Nidhi speaks

The most fulfilling moments

2007-01-23T06:17:00.000-08:00

I believe that it is not important to live a long life but a fulfilling one. Fulfillment comes from the moments you cherish in your life and not from the number of years that you live. I have picked three such fulfilling moments from my life that have had the greatest impact on me as a person.

1) When my brother was born. I was eleven years old when I found out I was going to have another sibling. Too young to comprehend what it meant I was indifferent to the news. I saw my mom bloat up and just treated it in a matter of fact manner. I wasn’t really excited about what was to come.

But my feelings changed the moment I saw my little brother only a few hours old. He looked so red and fragile that I was even scared to touch him. With time I started adoring everything about him. His movements, activities and even his state of inactivity. For several years my motto in life remained to bring a smile on his face. Even if that meant making weird faces or dancing like a joker.

I have now moved away from him, physically and may be even emotionally but my brother’s childhood has brought me the most happiness in life.

2) When I met my husband. After 12th I went to Singapore for higher studies. I found it a little challenging to adjust to a new culture in a foreign land. As a result during the initial years I was deprived of friends and lived a lonely life. I had lost motivation to study or do anything else in life. It was then that god sent me an angel in the form of Vineet. From the first time we met, I could tell that he genuinely cared for me and wanted me to be happy. Soon we became the best of friends and eventually got married. The amazing thing about being married to your best friend is that you can spend the whole life having fun!

3) When I stood second in 10th standard. I had always considered myself an average student. I had never expected great things to happen in my career. I had imagined myself teaching in some school and having a nice family. All this changed when I stood second in my school and suddenly became the envy of my classmates. I started dreaming of big things and found motivation to work towards my dreams. Some of those dreams have since come true.

I hope to gather many more such memories in my life that I can tell my grandchildren about.

Goodbye

2006-04-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

I am leaving Singapore for two years to pursue MBA at IIM Ahmedabad. This change brings with it a mix of excitement, fear and apprehensions. The poem describes my state of mind right now.

As the date of my departure nears
and I prepare to leave Singapore
I am reminded of the eight years
that have brought me experiences galore

As I sit here, scared to let go
and I reminisce the days gone by
I realize how much I have come to grow
the thought almost drives me to cry

Eight years full of joy and sorrow
Eight years full of friends and fun
I have a strong desire to borrow
a few more days of Singapore sun

I can’t thank you enough Singapore
for you introduced me to my husband
he has given me true love and more
and he fits the description of a best friend

Now that I have to leave all this behind
In the search of something greater that I might find
I wonder if it’s worth it to go through this grind
And whether staying back would be more peaceful for the mind

Despite my apprehensions I know I have to leave
Distancing myself from the social net I took eight years to weave
I hope two years down the lane I will have nothing to regret
If for nothing else, I would be happy for all the people I would have met

So here I bid you farewell with a deep sigh
Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye Goodbye

My paradise

2006-03-07T02:22:00.000-08:00

When life comes to a standstill
And everything starts to go down the hill
I look up at the skies
and think of a place I call paradise

When there is uncertainty staring me in the face
And I can't keep up with the life's pace
All I have to do is close my eyes
and think of a place I call paradise

Everytime I need my feelings to vent
and I can't find a friend to confide,
it acts as a balm on my emotional dent
and I find solace in my paradise

Umpteenth times it has helped me heal
Everytime it has restored my zeal
The love and warmth can cure any vice
Oh! I so look forward to visiting my paradise

I would like to make one last confession
that it is my most precious possession
and I know I will always be welcome
at the paradise that is my parental home

As you would be able to tell I am not a poet. But I am so elated at the thought of visiting home next week that I had to pen my feelings.

Hindi to Hinglish

2006-01-25T00:37:00.000-08:00

During my recent trip to India, I realized a new development. While Indians commonly sprinkle English words while speaking in Hindi, the Hindi news channels of the past almost always used pure Hindi. That seems to be changing now, with even Hindi news reporters starting to use English words without any restraint. It is this fusion language Hindi+English that is called Hinglish.

