Marching Powder This was one exhilirating trip!

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry yes #46, you can imagine that in the USA. colored - read black - anchors are called tokens, just like colored ceos, programmers, researchers, etc. that`s why ``People, Learning and Development`` runs ``diversity training`` forums.

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry #45 eh? just because some country gave them a place to live they ought to be treated like insects? As immigrants most of them earned the right to live there. They deserve all their rights like every other citizen.

All immigrants, not just muslim ones, are marginalized in Canada. White Canada likes to reserve them for labor jobs as much as it possibly can.

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry actually he did address that, my apologies. my PC screen was stuck on just the last para.

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry sorry, I meant Romair #27

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry re something #20 said, imo, resources are an ever-changing mix. you didn`t factor in progress when Ravi moves up to a hyundai, Chris may also move up, to a Boeing. today set resource allocation may be hypothetically x% steel x% plastic x% quartz x%human capital etc, once progress/technology/changes in productivity/political climate as conducive to labor conditions/natural disasters etc come in, that resource allocation can change.

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry re: somehow one man because of major idiocy has done this to America

psychopaths are rarely idiots. (not that I think Bush is either - he`s far too smart). plus, one man alone can`t control a Corporation, as you yourself said, the Corporation, in this case the Government, takes in just it`s own kind, and if Georgie Peorgie Pudding and Pie isn`t exactly it`s own kind, who is?

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry #7, imo, the cake for 2006 will go to the Dems if history and hand-shake now-your-turn-to-spin-the-wheel politicking is anything to go by, for a low-key retirement-like four year run, after which... say, doesn`t Dubya have a brother?

The American Nightmare: No Exit, No Entry Hooo. Such a critical finger-wagging naughty and nice article. started out simplistic and ended very astute. just two things, about the average American`s life earning being a graph where education is considered an expense that reduces credit worthiness, I disagree, while student loans do burden the average college goer, some considerably more than others, most Americans don`t see education as a terrible waste at all, quite the opposite. They know those costs can be recouped at any time over the next decades, and those that are willing to put in that much time and effort reap more than a fair share of benefits. And it doesn`t stop there. Just look at all the amount of training dollars spent annually by professionals of all levels/fields on keeping up their credentials, certifications, etc. People are willing to incur debt just to take a few courses that will enhance their careers. Companies today have entire departments dedicated solely to training and professional development for their staff, versus say thirty years ago when HR would be the end-all-know-all everyone bitched about.
and second, the corporation bit was very Royesque (arundhati).
The immigrant part was good, but #4, plastic vs metal. well, the Corporation always took in its own kind from the very beginning. that`s why it works so well. people with the same ideas on the same track going to the same destination always get there, who needs loose cannons or naysayers. they can go form their own corporations and play in the market on its footing fair and square. it`s a very simple model, and it works.
the copypaste part was hilarious. yes, it`s a pity that the last century had so much advancement from start to finish and things are just stagnating now. ford designed the basic ABC car and we`ll still driving it, with a few comfort updates. nothing new is being ``discovered`` or ``invented``, or so it seems. but behind the scenes, things are cooking just as much as before, in fact, even more. Kids today have resources that few could dream of in the 1880s and even 1950s, and they are able to tackle the challenges being put to them. being bombarded with computers, DVDs, ipods, LCD displays, and Elmo at age three, how much can one expect them to assimilate things quickly enough so that they can start to be productive and start churning out all those fantastic inventive oh ah ideas? Give it time. every few years will get an einstien who will revolutionize the world, but now we may get more than just a handful. so change and positive change will come, eventually, we are just taking things too much for granted to be able to see it. sorry for rambling.

A Wedding in West Mambalam This was just exquisite! Beautifully and simply narrated. My mouth has been watering all throughout the reading.

A treat Mr Shankaran. thank you so much.

To Hold Up the Floor like looking at dali and kahlo rolled in one, with different theme. last stanzas were very well done.

South Asian Earthquake: Don’t care… or don’t know? #55 zeena behna, no need to yelp at a casual observation. it was posted nearly half a dozen times in your ilog, and then here as well, so made me wonder if it was a publicity gimmick. jeolousy would be logical amongst one`s own profession, I`m no MD, so relax. yeah I don`t see the need for roaring who did what, it`s immodest, esp. if the need is genuine and the efforts are sincere. plus the fact that you lot are doctors and it is your duty to go where no insurance follows. For groups to get recognition, broadcasting it a few times, quietly if possible, preferably on a plaque in their offices or a half-page in some journal, is dignified and sufficient. if you want pats on the back from laypersons, use your resources to lobby governments for more aid going to the right places, and get a headline on page two. repeated self-congratulations do no good except bloat egos, while people on the ground still need more food and more medicine. I`m sure APPNA isn`t the only organization rounding up funds so strenuously, and their efforts, elaborate or meagre, are surely adequately appreciated by those on the receiving end. that should be quite enough.

