Bits: Nepal's Elections, Sailing with Words, G Train Blues & Celebrating Israel's Anniversary

Photo by Brian Sokol, from the New York Times

1.

"Nepal's Maoists Prepare for Elections," shot by Brian Sokol for the New York Times

South Asia's getting a lot of attention lately, what with the protests and violence in Tibet and now with the upcoming elections in Nepal. Sokol took pictures in Nepal during the days leading up to those elections and the results are amazing.

2.

"Ving, Vang, Vong. Or, the Pleasure of a New Vocabulary," editorial observer by Verlyn Klinkenborg, from the New York Times

I tend to like Klinkenborg's editorial observers because he writes about things I like, like the outdoors and middle-of-nowhere. First, the title caught me because it sounded like something I'd write. Second, the lede caught me because, of course, he mentioned sailing. I like the concept: picking out those things people tend to not notice. It's wonderful.

I know what he means about sailing (or, for me, boating) terms. I still get confused by port and starboard. (I invented my own little device to remember it: port is left if you're rowing, because they both have four letters. It takes me a couple seconds to remember this while I'm coxing though.) I end up calling everything "thingie," because I'm more about the feeling of rowing and being out there.

3.

"At Last, Some Attention for Subway Line Less Traveled," by Anthony Ramirez, from the New York Times
I hate the G train. With a passion. Along with the brown line (J, M and Z), it's the worse train in New York. Yet, I rely on the G train--it takes me to both my jobs (the Rail at Greenpoint Avenue and the Gazette at Nassau) and it's the only Queens-Brooklyn train line, which is ridiculous anyway. It's sad that the city isn't going to try to improve the line.

What's funny about this article is the relationship between the G and the V train. The V train came about into existence while I was junior in high school in 2001. It changed my route (Instead of taking the F to Queens Plaza for the R to 59th Street, I had to transfer at Roosevelt Avenue.) and also changed the G train. In order to create the V trains, the MTA took cars from the G train, thus creating the short G trains we have today. However, in the article, when someone brought that up at the meeting, the MTA denied it. Why? That's such a petty thing to deny.

4.

"Cynicism trumps pride for Israel's birthday party" by Isabel Kershner from the International Herald Tribune

How much should a country spend on its anniversary and how extravagant should it be? Considering the state of Israel and the area now, the government hopes to cheer everybody up with a huge blowout, but Israelis aren't agreeing. Already, 90,000 Israelis signed a petition asking the government to use the money for better things, like actually helping people through education and other public services.

Language Observations #2

1.

Taking a cab home (especially at 4 a.m. after a long day at my money-makin' job, GRE and working on layout at the Brooklyn Rail) is always difficult because, like I mentioned before, drivers don't really know where 85th Road is, nevertheless Briarwood. I usually say it's Jamaica and off of Queens Boulevard.

The driver asked me my address and he called in to his dispatch. In Spanish, he asked "Donde esta ciento curanta y uno?" In my sleeping haze, I heard this and corrected him. A.P. Spanish comes in handy sometimes.

(I do want to re-learn Spanish, along with all of the other things I want to do.)

2.

Rob's daughter, Claire, has a Bengali babysitter. For the weekends, Rob gets people he knows to watch Claire. Last weekend, that was me. Because she knows I'm Bengali, she asked, "Can you speak Bengali?"

"I understand it a lot and I can speak a little bit," I told her. She tried to think of something she wanted me to say.

"Can you say 'come here'?" she asked, fitting with her bossy nature.

I know I hear that phrase all the time, but at that moment, it flew out of my head. Right now, it's hard for me to recall it. I'm so used to it, I don't think twice about what I hear—it's equated to English for me.

(Phonetically, it's ekenhe aaso.)

3.

My sister recently started watching Indian movies and listening to Indian and Bengali songs. One day, she asked me how to say "love" in Bengali. I knew I didn't know how to say it, so I said no and asked if she knew. She said she knew now because of a song—bhalobashi. Puzzled as to why we didn't know how to say such a simple word, we asked our dad. He just shrugged and smiled.

My Middle Name

I don't really have a middle name. I'm just plain, old Nadia Chaudhury, not Nadia Rachel Chaudhury or even Nadia Fatima Chaudhury (my actual first name, before they changed it).

But I do have a family middle name. I'm not sure if that's the correct term for it, but I call it that because my father, brother and I all have it. (My mother just uses her maiden name and my father's last name.) Nadia Hasan Chaudhury. According to my father, it was the middle name his father gave him and my father passed it on to his children. All of my official documents—passport, social security card, birth certificate—use that name.

I used to write my entire name out in my careful elementary-school penmanship. Once I learned script, however, I didn't like the way my 'H' looked—my 'N' and 'C' were swooping and pretty and the 'H' seemed too blocky. So I dropped "Hasan."

Now, I'm just Nadia Chaudhury.

Graduate Application FAQ

While looking over the essay requirements for UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism:

Journalists abide by word limits. There is a strict 750 word limit for the statement of purpose and a 750 word limit for the personal history statement.

Both should be written with quality, not quantity, in mind.

Oh, word counts.

Language Observation #1

Buenos Aires literally means good air.