We Wish You A Very Happy New Year!

Lord of the Rings!

Finally I started reading Lord of the Rings. I was thinking about it for a really long time and somehow I was a bit scared given the length of the book. Scared in the sense, will I able to finish it? I am an obsessed reader who would finish a book, once started reading. If I ever feel that I won't be finishing a book, I won't start it. I feel its a wrongdoing.

Anyways. I have been a huge , rabid fan of the movies since the day each of them was released. I have seen all the movies in theaters and then on DVD numerous times. I have seen both regular and extended editions and even done back to back LOTR runs. Now this is what I call, Obsession. But I think for me these movies and characters go beyond the magnificent productions. They are like watching Epics. I have read Ramayan and Mahabharat again and again and have followed the TV series about both Indian epics. LOTR is an epic. With all the different characters, movements and the of course the eternal conflict between good and bad.

Someone interestingly said that LOTR is based on a religious philosophy. I would say its based on philosophies of the world. How do you want live a life? "Even the smallest person can change the course of history", what an amazing thought. The lust for power and the fall of empires thereby, is wonderfully portrayed in the book. And if we take a look at the human history, nations and people have died to get control over the ultimate power.

I am totally in love with LOTR. Many of my friends find it a mere fantasy. For me it goes beyond fantasy. It is a reflection of human behavior and history. I am very excited to read the books now. Hope, everyone will read them and enjoy them as much I do.

Bush and Shoe

I just could not help laughing and rolling on the ground!

...And its vacation!

Finally my school work got over last Friday. I handed over two of my term papers and scurried hurriedly out of the 411 building. Could not wait to go home , crash and switch on the new Samsung 40". I was so tired at the end of the semester that I totally needed a long nap and guess what, I ended up sleeping for straight 12 hours. Phew!! Man, I was tired. This semester was particularly tiring for me. The course load was not unmanageable , but I think all the classes were intense. I had to read a lot every week. It was actually gratifying to go through all that work and hand over good work (according to me) at the end of the semester. Lets see ! Grades are not posted as yet.

I think I was more tired particularly this semester because of the feeling of getting out of school soon and being on the job market. Actually this should be an exciting moment , but given this economy and hiring freeze everywhere , I am really nervous about my prospects. A single thought of being idle at home, sends chills through my spine. I am almost a workaholic (I can be pretty lazy during breaks). But I need that challenge to do good and do more all the time. So what's going to happen after August , the thought is killing me. According to V , I am as always going crazy over unknown. But if you are a Type A person and working efficiently is your mantra, then such craziness is bound to happen. But I am taking some steps to see hows things will work for me and SPA faculty members and Alliance staff is more than supportive.

During the Winter break I would end up working for Alliance. The Light Rail starts running on 27th December. So it would be easy to go to downtown. As of now ,shuttle is my only preferred way of commuting and it will stop running during winters.

There is a winter class which I have enrolled in. So that would be some good amount of work. But the class starts towards the end of December. Till then I am free. I have lot of pending reading on my hands. I am just done with Tolstoy's biography written by a Marathi author. Clash of Civilizations is taking pace. Also looking forward to some of the Russell's essays on morality. Twilight and the similar are on the list.

Movies is a big deal for me all the time. I have Clint Eastwood festival planned. Let's see how that works. Hopefully Netflix has most of the movies I wish to watch.

I think this is a huge plan for one month. I am not sure how much of it will take place. But no harm in planning.

Weather is gorgeous. It's been raining for few days now. Cold and moist! Perfect weather before Christmas. Friends are coming over for graduation. So the weekend looks awesome. And yes ,forgot about Lion King at Gammage. Too many pebbles to throw in the pond.

Hope you too have a busy vacation and enjoy the festivities. Tempe looks amazing with the lights around the Mill Aveneue. I will post some pictures soon. Till then Adios Amigos!!

PM and citizens?????

I recently came across an interesting article about the dissociation between school work and work experience. Well I am not too excited about it. The article gives an example of an ASU alumni and his dissatisfaction with the school's curriculum. Well I am not an education expert nor an expert in PM. However I know one thing that when you apply for fellowship that particularly deals with "How to become a good city manager", you learn how to become a good city manager. You can not expect to learn how to become a good policy analyst or evaluation expert. When you seek for being an evaluation expert you seek a school that makes you one.

I totally agree with the importance of PM in public sector. I find this field very interesting and so as an RA with AFI I have chosen my area of interest to be PM and value. This gives me an opportunity to read, know and see different approaches in PM. This is just a beginning. As I will progress in my professional area, I am sure I will be learning a lot more.

