Ajay Verghese @AjayVerghese Twitter profile

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Ajay Verghese

6 months

New working paper alert -- "Measuring Hindu Religiosity." Been grappling with and working on this topic for eight years now. Feedback welcome!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

My wife and I are fully vaxxed but the toddler was deemed a close contact to someone in her daycare that tested positive for Covid. And she's now showing symptoms. This isn't great. So remember that this "pandemic of the unvaccinated" includes kids.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

How to write an academic paper in 4 steps: Draft 1: "[X] is completely ignored in the literature." Draft 2: "[X] is virtually ignored in the literature." Draft 3: "While [X] has been studied in the literature..." Draft 4: "This paper builds on a growing literature on [X]..."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

Food in South India is better than food in North India.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

Finally tried to bury an Easter egg in my syllabus this fall but, unfortunately, a clever student found it, and now she has my 403(b), power of attorney, and shared parental rights over my daughter.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Our Thanksgiving turkey arrived at 8PM last night. Meet Zahina and her lovely head of hair! @jennortegren was a total champ, and both baby and mom are doing great.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Man, I wish I lived in a developed country like South Korea.

Florian Witulski

@vaitor

5 years

Korea finished developing the 10 minute Covid-19 diagnostic kit and is now ramping up production. They plan to export 300.000 test-kits per week -

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

Me at an economics conference: So here is my OLS model. Economists: You are so cute! Me at a humanities conference: So here is my OLS model. Humanists: A religiosity 'score'? What is this, witchcraft?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Colleague in India: (takes my passport) "Ah, a US passport. The most powerful passport in the world." Me: "That's true. Also, I carry it around with me in the US now to avoid being detained."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

14 days

My paper is out in the Journal of Historical Political Economy! Let me know if you need a PDF and I'll be happy to send it your way.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

IR theorists please help, have made several threats re: baby's behavior but she has called my bluff on all of them what do I do next to remain a great power?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Wife, on phone with Asian restaurant: "Can we get it spicy?" Proprietor: "Sure." Me: (grabbing phone) "She's white, I'm from India, I mean for real for real spicy." Proprietor: "Ohhh yes."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Colleague: Why are you always going to India? Me:

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Actually, having a shitty dissertation is EXACTLY what makes me a doctor.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I think my main contribution to political science is that I'm really a sociologist.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

My CV: 1. Published articles 2. Articles under review 3. Works-in-progress 4. Have title and abstract 5. Debates I had with a colleague that are v. promising 6. Pub talk 7. Dreams I have yet to interpret

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

The monsoon has come. #Kerala #Monsoon2018

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Hey how about a two-body *solution* for once? Starting this fall, I'll be an Assistant Professor at @Middlebury with my wife! We are incredibly lucky. I'm very sad to leave my amazing colleagues and students at @UCRiverside ...but it's time to head home to the beast coast!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Dear students -- You don't have to apologize for "bothering me" when you email me about issues related to the course. This is my job. And I like my job! -- Your professor

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

Life update: meet Aliyah

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

Political science conference, c. 2019 -- Me: spends 20 minutes talking about ethnographic fieldwork, survey design, sampling, enumeration, and overcoming myriad problems during fieldwork in India. Audience member: This is only observational data, right?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

Haven't had an "excited to announce" in a while, but I just won a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. next year to work on my book on Hinduism and politics in India!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

The year is 2020. Other nations are experimenting with universal basic income, biometrics, and ending the use of fossil fuels. America is debating voting rights.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

Indian hospitality: in 2008 I was going to visit Delhi. My dad said, "I have a cousin there, he'll show you around." And he did. When I asked him, "When did you last see my dad?" he replied, "I hadn't talked to him in over 20 years." Still dropped everything to show me Delhi.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Reviewers killing me cause my study of Hindu religiosity and political behavior is based on observational data and therefore cannot be causal. My dudes, tell me how to randomize Hinduism and I will be eternally grateful! 🙏🏾

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

I miss the good old days when people on the street would stay six feet away from me because they thought I was Muslim.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Remember to get enough groceries for several weeks, but don't hoard, wear a mask, which are all sold out, and if you have symptoms, get tested, BTW there are no tests.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Happy first birthday (!!) to my darling Zahina! I love you so much, but please stop hitting me.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Is there a term in comparative politics for an attempted coup that fails due to the stupidity of its instigators?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

1 year

Professional update:

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

I tried an experiment, I swear. I went to a Muslim part of town and randomly assigned a bunch of them to Hinduism. It didn't take.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I've learned so much about India over the past decade plus, so I'm excited to share some of the knowledge I've accrued. Five tips on avoiding Indian families stuffing you with way too much food. I learned these the hard way:

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Quarantine has been a great opportunity for me to read more books, and indeed, so far I have read zero books.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

1 year

Today I woke up an Associate Professor! I feel so unburdened now, ready to say all the things I've always wanted to say but couldn't without the adequate protections. So here goes...all my research is made up. I've never even been to India!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Me in my 20s -- Doctor: How'd you hurt your shoulder? Me: Lifting weights brah! Me in my 30s -- Doctor: How'd you hurt your shoulder? Me: Scooping ice cream that was still frozen.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

