Nan Bijlani

Psych-96-Review
Jessica Weiler
9/18/14

Review-Miss Representation

“Miss Representation” is an excellent piece of film in my opinion. There are several elements that make it a fabulous movie. First of all, I like its title, “Miss Representation”.  It has a pun, having two meanings and both appropriately used. Then I like the way it is scripted and edited. It would have been a boring documentary if it was told in a straight story style with facts and figures. The message and real stories are so nicely blended that your attention is gripped till the end, with the result though it is not a fiction, the film is captivating. It begins with a question, as a mother what would you feel if your daughter had to go through the circumstances like other school girls do. The facts and figures about them are highlighted from time to time, which is in a way a punch and conclusion of that issue. Then there are quick interviews of the High School girls, emotional revelations of the students, some of them funny, making you laugh and getting you out of rut, comments by experts, news being aired on television, thought provoking question marks for the viewers, how the issue is being discussed and handled at high level. We find involvement of Oprah Winfrey, top celebrities like Condoleezza Rice, Gloria Steinem, and Katie Couric telling their personal experiences. The movie has more than one message: The key point as quoted by Marie Wilson, President and Founder of The White House Project, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Then, the role and impact of media on the modern society and culture, the biased role of media projecting women as only sex objects, preventing them from acquiring intellectual positions in the higher fields, only men having smartness, strength and power, whereas women possess no less potential than men. Another negative aspect of media is to hook all age viewers glued to attractive Ads and watch averagely 31 hours of TV in a week and pursue them to become role models like Barbie or Jane Fonda, training them not to be themselves. The TV watch also sets up skeptical ideas in the minds of youngsters. All these issues need to be taken some serious measures. As a holistic look the movie is enlightening and worth watching yet there are some flaws. The movie appears to have been made to make a definite impact, steering it a little far from reality, rather exaggerated, and slightly biased. Let us see some other aspects of it.

The movie throws light on today’s society and culture, especially teen and young guy’s way of life. 

                      VALUES THAT MAKE MARRIAGE HAPPY AND LASTING” 

What is it that makes marriage happy and lasting? If you ask this question to ten different happy married couples, you will get ten different replies: attractive partner, love, money, social contacts, prestige, communication, lots of sex, big house, beautiful car, realistic expectations, children and so on. But is that all?  I think " No". 

There is something else, some more important factors without which married life cannot be happy or lasting. I saw one very funny cartoon. One man wants to go across the wall; there are so many ladders around him, he stacks them one above the other but is hapless. Just if he knew how to use one ladder to climb the wall he would have been through. (Slide 1) You might say how he would not know such a simple thing! But let me tell you, however simple a thing might be; it is not simple until you know how simple it is.  You must have experienced this several times.

Imagine you have a lot of modern gadgets like smart cars, smart phones, smart computers, robots that can do many wonderful jobs for you but if you do not know how to use them, then all those gadgets make no sense.  (Slide 2)

Have you seen a Cooking TV series-“CHOPPED”?  A number of chefs are given a bunch of ingredients and asked to make the best dish in a given time. Same ingredients! at the same time but only one chef turns out the best.

 So ingredients are not all that matter.  Yes, you do need the ingredients to make a good meal but Ingredients without a good cook can't make a good dish.  (slide 3) 

Married life is not much different. We have certain ingredients as mentioned above. It depends upon us how to utilize our qualities/abilities discreetly and make our marriage happy and lasting.
It is found,  “Understanding”, “humbleness”, “Fidelity”, and “Selflessness” are the most imperative values that make the marriage last long and happy.
    Understanding between wife and husband means considering each other, in true sense,  as better half, sharing every thought, every responsibility, every experience together, and in fact doing everything together. Now, doing all these things together cannot happen unless there is love, commitment, trust, respect, and consideration for each other. So understanding includes many things like love, commitment, trust, respect, and consideration for each other. The understanding between husband and wife should be like your two eyes. They blink together, move together, cry together, see things together, and they sleep together. (Slide 4)

Humbleness means having no false ego. Ego is a perception about the self, rather than what you really are. When the perception about self is wrong it is called false ego. This false ego is the greatest barrier in the way of happy relationships for married couples. It is said, “Ego is the only requirement to destroy any relationship.” Conflict, arguments and nagging is a regular affair between wife and husband. Usually they get solved because couples compromise, say sorry, forgive and forget. But sometimes the false ego of some people doesn’t allow them to surrender and admit though they are wrong. This tends to end a happy relationship.
    We have so many examples: “Tamar Braxton and Husband, Vince, Separated Due To Ego?
(http://singersroom.com/content/2014-09-08/ ..)
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer divorce.”
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2223352/How-Russell-Crowes-king-sized-ego-cost-love-life.html#ixzz3JvLkmhfU )
Fidelity is another important value. Marriage cannot go without trust. It is said, “Without trust, it is only a matter of time before relationships crumble.” We find, most breakups occur because of infidelity. “Review of nine studies analyzing reasons people gave for divorce found that extramarital relationships were mentioned in eight of them (Kitson et al. 1985) compared to other problems'' 517 (Fidelity is elaborated in the paper).                                     