ASU has fellowship devoted for students who are interested in issues of PM. I know students who work with this fellowship because they are interested in the area of PM.
Secondly, I feel SPA is perhaps one of the few schools where you can even walk into the Director's office and discuss you concerns about program. As I understand school offers a reading and conference class if a student wishes to learn a particular subject that interests a students but is not offered as a class. Well in SPA you can definitely ask for an advice about anything and you get it.

My point is in SPA we have urban management focus, which I think goes hand in hand with being in city of Phoenix. I would personally love to see some course in PM or a module in PM. But it does not mean I can not learn it right now if I want to. After all graduate school is what you make of it.

I feel it's not very apprecitative to go on honking bad news about your Alma Mater when you land up in a position through your Alma Mater. Well to each his own. But I am confident that in SPA not a single concern goes unanswered when you know how to express it.

One of the best parts of being in a school which has a program ranked 8th in US, is the famous professors to learn from. School of Public Affairs has some of the well known faculty members especially in the field of Urban Management, Public Finance and Leadership. These faculty members have been in the field for a long time and by long I mean really long even since 30 years. Last year's ASPA conference helped me understand how lucky I am to be in SPA and be with such great people.

Sometimes it's just fun to read the books and articles and cite writers from whom you take classes. It gets more interesting when you are presenting in a class. So it's like saying "As you mentioned in this article in 1989" or according to "Prof. So and So who is also the instructor for this class"...The feeling is just great to learn the material directly from the writer. How many times we get such a golden opportunity to discuss face to face with the writer of a great work.

Well these are just few things I love about SPA.

Valley Metro Experience

My experience with many bureaucracies in US has been good as yet. Most of the time I found people courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. Recently I had to review "Case for Bureaucracy" for the administration theory class. The book I very interesting and though I did not agree with everything written I would strongly recommend this book for reading even if you don't need to write a book review. With the review on my mind I should talk about a small incident.

I am a huge supporter of public transport and totally find Valley metro bus service great. I have been boarding those buses for past two years and seldom had chance to complaint. But in last one month a particular route I regularly board, had some issues. Three consecutive times the bus did not show up at right time. I had to miss appointments as I ended up boarding the later bus. So when I did not catch the bus third time ,I really got upset and called Valley metro. The customer service was great. The person was patient and totally understood my concern. Actually I felt bad as I was complaining about a good service. But I had to let them know. The customer service agent filed a complaint on my behalf and got my information.

After two days I got a courtesy call from valley Metro that they were investigating my complaint and appreciate my input. What a wonderful follow up. Now all those say government does not work well, dear friends I definitely disagree. Government works and and works well. In fact you can get wonderful customer service at par with private companies. I am delighted with this experience. And very much looking forward to light rail in December.

The Change is in our hands!!

Tabla- Pt Talwalkar II

Tabla - Pt. Talwalkar

Yesterday I got an opportunity to listen to Pt.Suresh Talwalkar live in ASU. Unfortunately I heard about it when the program was in half time. But nonetheless I could run to Murdock and enjoy some really needed Indian Classical Music treat. Pt. Talwalkar who recently celebrated his 60th Birthday is one of the famous Tabla players in India. He and his daughter I think are on USA tour. It was a mesmerising experience as for avid fan of Indian classical music, listening to Pt.Talwalkar was a wonderful journey back to memory lane into Sawai Gandharva Music Festival in Pune. Pt.Talwalkar is known as "Taal Yogi" due to his command over taal. His recitation was not mere technical but also very musical due to excellent vocal recitation. As Panditji mentioned "Tabla should never be a part of gimmicks and tricks. It should remain a true form of music." V has some video coverage for the program which I will upload soon. Until then you can YouTube Pandit Talwalkar to enjoy some treat to ears.

Happy Diwali

I was waiting for the cold weather. Surprised?? Well me too. If you know me, I am a kind of person who feels nervous when the temperature drops below 70F. All my friends make fun of me all the time as for me even Phoenix is cold. But nonetheless I was waiting for the winter to begin. I could gladly take some time off from heat and sweat. Winter for me is Diwali. Festival of lights. Now with colder nights and Diwali just round the corner, I could not help missing home.

Diwali generally is celebrated in November. But this year according to Hindu calender it begins of October 25th. There are many stories attached to Diwali. The first day "Narak Chaturdashi" is about celebrating victory of good over evil. It's the day when Lord Krishna killed Narak Asura, and freed 16,000 women from his prison. Traditionally every one gets up before dawn takes a holy bath and prays. There are amazing treats during the four days of Diwali. Chakali, Ladoo,Chiwada, Anarase hmmmm...yummy. We would meet friends and family and share the joy of lights. My sister would put Rangoli in front of house and many diyas. We would hunt for the best colorful diyas days before Diwali.