South Asian Earthquake: Don’t care… or don’t know? # 52 hear, hear!

zeena, why the rigorous drumming of APPNA band baja? I was under the impression the medical profession was bound to help people of THE EARTH by oath.

Revisiting Myself: a Once-potted Plant with a Dictaphone? Saminasha, there is no ``metamorphosis``. you do not morph into something or someone else once you have a child, neither do you change. there is no kafkaesque. you simply.. grow.

I do not quite know how to put it.

Revisiting Myself: a Once-potted Plant with a Dictaphone? I agree with Saminasha`s comment that vaginal bobby sock was too reductive. As for intelligence, I rarely allow myself to judge someone`s intellect or perceived lack of it.

Most women, asian and otherwise, will agree that being a woman is hard enough in general, without adding a husband/lover/etc and/or children into the bargain. Saima Shah has a valid point about the underlying fear that many mothers/wives have, that they may not be able to fulfill all their ``dreams``, adding to their frustration. That fear is real, that fear is hidden, and that fear is rabid. When it bites, it feels like Ms. Minhas`s article.

Not every mother is successful at what she does, or tries to do. Kids still turn out to be suicide bombers, rapists, etc. But motherhood is neither easy nor does it deserve a kick in the shins.

You can be a CEO/writer/newscaster/blah and still be a humble mother, there are many millions in every nation, they have had their share of frustrations at the terrible-twos, tiresome teens, teething and all other stages, they have had budgets to live within as well, and traffic jams, and everything else. But very few will think that ``ritualized monogamy and progeny are enemies of the free-range woman``. Like your friends, you can choose your enemies, and they do not have to be. It is a trial, but for most it is worth it.

Not to forget, children die too, just like adults, and that is another trial for motherhood, not to mention fatherhood. How can you diminish that? By generalizing and lumping such mothers into categories that shorn them of intelligence is disrespecting the dead.

About liberation in general, the reality is and will remain for sometime that for an average woman in any society, liberation comes in small piecemeal parcels.

When a woman has ten men prodding and gaping at her wide open legs with or without her husband cheering beside her, and society accepting her instantaeously, that is liberating (labor). When a child says its first words that she has taught it, that is liberating. To have control over a tiny mind, its diet, its health, its hairstyle, these small things are liberating, today, and I don`t see these basics changing atleast until the Amazonian warrior women take over the earth.

A small note. On a website where the majority readership is male, cheers pamphlet anarchy in any form good or bad, fantasizes about the perfect woman who drinks, smokes, has sex at the drop of the hat, oozes Gibran or Rumi from every pore, and can run a marathon in 2 mins or less, I would be a little careful about portraying something as sacred as motherhood with the amount of exuberant negativity Ms Minhas has shown. Most of these men go home to humdrum women who themselves are mothers, neither liberated in any sense of the word nor likely to be, and it is more than a job for them, it is a living. What does a woman accomplish by throwing another in a pitiful light, except thrusting those souls even further back into the darkness, from whence their men will never venture to extract them. We talk of liberation, let the freedom bells ring, etc, etc, but what do we really do?

Apologies for straying off topic, ranting, etc.

Revisiting Myself: a Once-potted Plant with a Dictaphone? I will defend what I say (who/what I am is of no concern here). People read too much into things without taking stock of them first at face value.

Liberated in the sense Asians usually mean. She (author) says she smoked - big deal. Everyone smokes, something or other. But why hide now? Isn`t that taking away your own freedom - ie. yr own liberation?

Sex? It is carnal. You are supposed to have it, so go ahead, why make such a big deal. With whoever, whatever, whenever. Do you stop to think before taking a dose of Tylenol? It should be the same with consensual sex. For most people it is not. Why? Who knows.

Author was the one who is equating motherhood to being caged. She claims it stifles her intellectual thought processes, her creative output, etc. So, it is akin to a prison for her. I may have brought in the word liberation, she brought in the whole shebang (context etc). From what I read there, it seems to be she feels imprisoned in her current state, she is unhappy being a mother, she has more ambitions (nothing wrong with that, I am all for it) but there is something jarring when her ambitions seem to preclude being a mother, or she has to put one state down (motherhood) in order to lift herself up (to a state of individual accomplishment). There should be a balance, she has not found it and her tone, though humorous, smacks of disillusionment. She feels unfulfilled, and is herself to blame. Motherhood can be fulfilling by itself or as a complement to many other things, it need not be a side item or confined to the salad bar, it can be an entree by itself or with other entrees. It depends on the individual what they want to make of it, society no bar.