There are some places that charm you the moment you drive there. Minneapolis is one of those cities. Beautiful in the summer.
Don't know about winter; don't want to know.
The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden are both located downtown and highly recommended. The Mighty Mississippi flows through the city and there is a natural stone arch that stretches 2100 feet across it at one point.
The people are friendly and the city is cosmopolitan. For lunch you can take a ride into little Somalia or venture into the colorful barrio on E Lake St. and get a table at one of the many taquerias that serve the best tacos I have had. Fill them with Al Pastor (barbecued pork), Carne Asada (grilled steak), Carnitas (roast pork), barbacoa (shredded beef), liver, or spicy refried beans and you are golden. The salsas are to die for. Couple of reasons to go to the barrio during lunch: (a) The bright colors of the barrio catch the eye better during the day, and (b) there is less gunplay before sundown.
I bet you think I'm kidding about that last bit.
Another city that I love is is Washington DC. I think it is under-rated by Indian tourists, especially when stacked up against nearby New York. People will fly to New York and give DC a pass. I think this is a mistake. There are lovely museums and art galleries that line the National Mall in DC. They are all free to visit and you can spend days in each one. Literally.
I spent the summer of 1999 wandering around those museums. I would spend an entire day at a Smithsonian or an art gallery, then pop into an Ethiopian restaurant for some first class grub, before finishing the evening at a jazz club near Georgetown University. Happy times.
Since we are on the subject of cities, I also like Phoenix, Arizona. If you can get past the hundred-degree summer days, it is a beautiful city. The palm trees and the pueblo-style buildings reminds one California, but without the accompanying sticker shock. It's almost like somebody took California, relocated it inland, and then marked down all the prices.
The OBC Reservation Bill is a done deal. Whatever the benefits or drawbacks of the Bill, one thing is certain--Hindus will polarize even more along caste lines.
There is no denying that lower castes in India have been systematically discriminated against. They have been excluded from education and jobs and discriminated to the point that most now find themselves locked into a vicious cycle of illiteracy and poverty
The question therefore is not whether we need affirmative action, but how the affirmative action should be structured. I think it will make for better outcomes to shoot for universal primary education than subsidized secondary education.
One pro-reservation stand cites Tamil Nadu as being successful with reservations and tries to prove the point empirically (Tamil Nadu has 69% reservations across all categories at the time of this writing.)
As a categorical syllogism, here is the argument:
Major Premise: Tamil Nadu is economically better off than, say, West Bengal.
Minor Premise: Tamil Nadu has 69% reservations, combined across all categories.
Conclusion: Reservations cause better economic outcomes.
There may be a confusion between correlation and causation going on here. Tamil Nadu may be succeeding in spite of reservations. West Bengal, to compare, has been saddled with the Communists for a while now and Tamil Nadu has had better leadership. That could be a cause. Tamil Nadu may have better human capital. Why not? Tamil Nadu has had more fertility programs with better outcomes and has a thinner population density than West Bengal. That could be a cause.
I could equally well argue that Gujarat has both a higher per capita State Domestic Product (SDP) and a lower Gini coefficient (indicating greater income equality) than Tamil Nadu and Gujarat also has lower reservation quotas than Tamil Nadu. Therefore reservations do not lead to better economic outcomes.
Maybe Tamil Nadu would have been even better off without reservations. Prove me wrong.
I bet you think I'm kidding about that last bit.
Another city that I love is is Washington DC. I think it is under-rated by Indian tourists, especially when stacked up against nearby New York. People will fly to New York and give DC a pass. I think this is a mistake. There are lovely museums and art galleries that line the National Mall in DC. They are all free to visit and you can spend days in each one. Literally.
I spent the summer of 1999 wandering around those museums. I would spend an entire day at a Smithsonian or an art gallery, then pop into an Ethiopian restaurant for some first class grub, before finishing the evening at a jazz club near Georgetown University. Happy times.
Since we are on the subject of cities, I also like Phoenix, Arizona. If you can get past the hundred-degree summer days, it is a beautiful city. The palm trees and the pueblo-style buildings reminds one California, but without the accompanying sticker shock. It's almost like somebody took California, relocated it inland, and then marked down all the prices.
The OBC Reservation Bill is a done deal. Whatever the benefits or drawbacks of the Bill, one thing is certain--Hindus will polarize even more along caste lines.
There is no denying that lower castes in India have been systematically discriminated against. They have been excluded from education and jobs and discriminated to the point that most now find themselves locked into a vicious cycle of illiteracy and poverty
The question therefore is not whether we need affirmative action, but how the affirmative action should be structured. I think it will make for better outcomes to shoot for universal primary education than subsidized secondary education.
One pro-reservation stand cites Tamil Nadu as being successful with reservations and tries to prove the point empirically (Tamil Nadu has 69% reservations across all categories at the time of this writing.)
As a categorical syllogism, here is the argument:
Major Premise: Tamil Nadu is economically better off than, say, West Bengal.
Minor Premise: Tamil Nadu has 69% reservations, combined across all categories.
Conclusion: Reservations cause better economic outcomes.
There may be a confusion between correlation and causation going on here. Tamil Nadu may be succeeding in spite of reservations. West Bengal, to compare, has been saddled with the Communists for a while now and Tamil Nadu has had better leadership. That could be a cause. Tamil Nadu may have better human capital. Why not? Tamil Nadu has had more fertility programs with better outcomes and has a thinner population density than West Bengal. That could be a cause.
I could equally well argue that Gujarat has both a higher per capita State Domestic Product (SDP) and a lower Gini coefficient (indicating greater income equality) than Tamil Nadu and Gujarat also has lower reservation quotas than Tamil Nadu. Therefore reservations do not lead to better economic outcomes.
Maybe Tamil Nadu would have been even better off without reservations. Prove me wrong.
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