Surprised? Well everyone is. Who would have thought this result? Not even Maoists I am pretty sure. Now, after everyone’s initial misjudgments, there seems to be all shorts of analysis coming from all direction for how this happened and what will happen next. Is it Maoists doing too good or other big parties doing too badly or both?
In my “not so rigorous” analysis I have outlined few issues which caused this major political turnover.
1.Incompetence of NC and UML: The two biggest parties (Not anymore) Nepali Congress and UML lacked proper judgment in many issues. They depended too much on result of last election in 1999, still thought all the people are behind them and will back them even in big number with Maoists still struggling to throw away the terrorist tag and pro-royalists parties having no chance thanks to the rock bottom popularity of King. The election appeared no more than a cakewalk for them without realizing the big number (35%) of first time voters and frustration of old voters who tired after all the dirty politics wish nothing more than peace.
These two parties just talked much on changing the fate of the country without realizing its themselves who needed change even more. The parties who were such a vocal supporter of democracy lacked democratic practice within the party. Wouldn’t the people of Nepal have felt better if Girija Prasad hadn’t chosen his infamous daughter as minister for no known responsibility? Did Nepali Congress ever realize how the general public would feel before giving party’s nomination to the likes of Khum bahadur, Govinda Raj and Chiranjeevi Wagle despite their notorious misdeeds? Did UML ever realize that their top level politicians never have concrete plan for future even for the most sensitive issues of the country?
While these parties were complacent and were lost in reverie, Maoists were campaigning hard to win precious Nepalese votes and equally important (if not more) foreign approval. While Maoists were plastering city’s walls with posters and sending SMSs for their support UML and NC were busy in futile discussions. With NC and UML not doing any better people chose to give a chance to Maoists, what other options did they have?
2.People’s longing for Peace: After decade long civil war Nepalese people desired peace more than anything else. Many people caved in to the pressure exerted my Maoists that they will go back to jungle if they do badly in election (This certainly was a undemocratic and crappy politics but it played effectively for Maoists)
3.Anti Monarch Brain Wave: Nepalese prefer many different things in different situation but majority (if not all) hate one thing in common i.e., Monarchy. People depended more on Maoists than any other party for democratic republic. After all Republic Nepal was originally conceived by Maoists.
4.Violent Threats in Rural Nepal: No one can disagree, Maoists still terrorize people (may be not in the scale they used to do couple years ago but still they do). The past still hunts people in rural Nepal and we all know Nepal is more rural than urban.
So what will happen next? This certainly is the million dollar question. I know people having different political brain will have different opinions on the result. For some its entirely positive, some differ equally and many are not entirely sure whether this change will bring better changes in the country. Its certainly too early to predict what will happen next but from the results so far I have drawn few positives.
1.The result is an eye-opener for so called big guys of Nepalese politics. Their confidence that there is no replacement for them no matter what they do is shattered into pieces.
2.With loss of all (popular to little known) koiralas, chances are strong that Koirala Nepotism will end and much better politicians will get chance to move upward in political ladder within Nepali Congress. This fresh beginning will not only benefit the NC party but also the whole country.
3.Finally, this major shock has provided opportunity to both UML and NC to purify and improve them. If they can do this, it will immensely benefit Nepal as these parties still pack the punch and still have a big role to play in country’s future.
………but I am still not sure how Maoists led Constitutional assembly will fix the big issues of Nepal. I am hoping best, keeping my finger crossed trying to stay positive as much as I can and how about you?
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Life without Gossip…is this possible??
Author: Shrishti Kharel
Things which should be ignored at times could be so demanding among us. I wonder why we do like gossiping so much. How assertive we become when we fetch others issues, as if we don’t have enough of our own to saddle over. What a word comes to mind when we “gossip”? Spontaneously, “People” of course. How could we be blind and not be nerd to answer this question? We don’t mind at all making celebrity to some one of us with our big gossips. It has almost become our typical identity. Time should be employed in one way or the other. Right? Substantially it may be the only the cheap leisure activity with least consumption of creative work, so why wouldn’t anyone levy to it. The troubling truth is that we are obsessed to have knack for people and their happenings, skeptical on other’s performances without judging our own.
