratibha Patil becomes the next President - The first woman President - of India, does that mean anything? Does that signify women's liberation? Absolutely not. My English professor, a long time ago taught me a word - Tokenism. I now understand that word in its true sense! By throwing the bait to one, the government is shutting the mouth of a million women in the country. One of the richest and most powerful countries in the world, the US, which has relatively better men-women social equality, is yet to see the dawn of its first woman President!

Are women truly liberated in India?

1) Women are still harassed in the work place
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070016079

2) Women still have restricted "Freedom of speech and expression". They cannot utter the word "Sex" on camera - I pity South Indian film star Kushboo
http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/29/stories/2005092916020300.htm

3) Indian women are deprived of the freedom to wear what they want! - I pity Sania Mirza
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4229052.stm

4) See what the UN says about the fate of widows in India. This is the latest report - about 6 months old - widows suffer multiple suppression in India and are given "worthless and invisible" status!
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2007/01_07/01_08_07/011407_India_widows.htm

5) "City of widows" - Fame or shame??
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/16/india.women/

6) Dowry less marriages outside main cities is a dream. The article here says, "Legislation banning dowry was passed in 1961 but is still flouted"; "the laws are hardly enforced"; " women are afraid to file a complaint against their own husbands"
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=HOTEN20070012704
When laws are not enforced, is there a reason for amendment?

Do you want more? Having a woman President is not going to change anything.

For guys who love to drink sodas

For all of you who love drinking sodas, you will be surprised (rather shocked) to know the other uses of it! Check this out

http://www.thebachelorguy.com/34-uses-for-that-can-of-soda-other-than-quenching-thirst.html

I am not sure how true these things are, though. Most of it sounds like a writing of one of those million jobless guys around. Cleaning the toilets - I have heard that a lot of times, but never tried!

Anyways, give it a second thought before you grab a soda next time.

Summer!

Wow, Summer! That’s probably what many Indians in CA would be rejoicing. Today is the first day of summer and is warm and nice outside. Forthcoming weeks are going to be hotter – the weather channel predicts - which makes me happier! Hailing from the land of hot sun, I love summer. I went on a walk around 3PM. The swimming pool in my apartment is filled with buoyant kids! Schools closed, they are definitely enjoying the hot holiday season. The boys are out with their bikes and racing around trees, the squeaking girls giving them the right company. There were these cute little 1-2 year old babies out on a stroller or a walk with their proud moms!

For me, there is a long list of things-to-do in summer – travel, travel and travel! – Been a long time since I traveled to the East Coast – NY, NJ, DC. There is no dearth of things-to-do here in the West Coast – Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, LV, the beautiful beaches of the Santa Cruz, more and more of SFO and its beautiful hiking spots – Angel Island, Half moon bay. If possible, a visit to the Yellowstone national park, a drive along the Pacific to Vancouver, Canada.... The list will go on forever! Hmm..is that being too ambitious??

Pooh! Tired of listing places to go – I have to get going! Get my trekking shoes on!