mcgillianaire | Bachelor's Night Out!

I’ve just got back from Arnav’s where the Gang of Five watched No Good Deed starring Samuel Jackson, Milla Jovovich & Stellan Skarsgård (Ronin, Good Will Hunting). It was a rather interesting movie at first but fortunately/unfortunately the only good thing about it till the end was the aesthetic presence of Ms. Jovovich. A couple of scenes in particular will remain etched in my memory for some time to come. For the others, a movie to avoid @ all costs. It’s not as bad as Scary Movie III though. What movies have you watched recently? Any worth an extra recommendation? I could do with a good, thinking movie.

Later this morning, seeing as to how it is nearly 3:00am right now, I will be trying to sort out what courses I will be taking this semester. I know it’s been a week into the semester but after all that has happened, this is the price to pay for terrible behavior. Anyways, once that is sorted out there is the issue with the Visa. Ahh, let’s hope that all gets sorted out easily. Red tape is lethal here in McGill and even the Management advisor has warned me about it. He is a bloody part of it! Oh well, at least I got back in.

Elsewhere, I am trying to figure out how to sort out my entire feeding habits. Ever since getting back from Oman I’ve not been able to fill myself with three, proper meals a day. It’s been a mix of random things @ the oddest of hours and I’m starting to feel the pinch of it. Any ideas on how to stay cheap and get fat?

Alrighty. I’m off to bed…Read on and stay tuned!

Discussion for the Day…
Is my faith in a near-future (15-25 years), developed India, severely misplaced? I’d like to hear your thoughts on this topic that has, for a long time been intriguing me. Despite everything India, as a modern-nation, has achieved since Independence, a lot has been left to be desired and a lot, lot more is needed to reach any of the minimum social/economic heights of the Western nations… How far behind is India and will it ever reach the position the USA is in today, and if yes, when do you foresee such an awesome sight (*smile*), and if not, why not?
Till next time…
Have a good one!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My dear Hari and all other people that hate me on this journal page,

Even though I said that I am going to be the bad a@@ on this chat, sometimes u feel the need to be a nice person and take things seriously.
1. I got a job and today I spent my first hour in the office. I have my own computer and I am the only one using it. Today consisted mainly with data entry and mail collection. The ugly things are to come though.
2. I agree with Hari on the movie we saw last nite. I sucked. But, I think that sometimes u need a movie just to sit with ure friends and make fun of things, life, Guy and Karun and his sheep. This is the best thing in life: not watching the movie and then having endless debates wether it has a hidden meaning or what the creators wanted us to understand by watching it... It is the mere presence of ure friends, people that u enjoy staying with and hanging out with. For me a good movie does not involve a good plot, a super mistery, but a reason to feel well with ure friends. If I am alone in my apartment and I am watching a movie, of course, I demand plot, mistery, action and hot females (preferably as naked as possible) - BTW Hari, I got a nice website for u to check out! Contact me later.
3. I am one semester away from choosing my major. Even though I have chosen Finance, I still think that this choice of what u are going to do in life is approaching fast and we are still rooted in out teenage "problems". This makes me feel bad and somehow incompetent in front of life...

Back to the discussion theme for the day... I am not the person to judge India or say things about it. I just don't have the knowledge and I risk ending up saying some dumb things I might regret later. My idea is that countries like India or Romania have many many many years left till reaching the Western standard imposed by USA and Western Europe. Just to give u some numbers: Romania has at least 80 years left till reaching the actual level of development of the EU countries. (This is an official number released by the EU when Romania was in talks for entering the Union). As far as I know, India has a literacy rate of 65% and Romania has 98%. Romania's GDP/capita is a little higher than India's and one more thing: Romania is considered a second world country, while India is a 3rd world country. So, if u take the numbers it means that India has more than 80 years till reaching the standard imposed by the EU (we assume that the standard in the EU is quite the same as in the US). So my dear Hari and Indian friends, in 15-25 years, Romania or India have no chance of even getting close to this ultimate goal. We would most probably be dead when this would happen. But, us, the people that study abroad, must make sure that our countries will get support from our knowledge and, let's hope so, future fortune. I am not saying that we should go back and live there, what I'm saying is that we need to invest in our countries and try to help this number (80 years) get reduced by a dozen or two... If all Romanians or Indians were able to do that, both our countries would be much closer than they are now. But, amongst the 8 million Romanians that live abroad, it seems that only a small percentage have interest in helping their mother country that can really need their support.