I have noticed often times, we reproach among ourselves that we belong to discrete community, “Nepalese”, as if we live to accomplish gossip trend. How long could we creep and not resume with constructive intellections? We write and think that “we need to make this world a better place to live.” The statement looks pretty darn good to me. But what percentage to this great idea is each of us contributing personally? Where all our accumulated wisdom and potentials are spilling over? Let’s think intently to this silent fact.
Our inertia is astonishing at times when it comes to appreciate third person. Giving credit to other’s achievements is not only intimidating but also out of reach among us. How much ever the weary and perplexed an issue could be, we still like to be entertained by chiseling others. What kind of satisfaction are we obtaining possessing such trivial personalities? How adequately are we utilizing our knowledge, education, experience, skills and time that we have acquired so far? I have started persuading myself this the only way our brain should function or genetically we all are born with some chronic defect which we ironclad to ourselves when it come to change, living in a positive and uplifting lifestyles.
Goals to live should means more than mere gossips. We could only anticipate an unproductive outcome through these petty talks instead why don’t we exhibit a realign personality or engage ourselves with activities that makes life fuller? What rights have we got to jeopardized someone else’s life, and why not “we mind our own damn business?” Stupid brings “people” and smart brings “things” to their conversations. I fully agree, it is not that easy to infringe crowds and to be ourselves.
Let’s not forget we all have different strengths and weaknesses. We sure can discern our own weaknesses first before sharpening at others. We don’t need to gossip and dig into other’s personal matter in order to enhance our social etiquettes or endeavor our own successes. Why are we paralyzing ourselves by representing our dull, boring, noninspiring, insidious and vicious characters? We create our rivalry world. We are always rushed to be the first to spot others shortcomings. Offering free opinion without being demanded is our other specialty. We boast on our tiny little possessions. I am curious how further we need to educate ourselves or have an advance degrees to change ourselves or where do we go and live so that we could make worthy living tomorrow.
We know, together we could develop reciprocation, explore more horizons in science, attain more peace of mind and make a difference. If we express ourselves without any restraint, freely expressing our feelings, then we would live like savages. Let’s not reflect an obscure imprint of our own. Let’s not exploit the opportunities we are blessed with when we know half of our nation’s citizens live below the poverty line. Let’s seek the better investment of our intelligence in other way rather than gossiping; soon, otherwise, there will have huge outcry of not only poverty but also righteous citizens.
Things which should be ignored at times could be so demanding among us. I wonder why we do like gossiping so much. How assertive we become when we fetch others issues, as if we don’t have enough of our own to saddle over. What a word comes to mind when we “gossip”? Spontaneously, “People” of course. How could we be blind and not be nerd to answer this question? We don’t mind at all making celebrity to some one of us with our big gossips. It has almost become our typical identity. Time should be employed in one way or the other. Right? Substantially it may be the only the cheap leisure activity with least consumption of creative work, so why wouldn’t anyone levy to it. The troubling truth is that we are obsessed to have knack for people and their happenings, skeptical on other’s performances without judging our own.
I have noticed often times, we reproach among ourselves that we belong to discrete community, “Nepalese”, as if we live to accomplish gossip trend. How long could we creep and not resume with constructive intellections? We write and think that “we need to make this world a better place to live.” The statement looks pretty darn good to me. But what percentage to this great idea is each of us contributing personally? Where all our accumulated wisdom and potentials are spilling over? Let’s think intently to this silent fact.
Our inertia is astonishing at times when it comes to appreciate third person. Giving credit to other’s achievements is not only intimidating but also out of reach among us. How much ever the weary and perplexed an issue could be, we still like to be entertained by chiseling others. What kind of satisfaction are we obtaining possessing such trivial personalities? How adequately are we utilizing our knowledge, education, experience, skills and time that we have acquired so far? I have started persuading myself this the only way our brain should function or genetically we all are born with some chronic defect which we ironclad to ourselves when it come to change, living in a positive and uplifting lifestyles.
