Ahh.. haven't posted in a while. Not very good with this whole keep-people-updated-on-life-events sort of writing, but will try for a bit...
I'm currently at work, where apparently I have access to blogger/Youtube/Facebook, but not the Clinton Foundation. Whaaaat.. makes no sense, Infy. Anyhow, a few things I've learned/reaffirmed recently about the way I interact with ideas/people in life...
1) I work well when I've room for creativity within a rough framework... I don't need/like too much structure, as I prefer having room to wiggle and explore new ideas. Even with taking such a stop-and-smell-the-flowers-when-they-look-interesting sort of path, though, I do need to be productive to feel good about myself... productive in the sense of churning out compelling/useful/interesting/innovative ideas and compilations of such. I thrive on ideas with solid theoretical frameworks and the realistic prospects of implementing them.
2) I need practice in logically structuring my non-essay thoughts. Reason #1: Sometimes I find really interesting ideas, but I can't expect others to jump on them without giving them more to feed on. Reason #2: I just need to practice arranging my thoughts and presenting them to people. It would make things clearer for myself, as well.
3) I've been thoroughly impressed in recent travels/hanging out with non-Harvard people... I've been impressed by their multi-cultural backgrounds and wide variety of amazing and rigorous experiences, and delighted at their accompanying friendliness. I'd caught hints of it here and there for a while, both in person and virtually, but it wasn't until I sunk into a conversation with AD about social impact and past experiences a couple of weekends ago that I realized how awesome a group of people we had in the program... and it didn't take long, no, not at all. 'twas a good chat we had, and it may have actually been the first time I've met someone who thrives and bases his existence on social impact as much as I do mine... I was amazed and pleasantly surprised by that (even if that frame of mind and heart isn't exactly a good thing, but more on that another time).
Admittedly, the B'lore crowd is more "American" in attitude/communication style, and that's probably why I felt more comfortable with them/enjoyed myself more. Still, our group reminded me of CTY, and the talk I had with AD reminded me of how I loved coming to Ec 1389 the first half of the past semester, when Prof. Chandra would lead us into discussion and just let the class take off. The HKS/HMS/other grad students would just raise up their hands and shoot, "Last summer, when I was in Rwanda... when I was doing field work in China last winter... when I was working on a case study in rural India..." It was so wonderfully global, and even if one experience or even a few did not substantiate all of my classmates' points, I appreciated the fact that each speaker had at least seen something of what they were talking about, and wasn't just shooting off theory neither tested nor practiced.
Anyhow, this conversation made me resolve to take advantage of all that Harvard and non-Harvard has to offer, in my last year of school upcoming, to not restrict myself to simply Harvard happenings. I've lived in the Harvard bubble for long enough, and it's time to start transitioning out/stepping out a bit while I can. Glad I'm living with Niha next year.. I think that will remind me to keep an open mind towards cool activities occurring at other institutions. Yup. =)
I'm currently at work, where apparently I have access to blogger/Youtube/Facebook, but not the Clinton Foundation. Whaaaat.. makes no sense, Infy. Anyhow, a few things I've learned/reaffirmed recently about the way I interact with ideas/people in life...
1) I work well when I've room for creativity within a rough framework... I don't need/like too much structure, as I prefer having room to wiggle and explore new ideas. Even with taking such a stop-and-smell-the-flowers-when-they-look-interesting sort of path, though, I do need to be productive to feel good about myself... productive in the sense of churning out compelling/useful/interesting/innovative ideas and compilations of such. I thrive on ideas with solid theoretical frameworks and the realistic prospects of implementing them.
2) I need practice in logically structuring my non-essay thoughts. Reason #1: Sometimes I find really interesting ideas, but I can't expect others to jump on them without giving them more to feed on. Reason #2: I just need to practice arranging my thoughts and presenting them to people. It would make things clearer for myself, as well.
3) I've been thoroughly impressed in recent travels/hanging out with non-Harvard people... I've been impressed by their multi-cultural backgrounds and wide variety of amazing and rigorous experiences, and delighted at their accompanying friendliness. I'd caught hints of it here and there for a while, both in person and virtually, but it wasn't until I sunk into a conversation with AD about social impact and past experiences a couple of weekends ago that I realized how awesome a group of people we had in the program... and it didn't take long, no, not at all. 'twas a good chat we had, and it may have actually been the first time I've met someone who thrives and bases his existence on social impact as much as I do mine... I was amazed and pleasantly surprised by that (even if that frame of mind and heart isn't exactly a good thing, but more on that another time).
Admittedly, the B'lore crowd is more "American" in attitude/communication style, and that's probably why I felt more comfortable with them/enjoyed myself more. Still, our group reminded me of CTY, and the talk I had with AD reminded me of how I loved coming to Ec 1389 the first half of the past semester, when Prof. Chandra would lead us into discussion and just let the class take off. The HKS/HMS/other grad students would just raise up their hands and shoot, "Last summer, when I was in Rwanda... when I was doing field work in China last winter... when I was working on a case study in rural India..." It was so wonderfully global, and even if one experience or even a few did not substantiate all of my classmates' points, I appreciated the fact that each speaker had at least seen something of what they were talking about, and wasn't just shooting off theory neither tested nor practiced.
Anyhow, this conversation made me resolve to take advantage of all that Harvard and non-Harvard has to offer, in my last year of school upcoming, to not restrict myself to simply Harvard happenings. I've lived in the Harvard bubble for long enough, and it's time to start transitioning out/stepping out a bit while I can. Glad I'm living with Niha next year.. I think that will remind me to keep an open mind towards cool activities occurring at other institutions. Yup. =)
