What a nail biter -- especially for Giants fans! The Giants knocked off the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game to earn a fourth trip to the Super Bowl. Lambeau Field, home field advantage for the Packers, sub zero temperature and wind chill -- nothing could stop the Giants from winning. That was an amazing performance by the whole team. While Eli played mistake-free football and Plaxico had a field day pretty much manhandling Al Harris, to me the star of the game was the Giants defensive unit. What a performance, especially at the end of the game when it seemed like the Giants were just giving opportunities to the Packers. The last thing one wanted to see was the ball in Favre's hands.
And last but not the least -- how do you redeem yourself after missing field goals from 43 and 36 yards out? By making one from 47 yards in overtime, of course. I can't imagine what was going through Tynes's mind as he lined up for the kick in overtime.
I know that once again the odds are against the Giants, but I am hoping for a really good game. The matchup is very similar to the Giants-Bills matchup in the 1991 Super Bowl, when the Bills were favored by two touchdowns. Well, the Giants of Bill Parcells controlled the ball for over 39 minutes during that game and edged the Bills 20-19 in a classic where the last play interestingly enough was a 47 yard field goal attempt by Scott Norwood that sailed "wide right" as time expired.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Bringing up children in the US: Are we doing the right thing?
A few days ago, I was looking at my calendar for the week. It looked very busy, and it struck me that I had practically no free time during the week. All the time was divided up between work and kids' activities. I was amazed by the number of activities that our kids were enrolled in.
When I grew up, I was also encouraged to learn a lot of things, but only few of those were organized activities. It seems that in this country, as we raise our children, their lives are being run by these organized activities. There seems to be very little time for them to just play or to develop their own thought process. I don't know if this is true across ethnic boundaries or not, but I believe that (Asian) Indian parents are a little too demanding. We have very high expectations of our kids in all walks of life. They must excel in school, and grades below A+ are always met with frowns and unkind words. They must also excel in every activity that they are enrolled in. Just watch the expressions of an Indian parent when their child is struggling to do something, or will not follow instructions. That expression tells the whole story.
I hate my life at times because it seems too stressful, but at least I had an easier childhood. For some reason, I am denying my children even that easy childhood. My rationale is that it is important to have as many skills as possible because the world continues to become flatter, and more and more competitive everyday. The activities also keep them away from spending too much time watching TV or surfing the web. But I often wonder if we are creating a more skilled person, who will be an active member of the society or someone who will simply be burned out by the time she becomes old enough to contribute to the society. Previously, I used to sign my kids up for activities without much thought, but I no longer do that. I have also begun to respect my kids' opinions and their level of interest in these activities.
If you are a parent who identifies with this situation, it may be worthwhile to clear your calendar just for a weekend and spend some time thinking about this.
When I grew up, I was also encouraged to learn a lot of things, but only few of those were organized activities. It seems that in this country, as we raise our children, their lives are being run by these organized activities. There seems to be very little time for them to just play or to develop their own thought process. I don't know if this is true across ethnic boundaries or not, but I believe that (Asian) Indian parents are a little too demanding. We have very high expectations of our kids in all walks of life. They must excel in school, and grades below A+ are always met with frowns and unkind words. They must also excel in every activity that they are enrolled in. Just watch the expressions of an Indian parent when their child is struggling to do something, or will not follow instructions. That expression tells the whole story.
I hate my life at times because it seems too stressful, but at least I had an easier childhood. For some reason, I am denying my children even that easy childhood. My rationale is that it is important to have as many skills as possible because the world continues to become flatter, and more and more competitive everyday. The activities also keep them away from spending too much time watching TV or surfing the web. But I often wonder if we are creating a more skilled person, who will be an active member of the society or someone who will simply be burned out by the time she becomes old enough to contribute to the society. Previously, I used to sign my kids up for activities without much thought, but I no longer do that. I have also begun to respect my kids' opinions and their level of interest in these activities.
If you are a parent who identifies with this situation, it may be worthwhile to clear your calendar just for a weekend and spend some time thinking about this.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Some days are just too good
It is a rare happening in one's life but there are days when everything seems to go right. Yesterday (January 13, 2008) was one such day in my life. I woke up happy and did not have a hangover from the previous night; I finished two tasks that had been pending for a long time, exercised and did some other fun activities. I knew that the day was going very well when I found a five dollar bill while cleaning the walk-up steps outside my basement. While I am sorry for the person who lost the bill, he/she can rest assured that the money will be used for a good cause.