Goals to live should means more than mere gossips. We could only anticipate an unproductive outcome through these petty talks instead why don’t we exhibit a realign personality or engage ourselves with activities that makes life fuller? What rights have we got to jeopardized someone else’s life, and why not “we mind our own damn business?” Stupid brings “people” and smart brings “things” to their conversations. I fully agree, it is not that easy to infringe crowds and to be ourselves.
Let’s not forget we all have different strengths and weaknesses. We sure can discern our own weaknesses first before sharpening at others. We don’t need to gossip and dig into other’s personal matter in order to enhance our social etiquettes or endeavor our own successes. Why are we paralyzing ourselves by representing our dull, boring, noninspiring, insidious and vicious characters? We create our rivalry world. We are always rushed to be the first to spot others shortcomings. Offering free opinion without being demanded is our other specialty. We boast on our tiny little possessions. I am curious how further we need to educate ourselves or have an advance degrees to change ourselves or where do we go and live so that we could make worthy living tomorrow.
We know, together we could develop reciprocation, explore more horizons in science, attain more peace of mind and make a difference. If we express ourselves without any restraint, freely expressing our feelings, then we would live like savages. Let’s not reflect an obscure imprint of our own. Let’s not exploit the opportunities we are blessed with when we know half of our nation’s citizens live below the poverty line. Let’s seek the better investment of our intelligence in other way rather than gossiping; soon, otherwise, there will have huge outcry of not only poverty but also righteous citizens.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Health Care in the U.S…what a big deal!
Author: Shristhi Kharel
I am very concerned about my future that I oversee myself residing in this country. Both of my grandparents lived till their 90’s, which is amazing to have this kind of life expectancy from Nepal with limited modern medical technologies, manpower and resources.
I had figured that I will live longer here in the U.S and not be the victim of rampant shootouts of either police or of some political parties followers that if I have stayed in Nepal.
Apparently that is not real case scenario in the U.S. 43.6 million Americans do not have health insurance which constituent of roughly 16 percent of the entire population. People who could afford to have, had reduced their other needs, such recreational, and entertaining and many others so forth. I debate myself over to this awakening issue that I am not even a US citizen, so where do I stand a chance of possessing affordable healthy living. Ridiculous as this may seemed, my student health insurance doesn’t cover medical bills that I may incur for next few years, such as, my eye and dental check ups. So why am I paying for the other services which I have not used in the past years? Where would I go tomorrow and if something happens holding my health insurance which has so limited coverage?
Let me examine my options here briefly. Astute decision would be running down across the boarder to either Canada or to Cuba. At least I will be assured that I will not pass out of not being able to afford for the treatment. Or deliberately, if I choose to live in the soil of the United States with so having “world class immediate treatment”, the stress of owning huge medical bills would not be of any less sore. Statistics reveals to me that an average American makes $48,201.00 annually. One simple surgery would cost me fortune.
I might have to have three jobs to sustain myself. Why not? After all I live in the “Land of Opportunities.” I can get job anytime I walk into to Wal-Mart, McDonalds or to Pizza hut. They always hire people. I may end up working till I die to come up with the payment. After all I am liable for the choices I make.
Acknowledging, my life’s worth weighs the same in either places, in Nepal or in the U.S. I may not survive for long in Nepal. And if I do in the U.S, it would be at the verge of relentless pressure and stress. I wonder when I would be able to get out of this rat race.
May I take your attention to share the great “American Dreams” that we all have seen when we had left home? I am certainly not misleaded here; I am not only coping with luxurious living at the moment.
We need to raise health literacy to disseminate awareness. The question now arises where should we go and prosecute our problems if encountered tomorrow? What is going on beneath the surface of these world leading billion dollars health insurance companies, such as, Aetna, Humana or United Health Care? Are they justifiable to our needs or only to premiums, deductibles or co-payments? Assuredly, Medicare or Medicaid is of no help to all non US citizens.
It is a felony to turn down to any patient who walks to seek for an emergency care, irrespective of their color, race or their legal residing status in the U.S. I was relieved when I found out this piece of information. Without holding a complete covered health insurance or even without holding any type of health insurance I could seek for an emergency treatment. The oath taken by every medical professional prohibits them to violate this federal law under any circumstances. They must treat their patients equally and immediately until they are stable and dischargeable. I could not expect “Red Carpet Treatment” there but at least I do not need to be cringed in agony and pain of my illness. Not that I would like the Government to become charitable for my needs, but I would not want to abandon my hope of living before even conceiving my alternatives.
