Free Hugs in New York

What can you get for free in New York?

• Bad odour.
• Unsolicited pamphlets/flyers on streets.
• Free newspapers.
• Unwanted brochures slid under your apartment door.
• Scolding by cab drivers and busy pedestrians.
• Look of indiference on city dwellers.

What else? I can't think of anything that you could actually use or has some meaning to you. Who gives away anything for free of some signifigance these days?

I was surprised when I saw a guy, roughly 19-20 years of age holding a sign that read, "Free Hugs" in Times Square, New York. At first, I thought it was some kind of trap that first gives you useless free stuffs and then makes you buy something as a trade-off. Wary of such disasters, I moved on. Several steps further, I saw more young people holding the sign. And, this time there were girls too. While I was watching them with curiosity, I saw some people actually reached out and hugged the volunteers. I could not wait to take out my cell-phone and click a photo with my prized 5 Megapixel camera. (I call it prized because even I-phone 3G-S has a 3 Megapixel integrated camera.)

Times Square of New York has always amused me and encaptivated with its outrageously lively atmosphere. It is the only place in the world where you can expect to see and meet people from all over the world. And, probably also the only place where a camera never stops clicking. Click. Click. Flashes, everywhere. There were actually so many people with the sign, "Free Hugs" that I knew it no more could be an individual based effort. There must be something going on, I thought. And, owing to my curiosity or 'inquisitive nature', as I like to call it, I was tempted more than once to approach and ask one of the volunteers holding the sign. But that would mean, I would have to hug the person. This time, owing to my cultural upbringing, I moved back. You see, it's a cultural thing. I grew up in Nepal, a pretty conservative society where men do not hug women, it would be termed 'inappropriate'. I have hugged women in the past, but always with reluctance and yes, I did get nervous first few times. Now, they do it, I just give in.

So, when I got home, I could not contain my inquisitive curiosity and Googled at the first possible chance. And, I found a very interesting story. It was started by a person with a very noble mission. He was in helpless state at an aiport in the UK. So, he cut off a piece of card-board and held the sign, "Free Hugs".** People gave him strange looks but after few minutes a woman came and talked to him about her deceased dog the same morning. And this was how this "Free Hugs" campaign started. I think this is a very good campaign, a very humane one. I have lived in New York for a couple of months and have seen how they are one of the most unhappiest*, unsatisfied* people in the world and so, they are the ones who need the hugs the most.

**Find more information, here. http://freehugscampaign.org/

* I know I have made a very controversial statement and I do not intend to explain why I believe so. I will do so in my future posts.

Monster Diversity Leadership Program- New York 2009

I thought I finally got to attend a programme of considerable worth after a long time. In my first year of college, I hardly participated in any of the club activities. And the Monster.com, the organizer of this grand programme, to be simulatenously organized in other regions of the United States assured me and other participants that among 20,000 or so applications, only 2700 were selected. Big deal.
When I arrived at St. John's University in New York, the atmosphere was great, full of energy, positive vibes and participants were buzzing with excitement. I sublimed in the energized atmosphere and engaged in conversations. I met many good people, five from Nepal too and several from India. I was especially pleased to meet one of the facilitators, Ethan, coincidentally the first person I met at the event. Graduating from NYU, he was very excited and a person who loved so many things in life. Instead of working a 10-5 job like most of the humans in this world and even more so in New York, he worked with a zoo and other organizations. In the future, he wanted to become an actor.
To cut the long story short, I felt it was worth because I met new people and made connections, which might be useful in the future. But, I was disappointed with the way Monster DLP organizers treated us. It's not that they were rude or disrespectful. I felt they treated us like children, making us shout by throwing away little gifts (with sponsors' names) everytime some group made a loud noise. Personally, I am not a person who likes to engage in these kind of activities. No wonder, I never went to a pub/disco/bar the second time. The slogans they had come up with was very catchy. One of them was "Rock the DLP, Rock, Rock the DLP, Rock the DLP...Stop". (I hope I got it right.) And you had to virtually shout out your lungs while chanting this slogan. There were numerous ones like these. And everytime, any MC saw you not shouting out loud, you became the star of the show for the moment since you would be honorfully brought to the stage to become the victim and shake your ass while the excited crowd roars in approval.
Besides this childish treatment, which I thought was inappropriate, the sponsors joined in too to make the DLP program look very silly. Sponsors (apparently company recruiters) danced at Monster DLP like crazy everytime they came on stage. Many of the recruiters were in their early 20's and many of them were even student interns. And they were the 'so-called recruiters'. Can you believe that they were ostensibly to hire us and to advise us on our future plans. Many participants complained that every time participants asked any question to them, they replied, "I suggest, you log on to our website and check the information."
Scholarships were given out but noone knew on what basis they were awarded. And, sadly they were very few in number, much less than proclaimed by Monster, the organizer. Apparently, few of the sponsors who had promised bigger committments did not show up. The major attraction of the event, three laptops by HP were also cancelled since HP did not show up.
Monster DLP had good intent while organizing this event but I thought the event at New York was a joke, an indelible dent in their credibilty. And the participants who had been to other venues in the past years concured with the above statement.
I hope somehow Monster.com organizers pay heed to this message and take steps to make their programs in the future more suited to the college students' needs and not high school ones. Who likes to burn one's lung out chanting slogans?

Adventurous Summer

It's been very long since I wrote anything. So much needs to be said. I have been on quite an adventurous trip this summer. Unlike my first nine months in the United States, I went out-of-state for the first time. For the first time, I got to see high rise buildings, greenery, trees on both sides of the road and people walking in the streets. And, this street was not in downtown.

When I was studying in Texas, my friends asked me if I found the Texas accent any strange. And I was in no position to answer that because that was the only accent I had been exposed to. I mean, I used to watch English movies but I never paid any detail to the accent because all of my attention was focused on understanding what the characters are saying or probably reading the subtitles if such privileges were available. But now that I moved out of Texas all the way to the NorthEast to states like Maryland, New York and New Hampshire, I can see how Texas accent is very different than the accent people use here in the NorthEast.

Obviously, more needs to be said and written. And that will come in installments. First of all, I have decided to have one grand blog instead of having separate ones for different genres, one for my high school, one for political issues in Nepal, one for my life in college, one for photography and so on. This will be the information highway and combine all blogs together. So, it will be advised that readers choose the genre and sort through this soon-to-be digital matrix.