Welcome....

Neo Man Sherchan.

Born to Archana and Rajiv Sherchan on October 19, 2006.

Welcome Bhanja. :D

San Francisco, California

Thank God the city lived up to my expectations!! :D.. I'd been hankering to visit SanFran for so long, and I finally got the opportunity last week. I was there for the 50th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. So yes, work. But I did play too..

Did the usual tourist things.. Hangin out at Fisherman's Wharf, walking in Chinatown, cable cars, SFMOMA. Also watchin Tia Carroll at Biscuits and Blues, hanging out doing nothing at Haight-Ashbury. Lunch at Belden Place.. at Plouf. Lunch at Mt. Everest Restarant in Berkeley, which I strongly strongly recommend to anyone truly homesick for home kinda food. :D. The Golden Gate Park.. too bad I was too late to enter the Japanese Tea Garden. Well, there's always a next time. The best part was undoubtedly riding the Powell-Hyde Cable Car line (at night, multiple times).. AND biking across the Golden Gate bridge in the dusk. A hell of a ride (I totally underestimated the initial climb) but well worth the effort. Luckily it wasn't freezing or foggy ... Well, I wouldn't really have minded foggy I think. The weather was gloriously perfect the whole week.

Here are some photographs...

San Francisco

Happy Diwali

HAPPY DIWALI FOLKS....

I haven't posted in a while coz i was out in sunny california.. I was in San Francisco for the HFES Annual Meeting.. Just got back yesterday. Such a beautiul city!! Mebbe I'll have some photographs up.

Sorry about the stupid CPanel window popping up asking you for a password (twice) on this site. I think the tagboard site is down or something and right now I can't be bothered to change the code.. so bear with that crap for a while okie.

In the meanwhile, read about this billionaire who accidentally shoved his elbow through $140 nillion Picasso painting. Now I don't feel so stupid about burning my laptop. (? !!!!!!!!!) WTF!!! yeah.. it's a long story.. for another time. Lemme get over it first and then I might share with ya'll.

Macbeth - July 2006

Hartsbrook School
Hadley, MA
Shakespeare under the stars...

I was fortunate enough to catch the last show.. and it was a brisk, beautiful evening, with a full moon.

My first attempt at catching this play was when Chaitali was visiting, but we were unlucky coz of rain, and so we had to watch it inside. It was still good, but no real sets and the actors looked very restricted inside the small auditorium. Outside was way way better...

Dan Kennedy, our friend from Down Under, is playing Macbeth.. and he did a FINE job of it!!

Enjoy the pictures...

Click below for the album..

Shakespeare under the stars - Macbeth - July 2006

Kalimpong kalimpong

Kiran Desai wins the booker for "Inheritance of Loss"!!!!!!

Congratulations Ms. Desai!!!

I am happy and excited!!!! (and vindicated also!! hehe)

Great literature need no excuses. Take life with a pinch of salt, and learn to look at it from others' viewpoints.
This is for all those people from the Hills of Darjeeling who feel that she, as an author, has done an injustice to the people of the area. I say, 1st please go read the book. Then take a cold shower, and reread the book without your biases and prejudices. Learn to be broader minded and tolerant and you will then understand what it is all about.

Rushdie speaks: Heraclitus, or, Character and Destiny

September 21st, 2006
Bowker Auditorium,
UMass - Amherst

I meant to write about the talk a long time ago, but I was probably overwhelmed from the barrage of literary references which did succeed in making me feel like an ignoramus, totally worthless and unread! A journey through literature... from Samuel Richardson to Charles Schulz (yes, of 'Peanuts")... from Heraclitus, ("part wise man part fortune cookie") to Popeye - 'I yam what I yam', or 'Character is Destiny'.... Melville (Ishmael as Dylan (Bob) in Pat Garett and Billy the Kid) to Ragtime's Doctorow.. Cervantes, Shakespeare, Joyce, Austen, Nabokoff...

I'm not gonna try. Just recording the moment.

And yes, picked up "Shalimar the Clown". Wanted to get a copy of Midnight's Children too, signed, but they'd sold out! Should have had the foresight to bring along a copy!!

Oh damn...

story of my life...

again..

from phdcomics.com, obviously

Mind your language...

Are you - in an airport in the US?
Do you - speak a "foreign" language?
Do you - have a cellphone?

well... i guess you should be advised that a combination of the above three factors could result in you missing your flight (at the very least) or worse if you're unlucky (or don't cower and cringe to airport officials)...

Here's a story from the Seattle Post Intelligencer...

Monday, October 2, 2006 · Last updated 3:15 p.m. PT

Man questioned and misses flight for speaking Tamil

By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER

A 32-year-old man speaking Tamil and some English about a sporting rivalry was questioned at Sea-Tac Airport and missed his flight Saturday because at least one person thought he was suspicious.

The Port of Seattle dispatched its police officers to investigate the case, which occurred Saturday around noon, said Bob Parker, airport spokesman. The Chicago man was preparing to board an American Airlines flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The man was speaking Tamil, a language largely used in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, on his cell phone at the departure gate and on the aircraft. An off-duty airline employee heard the conversation and informed the flight crew.

The man also apparently said something in English about a sporting rivalry at his alma mater.

"It's a big misunderstanding," said Parker. "He had a perfectly innocent explanation that all added up."

Parker said it is incumbent on airport officials to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

"It's hard to triage over the phone," he said.

But Parker had no explanation as to why a man speaking Tamil, which is spoken worldwide, would be considered suspicious. The person who contacted airport officials could give an answer to that question, he added.

Parker said the man was cooperative and boarded a later flight to Texas. He told officials that he would not speak in a foreign language on his cell phone at an airport in the future.

Guess I gotta be careful to eespeeek only een eengleesh on my way to SanFran this month..

lookin forward to the trip.. not looking forward to the travel!!

Happy Dasai