The evening of the first day is "LaxmiPujan". Laxmi is the goddess of wealth. So we pray to her. We believe that if you pray to goddess this evening, you will never be short of money during the year. This ritual is particularly important for business people and you would find amazing fireworks in the evening.

The second day is BaliPratipada. It is the day to take blessings for the married couples. Husband would give gift to wife. Just thinking and understanding how important is to be together as a couple.

Last day is Bhaubeej. To celebrate love of brother and sister. Sister invites her brother/s over for lunch and they just spend together whole day.

I always thought Diwali is celebration of humanity. Just to know how important is to do good, love each other and think about how blessed we are with all the good things in our life. Lit a diya and think about all the good in the world. I am sure every culture has some way or the other to celebrate the goodness in the world. Festival is the time to meet the loved ones and just spend time together. Now a days with all the communication we are still lacking the human contact. I think just being together itself brings great happiness. I am planning to celebrate this Diwali with my friends and with family over the phone. May this festival bring light of happiness in you life...

Happy Diwali!!

Inadequate

Do you sometime feel that you are doing an inadequate job? At work at home at school? I am feeling this for a while now. The semester started with a big bang and I missed just 1 class in first week. It was not bad. Ia m doing my readings, homework , group work everything I should be doing. But I just feel that I am not up to the mark and I am not sweating enough. At work I am following my routine assignments and get them when as per the deadline. But still Ia m not happy. We moved to a new better place, V has a new job of his choice and everything is going well. But I just feel am not doing a good job anywhere. May be I should be more focused. V says I have this phobia all round the school year. So he is just ignoring me. With mid term on my hand I need to be better prepared. I hope I will be able to satisfy myself.

Intensives

Few things never change. Like my love for reading and the laziness of writing. It is for the same reason I have not written any post for almost a month. In the past month many things happened and most of them were very interesting. But me being a lazy soul these days carefully forgot to write about any of them. At last I shed my laziness and here comes some new topic. My recent liking of Intensive classes.

One of the interesting part of the MPA program is the number of intensive classes offered through out the semester. Let's define intensive class. It is a class which generally will be there for two or three week ends instead of 15 weeks of regular per week class. But for those 2/3 days the class will go on from 9-5 or 8-4. I was very hesitant initially before signing for the class. But I had to as the class I am taking as intensive is only offered as intensive. The three day week end of class is totally grilling. It's feels as if you are hogging over the knowledge for three days uninterrupted :)But the best part is once you are done withe two week ends , the in class work is done. it does not mean the work is over. You will keep completing take home assignment or projects through out the semester. But the weekend deal is good. Especially for working professionals. They just need to take 2 week ends off.The caveat is for someone like me who likes to be in class every week just to be on track , you have to be very careful not to lose the track. It's important that the work is updated ,group discussions happen and use of blackboard is frequent.

The class itself has many breaks in between. So don't think that you would be in the room for 8 hours. But overall it's a worth experience.

I would recommend an intensive if possible. It's a different learning experience. And trust me we are totally capable of learning a lot withing those six days. All you need a good lunch and hot coffee to go with. The best deal comes when the instructor gets of best bagels.

I am just done with one week end and loads of work is yet to be completed. I like it. A different experience. What's the point of being a student and missing this innovative learning experience :)

After being away from Tempe for almost three months I returned finally, last Thursday. I missed Tempe ! It’s funny that I was visiting home in India but still thinking about going back to Tempe. As time passed, the new place which initially was just a university town started meaning more. I did not understand that initially but a prolonged absence from the neighborhood made me feel “Oh I miss you Tempe!”

I am staying in Arizona for last two years and now it is my home. I was glad to be away for the summer but at the same time kept thinking about how hot the summer is going to be this year. When I was in DC nearly 100% humidity hit me badly. I was telling my roommates that in AZ we just get roasted but we still are OK with the dry heat. I never knew that humidity would be bothering me a lot.

Even at home, when I was chatting with friends, I would talk a lot about how beautiful Arizona is! And many of my friends who think [ US = NY + CA ], this statement comes as a shock. “Are you kidding me? How can a desert be beautiful??” But for me who has been enjoying the stable weather, desert is beautiful. I never knew that Cacti bloom with beautiful flowers. Never knew the fun with almost 360 days of clear sun, no storms, no snow …Just bear the summer for 4 months and for the rest of year enjoy the gorgeous weather. This summer I got a chance to travel along the US and visit many interesting cities. At times I felt if I should move to another place. But soon I realized that I really love Tempe. The campus, the students, the happening Mill Avenue, the parties, the compact feel of the place…everything I just love being in that vibrant community. I am moving back to Tempe soon and I am really excited about it.