Me: Tuesday is my really long work day. Mom: When do you teach? Me: 8-9:30, then 10-1. Dad: So 8-1? Me: (pause) Well, technically yes, but -- Dad: Your long work day is 5 hours? Me: No, I mean, wait a second... #academia #academictwitter

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Today I'm trying the Pomodoro Technique for the first time. And it's working! I write uninterrupted for 30 minutes and then cry for 7 straight minutes. #AcWri #WritingCommuntiy

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

My wife just told me about something called a "yes day" where you say yes to your kids all day long -- WTF is that I told her in India we had "no life" where your parents say no to everything for your whole life.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

As a political scientist interested in history, I'm like: no I don't have a paper on COVID in India because I'm still trying to understand the Mughals and they showed up 500 years ago.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Often when I'm in India, people don't call me an "academic" but an "academician," which I assume is academic + magician.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 months

Now conditionally accepted and coming soon to a journal near you!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

JUST RECEIVED TENURE AND PROMOTION is a tweet I hope to write in a few years!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

All I call my wife now is Dr. Biden.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

Good news: I just submitted my tenure file! Immediately got an email back from the Board of Trustees at Princeton saying, "Our records show you are not employed here." Goddamn these Ivies are elitist.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I think a great potential social science methods class would be "The Things We Knew But Forgot" where you only assign books/articles from more than three decades ago.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

Update since so many of you asked: baby was Covid positive, but has been improving the past two days. Cautiously optimistic she's on the mend. But now my wife and I are sick, as well as my parents. If you went through this, man, I sympathize!

Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

My wife and I are fully vaxxed but the toddler was deemed a close contact to someone in her daycare that tested positive for Covid. And she's now showing symptoms. This isn't great. So remember that this "pandemic of the unvaccinated" includes kids.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

I don't usually post photos of my daughter on Twitter, but sometimes...what am I supposed to do? Happy Friday.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

IMO one of the most amazing facts about India is that it produced four major religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), but also one of the world's earliest atheist traditions (the Lokayata/Carvaka school). I bet ancient Indians spent a lot of time arguing.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Editor: Your article has been rejected. Me: Yeah, well, joke's on you cause I hate this article.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

Great news -- my article "Taking Other Religions Seriously: A Comparative Survey of Hindus in India" received the Ted Jelen Award for the best article published in @PandRJournal in 2020. Article link here:

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

Political science articles I read: "We use tax data from 36 million filers cross-referenced with precinct-level voting data to compile a new database of..." My political science articles: "So, what even is religion?"

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

It's a good thing that I excel at dad jokes because I'm going to be a dad! And in true Kerala matrilineal style, it's a girl! @jennortegren #fatherhood #familytime #dadlife

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

I've always thought this was the most accurate line from Good Will Hunting regarding academia.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

My revise and resubmit process -- Day 1: These reviewers are such jerks! Day 7: Fine they made a few decent points. Day 14: OK these reviews are largely correct. Day 21: Only people who really cared about me would've written such thoughtful reviews!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

As a political scientist trained in qualitative methods who focuses on Indian history and ethnic politics, I wanted to give you all my thoughts on pausing distribution of the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine. 1/37

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

My daughter is half white and half Indian. She eats dinner at 5PM. I think that's the white half.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

You can hate Trump and you can hate Modi, but the former isn't even half as component a politician as the latter. Modi came from nothing, became PM, and decimated his opposition. Trump has a ~40% approval rating and is currently being impeached.

Opinion | Narendra Modi is India’s Trump

The prime minister's nationalist vision is eroding Indian democracy.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

I know #PoliticalScience is causal inference 24/7 these days, but this is a great article by John Gerring on description. I'd argue that sometimes this can be just as important as figuring out causality.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

My article "Taking Other Religions Seriously: A Comparative Survey of Hindus in India" has been accepted at Politics and Religion. It's the first article in my second research agenda on Hinduism, secularization, and political behavior in India. Will share when it's out!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

I've been studying the Indian princely states for a long time and one fun fact is that there is still no consensus as to how many there were.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I publish one article a year. In 2018 I got two. In academia there's this mad rush to publish as much as possible. But I like my pace. I go to India for fieldwork, which takes longer, and wouldn't have it any other way. Maybe we should rethink how much we need to be publishing.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

My article in @PandRJournal is now out: "Taking Other Religions Seriously: A Comparative Survey of Hindus in India." Check it out, and if you need a PDF copy, just let me know!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

First day of qualitative methods class: "Context is just so important. You could code the number of drinks I had on Inauguration Day in 2017 and 2021. It was the same. But the *reasons* were totally different you see."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Listen, the way to succeed in academia is to construct a shockingly incorrect theory and defend it to the death for three decades.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Things that slow down my research: 1. Bureaucratic hurdles 2. Inclement weather 3. My parents providing a list of relatives I need to visit in each town. #fieldwork #Kerala #India