I have spent much of my adult life in Singapore and have dealt with people of Chinese origin on a daily basis. What intrigues me is the fact that the Chinese never mix English with Mandarin. Not even those who are more comfortable speaking in English than in Mandarin. They have a Mandarin word for every imaginable English word in the dictionary. Even for the latest inventions like computer, mobile phone etc. If you ask any Hindi speaking person for the Hindi translation of these words, he will be at a loss. This sense of one language, in my opinion, binds the Chinese together as a nation.

As a striking contrast to Mandarin, Hindi is evolving faster than any other language on the planet. Soon, we will have a new version of Hindi, and English would have become an inseparable part of it. In a few more decades, pure Hindi might become akin to what Sanskrit is today with only a few scholars being able to understand it.

Being able to transform according to the demands of the changing times is not necessarily a bad thing. I am not opposed to this change and I see it as inevitability. Hindi has metamorphosed ever since its inception and has borrowed words from languages like Sanskrit, Persian, Turkish, Farsi, Arabic and Portugese. So this change is not new for Hindi. This acceptance that we have shown towards various languages demonstrates our ability to adapt to new situations without any rigidity. This in my opinion is an indispensable skill to have in this world.

I only hope that when we officially do accept the arrival of Hinglish, the essence of Hindi (and other things Indian) would not be completely missing from it.

Baba Ramdev

2006-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a nice short vacation in India. The trip was really refreshing. This time when I went back, I was really intrigued my the number of news channels and the amount of news that they produce. So impressed was I, that I decided to write about my favourite news piece.

During my stay, the controversy involoving Vrinda Karat and Baba Ramdev was in full-swing. This was the most interesting and also my favorite news piece. Vrinda Karat accused Baba Ramdev of using human skull in his ayurvedic medicines. Baba Ramdev is pioneering the cause of taking Ayurveda and Yoga to every Indian household. He has also undertaken several research projects to investigate whether certain diseases can be cured solely by using Yoga and Ayurveda. He has a huge fan following and hence this accusation became a national news in no time and was shown on each of the 13 or so news channels. More interesting were the discussions by the "experts", polls, analysis of consequences if the accusation was true so on and so forth. The lab tests by a pharmaceutical laboratory put an end to this saga by declaring that the accusation was false. After this incidence Vrinda Karat, who is a politician belonging to communist party, took all the beating. A poll conducted by one of these news channels showed that 98% of the people supported Baba Ramdev .

This was my first introduction to Baba Ramdev. And I have to admit I am impressed by the passion and drive with which he has set out to achieve his goals. Baba preaches simple and easy to follow methods of staying fit. For example, he advises people (especially kids) to stay away from aerated drinks and fast food, which are the latest fad in India. He advices them to eat fruits and vegetables instead. His phrase "Coca Cola means Toilet Cleaner" was not liked very much by Pepsi or Coca Cola. He basically, teaches healthy living. He claims that if everyone in the world lived life his way, 98% of the diseases will be viped out. It is indeed a noble cause that he has set out for.

Due to his people skills, he is also a crowd puller. He holds camps at 4.00 am in the morning, the entry fees to which is Rs 500. Yet, thousands of people attend his camps everyday. I don't think even a tenth of these people will turn up to listen to the most successful of politicians or businessmen. Furthermore, he uses the money he earns for a number of charitable causes. I guess these are the reasons why he is liked so much by millions of people all across India.

Good luck to Baba Ramdev for his pursuits.

GMAT

2005-11-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Having cleared GMAT with a satisfactory score of 780, I feel a sense of relief. While preparing for the exam, I often searched the internet to read about personal experiences of people who had excelled in the exam. I couldn't find many such articles but a few that I found really guided me towards the right way of preparing for the exam. As a payback, I am writing this article to share some tips and experiences that I gathered during my preparations.

