Essays

A few weeks ago, I was at a nail salon getting a pedicure. Now before you start snickering and questioning my masculinity behind your screen, just know that my first pedicure changed the color of my big toe cuticle from black to that fleshiest of pinks, so I will unabashedly admit this fact. Most of the workers were Vietnamese, as is probable if you’re going somewhere cheap/high-quality in the Bay Area. But what was most interesting about this whole situation is that there was a 6-month-old baby bouncing its head in a stroller and a 3-year-old girl running around and making everyone’s life just a little more hectic than it already was while scrubbing away at a white woman’s feet (except for mine, of course). ...

In college most students are involved with some student organization; they bring diversity, fun, and multidimensional purpose to our time at university. During my time at Rice University, I’ve been involved with two such organizations: I was the co-president (2012-2013) and treasurer (2011-2012) of the South Asian Society (SAS), a cultural organization that seeks to raise awareness of South Asian culture on campus and around Houston. I was the co-editor-in-chief (2012-2013) and an executive editor (2011-2012) of Catalyst, Rice’s undergraduate science research journal that allows students to express their views on scientific topics. In another world, I’ve also worked on the engineering team (with around 12 people at the time) at Plum District, a startup in San Francisco. Furthermore, Hacker News provides me with numerous accounts of startup life, advice, and experiences. Getting a chance to see what goes behind the scenes, I’ve discovered an interesting relation: ...

Ah, the San Francisco Bay Area! It’s great to be here for another summer. This time I’ll be in Palo Alto with Palantir, a platform for organizations to integrate various disparate types of data into a central tool for analysis. This description might sound vague, but Palantir is being used for many organizations and companies that are household names. For example: Palantir collaborated with Google Ideas and other organizations to help fight human trafficking. Palantir worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate and contain the outbreak of foodborne illness. Palantir allows analysts at JPMorgan Chase to quickly detect and combat fraudulent transactions. As you can tell from the examples above, much of what Palantir does focuses on making a difference in both mundane and extraordinary circumstances. One of their taglines is “tackling problems for a better world”, which is the central focus of the philanthropy team (they were responsible for the first project above). For those of you who know me personally, you’ll know that one of my personal visions is to combine the abstract and the practical into something that can touch and impact people. The philanthropy team seemed like a perfect fit! ...

Everyone gets hungry. Our metabolism causes us to digest food, leaving our stomach yearning for more. The natural response is, of course, to satisfy that need by consuming food when the urge hits us. But what if instead of rushing to satiate this basic need, we take a moment (just a moment) to internalize this feeling, to savor this need? To some, that may seem like an absurd thought. Enjoying being hungry? Why would we enjoy putting ourselves in a state of disadvantage? How can we relish the state of something so primitive as hunger? ...

Democracy was a concept that was originally envisioned by the Greeks as a political method to foster fair, equal representation of all citizens as well as the open discussion of ideas (indeed, the Agora was the notable Greek venue for such conversation). However, if we examine democracy in a modern context, we see that both of these properties fail to hold. Not only is representation unfair (inherently, since a significant portion of the population does not participate in civic discourse), but the projection of ideas has become a question of volume rather than content. This can be seen most visibly through the efforts of lobbyists and the monetary leveraging of special interest groups. One could even say this is a form of corruption. ...

Writing is at once the most difficult and most rewarding of professions. It takes true mastery to put words on paper that truly reflect what you are thinking. In that sense, writing is an art, a skill that must be crafted, honed, and developed. Writing is also something that we share once we have managed to codify our thoughts. Although the process of writing is one that occurs in isolation, the product is something that can proudly be displayed to the world. ...

It happens to all of us. We get angry, we feel sad, we seem to be neglected, the world seems to be aligned directly against us. Naturally, we feel down. But how do we lift ourselves back up? That’s what I’ll talk about today, and I’d like to (humbly) label my solution as rational cleansing. The reason for this is two-fold: rational, because It requires you to maintain an objective hold on your circumstances despite how torrential the emotions inside you are, and cleansing, because it allows you to emerge with a clear mind, devoid of obstacles. ...

In today’s world, we are constantly obsessed with doing things for some practical purpose, some way to “make a difference.” This isn’t inherently a bad thing—numerous scientific breakthroughs and other progressive advances have made been made possible by the tireless efforts of individuals trying to achieve this kind of goal. However, it has also marked the decline—and perhaps the marginalization—of the true intellectual, one who thinks and does not to meet a deadline or to fill and order, but rather for no purpose, that is, just to satisfy his own driving impulses. In other words, the person who does things for their own sake is being outcast by people who do things for the sake of something else. ...

I began learning Tang Soo Do, a Korean derivative of Karate, at the age of 5. At the time, I really didn’t have any say in the matter– my parents wanted me to do it, so I did. It turned out to be a transformative journey. The main methods of development were forms and sparring. Forms represented the technical side of the practice–crisp, well-defined moves were their hallmark. Sparring represented the variable component of martial arts and presented the opportunity for the flair to emerge within a practictioner–it was a test of adaptability. The combination of these two aspects of martial arts brought together two opposite but complementing forces–the concrete of forms, the always-changing of sparring; the clear, crisp techniques in forms versus the smooth, fluid motions encouraged in sparring. Forms and sparring remind me of the steadfast nature of a redwood tree compared to the ebb and flow of a neighboring stream. ...

A blanket magically casts a shadow over the eyes—they begin to fall. The mouth, uncontrollably open, releases a slow expulsion of air. The body, twisting and turning, strives to push the soul out of this terrestrial bound. The world as we know it begins to retreat: sights become blurs, sound becomes white noise, touch is desensitized, smell and taste cease to exist. Nothing is in focus, everything is hazy. And yet… everything is correct. We have arrived at the realm in between. Consciousness has not been regained, but neither is it lost.

Here I am. An outsider. The world does not greet me. The world does not know me. I am alone. Murmurs, jumbles of conversation surround me. Happy faces share a celebration of joy. But not me—I am alone. What is it like to be one of them, one in the crowd of normalcy? I will not know. How could I? It is no physical barrier that separates me from this wave of activity that always seems to be at high tide. Yet still I feel removed, isolated, caved. Why? What is this shell that is discomfort? Everything surrounding me is foreign, nothing familiar. Perhaps I shouldn’t have left the Cave.

The bubble of unconsciousness broke. Slowly, the world came back to me, albeit in a more frenzied form than when I had departed. This is not to say that the world had suddenly burst out of its usual serenity—no, indeed, I was the one emerging from my natural state, yet my senses blame the world as such. The heavy, pulsating breathing through my nose is the only constant thing in this otherwise chaotic world. The mind becomes restless, but the body remains staunchly defiant. Movements are lethargic, coordinations sloppy. Water accumulates in the eyes–not out of joy or sorrow, but because of this disturbance. A hint of dry mouth begins to noticeably manifest itself; water is needed. ...

Hinduism is one of the more interesting religions I have encountered in my limited experience with such topics. My opinion is not particularly biased by my Indian heritage: in fact, although I regularly attended pujas in my youth, I never attached any religious or spiritual significance to them. On the contrary, I was more preoccupied with the social and cultural aspects of such gatherings. So why is Hinduism so intriguing and appealing? ...