RAYS OF SUNSHINE.

An ode to home, real November, and the friends who don't need to know everything to know what I want and need: I miss it. I miss being more than these polite souls, who say hello in public, and are like sisters in shadows. I miss being in the cold air, crisp, with my voice puffing out laughs with the last of my breath in the freezing winter's night, running like our youth, our time together, out like a match. I miss the house I had lived in for fifteen "carefree" years, unaware of its fleeting glory, it's ineffable beauty of simplicity. I want nothing more than one more night on your moth-eaten, lumpy, comfy old sofa. With old movies and new, echoes of our childhood and our future playing alongside the soundtracks. I need one more silly spontaneous dessert date, if only to reaffirm that you will never waver, and will always be there. Even if you change your clothes, or your style, you'll be my homes. I wish for one day more: to make a change. To t

Some of my updates on life, thoughts about the election, and all the neverending connections I keep making that exhaust, exhilarate, and motivate me:        So, I haven't blogged since 9/11, not because of a shortage of topics to blog about, but more because I was ill-equipped to deal with my life, and was thrust into multiple situations and confrontations and leadership scenarios that I had hardly anticipated. Within the months of September and October, I reframed and redefined my priorities in life as well as for this year, and my current involvement reflects those shifts.  Here's a quick list of the things I have done in September & October:  recruited 8 new dancers for USC Drishti practiced every week until near the end of October for different performances  performed at APASA Nightmarket done henna design work for 7 people worked faithfully for a social venture that I am really excited to be a part of networked with every guest lecturer in my NASA/Ma

I say this yearly now, but my heart can't take it. Every year people honor the victims and heroes of NYC, and while I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment, it ignores an aching sore in the American hear-- what about Balbir Singh Sodhi, an elderly Sikh-American racially targeted the next days after 9/11? What about the thousands of hate crimes and racially charged incidents all over the United States, United Kingdom, and the world over? What about the communalism and divisiveness that has only grown more pointed since 9/11? Last year was the 10th anniversary. One decade. The mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came to USC to make a speech. There were initiatives made, promises whispered, the resounding response seemed like it had a reasonable chance for success. One year later, and we have already grown complacent. We have barely integrated our new charges into those established initiatives. We have barely brought up this national tragedy, relegating it to a generic Facebook post

I have decided to post my blogs about my family vacation to Florida from 8/15 to 8/20. Here's the fifth one, August 18th: Our day at the Lakeridge Winery! (These are directly transcribed from my written diary on my iPad.) "We're went to Lakeridge Winery for their annual Grapestomp to listen to local music, and STOMP some grapes! We took some pictures, stomped some grapes (my mother and I tried employing bharatanatyam skills to no avail.) Then Aditya and I drank homemade Godiva dark chocolate raspberry chocolixers with relish fries on the side. Surprisingly good! We then ate a picnic lunch of Indian food my mother packed from our full kitchen in our suite amidst ants and giant dragonflies. I got my face painted solely for the opportunity to enter the bouncy castle with little children. :) Then we ate more chocolate and drank shots of limoncello, waiting for the tour to begin. Doug our tour guide was hilarious. We all drank a few more samples, and I bought some pres

Arrived in LA :) #nofilter First day back, roomz wanted to match haha :) Some light reading on cultural identities and developing world. :) First cooked meal :) waffled pita!! Me and Nathaniel :)) yay! Haha NASA JPL. :) so inspirational! Yes, 16th grade still has field trips! Dance practice with Lex :) First USC friend :) Moving cups so we can go on to more important WATERMELON EATING :) Busless dtla walk & random VMA sighting! Angel's flight :) Rode it and was instantly taken back to last year and discovering Los Angeles. Doin work. Little Tokyo. Demitasse. Kyoto after dark. Thank you, USC and Los Angeles. Been lovin being home again :) Xoxo, Maithreyi Posted with Blogsy