Nonprofit hospitals, such as teaching hospitals; have their county hospitals or health care clinics in the city or in the same county where medical treatments are bit affordable. It may not be flawless, but it is still available. Personally I think, conscious effort should be made to pay for the visit to these teaching hospitals (the one which has medical schools) in a dire crisis. Assuming my life could be so much pleasant to live with undue worries, I could rely on to some shelter for treatment. Otherwise, I was almost convinced that I was truly turning into an “American” with long years of fatigue days, sleepless nights, and a slave to my work.
These days, my responsibility has summed up. I more vigilant over to the Presidential campaigns I see and more often on television channels. Hillary’s “Universal Health Coverage” Vs Obama’s “Change Begins with You.” How do they recognize how many strains I endure everyday just to lead a normal life? Every individual deserves a sound healthy living. Let’s be optimistic that these political stumps and promises would meet their pledges someday.
I am very concerned about my future that I oversee myself residing in this country. Both of my grandparents lived till their 90’s, which is amazing to have this kind of life expectancy from Nepal with limited modern medical technologies, manpower and resources.
I had figured that I will live longer here in the U.S and not be the victim of rampant shootouts of either police or of some political parties followers that if I have stayed in Nepal.
Apparently that is not real case scenario in the U.S. 43.6 million Americans do not have health insurance which constituent of roughly 16 percent of the entire population. People who could afford to have, had reduced their other needs, such recreational, and entertaining and many others so forth. I debate myself over to this awakening issue that I am not even a US citizen, so where do I stand a chance of possessing affordable healthy living. Ridiculous as this may seemed, my student health insurance doesn’t cover medical bills that I may incur for next few years, such as, my eye and dental check ups. So why am I paying for the other services which I have not used in the past years? Where would I go tomorrow and if something happens holding my health insurance which has so limited coverage?
Let me examine my options here briefly. Astute decision would be running down across the boarder to either Canada or to Cuba. At least I will be assured that I will not pass out of not being able to afford for the treatment. Or deliberately, if I choose to live in the soil of the United States with so having “world class immediate treatment”, the stress of owning huge medical bills would not be of any less sore. Statistics reveals to me that an average American makes $48,201.00 annually. One simple surgery would cost me fortune.
I might have to have three jobs to sustain myself. Why not? After all I live in the “Land of Opportunities.” I can get job anytime I walk into to Wal-Mart, McDonalds or to Pizza hut. They always hire people. I may end up working till I die to come up with the payment. After all I am liable for the choices I make.
Acknowledging, my life’s worth weighs the same in either places, in Nepal or in the U.S. I may not survive for long in Nepal. And if I do in the U.S, it would be at the verge of relentless pressure and stress. I wonder when I would be able to get out of this rat race.
May I take your attention to share the great “American Dreams” that we all have seen when we had left home? I am certainly not misleaded here; I am not only coping with luxurious living at the moment.
We need to raise health literacy to disseminate awareness. The question now arises where should we go and prosecute our problems if encountered tomorrow? What is going on beneath the surface of these world leading billion dollars health insurance companies, such as, Aetna, Humana or United Health Care? Are they justifiable to our needs or only to premiums, deductibles or co-payments? Assuredly, Medicare or Medicaid is of no help to all non US citizens.
It is a felony to turn down to any patient who walks to seek for an emergency care, irrespective of their color, race or their legal residing status in the U.S. I was relieved when I found out this piece of information. Without holding a complete covered health insurance or even without holding any type of health insurance I could seek for an emergency treatment. The oath taken by every medical professional prohibits them to violate this federal law under any circumstances. They must treat their patients equally and immediately until they are stable and dischargeable. I could not expect “Red Carpet Treatment” there but at least I do not need to be cringed in agony and pain of my illness. Not that I would like the Government to become charitable for my needs, but I would not want to abandon my hope of living before even conceiving my alternatives.
