My Thoughts about Anything and Everything Under the Sun
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Next Chief Minister of Kerala?
Whom do you want to see as next Chief Minister of Kerala? Should that be V S Achuthanandan or be Oommen Chandy or be Ramesh Chennithala or be Kodiyeri Balakrishnan? You decide...
Join Facebook Page of this Blog (These thoughts about desi professors were formulated in me during the seven years of graduate studies in US. I don’t want to generalize my thoughts but like to know your views on this topic)
Last week a girl, who just got an admit for Spring 2010, came to my house to talk to my wife and me about the graduate program she was about to join. Her eyes lit up when she told me that she had applied for assistantship with two desi professors. The way her eyes lit up was exactly the same way my eyes lit up when I saw the name of a desi professor while I was applying in graduate school during 2001. After I got admit I used to send emails and resume from India to desi professors thinking that they will help me out. As soon as I landed in my school the first piece of advice I got from the seniors here was “Working with desi professor – keep that as a last option if nothing else works out”. I have seen few good desi professors but lot of them are extremely tough to work with. So it was my time to pass the baton of advice to that girl -“Working with desi professor – keep that as a last option if nothing else works out!”
Desi professors know the helplessness of most of the Indian students (especially with funding and visa) who come here to study, as they were in their shoes a few years back and they exploit it very well. These professors know that an Indian student is not going to complain if he is paid for 10 hours and made to work for 40 hours.
One of my roommates was working with a desi professor. That professor works six days a week and 10 hours a day. Only day he takes off is Saturday and he expects his students to be in lab all the time he is in office. In this age of internet and instant messaging, if he finds that a student is not in his lab, he writes a small note and posts it in the lab and goes back to his office. My roommate took one Sunday off and the professor promptly wrote a note on his desk around noon. My friend saw that note on Monday and when he met him the professor shouted at my friend for over 30 minutes. He did not even care to listen to my friend. It is all together a different story that my friend left that professor and joined another professor for rest of his Masters.
I have seen some desi professors having their weekly lab meeting at Friday night after 7pm. One of my roommates, working with a desi professor always had the lab meeting either on Friday or Saturday night. Another worst thing – this professor will call my friend any time of the day or night and ask him to come to the lab – it doesn’t matter even if it is 10 at night. I am not sure if that same professor could have done something similar to an American student.
I have seen so many stuffs in the seven years of my school where desi professors treat Indian students with total disrespect and disregard to their feelings. Very rarely I have seen such an attitude from an American professor. They always treat every student with equal respect.
If you liked this post subscribe to "Scaling New Heights" on Facebook; I came across these videos from ColumbiaBusinessSchool made for the International Student Orientation. This is a presentation made by Dan Fishel, an Israeli student who came to US in student visa three years earlier. I could relate to each and every word he spoke as it echoes my life during the first few months in US. For those who came to US earlier in F-1 visa I can assure you that these videos below show your life and mental state during the initial days in US. For those who are planning to come to US this is a great video that helps you overcome personal, social and academic difficulties you will face in the initial few months in US as international student.
I like to hear from you, especially from those of you who have completed their studies in US as an international student, about this video. How close was your life to the situations mentioned by Dan in this video? Now here is a video that summarizes everything you should be doing to get an admit in US for Masters
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2011 - Latest Updates
Visit this page for the latest political news of Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections. Last Updated: 10:00 PM IST, 2nd May Exit Poll - Headlines Today-ORG Poll Even though Election Commission has banned publishing of exit polls till May 12th, India today on their website published an exit poll... Salient Features - Neck to neck fight in Tamil Nadu... This exit poll predicts DMK lead ministry in Tamil Nadu, UDF led government in Kerala and hang assembly in Assam.Read more here UPA Committed to Sethusamudram Project Assuring his commitment to Sethusamudram project and Tirupur woes, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought a fresh mandate to DMK-Congress combine, praising Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's visionary leadership. Continue Reading
I am not corrupt -Jayalalitha to NDTV
Vijayakanth Stays Away from Jayalalitha's rally
In a major setback to AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, key ally and DMDK chief Vijayakanth today skipped a joint rally in Coimbatore. Continue Reading
TNCC president K V Thangkabalu to contest from Mylapore
Tamil Nadu Congress committee president K V Thangkabalu to contest from Mylapore on Congress(I) ticket after his wife Jayanthi Thangkabalu filing was rejected due to incomplete documentation. Apparently this has miffed congress party workers who allege that Mr.Thangkabalu used back door entry to contest TN polls.
MDMK not to contest assembly polls
In a shocking development, MDMK decides not to contest assembly elections in Tamil Nadu,Puducherry. MDMK leader Vaiko ran out of options as AIADMK offered only 13 seats after all the coalitions were formed. Vaiko is going to find it hard to keep the party together after this.
This is the first election to the Kerala Assembly after social media has gain prominence. Social media is full of posters and cartoons either supporting a political party or teasing the other party. I will be compiling all those funny cartoons and posters I come across in this space till the elections are over. if you find anything interesting please send it over to me @ brijeshnairan(at)gmail(dot)com to publish it here. N.B. I am just compiling those posters and cartoons under one roof and the author of this blog does not endorse the viewpoints presented. Please don't give any "political color" to any of the cartoons/posters in this post. Just enjoy the fun part of it!!!
Now see who made the poster below...CPI(M) Orkut PB!!!
N.B. I am just compiling those posters and cartoons under one roof and the author of this blog does not endorse the viewpoints presented. Please don't give any "political color" to any of the cartoons/posters in this post. Just enjoy the fun part of it!!! EMAIL this post; Join Facebook Page of this Blog Related Posts:
EMAIL THIS PAGE; Elections to the Kerala Assembly will be held on April 13th. The peculiarity of this election is it is for the first time Kerala goes to assembly polls with the newly constituted constituencies. Kerala has 2,24,32,865 eligible voters with Aramula constituency having the maximum number of voters (2,00,954) while Kozhikode South has the minimum number of voters (1,27,010). See below for the seats contested by each party in UDF and LDF for this election
UDF LDF
Congress
82
CPI(M)
93
IUML
24
CPI
27
KC (M)
15
JD(S)
5
SJD
6
RSP
4
KC (J)
3
NCP
4
JSS
4
INL
3
CMP
3
KC(T)
3
KC(B)
2
Congress(S)
1
RSP(B)
1
Latest Updates CMP announced the list of 3 candidates - March 25th SJD announced the list of 5 candidates - March 23rd Indian National Congress(INC) announced the list of 80 candidates-March 22nd KC (Jacob) announced the list of 3 candidates - March 22nd KC (Mani) announced the list of 15 candidates - March 21st IUML announces the list of remaining 2 candidates - March 20th CPI announces the list of remaining 4 candidates - March 19th CPI(M) announces the list of 91 candidates - March 18th JSS announces the list of 4 candidates - March 18th IUML announces candidates to 22 constituencies - March 17th CPI announced candidates to 23 seats - March 16th
JD(U) announced 2 candidates each - March 16th RSP, NCP & Kerala Congress (Thomas) announced its candidates - March 14th BJP announced first list of its candidates...March 11th