Hail Tempe!! Here I come…

Indian Rain

It has been raining since 12:30 in the night. I was waiting for this since I came to Pune. Monsoon has finally returned to Maharashtra. In fact it has rained so heavily in many areas including Mumbai that public transportation got a set back. Dams are almost full and the water supply now seems to sufficient for the next year.

I love Indian monsoon..

Chai Garam

Today I was looking for some coffee in the kitchen. I was almost about to make French Roast when I saw a box of Chai which I did not see before. So I picked the Chai and opened the lid of the brewer and guess what someone before me made the same Chai :) Guess today I was supposed to enjoy a hot cup of Chai.

Take Me Home

It’s time to go home. This is the last week of my internship in DC. So I am wrapping up stuff which I need to get done before I leave. Writing a small report, uploading documents, updating web site and some more small assignments. 10 weeks was not a too little of time but they just flew with a speed of a lightening. I was lucky to find a decent apartment with good roommates in Foggy Bottom which is one of the vibrant parts of the town. Living neat GWU campus and minutes of walking to metro station was the best part of the stay.

In between I had to move along with my roomies as they found a new place nearby. Well the new place is sunny and bright and I am having a decent time there. I got to visit Georgetown many a times. Spent good money at the shopping malls, visited National Archives and US Capitol, two of the “Must Visit” destinations for me. Also got to see some movies, club and in general strolling on the beautiful roads of DC. In all the stay was productive and interesting.
Work was good and it did get a little bit monotonous in between but overall a good experience. Met good colleagues and a wonderful supervisor who is also arranging a small farewell party for me. I am moved by this gesture!

So far so good. V is coming to town on Thursday and then Saturday we are driving to NJ. And then next Monday I am flying home to India, Pune….To the place I belong :)

Almost heaven, west virginia

Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads

Words and music by bill danoff, taffy nivert and john denver

If you are a student in SPA, one of the two important classes you would end up taking early in the program are 501 and 502. The research methods classes. 501 is the one which teaches you what is a research paper, what different approaches to research are, how to ask a question for research and how to write a paper. Well to tell the truth, even with a degree in Economics, I did not know anything about writing research paper. After taking 501, no when I think about horrible papers I wrote before, I feel like going back to time and redoing all the work. Now at least I know how to approach a problem. Of course as I will keep on working, my writing will be improved.

502 is the next in sequence which we can call Regression Analysis or if Introductory econometrics per se. In the first stage, we learn how to approach a problem and in the second stage we learn how to actually quantify what is measured.

Both the classes are rigorous and require lot of hard work. But I must say that those two are among the best classes I ever took. No matter what grade I got, I learnt so much that I now feel confident that I can write a small decent paper. Of course there are tons of more things and techniques to learn. But I enjoyed every single moment of my class. With excellent faculty members every single class came with new ideas, techniques and new questions. I read research papers which were written the way we were expected to write.

I know many of us have this inherent fear of “anything that looks like mathematics”. But trust me in both of these classes mathematics and statistics comes along as something that can be totally entertaining.

Field of social science is not easy to quantify. There is no way we can put value to human life and any aspect of it. But methods class gives a direction that helps to understand the importance of quantifying these “un-quantifiable” entities and how we can utilize this knowledge to attempt to solve different social issues.

I really hope everyone enjoys these classes and finds how analysis changes the approach towards solutions.

Time passes by very quickly. My Internship started in May and before I thought about it, it’s almost time to leave. Just this week and next and I will be done. It has been a good experience. I got some insight to kind of work association does. Though my work was mostly regarding publication and compliance center; because I was also surrounded by people from International section, I had a chance to get a small glimpse of their work.

It was a great opportunity to understand what a great job local governments do. The publication, requesting for permissions, answering queries, compiling news articles, doing some HTML coding all was a great learning experience.

I think the experience matters! Though the internship will not be like a full time job , but the insider’s view of the work helps not only in future endeavors but also develops a great deal of respect for all who strive for perfection to make things happen in the organization.

Today I got into an argument with V about "language". We were arguing about English. The point of argument was if English is a good language. I was of the opinion that English is the most straight forward, simple and professional language I have learnt. And V was saying that even with these qualities English need not be considered as "Interesting" language. He had some good points. He said that English is very simple ,easy to learn and of course a good language for communication. But it is not necessarily a good language for literary values. I am not sure of the literary values so I said that Shakespeare wrote in English and he is certainly one of the most well known and well respected authors in the world. However, according to V , Shakespeare gave some masterpieces because he was a genius. But English is not great because of that. In fact he gave some literary jewels to the world and English happens to be the language he used for it.

OK. The jist of the argument was that English has limitations when it comes to expressing some emotions, feelings or I should say that there are many other languages such as French, Italian, Spanish etc which make even most mundane expressions more poetic. Such as Senor is sweater than Mr. Of course I can not comment about this as the only foreign language I know is English. The rest are Indian languages.