Nonprofit hospitals, such as teaching hospitals; have their county hospitals or health care clinics in the city or in the same county where medical treatments are bit affordable. It may not be flawless, but it is still available. Personally I think, conscious effort should be made to pay for the visit to these teaching hospitals (the one which has medical schools) in a dire crisis. Assuming my life could be so much pleasant to live with undue worries, I could rely on to some shelter for treatment. Otherwise, I was almost convinced that I was truly turning into an “American” with long years of fatigue days, sleepless nights, and a slave to my work.
These days, my responsibility has summed up. I more vigilant over to the Presidential campaigns I see and more often on television channels. Hillary’s “Universal Health Coverage” Vs Obama’s “Change Begins with You.” How do they recognize how many strains I endure everyday just to lead a normal life? Every individual deserves a sound healthy living. Let’s be optimistic that these political stumps and promises would meet their pledges someday.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Book Talk
Read few books during spring break. Seven Pillars of health (Dr. Colbert), Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama), Modiaain ( B.P koirala) and Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner).
Seven Pillars of Health - This is the Book that I most recently bought. Informative but boring at times (esp. for ignorant folks in medical field). But it changed some of my dietary habits little bit.
The Audacity of Hope – Good read. Nice to know some insights of Washington and American politics. No wonder Obama earned more than half million from royalties of his books in 2006 (More than half of his Income, his released tax returns says so). I am looking forward to read his First Book (Dreams from my father).
Modiaain – BP has written better stories than this. Mediocre by BP’s standard.
Freakonomics – Easily one of the best books I have ever read. My First study on economics can’t have any better. Everybody should read this. If morality says how people should act, economics says how do people act. Which is more dangerous for a child, a Gun or a Swimming pool? How does parenting matter (or doesn’t matter)? How’s crime related to abortion? Why drug dealers stay with their mom? How Drug dealers similar to guys at McDonalds or Wal-Mart? How are school teachers related to Sumo Wrestlers? How powerful is information esp. when it is abused? How similar are Real-Estate agents to Ku Klux Klan? Read the Book. Its for everyone, not just for freaks like me.
Seven Pillars of Health - This is the Book that I most recently bought. Informative but boring at times (esp. for ignorant folks in medical field). But it changed some of my dietary habits little bit.
The Audacity of Hope – Good read. Nice to know some insights of Washington and American politics. No wonder Obama earned more than half million from royalties of his books in 2006 (More than half of his Income, his released tax returns says so). I am looking forward to read his First Book (Dreams from my father).
Modiaain – BP has written better stories than this. Mediocre by BP’s standard.
Freakonomics – Easily one of the best books I have ever read. My First study on economics can’t have any better. Everybody should read this. If morality says how people should act, economics says how do people act. Which is more dangerous for a child, a Gun or a Swimming pool? How does parenting matter (or doesn’t matter)? How’s crime related to abortion? Why drug dealers stay with their mom? How Drug dealers similar to guys at McDonalds or Wal-Mart? How are school teachers related to Sumo Wrestlers? How powerful is information esp. when it is abused? How similar are Real-Estate agents to Ku Klux Klan? Read the Book. Its for everyone, not just for freaks like me.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Does equality for diversity group’s exist?
Author: Shrishti Kharel
This is the question my dear friends, as an international student, I have been trying to answered for past few years and still have not gotten to the core of it. The more I try to sense the consequences of being part of this system, educate myself about understanding custom of the U.S constitution, the more overwhelmed I become.
Since we all go to the University, let’s just explore how well diversity is implemented in the US University’s system.
Diversity has been fostered to some extent to the international student. Why not? We compose less than 10% of the student body and the tuition rate can is 3 times higher us than for the State residents or for citizens. After all diversity helps bring human richness via varied backgrounds, experience, knowledge and the school needs us.
