a sad F1 story

Few months ago, a friend of mine asked me to go with her to the Bahamas on Christmas. She was paying for the whole fair and we haven't met for a while. I guess it was her surprise that I apologized as I won't be able to do that. The reason was simple. My student VISA has expired for a while. and I thought that this will not enable me to leave the continental US and come back. So I apologized to that friend and we went in our lives.

Recently I was doing some research on the procedures I need to take to renew my VISA. I discovered that my F1 VISA, even though it has expired, will never be a basis to deny me coming back to Florida after visiting Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, and many other islands nearby. As long as my I-20 was maintained in the proper way. So I guess this was one of those moments where God's invisible hand was the upper hand. I will never know if not taking that trip with that friend , whom is enjoying the company of her new bf these days, would have changed my life to the better or to the worse. But it will definitely give me some story to tell.

Ravi Shankar's visit to Gainesville

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for Ravi's performance at the University of Florida Performing Arts center. It was a great opportunity to see this man that is an established mark on Indian music. The party was to start at 7:30 October 14th. We arrived on time and took our seats at the auditorium. While it was expected to see many people from Indian subcontinent as we have a big community here in Gainesville. I was taken by so many people from other races, especially the women, that were dressed with the traditional Sari. I am not sure what was the reason behind that. And I couldn't help but to relate to orientalism. What makes you wear the national outfit of other nation? Is it a sign of respect? Do you think that this shows that you relate to those people by buying their clothes (most of them are probably manufactured in China). And is it the same to say that you are pro-India even without knowing anything about this great nation, with its many flaws and we doings, just b/c you read about Ghandi or saw one or two movies about it?

If I was an Indian, I would have been annoyed little bit about that. Indian clothes have a good symbolic meaning for freedom and Independence as it was a symbol for rejecting colonialism in the last century. And this symbol should be kept for people that truly know India. Not some westerns with an unhealthy mixture of fantasies and some peaces of information here and there.

The same dogma had a negative contribution to the concert. Where you had people clapping and showing their respect in some immature way, such as clapping and standing for the master's pupil as he was the first to show up to, well, put up his masters sikar. Also when the drum player Mr. Tanmoy Bose, a great performer, had some high pitched sequence, he was interrupted by clapping while playing. It was sad to see Mr. Ravi raising his hand asking them to be quite until the man finishes his peace. This is a spiritual music, not a rock concert, I can hear him say.

India , through its great peace movement and it amazing achievements, had a great effect on my life. Especially through her great son Mr. Gandhi and his decedents. And I do feel some great spiritual attachments to the country. An attachment that I hope I would never spoil by showing a false affiliation to it by wearing the Turbin and a Duti one day to a concert. or by leaving my emotions un-attained and spoiling a part from some other fellows evening.

The concert itself showed some great music. Where there was less tructure than I was sued to. And the performence was planned to be more spontaneous between Ravi and his daughter. You see them playing their intruments together and back and forth with some great harmoney.

here is a link for some performence of his, long time ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gWCiLexilY

Islam and Economy

Amid the recent market crises. I heard some voices on Arabic media saying that this is the natural end for capitalism and that Islam is the right way for planning socio-economical policies. While I don't intend to defend capitalism. I do have a small question for those people: If Islam had such a great financial system embedded in its policies and teaching, Why aren't people using it? Even more: when did people use it and showed that it was successful? 1400 years ago? What proves that it will work for the current size of trading we whitness. Until these answers are given, that claim seems more like a political nostalgia rather than a credible statement.