Summer

If I'm not complaining about the hot afternoons, it's because Summer has brought with it amazingly long days. Sure they are not as long as in St. Petersburg, but I do gleefully notice the precious sunlight in the late evenings. It -- my noticing, that is -- must have something to do with my recently acquiring a new camera. (Not that I'm particularly eager to add to my ever growing collection of photos. Isn't it said, sweet indeed are the photos taken, but those not taken are sweeter still?)

As for news, I'm back in Champaign, with almost everything during my trip having gone according to plan (not counting the last night I got stranded in Chicago). Everywhere -- Ottawa, Seattle, St. Petersburg and New York -- it rained, and I got myself thoroughly drenched (especially in Russia). But there also were the remarkably bright and long summer days.

There's a whole lot I would have liked to share (like I did when I returned from a previous Europe trip). But there isn't enough leisure just now (which still doesn't prevent me from lapsing to Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, and feeling that I understand it when he talks about the summer in Petersburg; btw, I picked up -- or rather, downloaded -- The Idiot, after dining in a vegetarian (!) restaurant in the city, named after the novel). I haven't yet gone through all the photos I brought back with me. Anyway, here's a small selection (some of them shot under an excellent sun, though you will find some overcast sky as well).

And finally, after more than two and a half years (so I'm told), I'll be in India -- for almost a full month -- some time in July-August. If sufficiently many things go according to plan.

Happy Birthday

Of St. Petersburg. 303rd, I'm told. I didn't know when I landed up in the city centre and was pleasantly surprised by the festivities. Here are a few of the hundred odd photos I snapped.

The crowd was unbelievably huge, and thronging the length of Nevsky prospekt. I'm a little surprised that I can't find anything about it in any of the (English language) news websites, yet. Is this the Iron Curtain?

(I have so many more things to write about: like how the sun rises at 5 in the morning and sets at 11 at night. Maybe later...)

So far so good.

Or mission accomplished, I should say. A long process has culminated, somewhat anticlimactically, in a US visa stamp on my passport. So on I go in this trip, back to the US, tomorrow.

(Staying in a warm Bed & Breakfast place in Ottawa. Pretty cool place. Warm turbaned host and hostess, a dog and a cat, organic food for breakfast, and wireless connection for my powerbook. All very cheap.)

The Itinerary

If sufficiently many things go as planned, this is where I will be on the following days:

May 17-20: Ottawa (where I'd be trying to get my US visa)
May 20-24: Seattle (where I won't be if don't get my US visa)
May 25-June 3: St. Petersburg (well I have my Russian visa, but my flight is from Seattle)
June 4 - June 7: Princeton/New York (alma mater!)
June 7th: Back in Champaign (where, whenever I return, tonnes of work awaits me)

If they don't go as planned, well, we'll see...

Spring is in the flowers...

It has started looking more and more like spring.

Meanwhile had a glimpse of Canada, but didn't want to use up the hard-earned Canadian visa right away. (OK, it wasn't that hard. Canadian visas have by far been the easiest to get, so far. Coming up are attempts to acquire Russian and US visas -- the latter from Canada!)

St. Petersburg

That is where I'm planning to go next month. Hmm...

Mon-not-so-soon

As further raising the height of the dam threatens to leave even more folks homeless this monsoon, instead of delaying the dam work, apparently, the Prime Minister has decided to delay the monsoon!

(Via AID.)

Meanwhile the Bhopalis -- who marched all the way to Delhi -- have been celebrating that they have been promised clean drinking water.

Appalling

Appalling! (via AID)

Lost in Transit

Back. Last time it was the luggage arriving a day later; and this time the passenger. But it was great fun!

(50 e-mails to read...)

Dilli Chalo!

If they should be marching all the way from Bhopal to Delhi, again, it must be something serious, mustn't it?

V-Day

V-Day wishes!

V-Day’s mission is simple. It demands that the violence must end. It proclaims Valentine’s Day as V-Day until the violence stops. When all women live in safety, no longer fearing violence or the threat of violence, then V-Day will be known as Victory Over Violence Day.

FreeCulture

"Culture should be a two-way affair, about participation, not merely consumption."

week ends

Dinner, dessert, gossip and games. (If you guys are reading this, thanks -- for not lynching me!) Not a bad way to end a week.

(But of course not the best way to begin the weekend, if you're planning to get up in the morning for your sole source of weekly exercise and it's already too late.)

The new Google Earth

For one, it works in my mac. And then -- it must be that I haven't played video games for a long time -- it was quite exciting to see the 3D perspectives of the terrain. Google Earth Community and Google Globe sound interesting too. Unfortunately their resolution for the local neighbourhood is quite bad. (So also for my hometown.)

Maybe I should compare the photos I took from the satellite plane on my way back from LA with the perspective images in GE...

Home is where...

Home is where you get waken up by a cold-call.

Back in Champaign after weeks of warm (sometimes wet) Californian weather. (some photos.)

Hope they find my lost luggage...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

Did I say the Truth is not tasty? Try this!

May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage! Ramen!

And a happy 2006 to all!

Transcending The Truth :-)

Philosophically I'm an artist. Of course, I too started off seeking The Truth. But then I found It, and found It too boring. --Anon.

OK, the "anon" is just me. I have been thinking of pouring out my personal philosophies here. (What's a blog for, after all? If you get the leisure, that is.) But it was going to be just too boring. Instead, true to the spirit of the above statement, I thought I'll embellish it a little bit and contribute it to Anon's wealth of quotes.

I should go and pack my bags now. California should be warmer...

Bablu and Mary

Bablu and Mary, the couple of the year.

Random thoughts on education in India

Some random thoughts.

Two cups of coffee

"If [each rich person] gave the equivalent of two cups of coffee, we would cover all the needs for these 31 million people in a desperate situation."