I have decided to post my blogs about my family vacation to Florida from 8/15 to 8/20.  Here's the second one, August 17th: our day at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral!   (These are directly transcribed from my written diary on my iPad.)      At this NASA Center, we first took a lot of pictures, then we checked out the Early Space Exploration exhibit, waiting for the lunch with the astronaut Charlie Walker. He presented about "food in space"while we ate fried ravioli, salad, TANG, and apple pie. Then, I asked a question during the Q&A. We proceeded to take pictures with Charlie Walker and then watched the old IMAX movie about the International Space Center. We continued to check out some of the NASA art before the shuttle and simulator. (I went, the 3 wimps didn't!) Then I went to the Space Store to wait for the Charlie Walker signing, buying some reasonably priced souvenirs for me and Adi. I went to the Hubble 3D at a later showing

 I have decided to post my blogs about my family vacation to Florida from 8/15 to 8/20.  Here's the second one,  August 16th: our day at Universal Islands of Adventure!   (These are directly transcribed from my written diary on my iPad.)   After eating at Mythos, we went to Seussland and reveled in the reckless childishness of the carousel and the Dumbo equivalent One Fish, Two Fish ride! Then came the "Cat in the Hat"! It was a turning stoner's paradise complete with rhyming narration. Even so, my brother Aditya and I bought matching Thing 1 & 2 accessories, like a real family.  Then we went to Marvel @ Marvel comics and chill on our way to Toon Town, where we got mom's phone charged as Adi and I sat for a caricature.       It started thunderstorming then, so I charged my phone, sitting like a homeless person in order to go to the "scary" 3D Spiderman ride. It was such a great ride with a balance of emotions. T

So, first there was Aurora. A small mountain town in the middle of Colorado. 12 people dead. The killer apprehended and under trial. A Phd student in Neuroscience who secured a National Institutes of Health grant-- a very prestigious opportunity. A lonely man, distraught about being alone in an isolating environment, heralded by the media as a " poor boy who lost his way". There is much more to this story than simply a boy who lost his way back to sanity and reality. The truth of the matter is that we track all Arab-Americans and South Asians in this country due to a xenophobic fear, but we cease to regulate those who seem harmless: i.e. white males. Our inability to seek them out as a threat, married with their penchant for feeling privilege and ownership over public spaces causes an epidemic of sad white male trigger-happy enemies. In Aurora, his personal become most political. The theatrics of his modes operandi only further isolated this incident. People began t

I've decided to post my blogs about my family vacation to Florida from 8/15 to 8/20.  Here's the second one, August 16th: our day at Universal Islands of Adventure!   (These are directly transcribed from my written diary on my iPad.) Pre-Universal          "          I woke up super early due to my brother's snoring: that boy can SNORE! But I can't go back to sleep because I feel like I am in those retro Disney World commercials where the two kids can't fall asleep and giggle all night in excitement because today is IT! The day I finally see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!           I never thought my family would ever go on this trip, but here we are! I am so excited to try pumpkin juice and butterbeer, buy Hogwarts presents for my loved ones and myself, and just taking in the atmosphere of being in Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, even in the midst of Florida humidity.           I'm almost unrecognizably different and grown up since  the seventh Har

I've decided to post my blogs about my family vacation to Florida from 8/15 to 8/20. Here's the first one: August 15th, our day in St. Augustine! (These are directly transcribed from my written diary on my iPad.) "We arrived in Florida at 3 am this morning, and slept til 9, had coffee by the pool, went swimming, showered, ate pav bhaji, then got ready to head to St. Augustine!" "St Augustine is the cutest, most picturesque little historic city. I definitely have a new city to love! We went to the Castillo de San Marcos , the oldest fort in the United States, had a ranger-led history lesson, and then ate a fantastic lunch at Acapulco  Authentic Mexican Restaurant. We then got ice cream from Fudge Buckets & Hyppos . I had a popsicle from Hyppos made with fresh cantaloupe and black pepper: spicy, delicious, and nutritious! We bought groceries since we are staying in a suite, and then bought umbrellas because Florida decided to monsoon on us. We wai