I decided to take GMAT in june 2005 and that is when I started my preparations. The first book I bought was Princeton Review. It is a very good starting point and explains test strategies, test format and test faqs with good clarity. The four practice tests that come with the book are an added bonus. After reading the book I took two princeton tests and scored 680 and 660. I then took one of the power prep tests and scored 660.

A bit disappointed with my performance, I realised I had to take drastic measures to get a better score. I then bought "Official Guide to GMAT" by ETS, which has 1500 real GMAT questions. This is THE book and a must-have for every GMAT test taker. The verbal section is by far the best and the explanations are really helpful.

After finishing this book, I decided to brush up my time management skills and took as many practice tests as I could get my hands on. I scored 570, 620, 630 and 640 on Kaplan tests, 700 and 710 on princeton tests and 740 on powerprep test. I also did Kaplan800 on the side to get more practice.

For essays, I read a couple of sample essays to get a hint. I haven't received my official score so can't say how I performed on that.

During the test, I tried to remain calm and alert all the time. I couldn't solve two of the GMAT quant questions at all but I kept moving on with positive attitude. The last 10 questions for quant were really simple and that scared me a little bit. Verbal was never my strong point but I did fine that day. In the end I guess it was a combination of hard-work and good luck that got me through.

Multiple Personalities

2005-11-12T05:32:00.000-08:00

I have come to realize that each one of us has more than one personalities within ourselves. We have a database of experiences that we have been through in our life. The personality that we choose to represent ourselves at any given moment depends upon the match between our experiences and the circumstance itself. It is these personalities, accumulated over lifetime, that decide who we are. We are a combination of life's experiences and the way we deal with them.

When we are faced with a completely new experience, more often than not, we screw up. But an entry is made in our database of what not to do in that situation in future. This is a lifelong process of learning whereby life keeps throwing new experiences at you and you keep learning to deal with different situations.

It is very disheartening when you are not able to deal with a particular situation the way you would want to. It bogs you down and it is very natural to start blaming yourself or worse, someone else. If we stop taking these things personally and try to take it as a training that life is giving us, world would be a much happier place.

Life is like that

2005-09-28T03:02:00.000-07:00

What is the purpose of one’s life on this planet, I have wondered numerous times. No, I am not a philosopher nor am I a pessimist. On the contrary, I am a fun loving person who is happy most of the times. I like to analyze things and hence the curiosity about something so basic.

One can define ‘purpose of life’ in a million ways and still be correct. Evolutionists like me argue that the purpose of life is simply to survive and reproduce. You see, evolution has shaped our senses in such a way as to maximize our chances for survival. It is kind of a matrix, where we perceive the world as the evolution has programmed us to do. Take the example of a bacteria, which peceives its surroundings as hot or cold, dark or bright because that is sufficient information for its survival.

If you think about it, the “real world” might actually be very different from how we perceive it. We do have a wider understanding of our surroundings than a bacteria has but we can't even fathom what we are not seeing. It is well known that we cannot see extremely small objects like microorganisms nor can we see objects moving with the speed of light. It is also known that our sight and hearing is limited to a narrow bandwidth. Still, we will never know the implications of what the nature has hidden from us.

I must admit that this is a very depressing thought. But I also believe in Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology that although human mind has limited potential, one must use it wisely for the betterment of herself (himself) and the whole society. So my purpose of life is just that. Then again I might be blinded by evolution in my definition of “betterment” but that’s the best I can do.

What do you want to do anyway?

2005-09-21T02:59:00.000-07:00

I have encountered this question regarding my professional life umpteenth number of times. When I took up computer science after studying biology in 12th standard, I had a hard time explaining my choice to many. Later when I switched to bioinformatics after graduation, I encountered the same quizzical look on people’s faces. Now that I am contemplating a further change in my field, I am preparing myself to face the same situation yet again.

Gone are the days when there were a handful of career options available with clear demarcations. In this fast paced world of today, I wonder if anyone really knows what he/she wants to do. With so many options all around us and the conviction that you can excel in more than a dozen fields, it is really a difficult decision to make. The more you find out about it through the “know-it-all” internet, the more confusing it gets.