I am sure we all want more than just people making promises about their desires to expand knowledge and diversity of the group. Filling in long pages on the application forms, indicating what ethnicity we fall under, what skin color we have, what religion we believe in and what nation we are from is not so much fun. And why the heck should we care so much since the nation was built by people from many different European nationalities and still does welcomes influxes of 1.2 million immigrants every year. I should probably ask “immigrants” such as the founders of Google- Sergey Brin, of Yahoo! - Jerry Yang and of eBay- Pierre Omidyar “what is the basic minimum requirement that I need to qualify for in order to fit diversity criteria.” I of course cannot choose where I was born and whether my eyes look blue or black or whether I have an American or British accent. Folks don’t get me wrong, I am very proud to be where I am from and whom I am. I just don’t find any enthusiasm for not finding any opportunities that I possibly deserve, because I am not categorized under any of the diversity selected criteria, such as, “only for Native American, African American or Hispanic.”
I brag about the fact that I am the part of the most developed nation of the world. I live, work and share my dreams obeying the laws, valuing and treating others with dignity and respect. Diversity is America’s greatest attribute and leads to better understanding of the world. History has witnessed this. No minorities were admitted before the civil rights era and after a small number were considered to be matriculated. Court decisions and state legislations have banned race-conscious admissions in many US states.
Personally I believe, diversity is a term of political correctness. How diverse are we, if we all bleed? If all are born from women? And we all are mortal? Why do we fear for assimilating the new when we know different languages, cultures, and histories have blended this nation together? Diversity has promoted innovation, has given more jobs than has taken. Issues of which diverse groups deserve need to be explored, promises need to be met and more attention needs to be paid. I hope some day we would have one policy that could fuse one's individual cultural background into the groups.
This is the question my dear friends, as an international student, I have been trying to answered for past few years and still have not gotten to the core of it. The more I try to sense the consequences of being part of this system, educate myself about understanding custom of the U.S constitution, the more overwhelmed I become.
Since we all go to the University, let’s just explore how well diversity is implemented in the US University’s system.
Diversity has been fostered to some extent to the international student. Why not? We compose less than 10% of the student body and the tuition rate can is 3 times higher us than for the State residents or for citizens. After all diversity helps bring human richness via varied backgrounds, experience, knowledge and the school needs us.
I am sure we all want more than just people making promises about their desires to expand knowledge and diversity of the group. Filling in long pages on the application forms, indicating what ethnicity we fall under, what skin color we have, what religion we believe in and what nation we are from is not so much fun. And why the heck should we care so much since the nation was built by people from many different European nationalities and still does welcomes influxes of 1.2 million immigrants every year. I should probably ask “immigrants” such as the founders of Google- Sergey Brin, of Yahoo! - Jerry Yang and of eBay- Pierre Omidyar “what is the basic minimum requirement that I need to qualify for in order to fit diversity criteria.” I of course cannot choose where I was born and whether my eyes look blue or black or whether I have an American or British accent. Folks don’t get me wrong, I am very proud to be where I am from and whom I am. I just don’t find any enthusiasm for not finding any opportunities that I possibly deserve, because I am not categorized under any of the diversity selected criteria, such as, “only for Native American, African American or Hispanic.”
I brag about the fact that I am the part of the most developed nation of the world. I live, work and share my dreams obeying the laws, valuing and treating others with dignity and respect. Diversity is America’s greatest attribute and leads to better understanding of the world. History has witnessed this. No minorities were admitted before the civil rights era and after a small number were considered to be matriculated. Court decisions and state legislations have banned race-conscious admissions in many US states.
