Off to Chennai

I have been busy in meetings in Delhi and could not find time to blog. Waiting at the New Delhi airport for an Indian flight to Chennai, which is delayed an hour. Will keep in touch later.

Leaving on a jet plane

Today I make my way to Delhi for some days. And then on to Chennai. So I will be reporting from the capital of this great country. I have not been in Delhi for many many moons and I am looking forward to a very exciting visit.

Out of Town

I am in Hyderabad for the next three days visiting exciting places and meeting new people. Which means that I will not be writing on this blog for a few days, which is a good thing, wouldn’t you say? I will catch up with you all in a few days.

Much Improved

Go. Profit from exile. To see, listen, walk, pause beside wisemen; question savages and madmen; and listen to stories. It is always pleasant and, sometimes, improves you.

I have neglected the blog for most of the last few weeks because I have been busy. I have listened, walked, and paused beside the wise. Though I did not question savages and madmen, I did have an experience which I can only term as transformational. I had glimpses of instant satori. Putting that in words is obviously impossible. So I will not even try to do so here. Perhaps some other time. Now it is time to get back into the fray.

Boston in the Spring Time

Whenever I come to Boston, I recall the song by Dave Loggins (I like the Joan Baez version best)

Please come to Boston for the springtime
I’m stayin’ here with some friends and they’ve got lots of room
You can sell your paintings on the sidewalk
By a café where I hope to be workin’ soon

The weather is rainy and cloudy. I am staying with friends in Acton, MA.

What else? Read the commencement address by PJ O’Rourke, “Fairness, idealism and other atrocities: Commencement advice you’re unlikely to hear elsewhere” from the LA Times of May 4th. (Hat tip: Sushant.)

PJ makes four excellent points. Of course I think they are excellent because I believe in them precisely. The short version:

1. Go out and make a bunch of money
2. Don’t be an idealist
3. Get politically uninvolved
4. Forget about fairness

The other two points I only partially agree with.

A bit of Chicago

A few pictures from Chicago. I was there 30th April — May 3rd.

Mouse-over the picture to see the controls. Clicking on the second icon from the left at the bottom shows the picture captions. Note especially the Art Institute of Chicago building where Swami Vivekanand gave his famous talk in 1893. What looks like a huge drop of mercury is The Cloud Gate:

Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a “gate” to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

A Place where Indians Thrive

Hi all from JP’s place.

No sooner do I arrive in Edison, NJ that the NY Times calls it a place where Indians (now New Jerseyans) thrive. [Hat tip: Maria]

Oak Tree Road [in Edison, NJ], which runs through this sprawling town of 100,000 people and into neighboring Woodbridge Township, may be America’s liveliest Little India, with 400 Indian businesses that attract Indian immigrants from across the region. But the impact is more than just commercial. Indians make up from 20 to 25 percent of the population, and they have spearheaded the transformation of Edison — an overwhelmingly blue-collar and middle-class white community a generation ago — into a town with a decidedly Asian flavor.

Edison is next door to New Brunswick where my old alma mater Rutgers is located. On Saturday afternoon I drove briefly through Rutgers. Those were the days my friend, we thought would never end . . .

The weather is cold and rainy.

So that’s the story. I am alive though not totally well. I got a bad stomach ailment and was laid up most of Sunday and today. I hope to get well enough to travel to Chicago tomorrow. More later.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I am leaving on a jet plane. This time to the east coast of the US. I will be there for a couple of weeks starting April 26th. Places I am going to be: NY, NJ, Delaware, Boston, and Chicago.

Mumbai, Delhi, Patna

If you have been wondering whatever happened to yours truly, wonder no more. The last few days I have been in Mumbai, attending the Sun Technovate ’07 — “INDIA — the Next Big Idea.” Got a chance to see Scott McNealy, chairman and co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Scott and three others students at Stanford University, including our very own Vinod Khosla, started Sun. (SUN — Stanford University Network!)

Hola

Hola! from Mexico City. I arrived here last evening.

Apologies for not keeping in touch. Having too much fun in Mexico City visiting the Instituto Thomas Jefferson:

Based on the principles of self esteem, respect, and academic excellence, our mission is to develop educated leaders for the 21st Century who can compete, succeed, and be role models in this high tech world while maintaining a commitment to family and moral values.

The Thomas Jefferson Institute is located in the northwestern part of Mexico City in the State of Mexico. The school has a total population of 1,850 students, 130 teachers and 70 administrative staff members. The Thomas Jefferson Institute has developed into one of the most prestigious schools in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.