Ladies and Gentlemen let your thoughts flow in this debate. I am an ardent supporter and a huge English lover. I think its the language of knowledge and wisdom.

What do you want to say about it?

I like Emraan Hashmi

I like Emraan Hashmi. I know you are balked at this statement. You must be thinking what’s wrong with me. The girl who worships Kamal Hassan and does not miss Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks movies, what has suddenly gone wrong with her! But well with all due respect to everyone who hates Hashmi, I will say firmly that I like him.

This long week end I got to watch three of Emraan’s movies almost back to back. I started my movie run with Jannat (2008 hit) and ended with Aksar. I have to say I totally had great time. Even with few “Rated” scenes and weird dressing sense of all of the actors, the movies were entertaining.

I know Bhatt camp comes up with all these flicks where there is always a twist in tale and Hashmi is running behind the girl with all his appeal (!). But one thing which I admire about these movies is, they have no star actors and still grab most of the fame and lot of money. When Jodha-Akbar and SarkarRaj are struggling to save the face, Hashmi’s movies are becoming big hits of Bollywood. And mind you Hashmi is doing a better job by each film. Jannat was very interesting and even the new comer girl has done a good job. Music is good, script is cool and pace of the movie is super fast. I think what I liked about the movies was the “Pace”. There was not a single dull moment. Something was happening all the time. Even with all the routine song-dance sequence the thrill did not go down. I guess Bhatts very smart to introduce Hashmi and even with his “not so positive” image they are able to collect good money on their productions. I don’t know if the movies are good or even ok for most of the audience. But I have to say I would any time and every time Prefer Hashmi to Karan Johar. At least I know “Mera Paisa Wasool Hain!”

Being in DC on Independence day was an interesting experience. My day started with 4th of July parade and ended with amazing fireworks on Lincoln memorial. Enjoy some of the fireworks...

Working full time is no fun. Even if you are working with the best employer, good work, wonderful people and relaxed work environment; still you are bound to get tired. It’s not about what you don’t like it’s about that 9 to 5 routine you get your self into. Work gets monotonous and after a while it loses the magic it had. It’s inevitable that you will be starting your work week thinking about week end and especially if it’s a long week end then everyone around you asks you the same question all week “What’s for the week end?”

Americans live for work and I completely agree with this statement. We have few holidays, less breaks, less vacations and lot of work days. Technically being generation Y kid, I should be giving more preference to family over work. (I just read an interesting article about Baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y people and their work priorities) But I love to work. I think America got into my skin quickly in this regard :)

Anyways the purpose of this post to crib about work and not to say how much I like it :) Well when I am in school I am the happiest person on the earth. Even with loads of assignment, GA work, classes I am very happy as I am busy with all those great new ideas. I can work all week long during school year as it’s always new work, new class, new home work, new project , new research. The new work is always exciting. Spending hours on internet, in library and in instructor’s cabin is totally fantastic as I learn something new constantly. So all the hard work and stress does not matter much. However, when I started working over the summer, there was great excitement in the beginning as I was learning new work, system, sources etc. But soon as I got used to it I became a little tired of the “same old same old” feeling. Work is still good but I just think the initial zeal has gone down. Now many things I can work on even with my eyes closed. I am glad that I could contribute to resources at work and was able to get some backlog done really quickly.

DC is great and I have much fun everyday but still the routine kind of makes me less enthusiastic. Of course the experience is going to be rewarding. Just that I fear, what will happen when I start full time job? Hmmm hope I would be able to keep my zeal even if I need to re charge myself now and then.

Well guys what do you think? DO you feel the same?

I am blessed to be in the field of public service. This feeling has always been in there but now days I work in the field actually, I feel how lucky I am to be here.

Yesterday I went for a wonderful presentation about the Association’s program in Afghanistan. Along with Federal Agency my organization works in many countries with their local governments. As the Afghanistan program director mentioned, the aim is not to bring sweeping changes in those countries but just to be an addendum to the wheel to better governance. Afghanistan has been in the discussion for more than forty years now. The conflict, instability, continuous distraction and all these factors leading to unstable country and unstable economy. Many cities do not have the basic infrastructure with water , electricity, schools ,roads , waste management etc and association is working with localities to build these facilities.

The director mentioned about the safety issues there and even said that we had to withdraw from some cities due to the security concerns. We were unfortunate to lose 25 of local staff in one of the cities due to security situation. But still the on site staff is working with the same zeal, even if they need to wear heavy armors sometimes.