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I find that teaching "Qualitative Methods in Political Science" is hard because it's difficult to focus on what qual methods do well -- I spend too much time being defensive about using them at all in a discipline that's more and more quant.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Tenure file, describing 2019: "Very productive year. Got two articles accepted, and made a lot of headway on the next book." Tenure file, describing 2020: "July 28th. Put pants on. Well, one pant leg."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

"Only 60% of the top political science departments offer any focused training in qualitative methods..." Maybe before hiring 3 experimentalists, someone to teach MLE, machine learning, etc. departments could hire just one qualitative methodologist?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

My little girl is two years old today 😻

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

The five different kinds of bribes you pay in an Indian income tax office, from the work of Pradeep Chhibber.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Immigration officer: What's your area of research? Me: Political science. IO: Do you know the father of political science? Me: Um...Kautilya? IO: No. Woodrow Wilson. What, you've never heard of him?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 months

My hot take: the fact that the "causal inference" folks don't even mention qualitative methods, don't even consider how participant observation, interviews, focus groups, case studies, etc. might yield causal arguments shows a very narrow mind. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

1 year

I've spent the past few years trying to understand how Hinduism affects politics in India. I'm happy to finally have a working paper with some initial findings based on a survey I did in Bihar in 2018. Please let me know if you have any feedback!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

I really missed attending #APSA2019 due to being in India, so I decided to wake up at 8AM on a Sunday and deliver a presentation at an empty conference room in a local hotel. It was not well received.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

6 years

One of my PhD students got a tenure-track job offer! This is an amazing feeling! #academia #AcademicTwitter #PhDchat

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Update: my mouth is burning and I'm so happy

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Indian food is the best because it dares mix ingredients that are not usually mixed. That is also, FYI, the recipe behind the greatness of Indian culture!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

I'm so thrilled that people on Twitter are finally talking about Arya, a self-designation for the nomadic tribes from Central Asia that migrated to India c. 1500 B.C. I love ancient history! #GOT #Arya #india

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

I am teaching my daughter Hindi. So far she only knows the phrase "arre paagal hai tu?"

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

It's so funny to read about Kerala *from the United States* because you are just so shocked at the idea of a government constantly trying to improve the livelihood of its citizens. A foreign concept in every sense of the word.

Kerala’s affordable meal project a hit with masses

‘Subiksha’ restaurant proves to be big hit in Alappuzha

www.thehindu.com

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Sure studying Christianity is great, but have you ever studied Hinduism? My article in Politics and Religion is open access until June 11th:

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

1 year

Laurie Patton, the president of Middlebury (left), told us that she wasn't sure the college had ever tenured a couple at the same time, so wanted to get a joint photo to commemorate the occasion!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

In these dark times, enjoy my daily life.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

Cannot believe that Stanford University Press is in such dire financial straits when my book has sold literally dozens of copies.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

Finally showed the baby her Malayali motherland, and as you can see, she's thrilled!

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

2 years

The Indian government eliminated the category of "research visa," subsuming it under "student visa." A government office in Kerala just asked me, "Last time you came here you were a professor and now you're a student again?" :-/

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

My wife is doing more writing than me during our quarantine, which is not unusual, but my baby reading more than me is a serious gut punch.

Jenn Ortegren

@jennortegren

5 years

Working during quarantine (which is really not much different than the first three months of having an infant)... #QuarantineLife #academicmama

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I've decided to employ the classic American strategy of ignoring the problem and hoping for the best.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

5 years

I met a man on my hike. I was deep in thought. He said, "What is bothering you, son?" I said: "Endogeneity."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Am I the only one that would rather read a social science book that is very ambitious and probably wrong rather than very timid and probably right?

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

If America was a British colony rn I'm 100% sure they would try to partition us.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

I was honored to be an advisor on this report, which has given us some amazing new data on religion in India. Check it out!

Pew Research Religion

@PewReligion

3 years

NEW: India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world. Indians say it is important to respect all religions, but major religious groups see little in common and want to live separately

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

So irritating when reviewers correctly point out the flaws in your work.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Wife: "Your article is on my syllabus." Me: "Wow that's cool." Wife: "It's recommended though, not required..."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Just yelled at my half-Indian daughter: "You think you're going to be vice president with this attitude?!"

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Just finished teaching my last class at UC Riverside. It's been an incredible five years, and I couldn't have asked for a better home during this time. ICYMI, I'll be working at Middlebury College (with my wife!) this fall.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

4 years

Some Biden desi group texted me and the first word was "Namaste" and I was like, "We don't say that in Kerala, you're losing me."

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

7 years

Quick PSA: if you're a social scientist and you use the term "methods" as shorthand for "quantitative methods," please know those two things are not synonymous.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

3 years

At my first job, a professor once left a faculty meeting, explaining: "I gotta go fishing." I honestly think that was the most brilliant academic I ever met.

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Ajay Verghese

@AjayVerghese

8 years

Some blame the British for all ethnic violence in India. Some absolve them for all of it. I split the difference in my book.

Stanford Press

@stanfordpress

8 years

How has British colonialism shaped conflict and violence in India? @AjayVerghese weighs in #AAS17

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