Indian American Love Child

Expectations surround us. We are expected to be good students, mothers, workers...and the list goes on. We are expected to talk, dress, act, and present ourselves in certain manners. Are our lives dictated by expectations? What purpose do these expectations serve... and are they not limitations? The minute something is expected of us is the moment we limit ourselves to that singular destiny. I wonder how much of my life has been dictated by these very expectations. Would I have gone to college if I was not expected to? Would I dress the way I do if I was not expected to? Would I be a Hindu? Would I make my bed if I was not expected to? People say humans have free will. They say 'free will' is one of the defining factors that separate humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. But do we really make our own choices? How many of the choices that I have made in my own life are truly my own, totally uninfluenced by those that surround me? Perhaps this a moot point, since humans are...

One look at Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, or Heidi Klum and any girl would question her reflection in the mirror. Impossible standards of beauty have taken over society and really changed the way women (and probably men too) perceive themselves. Is my nose too big, are my eyes too small, am I too dark, too light? Plastic surgery and a plethora of cosmetic products have made changing the way we look a real possibility. But is this normal, and moreover is this healthy? What are we doing to our own self-images by comparing ourselves to these largely skewed and unattainable media standards of beauty? We are screwing ourselves over, that's what we are doing! And that is why I applaud Dove's campaign for 'Real Beauty'. The campaign features real women of many ages, shapes, sizes, and colors. By featuring real women instead of models, Dove hopes to help break stereotypes about conventional beauty and help promote a healthier image of beauty. For example, they took a woman and ...

It's been a crazy four years, but today marks the official end of my undergraduate career. How can I sum my time at Rutgers in a blog post? Totally impossible. But I can say this... there is not a thing I would change. I have quite literally grown up with Rutgers. The things I have learned, the people I have met, the mistakes i have made, and my achievements all shape the woman I am today. I remember my first day at Rutgers... the nervousness, the excitement, and mostly the happiness. Funny thing is I graduate with those same feelings. I am nervous and excited for this new stage of my life, but I am also thrilled. I can not even begin to explain how I felt today. I came home and waiting for me was my first medical school book that arrived in the mail. I was considering going out tonight, but instead I began looking through the book. My dreams are becoming a reality. My future feels bright, optimistic, and rewarding! I am flying high, and the sky is the limit! But before I embark on...

Lately I have come across quite a few people who are afraid to be alone. I don't mean alone like without friends, family, or a significant other. I mean alone like eating lunch alone, or shopping alone, or working out alone. Now i don't know about some people, but I know that I need my 'me' time every now and then. A day purely devoted to me, myself, and I. The day usually goes along the lines of: wake up leisurely (by ten approx), showering, cooking myself a nice breakfast, putting on a nice outfit, and heading out. Then I do a couple of hours of shopping, i might buy something or I might not. Sometimes I put on my headphones and just listen to my music and walk and shop. Then I usually find a place to sit down with a nice cup of coffee and pastry (which doubles as lunch) and I enjoy catching up on a book or magazine. Then after an hour I head over to the gym and sit in the sauna for half an hour, then work out, and then maybe take a dip in the pool or hot tub, and fi...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one of the best books I have read in a really long time. The book captivated me within the first couple of pages, and I was entranced until the very end. McCarthy's style and prose is simple and elegant, and resounds as undoubtedly modernist in nature. The book's structure is quite unconventional- there are no chapters and the book's formatting is not typical of most novels. Nevertheless, what struck me in The Road wasn't the unusual style the book was written in, but rather the author's haunting story. Cormac depicts a father and son's journey through an apocalyptic, end of the world, no hope left-type setting. It's been done before, but i doubt this good. Every author writes for a reason. There is a message he/she is trying to convey, and it is up to reader to decipher that meaning or at least interpret it and relate it back to their lives. When i finished reading The Road there was no clarity, instead i was left with endle...

The roads of our lives come with no maps. No signs to tell us when to yield, when to stop, or when to go. Streets, alleys, and highways are forged as we drive along. There are crossroads, and choices to be made. There are u-turns, and detours. Sometimes we take the expressway, and other times the local. Sometimes its sunny, and sometimes it rains. But we keep driving. We keep driving. We drive and we drive, until one day our engine dies. Where did the road lead us? What was our destination? What was our purpose? 21 years. 21 years i have spent on these planet. What have i done? What have I achieved. Why am i here? I am driving, but it is foggy outside. I am trying to defrost, but my efforts are fruitless. Everything you do, everyone you love... what does it matter? Who will remember, and moreover who will care? Most of us drive along paved roads, there are few that create the beaten path. No ones journey is alike, after all we are all unique. But aren't most of our destinations the...