Then there was a story about a girl who could not go to school. Not because her parents did not let her but because she had to fetch water from river all day to keep enough water at home. Now with the water faucet in her home, she does not worry about drinking water. Now she goes to school. What a simple situation! But as we never face this problem, it’s hard to comprehend the gravity of these things. Association did not do any thing drastic. We just got a water faucet that brings safe drinking water. Very small change but a huge impact.

Then there was Women’s market which is built and operated by women. It’s a market where women can shop without a man being present. Not something radical but a project that made a difference.

I think, the satisfaction I get even thinking that am attached to an organization which is able to bring very small but important changes in the lives of many, makes me feel grateful. I am extremely satisfied with my decision to be in this field. I am truly blessed to be here.

Today I started working on a new project. Being the professional association my organization publishes many reports, articles and books. The published material is not only for professional managers but also for elected officials. In fact we have been producing some handbook for elected officials which kind of "How to be a part of elected official profession?" I actually got an old handbook and I found it very interesting. I knew about lot of material which is out there for management professionals. In fact the whole MPA/MPP programs designed for a career in city management. But I was not aware of any such materials for elected officials.
The handbook was interesting and it was targeted towards policy making. If we wish to admit the 'politics-administration dichotomy' then policy making is the function of elected officials (al though these boundaries have changed and more overlapping than strictly dichotomous functions).

Anyway the point here is having a guide book for officials to learn about policy making process or how to efficiently design policies, how to conduct public meetings, how to be efficient decision makers etc is a very innovative idea. I never thought about being an elected official as a profession. I think it’s a great resource of elected officials and I am sure that many of them would be using it.

Today, I completed one month in my current intern position. Time flies….It has been a very happening one month. Coming to DC, getting settled into apartment, getting to know about Association and my work, meeting new people. All has been very fast and interesting. I just don’t remember a single dull moment during this time and I hope this continue until the end.

Most of my work need me to work of computer and internet researching about new material, information, legislation about the preference areas. I have visited many governmental web sites and something I found common was not very robust websites. Of course I am talking about local governments as federal and state governments do have more robust and up to date websites. E government is one of the most talked and preached term these days. I had to chance to work on a small e government index project with Alliance which was based on Association's survey. Interestingly when I was working on that project I was surprised to think that why we need a question like “DO you have a web site?” and now I know the answer. Many smaller jurisdictions still need more resources to provide information about the interesting practices they are following.

Given the information age and the computer oriented world today, not even having a web site makes it difficult for someone who is not in the area and wants to contact the particular local government.I once tried to contact a jurisdiction and the email bounced back saying that the mailbox does not exist. I was taken aback. If I can’t contact the government for a small inquiry, how am I supposed to get my information going?My point is am not expecting a great Google website but all I want is simple and easy where I can just go and find all the information I need without calling 1800 number listed.

I don’t want to underestimate any part of work government and the agencies do. But I would just like to mention that “I need to know your great work and please give me access easily”.

The City of Power

I would like to call DC as the “City of Power”. When I visit some place I just think about what names I would like to give them. For me New York is “Young and Vibrant”, San Francisco is “Truly International”, San Antonio “Beautiful” and DC is definitely is “Power”. I am sure many of you will agree with me. Being the capital of one of the world’s strongest country (both economically and politically) Dc has the charisma which just makes me love it more everyday.

When I first visited the city I just spent time in and around the mall. So it was more like a cultural experience for me. But after that I had opportunity to visit DC again and now am here for 10 weeks. The first day when I was coming to work, I could see all the professionals walking briskly on the roads. All those huge federal buildings and cops around capitol. Seeing the bureaus and institutes about which I read only in texts or online was an experience. Isn’t it wonderful to see what you cherish all the time?

May be DC is overwhelming for some but if you are into policy and administration, DC is the place you want to be. It’s the land of federal and many important non profits, professional. Research institutes. It has the speed of NY without the too much crowd of it.

I found an apartment in Foggy Bottom and Georgetown is just a walk away. I love to walk there and feel the magic of it whenever I can. I could not believe how lively the neighborhood was even at 12.30 on the night. No wonder young professionals hang around there.

I simply am loving this experience. I hope I would be able to enjoy this city for a long time in futur

If you go to ASU School of Public Affairs, then Association is not a new name for you. SPA professors do recommend Association publications as their course materials. ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins is quite a favorite among SPA faculty. I think, SPA students are very much familiar by Association than some of their counterparts in other schools. Especially if you are interested in local government (which is an important concentration SPA) then Association are you household name. I was lucky to know about Association and also work on some of the projects while working with ‘Alliance for Innovation’.