Selflessness or no selfishness means finding happiness in the happiness of others. “Selflessness” directly refers to sacrifice. Sacrifice stems from love. Where there is love, there is sacrifice, commitment, respect, devotion and open communication. Selfish marriages usually end up soon in divorce. 

 In my research paper I have elaborated these values and cited various examples from some books and websites giving references of the sources. 

 

Make the small things big.

Every minute someone leaves this world behind.

We are all in “the line” without really realizing it.

We never know how many people are before us.

We can not move to the back of the line.

We can not step out of the line.

We can not avoid the line.

So while we wait in line ....

Make moments count.

Make priorities.

Make the time.

Make your gifts known.

Make nobody feel like somebody.

Make your voice heard.

Make the small things big.

Make someone smile.

Make the change.

Make love.

Makeup.

Make peace.

Make sure to have no regrets.

Make sure you are ready.

Above all else .... Make sure you tell your people that they are loved and that your faith is strong

 

Brochure:

One simple trick can change your life.

Did you know a psychological law?

ACTION SPAWNS THOUGHTS.

You can set your mood by respective actions.

1 .Smile and happy thoughts will rush your mind.

2. Walk with your chin up. You will feel confident & dignified.

3. If you look down you will feel low and depressed.

4. Look into eyes, smile, and speak. Your communication will be successful.

5. It is within your control to set the desired mood & Boost your

overall well being by respective action.

Give it a shot. I have tried it in the gloomiest moments of my life. It works.

Strat with a simple step. As you wake up, look into the mirror and smile.

In fact ,Laughter Clubs, Laughter Yoga Classes, and Laughter Therapy all work on this simple principle,

“Thought Follows Action.”

Everything is within you. 

Fortunately the most valuable things in life come free!

Do you have to sign up? No.
Is there any fee? No. It pays you.

 

 

Nan Bijlani
ESL 302 Helen
11/5/10

INS Open Door Policy

What would happen if you left the front door of your house open? Of course, anyone would walk in, make a mess and get away with whatever he/she needed. America is a land of fortune. and attracts people from all parts of the world to seek jobs, higher education, and clean healthy life. But the laws in America do not allow everyone to come. There is Immigration and Naturalization Services department that has made stringent rules to control the influx of outsiders from embarking in America. If the INS opens its doors to everyone, it might result in chaos and more significantly poor sanitation, reduced jobs, and rise in crime.

One of the ill effects of an open door policy of INS would be poor sanitation. Due to ample openings in the various fields like education, jobs and business, people would rush to avail the benefits. So the number of people in the country would go up resulting in overpopulation, meaning less area per person. We have many examples of overpopulated countries like China, Japan, India, Pakistan and more. All resources like land, food, and water would be divided into vast populace. As the population grows, the waste on the roads, buildings, working places, business centers would increase dramatically and uncontrollably jeopardizing the sanitation. If there are relatively more people, controlling sanitation would be a tremendous task.
Another consequence of the INS open door policy would be reduced jobs. As we already noted, more resources being achievable in the U.S. a lot of job seekers would rush in the country, because there are not enough and suitable jobs for them in their countries. This would result in overpopulation. As such, the number of jobs would be divided into more people. The situation would be imbalanced; more people, less jobs. Overpopulation creates competition in job hunters, fights for the jobs and disturbs the economy because people would be ready to accept even less salary rather than remaining unemployed. Hence jobs scarcity would be the direct impact of the open door policy of America.  

  Last but not least, an open door policy in the U.S. would promote crime. As we saw, there is chain reaction. Open door policy allows any number of people in the country, leading to overpopulation; which is followed by reduced jobs and unemployment. These unemployed people would look for some means to survive; if they cannot find any measure then they would resort to illegal activities, like shoplifting, robbery, stealing or in extreme cases even murder. So the final result might be crime rise.

