ZooFriends

Appeal to Gopal, Dipak, Radha, Shrikant
Please post some message to the ZooFriends page to let me and Sujaya know that you guys are still around.

Message for Sujaya and anybody else who happens to drop by...
Anuttama's Board Exams started on 26th February. We are all thinking of going for a brief holiday to Jim Corbett once Anuttama's exams are over.

Zoo friends is turing out to be a dialogue between Mohan and me. I hope Mohan impressed upon Radha the importance of participation. Congrats on the tournament. What was the winning word? Wasn't Dipa the one that was going to join the IAS or the Foreign Service? Oh dear, I do talk too much. A scientist career is not a lucrative one for the most part so I am worried. The news at my end is that I am buying a house. It is a big and scarry step for me but I need some roots and this will tie me down a little. I will be looking for visitors to fill the empty spaces so please look for opportunities to visit Corvallis!

I am just back from Mumbai where I had gone to participate in a Scrabble tournament. I was hosted in Mumbai by Radha. Radha, his wife Maya and the kids made me feel right at home. Snoopy, the dog would be disappointed if I did not give him honourable mention. Depite the hectic tournament schedule Radha and I were able to go for walks in the morning and late evenings around Shivaji Park. Also had good yakking sessions at night. The kids were remembering Sujaya aunty fondly. Dipa is so impressed that she wants to be a scientist when she grows up.
I won the tournament despite a few worrying moments. Rest of the news after I get some news!

Have pity on me folks. It is boring to talk to myself and now I have to write to myself too! Some people like solitude- not me. So spare a few minutes every week for ZooFriends. I'll hold my stories for next week.

People from all over have been getting in touch with me to find out if my family was affected by the earthquake. Anyone heard from Nair? My mother happened to be in Bangalore and she did not feel the tremors but her sisters in high rise buildings felt them on the 29th. Any news of IIM Ahmedabad?

Have I related the story of how I lost my car? We have staff parking permits but if you take off during the day, it is sometimes a challenge to find a spot. One day I didn't, so I drove around campus looking for an empty spot away from the 2-hour zone. I found one, parked, made a note of the location and got back to work on grants. At 7.30 pm I called an acquaintance Diane to say I was coming over and set off towards my car but I could not find it! I searched for an hour with no success. It was dark and rainy and I was tired and hungry so I gave up and walked home. I called Diane and explained the situation and she asked if I thought my car was stolen. Well, how could I tell given that I did not know where it was supposed to be? After a night's rest I tried again the next morning but it was still dark and I had no success. I had visions of having to call a cop and have him drive me street by street. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing? After the grants were submitted, in the middle of the day, I tried again and this time the landmarks were visible and there was the car exactly where I had left it. Many people have had the experience of having forgotten where they parked either at a mall or an airport garage but, unlike me, they all have located their cars the same day. It is pretty funny now.

More stories next time.....

No news for the past many days. What is up? I was expecting the pageviews to skyrocket but nothing drastic seems to have happened;-)

A tad difficult to explain but very easy to use. Look for it under How To/Cool Tools. It allows you to bypass the process of logging
on to the Blogger site. Are you using Netscape? You can drag it on to the personal toolbar and instantly post messages. Try it. I
am sure you will love the convenience.
Thanks for the photographs and the lovely ento-themed card and the stamp (not quite ento!)