Ok. I will fess up to the truth. I have been watching The Sopranos. Ironically, the show hardly entered my consciousness during its run because I refused to pay for HBO and because I do not watch crime dramas. But … Continue reading
I have always loved camping. My first exposure to camping was in graduate school at U.C. Berkeley, when my classmates took me to Yosemite National Park. Sleeping bags, tents, and camping stoves were new discoveries for me then. That first … Continue reading
Indian-American collaboration symbolizes cultural colonization? I was driving across the country on Interstate 40 with a Jewish classmate in a beat-up Toyota Corolla during my first American summer, when my friend asked, “What do you wear in India if you … Continue reading
There is a Marathi saying, “kelyane deshatana, pandita maitri, sabheta sanchar …” I can’t quite remember the second half, but the first part can be roughly translated as follows: Traveling abroad, the company of learned people, and attendance at intellectual … Continue reading
When I was in high school, my best friend Chitra and I won a debating trophy. We had traveled by cycle rickshaw to a vernacular school in the old part of Nagpur, dressed in uniforms of navy blue skirts and … Continue reading
(At the hands of Hillary Clinton? No way!) What I had been dreading all these months has finally happened. Hillary Clinton has joined the presidential race. Don’t get me wrong. I would like nothing better than a woman to be … Continue reading
I have always thought of Vegas as a place to avoid. Until recently, Las Vegas was stuck in my mind as a slightly bigger version of Reno; not today’s Reno, mind you, but the Reno I remember from 30 years … Continue reading
If I were to characterize the year 2006 in a singular fashion, I would have to say it was the year that I got addicted to crossword puzzles. It was the year I went over to the other side. It … Continue reading
Even though the pundits were talking ad nauseum about the possible Democratic takeover of Congress before the election, I was skeptical. It was all hype, I thought. Then, during the last few days of the campaign, I got increasingly worried, … Continue reading
I vividly remember my first encounter with American tea. It was at a diner. I asked for tea and was served a freezing, brown liquid in a tall glass into which a straw was immersed. Watching my mystified look, a … Continue reading