A Washington Week

"Why don't each of you tell me about a uniquely Washington incident you witnessed or experienced in the past week," said Professor Henderson to kick off our U.S. Foreign Policy seminar class last evening. Like all of the Professor's other questions, this one got me thinking. And I concluded that I'd had a week packed with "Washington experiences" – for one, I work in the U.S. Capitol complex (only in Washington!), I attended congressional briefings and committee hearings on issues ranging from the current electoral crisis in Kenya to threats to U.S. security, I watched Super Tuesday coverage like my life depended on it (I guess in some ways it does!), I heard social and political activist and ex-presidential candidate Ralph Nader speak at The Carnegie Institute, I discussed and debated diplomatic and military strategies for the U.S. to pursue in Pakistan (the foreign policy course again), and I gave the best condensed city tour to my friend Julie who had an 8 hour layover in DC, flying from New York City to Sao Paulo, Brazil!

Lunch time walk around work

Ready to give Julie a condensed yet comprehensive dose of D.C.

All my Ralph Nader pics came out too dark to put up but I do have this one of the Carnegie Institute's ceiling depicting the lunar cycle.

Mom made it her business to forward the link to this blog to a bunch of family all over the globe and I actually followed in her footsteps by forwarding it to some of my friends :) She also told me that my profile photo looked like it had been taken through a "special effect lens" and though i'm not quite sure what that means, knowing mother she probably just doesn't like it too much. Well, sorry to break it to ya here mommy but whatever's on now, stays. Unfortunately this isn't your conventional instantly editable, adaptable, updatable blog – it is administered through The Washington Center and although we are offered complete freedom in terms of choice of subject matter and expression, I personally have no access to my blog to make changes. I think its an interesting photo though, mostly because there's a story to go with it. It was taken less than two months ago in Fès, Morocco just a couple of hours before my flight back to Paris. I am in the courtyard of a 'medersa' or Islamic theological school where, shortly after this photo was clicked, I had an hour long conversation with a student about Islam, Christianity, religion in general, the existence of God. While I was looking around he sat there singing verses from the 'Qur'an' and when I was done and sat down for a personal, pensive moment he approached me to find out where I was from and what had brought me to that most enchanted of cities, Fès. Conversation flowed but the fast approaching moment of departure compelled me to cut short our back and forth, leaving him with only my email address. With all the action that ensued in the latter part of December and the entire month of January, this whole episode was buried deep down in my oversubscribed memory bank until just the other day when I logged myself into MSN Messenger only to discover a new friend request – one of those "magical" technology moments :)

I just received an email from one of my high school teachers, Kenyan by birth but living and working in India. He is in Kenya right now, witnessing first hand all the post election rioting and violence on the streets. He is scheduled to fly back to India soon and I hope he makes it back alright. However, I am deeply concerned about his family and friends who reside there, in the midst of all the unrest and instability. Sitting in a briefing room in DC listening to an expert sum up the conflict and suggest a course of action is quite literally a world away from living with it unfolding in your own backyard.

Last Friday as I browsed through the racks at Barnes and Noble, "Into the Wild" by Jan Krakauer caught my attention. Sean Penn's new movie with the same title is on my must-watch films list but as a general rule, its better to read the book before/instead of watching its cinematic rendition (as always there are some exceptions – "The Namesake" for one). About a 100 pages into the book I'm finding it really hard to put down. I am not going to give anything away but I feel obliged to share a snippet. In the words of 24 year old Christopher Johnson "Alex" McCandless:

I'd like to repeat the advice I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

Read his words once again.

Till next week,

Rattan

P.S. – For my local food buffs, Oyamel (http://www.oyamel.com/) at 401 7th Street NW is a must try out (I say Sunday brunch is a good time to go). This 'cocina mexicana' is a haven for everything authentically Mexican from fish tacos (Pescado Mexicano) to cactus, guacamole, and even grasshoppers!