My strategy to get through this phase of confusion is to continue to do my karma and not expect anything in return. The best course shall prevail!

Being 20 something

2005-08-29T01:14:00.000-07:00

I received this forward today. Unlike most forwarded emails, this one struck a chord with me. This is so close to heart and I couldn't have expressed it any better. I wonder if everyone goes through this "Quaterly-life Crisis".

To all u 20-somethings........

Maybe we all r going through this "Being Twenty-Something". They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are any things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling Insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your Opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't.

One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and Cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and Confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to The Past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to
Make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty something friends.... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion..... GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US
CHEERS!

The contrasts in our beliefs!

2005-08-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hinduism is not only my religion but a foundation of who I am. It’s a set of guidelines that I along with many Indians follow. I have always been proud of the fact and I still am. There are, however a few contrasts stemming from the same that bothered me this time when I visited India.

Hinduism promotes cleanliness. Staunch Hindus don’t even drink water without taking a shower. Entering the kitchen is strongly forbidden till you have cleaned yourself and said your prayers. Houses, especially kitchen and temple (in the house) are cleaned daily, sometimes even twice in a day. Quite a clean community one might think.

Yet, the moment we step out of our houses we forget all about the same cleanliness. Let's forget about the dirty streets, public places and water bodies, for which we conveniently blame the inefficient government. Even our holy temples are far from being clean.

This has been a consistent observation and I feel sad that no one takes responsibility for it. People go there with strong faith and overlook the deterioration of the temples and even contribute to the same. I ask these educated and well to do people to stop relying on the government to clean our country for us. Let’s take action by installing dustbins and being among the first few to promote civic sense.

Indian flag

2005-08-14T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have come to India for a week on vacation. During my journey, I wondered what the significance of the Indian tricolor flag is. I vaguely remembered that we were taught in school that the saffron colour represents patriotism, white represents purity of heart and green represents agriculture. This explanation however didn't quite seem right.

According to me the most accurate explanation among many existent ones goes something like this - The tricolor came into existence as an indian symbol during the pre-indepence era. The most disturbing issue at that time apart from the manipulative british rule was the Hindu-Muslim riots. The flag thus represented peace between two major religions of India. Saffron represents Hinduism, green represents Islam and white represents peace between the two. The blue wheel was put after indepence to replace spinning wheel, which represented the beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi.

New blog

2005-08-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I have started a new blog where I will share the recipes I try. I felt it was better to segregate my cooking blog for simplicity purposes. So, for more recipes checkout Nidhi cooks

Happy cooking guys

Momos (Nepalese dumplings)

2005-08-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

The dish "Nepalese dumplings" or "momos" is my childhood favorite. Actually, I cherish the memories associated with it more than the dish itself. Today, I tried to prepare the dish and it was awesome. So, I decided to share the recipe with whoever is interested.

Momos is kind of a fusion between chinese and Indian cuisines. The procedure is inspired by "chinese dumplings" but the filling is very much indian. The recipe is as follows-

Ingredients

Wrap
1 and a half cup plain flour
1/2 cup water

Filling-
250gms minced chicken
1/4 tomato (diced)
1 medium sized onion (diced)
1/2 shallots (diced)
1/4 cup coriander (chopped)
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp cumin powder
Make paste - 2 green chillies, 1/2 inch piece ginger, 3-4 cloves garlic
salt to taste
2 tbsp butter or ghee

Procedure-
1. Knead the flour after adding the water till it becomes like a pizza dough
2. Keep aside while you prepare the filling
3. Mix all the filling ingredients
4. Make one inch dough balls and flatten it using rolling pin. Use some dry flour to dust the rolling board.
5. Put one spoonfull of filling in the center od the wrapper. Bring the edges together and make pleats to ensure that the filling doen't come out.
6. Oil the steamer rack or alternatively put cabbage leaves so that the dumplings doen't stick.
7. Steam the dumplings for 20-25 minutes.