Currently I am working on two projects. E-library which is an online resource for local government managers, students, professionals and researchers. We have recently introduced some more topics of interest in the library and keeping the library up to date is a big task. I have come across really good resources which are easy to read and understand. If you are a local government professional then getting resources which will help you do your job better is very important. As we all know how busy the professionals are. So focus is more on practical and easy to process materials. This does not mean that professionals don’t read or appreciate sophisticated research.

Another project I am working is the LGEAN. The Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) is a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding, and regulatory information for local government elected and appointed officials, managers and staff. It is one of the many compliance centers EPA has. It’s interesting to keep members updated with latest news/ regulations/programs etc.

Most of my work is related to updating and as easy as it sounds, it is not. In fact time comes when I just get lost in tons of information. But finding related and useful information is the trick of the trade. Sometimes I do get to anser memeber queries and in that case sending research articles is very much fun.

I think it’s a small way to start my way towards some of these issues. I hope to know more about them in coming days.

One of the things I like being at Association is the work environment here. Staff is friendly, team leaders are understanding and outfits is not too “Formal”. On my first day my supervisor told me that I don’t need to wear a suit everyday. Isn’t it cool? I still kept on having a suit as it was for the first time I had a suit J However, for me suit is no fun especially in the hot DC weather. So this suggestion was a great “Thank God!” moment.

I was very surprised to see many Indian staff on board. I knew about few of them but I did not expect so many. The great surprise came when I heard two of my colleagues speaking Hindi. But then I came to know Association's International department does have many international people and so listening to a language other than English is not a very uncommon thing.

Soon I got my responsibilities and it’s interesting to learn about the CMS, LGEAN and Smart Growth projects. I think this is a very valuable addition to my real life learning experience. Answering the local government queries about these issues actually makes me understand what exactly the “need” out there is. Until now my work in DC is coming up well and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the summer.

Internship

Internship is the most valuable experience for any degree program. Especially if you are in public administration or policy program and you don no that have public sector experience; internship I would say is mandatory. First, public sector works differently than private sector and it’s not sufficient to read about it in the text books but the real life experience is helpful in understanding the theory. Secondly, an internship is also helpful for a future job prospects with organization you did an internship with and also helps with the other organizations. Even if it’s an internship which is not exactly a job, you still get the experience where you get a little insight to the public sector or non profit work culture.

Well to land up with a good internship the key is start early. Many good organizations have application deadline as early as December. So it’s helpful to start looking for one since October. (At least I did) You have to decide what kind of work experience you are looking for. Does a specific organization attract you? (local government, federal government, PPIC, Cato Institute etc) or are you looking for particular skill to learn while working (budgeting, performance measurement, communications, survey research etc) Focusing on “what I want” will help to think and visit the websites of the organizations you are interested in.

Many of the famous research organizations have applications in a specific format. The prospective employers may ask you to write about a specific policy issue or submit research /policy analysis work along with resume and cover letter. Read the instructions carefully or you may end up not sending the complete application (You may send something later on but this may mean that you are not careful enough to begin with) Most of the employers will ask for 2 or 3 references. Depending upon your academic and professional background think about the appropriate references. If you applying for budgeting internship giving the reference from the budget class might be useful. Of course you need to request this in advance. My experience is all the SPA faculty members are more than helpful when a student is seeking an internship.

Not all internships are paid. If getting paid matters it’s advisable to look for certain internships. Unfortunately, in this case some good opportunities pass by.

Where to find them? SPAN is a great resource for these internship opportunities. Also you can contact the career services. If you have friends or family working in some particular place of interest do not hesitate to inquire about the opportunities there.

Once you receive the internship letter, you still have to do formalities such as registering to the appropriate course, getting paperwork done with HR in the organization etc. Especially if you are an international student, I would strongly suggest contacting International Students Office as soon as possible. International students need to apply for CPT and it’s helpful to get all the paperwork done at least 2/3 weeks before the internship start date. This may sound like a big buffer, but given the kind of paperwork needs to be submitted in different administrative offices, earlier the better. You will get all the support from SPA staff, so you do not have to worry about it at all. But the other units may not be as quick as SPA.
Once you are done with all these chores you are all set to land your new job and learn great many things about practice.

Immigration

As a part of my work with Association I am compiling some resources about immigration and local government. Immigration has been a hot topic for quite a long time especially with the upcoming elections this topic has become one of the most debated issue among the candidates.
Generally when we discuss immigration we think about Federal legislation, panelists, senators and congressmen. However this is hot even for local and state governments. Last week I got an opportunity to listen to experts debate about economic impacts of immigration on low skilled native born workers. Of course some economist had already developed a model for this.
But today I came across some interesting research done by Heritage Foundation scholars. I think those interested should have a look at http://www.heritage.org/research/immigration/. The link gives access to articles, fact sheets about many aspects of the immigration debate. Definitely a worthwhile resource to tap.

