Random Thoughts

All of us in India have built our notion of the west just by seeing the Hollywood TV series and movies, but only after coming to Belgium, I realized that the west also carries a lot of diversity just like the different states of India. I would even go on to say that in many terms Americans are much closer to Indians than Europeans. To give you the big picture, in terms of society, Europe is rather on the conservative side while America is on the exact opposite, and somewhere in between lies UK. You will find a lot many Indians settled in the USA or Canada, even in the UK as compared to Europe. Most of the European countries don't provide any post-study visa to international students which in itself suggests that these countries don't want people from other places to settle here.  Before I move on to explain my personal struggle let me tell you a bit about how different Europeans are from Americans. Europeans prefer bicycles over the motored vehicle and also they tend to buy sma...

No society is perfect, but I believe that Japan is the closest possible thing we have to an ideal society. Before we dwell on what makes it stands out of all the other society of the world, let's take a look into a few of their negatives. Japanese people work too much, there is a term in Japanese called  Karoshi  which translates into death by overwork. On average people work more than 10 hours a day and for some, it even extends to 15-16hrs a day and that too without any extra pay. Coming an hour before the official time and leaving 1-2 hours late after office hours is the norm. They have too many over-generalizations and stereotypes against the foreigners thus making friends for an outsider may be a bit tough, but for Japanese people, it's fine because they do everything together. Unlike the west, Japanese adults tend to stay with their parents and families thus building a deeper sense of community and family. Generally, people don't switch jobs because every employer hir...

I was a very quiet and reserved child back in school, I know most of my college friends won't believe it, but it is true. I was hardly aware of anything going on between people, what was happening in the world, how society operated, I was happy in my simple little world. Back then, I had no knowledge of different fields except for my interest in physics. I just used to study and play, nothing else mattered to me, but then, college happened, everything was changed in a few weeks, there was so much new information to be grasped and I was all set to capture as much as possible. Over the period of time, I started turning into a so-called 'intellectual guy', I know that this word has lost its real connotation in recent times, thanks to the current political climate of our country, but once you have observed and read sufficiently about people and society, there is nothing that can stop you from seeing the world with the lens of intellect. You start questioning everything, you sto...