And it's ready to eat!

This will make 13-16 dumplings, enough to fill up two adults. Or you could serve it as a snack in a gathering.

In Singapore, you could also try the deep fried version of this at a restaurant called "Gorkha grill". The address is as follows-
Shenton Way
21 Smith Street
Tel: (65) 227 0806.
Chinatown Singapore 058935

Scuba diving

2005-08-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Scuba stands for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus". And as most of us know, it requires going underwater with oxygen cylinder to appreciate the underwater life. I had been wanting to enroll for the beginner scuba diving lesson for a long time. After procrastinating for almost three years my husband and I decided to finally enroll for one at a local dive centre.

The theory lessons were wonderful and the anticipation of exploring a world, completely different from ours, was growing on both of us. The practical lessons were not as straightforward as they had seemed during theory lessons. But after a couple of hours we were quite comfortable underwater in the swimming pool. A few things that were repeatedly told to us were to always keep breathing and not to ascend or descend too quickly.

The training has been a wonderful experience but I am sure that our diving trip to one of the Malaysian islands is going to be one of the greatest experiences of our lives. I am eagerly awaiting the trip that we are planning to take 3 weeks from now.

For those of you who aren't sure about what scuba diving or snorkelling is, I would suggest you try snorkelling first to discover a beautiful world that is otherwise hidden from us.

A home away from home!

2005-08-02T01:19:00.000-07:00

I finished high school in 1998 with excellent grades. Subsequently, I was offered SIA-NOL scholarship by the government of Singapore to study in the National University of Singapore. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to gain international exposure and study in a leading university. I was thrilled and grabbed the offer.

The initial trauma of cultural shock and homesickness was inevitable. After overcoming that I started enjoying my newly found freedom, financially and otherwise. The years at the University flew past in what seemed like a jiffy. They did leave behind a treasure of experiences, memories and friends. For that reason, Singapore will always hold a special place in my heart.

Singapore is, in many ways, a perfect city. It boasts of almost zero crime rate, excellent public services/systems, and cleanliness among many other attractive traits. But to me it’s a lot more than what a tourist sees and appreciates. During my stay of seven years in Singapore I have had the chance to learn and experience many things that might not have been possible had I stayed in India.

Despite the seemingly perfect life I have led here in Singapore, I long to bid goodbye to it and go back home. When I do go back, after finishing my job responsibilities, I will remember this place as the perfect home away from home.

What is bioinformatics?

2005-08-01T01:12:00.000-07:00

I have encountered this question numerous times since I started working in this field. I got into this field because of my tremendous interest in biology. In this article I will give a brief and simple introduction to the field.

The word Bioinformatics is a fusion of Biology and Informatics. As the name implies, the field involves application of computer software/algorithms/tools to biology. The genome sequence of human along with many other organisms is now available. This astronomical data demands a provision for storage and data-mining; and that is where bioinformatics fits in.

Bioinformatics is useful in many biological activities, mainly Genomics, Proteomics and Systems Biology.

Genomics - Genome is the sequence of DNA, which is the hereditary material and is passed from parents to offspring. The sequencing and analysis of the genome is called genomics. Bioinformatics plays a major role in various aspects of the field as are listed below -
 It facilitates the automation of genes/gene structures prediction for the newly sequenced organism.
 Using this information about the genes coupled with phylogenetic analysis one can trace the evolutionary history of genes and even organisms.
 It also facilitates the identification of various intra-species and inter-species mutations in genes that lead to various diseases like cancer.

Another important aspect of genomics is comparative genomics. The genome sequence of human alone can give limited information. Bioinformatics makes it possible to compare one genome with other genomes for studying the implications of various similarities and differences among them.

Proteomics – Proteomics is a study of the whole protein set of an organism. Having identified the genes in a genome, bioinformatics can also predict the proteins coded by those genes. The protein sequence can be used to further predict the protein structure and the enzyme binding sites. This kind of analysis is especially beneficial for drug design.