Personally I believe, diversity is a term of political correctness. How diverse are we, if we all bleed? If all are born from women? And we all are mortal? Why do we fear for assimilating the new when we know different languages, cultures, and histories have blended this nation together? Diversity has promoted innovation, has given more jobs than has taken. Issues of which diverse groups deserve need to be explored, promises need to be met and more attention needs to be paid. I hope some day we would have one policy that could fuse one's individual cultural background into the groups.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
TRON II
Thanks to the Tron lab, I do not have to worry about how to kill time. It never lets me remain free and tries its best to disturb my tranquility. Thanks to all the crazy stuffs that it provides. Sometimes, I feel I am getting paid not for teaching but for absorbing students' frustration without showing mine. Anyway, I am trying to maintain a good positive attitude as lab sheet suggests. Our lab procedures starts with "First of all, do not give up or get frustrated if things do not work. These are challenging labs to perform, as devices can be sensitive to non idealities. Try to maintain a good attitude and learn something about the operation"
Monday, March 3, 2008
The March 4
Everyone here seems to be caught in the Primaries Contest in Texas and Ohio tomorrow. Rhode Island and Vermont are nowhere in News. I do not know the analysis of Rhode Island and Vermont. By this time tomorrow we will be close to getting the results. My personal guess is Clinton winning ohio but by really less margin and Obama winning Texas by even lesser margin. So, overall Obama keeping his lead by almost same margin and prolonged agony for Clinton. In this case the delegates count of Vermont and Rhode Island is crucial for both.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Self Promotion
The two occasions when I feel great about my TA job are while paying semester fee and reading the Evals from students. The monthly pay for the GTAs in EE department is too low compared to the amount of work one has to put to accomplish the task. You are only paid for 8 hrs a week but are supposed to teach 2 sections of (3 hrs each) lab, stay in office for 2 hours per week, grades 20 odd students’ lab report, sometimes design the lab, prepare your lab, prepare your Lab notebook and meet the Course instructor once a week for around 1 hr. Above all you need to perform end of semester lab cleanup on finals week. Most of the international students (Only international students are TA in EE dept) feel this is exploitation but still there is quite a competition for TA positions because it lowers your semester fee to one third and it’s a better experience than putting long hours in restaurant, canteens or working as custodians. So, it seems there is no end to exploitation in near future.
Going through the comments in Eval form has always been a great experience to me from last three semesters. I enjoy reading students appreciating my work and suggesting ways to improve my teaching. I am going to share this year’s comment with you.
1. He is not only an instructor, but a friend and goes all the length to make you understand the material.
2. The design labs were more interesting and little harder than the regular labs.
3. Great Job Saurav
4. I enjoyed the design labs for more than any lab ever. Great Job Saurav, hope to see you next semester.
5. The first design project was a good experience. I liked it more than a “Cookie Cutter” lab. The 2nd design project was not a positive experience. It was very frustrating. I didn’t learn much.
6. The instructor was great. I do wish he would try a little harder to make sure a student’s question is answered completely. The design labs were great.
7. Saurav is a really helpful TA in Tron. He was also excellent in circuits 1. Very nice guy.
8. Saurav did a good job explaining how to use the lab components and helping with problems.
9. Yay Saurav
10. Saurav is one of the best lab instructors I have ever had.
11. I liked the design application of this course. I felt it gave a real life feel to the study of Electronics. The TA was good teacher and helped us answer our questions.
There were couple funny comments too which I did not understand completely.
1. I like Squirrels
2. Saurav Kicks Ass!
Going through the comments in Eval form has always been a great experience to me from last three semesters. I enjoy reading students appreciating my work and suggesting ways to improve my teaching. I am going to share this year’s comment with you.
1. He is not only an instructor, but a friend and goes all the length to make you understand the material.
2. The design labs were more interesting and little harder than the regular labs.
3. Great Job Saurav
4. I enjoyed the design labs for more than any lab ever. Great Job Saurav, hope to see you next semester.
5. The first design project was a good experience. I liked it more than a “Cookie Cutter” lab. The 2nd design project was not a positive experience. It was very frustrating. I didn’t learn much.
6. The instructor was great. I do wish he would try a little harder to make sure a student’s question is answered completely. The design labs were great.
7. Saurav is a really helpful TA in Tron. He was also excellent in circuits 1. Very nice guy.
8. Saurav did a good job explaining how to use the lab components and helping with problems.
9. Yay Saurav
10. Saurav is one of the best lab instructors I have ever had.
11. I liked the design application of this course. I felt it gave a real life feel to the study of Electronics. The TA was good teacher and helped us answer our questions.
There were couple funny comments too which I did not understand completely.
1. I like Squirrels
2. Saurav Kicks Ass!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
These days
These days I am bifurcated between studies,work and Nepal Nite preparation. Thanks god I am doing ok in studies, which is my prime concern even though its receiving really less time these days.
I am also enjoying US politics at the moment esp the democratic race. Obama is pressing on despite all odds and now it seems he might just be able to outflank Hillary. Everone knows Hillary is formidable but we have already seen some surprises. Lets see how Texans and Ohioans vote on March 4.
