RAYS OF SUNSHINE.

One of my best friends, Naureen, came to visit Boston from Miami over Valentine’s weekend. Every time I host someone, I realize the reasons why I moved back east, why these cold and dreary places still feel cozy enough for me to commit my life to. Also, I realize why I need to keep on keepin’ on even though life is an uphill climb in negative degree cold with the wind slamming in your face all day long. A great galentine’s weekend is comprised of: long late-night catchup sessions coupled with the restful sleep that only comes after giggling and feeling fully understood aimless drives where the conversation totally causes you to lose track of where your destination is, reminding you life is the journey--in the doing, not the endpoint.  NOMTASTIC indian dinner & a movie (“How to Be Single”)  impromptu Sunday brunch with new & serendipitous friends  LA Burdick hot cocoa, smooth, rich, and satisfying right before heading to the airport  I haven’t ...

In 2016, I am trying to be less like Dickens, more like Hemingway.  Let's see how long it lasts!  2015 in 12 WORDS:  JANUARY: encumbered  FEBRUARY: unsteady MARCH: CHOKEHOLD APRIL: shufflin' MAY: resolute JUNE: reflectioneering JULY: hope  AUGUST: tenacity  SEPTEMBER: LIT OCTOBER: AMAT (she loves)  NOVEMBER: B U R N E D.  DECEMBER: figure-8 LAST YEAR  , the theme of my resolutions was "dreams-into-plans" & I am happy to report that I lived up to them. This upcoming year, is all about EXECUTION because that is what separates the wheat from the chaff in entrepreneurship and in life. It's all well & good to say things, it's what you do that matters. Actions always speak louder. That's why it's taken me until the last week of January to write my resolutions out on this blog: I've been too busy LIVING! & I don't feel the need to apologize like I have in times passed. A lot went down ...

Last week, France finally hit the crescendo from the religious right toward the liberal left in the form of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper who have published provoking comics, attacking every group and way of life as a way to poke fun at humanity. However, it can be said that you can mean what you say, and say what you mean, but you can never control how someone feels about it. And this was just the last straw for those "extremists" living in France.  The French government places so many restrictions on faith practices that differ from the French or Gallic way of life. Christianity is allowed to be openly expressed in the form of Christmas markets and festivals, while hijabi women are condemned for wearing their faith expression through fashion.  The meanings of faith expressions belong to those expressing, not the government. If you ask a hijabi woman if she feels she has freedom in relation to what she's wearing, she oftentimes does. The c...

To be or not to be? To create or to destroy? To understand or to dismiss? These are the questions that I think of when I think of artistic freedom and cultural competency. The events worldwide this past week say much about how sophisticated world politics has become as well as the snowball effect of technology and media on human behavior. I am talking about the Parisian killings at "Charlie Hebdo" last Wednesday, January 7th, and the struggle between freedom of expression and maintaining human decency. Here is Vox Media's in-depth coverage of the whole situation on a timeline:  http://www.vox.com/2015/1/7/7507849/charlie-hebdo-attack-terrorists-paris-shooting  From @BBCNews When we were kids, we were taught simple life lessons like "Say what you mean, and mean what you say because the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter don't mind," and "If you have nothing nice to say, it's best to say nothing at all." This ...

“For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice.” ― T.S. Eliot @Mahabalipuram with my father. The bandages are from the fight-or-flight incident mentioned below. Never bunker dive or run away screaming from wild monkeys into gardens walled by stone.  This year has been a trying one, but I am so grateful for how much I've grown emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. I questioned and hardened my core beliefs and values, which were tried beyond their limits. This year marked many firsts and surprises for me. I quit school--stepping away from an institution most revere-- to examine what brought me there in the first place. I found that many situations were of the "right place, wrong time" variety or even  the "wrong place, wrong time", with only time illuminating the difference. My favorite meal in Hyderabad. Paneer Tikka Masala Dosa, South Indian filter coffee, and mango ice cream.  ...

AMRITA SAIGAL  On my fifth birthday, we had only been in the United States for barely 2 and half months. Our big party for me was an undertaking, inviting all the Indian families in the apartment complex and friends of my father’s from work. There were only a few kids, and they were all a few years older than me, and palling around with my brother while I struggled to blow out my reigniting candles for the wishes, not for the act of wishing, not realizing my deepest desires were just about to come true. After my party, my parents packed me and my brother up in the car. We headed to the “nice” suburban part of town, where the apartment complexes turned into two-story colonials, and every tree hummed with the energy of summer birdsongs. We turned into the parking lot of one Ranjani Saigal, a classical Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) teacher recommended by one of the family’s new Amreekan friends. And though it started out as dance, the four within their Saigal clan have taught...

me with the stata sign in 2014 So, let's recap on where I was last on this blog: hopeful, going into my interview, which went incredibly well last Wednesday. Now, in the interim, my temp agency got me a short-term, data-entry gig at no other place than   MIT Admissions . me in 2010, pre-graduation from Burlington High School I feel like I am living in a sitcom right now. How can I portray HOW ridiculously full circle this opportunity was? My tenuous, pre-frosh connections to MIT include: my dance teacher who worked here for about 6 years her kids are alumni ( '10. '13 ) now, and were the accomplished family friends to whom my parents always looked to for inspiration and comparison signing up, and never making it to Splash! after CTY every summer… sorry, MIT!  MIT SAT prep classes performing/practicing at Kresge multiple times volunteering for MITHAS  OBSESSING over MIT blogs, especially Mollie  & Jess Kim  circa 2006-2008 h...