All said and done, you can easily see that if the INS policy of the U.S. opens doors to everyone, it will prove to be a curse and disaster. There is a chain reaction; if INS policy opens doors to all embarking crowds in the country, people would pounce on the opportunities and make a mad rush. This would create overpopulation, followed by griminess, joblessness, and increase in crime. So, it is not just an impulse or fancy that INS has restricted entry. If the aliens are not screened, the country might be devastated. Opening the door to anyone would mean invitation to invasion.  

 

Nandkumar. Bijlani

                   APAA (ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN ASSOCIATION )

             A.S.P.I.R.E. PROGRAM SCHOLARSHIP

 

       "Your Experience in an Asian/Pacific Islander Community."

 

My son and daughter came to California, U.S. in pursuit of higher studies. They got jobs, got married  and even had children. Thus they were settled here. Me and my wife in India began to miss them awfully and found no charm in life without them. Visiting U.S. after 9/11/2001 was tough.  As such we made the decision to live with  them permanently in California. 

 

   Initially I had some fears. I was  skeptical whether I would be able to acclimatize in foreign environments. I thought I would miss my language, religion, culture, food, social life, medical facilities etc. but I slowly realized that the things were quite different. Little did I know that there were masses like me who had arrived much earlier and formed Asian/Pacific Islanders Communities. In course of time my opinion has completely changed. Now I feel, being here is like living in a home away from home. 

I know many people who are crazy about visiting foreign countries, knowing their culture, wearing fashionable costumes, savoring food varieties, listening  to their music, watching movies, learning their languages, not only that, even marrying them. They work hard, save money and spend all their savings to go different places. I was amazed to realize that I was able to enjoy all this diversity and multiculturalism without spending anything living here in   California. What could be more fun, enjoyment and experience than this.

                                                                                                             

One must admire America's Noble Philosophy, Mission ,Vision, Policy, and Governance.

"United We Stand" is not just a slogan. America lives by it. It believes that we can grow by accommodating others. America not only accommodates outsiders but welcomes and provides healthy environments to grow. That is why today there are full-fledged and functional

Asian/Pacific Islanders Communities, which teach newcomers; language, educate, give monetary support, provide vocational guidance, and make them worthy regardless of ethnicity, color, cast, age, sex, national origin, and religion.

No wonder why everyone aspires to live, learn, and earn in America!

No wonder why everyone should not be loyal, serve, and pledge to do everything in the interest of the country. God Bless America and even Asian/Pacific Islanders Communities.    

 

 Nandkumar. Bijlani.          

ARPITA MISHRA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

 

 "How I Plan To Use Technology in My Career or Major"  

 

     I am majoring in Business Information Systems. There are numerous avenues in this stream. I have planned to use the technology of my career in the research of 5D Cinema.

  

As I sit back and retrospect, I realize, all the pleasures and comforts I enjoy in my life are nothing but the outcome of dedication and contribution of geniuses. They pledged their life, pulled all night terrors and invented music, automobiles, air crafts, movies, computers and what not? Today we have a cell phone that is also a music player, camera, computer, television and an electronic atlas. We are not unfamiliar with the IMAX Technology & Matrix strategy. Sitting back in the comfort of a sofa one can do so many things online and control most of the things with the touch of remote buttons. 

I  have an inner urge to devote all my knowledge, time, and energy to develop something cool for humanity. I have some strange passion for digital media designing. 5D Cinema is the dream that I have always cherished. I wish that people would be able to perceive, technically advanced and the world's most spectacular movie experience. 

2 -D picture is a primitive idea today. Even 3-D is the story of the past. 4D Cinema is already in. I wish people would perceive 5 D Cinema.

When you see the movie, you should enjoy it with all your senses, see the length, breadth, and the  depth of the object, hear the stereophonic, surround sound effect, more superior than Dolby one, feel the whiff of the wind blowing, feel the thrill of take-off and landing while flying in an aircraft, feel the warmness of sunshine and  the splash of rain,even smell the fragrance of the roses while you view the rose garden. It may sound absurd today but what sounded absurd yesterday is the reality of the day. 

I know it is not a pie and it is not a one man show. It requires tremendous investment, State-of-the-art technology, team work, feed back, coordination and further research and enhancement in various fields like 3D Computer Graphics, Artificial Intelligence, Key Framing, Intra Frame (Video Compression), Ultra Wide Band Range, Special Cinema Halls to create special artificial effects., High Definition Equipment and much much more. My focus and contribution will be in the field of digital design and computer graphics, which may be a minuscule of the total volume but that makes a difference. I'm hopeful I will enhance and augment the technology and make the next generation enjoy the 5D cinema.