This being said, I am going to end this conversation and I am willing to hear what other people think of these matters. I accept criticism so please be honest and let's have a pleasant discussion on this makeshift forum.

Cris, the Romanian guy

Cris, the statistics you cited were of literacy and GDP/capita. Neither of these tells you how much improvement there's been over the last few decades, which would be a much better indicator of how likely Hari's dream to come true is. So saying that India has over 80 years to go is completely unjustified. (I don't mean to sound harsh... I just don't like people quoting bad statistics to bolster arguments.)

Whilst I'm too lazy to find graphs, I'm sure Hari will have seen rapidly upward moving lines on various indicators for India.

Romania is old Eastern Bloc, and the old Communist states have struggled a little to modernise (it's all relative). They haven't had the rapid economic expansion of India and China. I would guess, basing my argument on my general feel for the world economy and the price of gold, that they'll improve slowly. India and China, though, will be the first real economic counterweight to the US. Our Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffrey, has said that Australia needs to look to India. That way the future lies...

I am glad I found someone to disagree (even though partly) with me. My first concern would be who is the person (since the author didn;t sign the reply).

Ok, yes, as I've mentioned in the beginning of the reply, I was sure I will say something that might affect people and might not even be true. But sometimes this is the heart of the debate.

Romania is old Eastern Bloc, but, as I may neglect India's economic and political development, you may neglect Romania's economic development. In 1980's, my parents told me that Romania had a huge load of work to do in order to get rid of the communist regime. But, in 1989, the revolution turned that around. Now, in the 00's, it is said that Romania needs 80 years to reach EU standards. But what if it happens like in 1989 and we reach there faster than expected? Things can happen. I mean, we will not have a revolution, kill our president in the street and eventually become super world power...

China, yes, I agree, they are a power, economically mostly. Politically, Americans are still scared of the idea of cooperating with a communist regime. It is like cold war Russia and the US joining forces. That is unimaginable. A good friend of mine, Eastern Asian of origin, told me that China's economic power comes from huge development in the Hong Kong, left over by Britain. What is India's Hong Kong then? I mean no disrespect to India's development over the past years, since I am somehow informed by my good friend Hari, but I feel that I need more arguments in India's favour.

On the other hand, Romania's position is weird. Bush said when visiting Romania that "when things take off in Eastern Europe, they really take off." The only problem now is... when are we going ot take off? I am looking forward to that moment!

Take care,

Cris

My first concern would be who is the person (since the author didn;t sign the reply).
Heh. You can call me Pappu.

As Hari said, I disagree about the Hong Kong thing. But Kerala is the answer anyway. :)

And you're right, making 80 year projections are silly. Far too much can happen in eight decades to say anything definitively about it.

In 1980's, my parents told me that Romania had a huge load of work to do in order to get rid of the communist regime. But, in 1989, the revolution turned that around. Now, in the 00's, it is said that Romania needs 80 years to reach EU standards. But what if it happens like in 1989 and we reach there faster than expected?

To kill Nicolae Ceausescu would've required a single bullet. To bring Romania (or India, or any other country) upto Western standards of living is not quite as simple. It takes under a second to pull a trigger; to build roads, train doctors, and form democratic institutions takes decades.

A friend of mine told me he didn't think it was possible for the world to achieve Western standards of living at all; there just aren't enough resources. While this is not a zero sum game (i.e. improvements to the standard of life in the third world do not necessarily have to lead to declines for the same in the West), I think he does have a point. We're never all going to be driving SUVs. Which is part of why I'd like open borders- it would greatly speed up the process of levelling the playing field.

Bachelor's Night Out!

Reply no 1 - Romania on the way to the EU, or is it???

Re: Reply no 1 - Romania on the way to the EU, or is it???

Re: Reply no 1 - Romania on the way to the EU, or is it???

Re: Reply no 1 - Romania on the way to the EU, or is it???

Re: Reply no 1 - Romania on the way to the EU, or is it???