GO SPA!

A recent email from Dr.Denhardt to SPAN mentioned that "The U.S. News and World Report ranking of schools of public affairs was just released. I am pleased to report that two programs in the ASU School of Public Affairs were ranked in the top ten nationally. Our program in urban management was ranked sixth and our program in public administration was ranked eighth. In addition, our work in budgeting and financial management was ranked eighteenth. Each of these rankings represents our highest ever national rankings in these areas and all are substantially higher than our rankings five years ago. " I am really excited to be a part of this.

SPA has been doing some very interesting work to achieve the well deserved ranking in US news. Alliance for Innovation , Morrison Institute, Center for Urban Innovation contribute greatly to the research wing of SPA. Of course great faculty is the best part of the school. I am sure everyone will agree with me that we do have faculty at SPA, who are not only academicians but also wonderful people to take classes from and to work with.

I am sure that SPA will keep climbing the ladder every year. Well I will keep posting more interesting things about SPA and not to forget about ASPA conference which was a great opportunity given by SPA. More about ASPA conference in coming post.....

This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep and you study entire week end almost every week end...You are up due to heavy cold and post a blog at 530 in the morning.. Life preety much sucks for me at this point.

I recently read somewhere that there is some kind of 'Flu' wave going on in US mostly in some pockets. Guess I am the 'lucky one' in the pocket and have been trying to get rid of my cold for last two weeks. Unfortunately a medication helped my runny nose and sneezing problem but it has not affected the congestion problem.. (God this congestion... On road ,in my nose.. seems like a big policy issue!!!) Anyways so now tomorrow or should I say today morning at a decent time my first goal is to reach that all almighty doctor and at least get my nose fixed. (City of Phoenix is working on getting traffic fixed).

Sleep is precious to me and without it I am at my worst output level.I have to get it fixed as soon as possible so that I can enjoy ASPA this weekend.

Well enough with my cranky mood. I hope you guys are not facing this cold and cough problem. Eat healthy think better!

Can I really hate reading??

You might be thinking what I am talking about...But as my good friend "complemented" I am really a voracious reader. Not a single day goes by when I don't have any interesting book to read. When I was working (which I did not really enjoy) my only lifesaver was "book". An eight hour day was based on forty minutes of reading during lunch and tea breaks. I used to work so that I could take breaks and read more. I read "Altas Shrugged" during my lunch time and never had better fun than that. My whole life for eight months was centered around those books (thanks to Tempe Public Library). Riding valley metro everyday was OK with a great reading in hand.

Even when I was educated unemployed for three months, books were the biggest asset for me. I was upset and not so happy about my situation when I read Paulo Coelho,Ayn Rand,APJ Abdul Kalam,O.Henry to name a few. All those fictions and non-fictions were a great source of support for me. (Mind you I am not undermining my greatest support V).

But unfortunately these days I am kind of shrugging when I listen word "new book". One important benefit of being a social science student is, to get to read about many social issues and theories and research which is equally informative and exciting. However, the other side is that you keep reading tons of pages and a time comes when you say out loud "stop reading". Especially when your research is also centred around reading from websites and other scholarly sources , you pitty your eyes. After all one can read only so much. Of course it does not mean that I don't like to work on the innovative work but just that after a day full of reading I am just too tired to read anything for fun.

The only other reading is Google news, washingtonpost.com and nytimes.com!! (Oh! I miss the days when I used to hold print edition of a newspaper).

On the first day of my class one professor asked what do you do for fun? I said "read" and instantly I realised that I read for work,for school and for fun...God help me, it's not surprising that I have glasses. I need to change my habit I guess. I am a totally lazy person when it comes to go out hiking or driving or any open door activity. I would rather sleep on couch with a big fat book like "Marriage and Morals" or a total fun one like "Bridget Jones' Diary" or a courtroom drama like "Pelican Brief" and then keep burning my eyes whole day. V keeps on saying I need to go out and enjoy some other things...Given my sudden nausea of reading , I think I need to listen to him.But until then how about "Three Musketeers"?

Welcome To my blog

Hi,

Its been a while since I have written anything other than class notes , homework and class papers. I used to write a lot when I was doing my bachelor's degree. Even after entering grad school I kept writing to my parents and friends in India regularly. Guess as I grew older I lost the zeal to write and even the blog I started few years back went dead. But now I have this wonderful chance to talk about SPA, Phoenix and life of a graduate student , my favorite topics.

Well being in school with mid terms just around the corner I won't be posting too much this time but hey nonetheless I am writing again !!! (My mom would be so happy to know this...She is always bugging me to go keep writing something every day..A bit too much , I know)

Welcome to my blog !! Lets talk about everything and anything.....