Everything had gone on so well during the day, but there was one more thing that needed to happen in order to make it perfect. I am a fan of the New York Giants (this is a professional American Football team). They are in the playoffs and were getting ready to play the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas. Dallas was the best team in the conference in which the Giants play and no one had picked the Giants to win.
What can I say -- it was a great game and the Giants came out on top. Cowboys had a lot of weapons but the Giants did a great job with their limited arsenal. I am still giddy. The Giants are on to the next round and the Cowboys will be sitting at home.
What a perfect end to the day!
Everything had gone on so well during the day, but there was one more thing that needed to happen in order to make it perfect. I am a fan of the New York Giants (this is a professional American Football team). They are in the playoffs and were getting ready to play the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas. Dallas was the best team in the conference in which the Giants play and no one had picked the Giants to win.
What can I say -- it was a great game and the Giants came out on top. Cowboys had a lot of weapons but the Giants did a great job with their limited arsenal. I am still giddy. The Giants are on to the next round and the Cowboys will be sitting at home.
What a perfect end to the day!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A smaller world?
It is often said that "it is a small world." While there have been happenings time and again throughout my life that have reminded me of this phrase, I have to say that 2007 was an year where the phrase has meant a lot to me.
2007 was a good year for many reasons but for me one of the biggest reasons was the fact that I really reconnected with my past. In July, I decided to attend an event called the Pan-IIT Conference, which was held in Santa Clara, California. It turned out to be a great event with several thousand graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology from all over the world with graduation years ranging from the 1960's to the current decade. We all enjoyed listening to high profile folks like Jeffrey Immelt, Arun Sarin and Javed Akhtar etc. To me, the greatest joy was to meet fellow batch mates from the IIT Kanpur class of 1987. I got to see friends who I had not seen in 20 years and the reunion was very special to me. We made it a point to get together every evening during the conference at a local friend's place. It felt very nostalgic to be with them. It was nice to meet their families who are all very hospitable. On the one hand we have all changed but in many ways we are still very much the same.
This conference also gave me the push to do more to stay connected with friends and I hope that I will continue to be more involved in this effort. I also had the opportunity to meet many other close friends from college many of whom have gone to achieve great things in life like resolving a long-standing open problem in Computer Science about prime numbers (Prof. Manindra Agrawal). Meeting professors who taught me during my college days (and two of them namely Prof. Dhande and Prof. Barua are now directors at two of the IITs) was quite an honor as well.
I am on a mailing list established by some alumni from my high school. Last year, my high school held a felicitation event for retired teachers. I received an email with pictures from that event. I had tears in my eyes as all the teachers who were honored had taught me one time or another between 3rd grade and 10th grade. Most of them are in their seventies and eighties and it was shocking to see how they have aged. I have probably not seen any of them for at least 25 years. I am hoping that I can establish contact with a few of them. That would be very special.
I hope the world continues to get smaller for me in 2008.
2007 was a good year for many reasons but for me one of the biggest reasons was the fact that I really reconnected with my past. In July, I decided to attend an event called the Pan-IIT Conference, which was held in Santa Clara, California. It turned out to be a great event with several thousand graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology from all over the world with graduation years ranging from the 1960's to the current decade. We all enjoyed listening to high profile folks like Jeffrey Immelt, Arun Sarin and Javed Akhtar etc. To me, the greatest joy was to meet fellow batch mates from the IIT Kanpur class of 1987. I got to see friends who I had not seen in 20 years and the reunion was very special to me. We made it a point to get together every evening during the conference at a local friend's place. It felt very nostalgic to be with them. It was nice to meet their families who are all very hospitable. On the one hand we have all changed but in many ways we are still very much the same.
This conference also gave me the push to do more to stay connected with friends and I hope that I will continue to be more involved in this effort. I also had the opportunity to meet many other close friends from college many of whom have gone to achieve great things in life like resolving a long-standing open problem in Computer Science about prime numbers (Prof. Manindra Agrawal). Meeting professors who taught me during my college days (and two of them namely Prof. Dhande and Prof. Barua are now directors at two of the IITs) was quite an honor as well.
I am on a mailing list established by some alumni from my high school. Last year, my high school held a felicitation event for retired teachers. I received an email with pictures from that event. I had tears in my eyes as all the teachers who were honored had taught me one time or another between 3rd grade and 10th grade. Most of them are in their seventies and eighties and it was shocking to see how they have aged. I have probably not seen any of them for at least 25 years. I am hoping that I can establish contact with a few of them. That would be very special.
I hope the world continues to get smaller for me in 2008.
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