Systems Biology – Systems biology involves using genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics to model a real life biological activity. For example, it could be used to model a signaling pathway in a cell. The model would comprise of genes involved in the pathway, their interaction and their affect on the pathway. Studies like these can greatly increase our understanding of various complicated biological pathways.

To summarize, the word bioinformatics has become very popular in the scientific world. Bioinformatics is the technology used to solve various biological problems. Bioinformaticians often develop computational tools and algorithms to answer some biological questions, which will otherwise be too time-consuming to answer. The field is developing at a very fast pace with the advances in technology as well as the rapidly increasing rate of data generated by biological laboratories. It is widely accepted that bioinformatics is on its way to become an indispensable tool for various biological studies.

Thoughts on reservation in India

2005-07-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a discussion with a friend (Crazy Pippin) about reservations in India for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and whether these actually work. I am sure most of the Indians have experienced the frustration of having to struggle for limited resources. This situation is made worse by the presence of such reservations. It has other far-reaching consequences as well, like less capable people acquiring positions of power and this leads to further inefficiencies in an already inefficient government.

I decided to probe this matter further in order to get a clear understanding of the issue at hand. In this article, I will present a brief historical overview of reservations followed by the consequences of such a provision.

It is well known that backward classes in India have been oppressed for centuries by other castes. This oppression continues to this very day especially in rural areas. Mahatma Gandhi was among the pioneers to set out to resolve this problem. He supported the caste system but was against the oppression by the so called “higher castes”.

Reservations were first introduced in India by the British in 1931 as part of the Puna Pact. This was done on the insistence of Dr. Ambedkar to give the oppressed classes a fair standing in the society. Mahatma Gandhi protested this decision claiming that it was a part of the British “divide and rule” strategy. He insisted that reservations would only exacerbate the problem by segregating hindu society.

Post-independence, Dr Ambedkar became the law minister and chairman of the drafting committee for India’s constitution. Reservations were a part of the constitution when it was released in 1950. However, that was supposed to be temporary and was to last for 10 years.

More than 50 years later the reservations continue to exist and have only become higher with passing years. The politicians, in an attempt to woo more votes from the public, continue to reserve more and more seats for SCs/STs/OBCs. I wonder if they even put in enough thought to the implications of such an action.

These reservations probably benefited some in the early years after independence and pulled some people out of the grips of poverty. But now these are used exceedingly by the lower caste people who have very good incomes. This is an unfair situation not only for people from other castes but also for the poor people of “lower castes”. Some people from the “higher castes” in a fit of desperation even illegally change their identities to those of “lower caste” people just so they can secure a job. It is also evident that people with lower capabilities are reaching positions of higher responsibilities and that is leading to a suboptimal workforce especially in government services.

I think it’s high time the government started taking proactive measures to try to solve the problem and not deceive the public. The reservations are not entirely bad and are sometimes even required for the upliftment of backward/oppressed people. But, reservations should be based on family income and not caste or creed. In addition, scholarships should be provided to poor people with high caliber to study in the best schools.

The ultimate goal should be to uplift the needy so that they don’t need reservations any longer. A key factor to achieving this is to provide good primary and secondary education to every child especially in rural areas. Having had access to schools at par with the best schools, they will have no reason to ask for reservations.

To sum up, reservations are required but not for the people of backward classes, some of whom earn more than most of us, but for the poor of the country. The ultimate aim of such reservations should be the upliftment of the poor and not winning the votebank. Also, these reservations ought to be a temporary aid in order to develop a society where it is no longer required.

An after thought - Thomas Sowell has done extensive research on reservations around the world in his book Black Rednecks And White Liberals .

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Hi

2005-07-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I am new to this blogging world. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and it seemed liked a good idea to start my own. So, I could just rattle non-stop. I am not quite sure how this works but I shall figure it out soon.

Nidhi