I am also enjoying US politics at the moment esp the democratic race. Obama is pressing on despite all odds and now it seems he might just be able to outflank Hillary. Everone knows Hillary is formidable but we have already seen some surprises. Lets see how Texans and Ohioans vote on March 4.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Non-Repudiable Authentication.
Non–repudiable Authentication is a concept in which it can be verified that the sender and the receiver were, in fact, the two parties involved to send and receive the message respectively or we can say that Non repudiable authentication tries to prevent false denial of either of the two parties after the contract has been established [1]. Non Repudiation with proof of origin proves to the recipient that the claimed sender of the message is indeed the real sender. Non repudiation with proof of receipt proves to the sender that the message has been delivered to the intended recipient [2].
It seems non-repudiation is desirable but it’s not the case always. Sometimes people want plausible deniability. Consider an example where Alice is President and gives the orders to her underlings for some secret scheme (example: Assassinate Fidel Castro). The underlings must be absolutely certain that the orders came from the president, so it is necessary to have source authentication of the message, but Alice certainly wants plausible deniability so that if her underlings are caught or killed or the plan leaks out in public, president can disavow any knowledge of their actions [3].
Alice and Bob can choose to use short lived keys (Using timestamp) for non-repudiable authentication. Here when Alice sends a message to Bob, she must be able to prove not only that she was indeed the sender but also the time when the message was sent and once Bob knows all of the above, Alice can never deny having sent the message. Suppose Alice and Bob takes help of Tim the timestamper to thwart the villainous Eve’s attempt to interfere with their communication. Alice creates a message and digitally signs it using her private key and sends it to the Tim the timestamper. Tim just verifies that the Alice’s keys are still valid, and then adds a timestamp to the message, signs it and sends it back to Alice. Now Alice sends this letter to Bob. Now Bob uses Alice’s public key to check the signature on the message, to verify its integrity. Bob can also be sure that it was Alice who signed the message because the messaged is signed and dated by trustworthy Tim (Which means Alice’s keys were valid when Tim signed it). Since Bob knows that the Alice signed the message with her key and this key was neither expired nor revoked at the time she signed it, Alice can not deny having signed it [4].
References.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-repudiation
2. http://www.itsecurity.com/security.htm?s=538
3. Kaufman .C., Perlman . P., and Speciner. M., “ Network Security : Private
communication in a public world”
4. http://www.carillon.ca/library/nonrepudiation_1.2.pdf
It seems non-repudiation is desirable but it’s not the case always. Sometimes people want plausible deniability. Consider an example where Alice is President and gives the orders to her underlings for some secret scheme (example: Assassinate Fidel Castro). The underlings must be absolutely certain that the orders came from the president, so it is necessary to have source authentication of the message, but Alice certainly wants plausible deniability so that if her underlings are caught or killed or the plan leaks out in public, president can disavow any knowledge of their actions [3].
Alice and Bob can choose to use short lived keys (Using timestamp) for non-repudiable authentication. Here when Alice sends a message to Bob, she must be able to prove not only that she was indeed the sender but also the time when the message was sent and once Bob knows all of the above, Alice can never deny having sent the message. Suppose Alice and Bob takes help of Tim the timestamper to thwart the villainous Eve’s attempt to interfere with their communication. Alice creates a message and digitally signs it using her private key and sends it to the Tim the timestamper. Tim just verifies that the Alice’s keys are still valid, and then adds a timestamp to the message, signs it and sends it back to Alice. Now Alice sends this letter to Bob. Now Bob uses Alice’s public key to check the signature on the message, to verify its integrity. Bob can also be sure that it was Alice who signed the message because the messaged is signed and dated by trustworthy Tim (Which means Alice’s keys were valid when Tim signed it). Since Bob knows that the Alice signed the message with her key and this key was neither expired nor revoked at the time she signed it, Alice can not deny having signed it [4].
References.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-repudiation
2. http://www.itsecurity.com/security.htm?s=538
3. Kaufman .C., Perlman . P., and Speciner. M., “ Network Security : Private
communication in a public world”
4. http://www.carillon.ca/library/nonrepudiation_1.2.pdf