ZooFriends

Dear Gopal,
Thanks for dropping a line. Was happy to learn that you are in Woodhole, Mass. Had read an interesting article in National Geographic about marine research there.
Work here has become quite hectic. Sheela is visiting Hanoi and will be back tomorrow. Anuttama has gone for a school excursion. We are having a Collectors and Superintendents of Police Conference chaired by the Chief Minister. This is 2-day jamboree.
Was sorry to hear that you were unable to finish your article for PNAS. Please keep in touch. I am missing Sujaya's newsy posts.
Mohan

Hi Folks
I am in Woodshole MAss among all kinds of exotic marine animals and am trying to refresh Zoo days. Working on sponges is a new experience and like many new experiences also exciting. I hoping to find something newer about them while I am here.
Mohan my paper could not get completed while I was in Hyderabad because upon close review of data we realised that one of the experiments lacked a crucial control so that experiment is being done again. It would take about three weeks to finish that and only then I would be able to send the paper. I guess it would have to wait until return.
Sujaya I hope you are enjoying with your parents and they feel satisfied with your latest disposition in Corvallis. How are the plants. May be I would call one of these days and speak with you also.
Bye for now
Gopal

Dear Sujaya and Gopal
What is up? Why the long radio silence? I promise not to bore you guys with 'berry' long word lists!
Mohan

I have finally got the internet connection working on my laptop at the office. Should be able to post to the ZooFriends page more often now. CM is reviewing our department's work today at 6:00 pm. Engineering admissions are in full swing. We are having to deal with a slew of Court cases. Minority status; Deemed University status etc. Bottom line as regards all cases has to do with avoiding admissions as per government guidelines.

I have not been getting enough time for Scrabble in the last few weeks. Please see if you can get hold of Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis which is a very readable book about the competitive Scrabble world. I have not read the book but the Scrabble mailing list has been going gaga about it. A few players have complained that the description of the players are a little too accurate! Amazon has a good deal on it.

I thought I will make a quick post. I am quite buried in work. I was holding additional charge of school education and youth and sports department in addition to higher education. As you mildly put it Tamilnadu has been in the news. Things are slowly settling down.
I was feeling envious about your description of July 4th fireworks in idyllic riparian surroundings. Glad to know that your entomological evangelism continues unabated.
Has Gopal finished his paper? Where is he now, geographically? Rest of the news later.
Thanks for the newsy posts.

Berries good in Scrabble
berry blaeberry angleberry boysenberry
barberry blueberry blackberry candleberry
bayberry cranberry breadberry dingleberry
bilberry crowberry bunchberry farkleberry
boxberry deerberry chinaberry goldenberry
cowberry hackberry chokeberry huckleberry
dewberry hindberry cloudberry hurtleberry
dogberry naseberry coralberry lingonberry
foxberry neesberry crakeberry marionberry
hagberry pokeberry elderberry salmonberry
inkberry raspberry gooseberry silverberry
mulberry shadberry loganberry winterberry
nisberry snowberry rowanberry buffaloberry
peaberry soapberry scaldberry checkerberry
sunberry twinberry sheepberry serviceberry
tayberry whimberry spiceberry thimbleberry
teaberry whinberry strawberry whortleberry
waxberry wineberry sugarberry partridgeberry

Tamilnadu appears to be in the news politically - what's going on Mohan? How's the new assignment; it sure sounds exciting.
I watched the July 4th fireworks here in Corvallis sitting by the river. A peaceful and fun experience. This year the Independence Day celebration reminded me of Diwali since unlike other places that I have lived in, here in Corvallis, citizens are permitted to buy fireworks. The fountains were similar though did not appear to go as high as what I was in Madras last year.

Oregon is berryland -besides strawberries, we have raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, loganberries and marionberries. I spent several hours picking and was 'berry' full of them by the time I was done.

Sunita celebrated her son's (Tejas) upanayanum so we had a family get together last month. She has plenty of space behind her house so a tent was put up indian style. The indians in the area pitched in with food so there were plenty of goodies. Tejas had a hand held scrabble that I played around with a little bit. I had taken some live bugs so use the occasion for some entomological education. Of course it was a hit!

This is a drought year; we have not had our normal rainfall. July - Sept. are usually rather dry. I need to finish writing up research from my previous job but it is so easy to put off writing for experiments. This is actually an exciting time - discovering all the insects associated with grass in OR. We have an interesting fungus - insect mutual interaction that causes choke in certain grasses. The insect is involved in 'fertilization' of the fungus which chokes the plant. The insect benefits since it feeds on the fungus. I have two puparia - cant' wait for adult emergence.

My parents are coming to Corvallis at the end of July and they will be here for a couple of months. We plan to go to Yellow Stone National Park. Sorry Gopal I will have to stick around in Corvallis during the period of your travels. The Paris part sounded really interesting. Paris is on my list of places to visit. You seem to go there every now and then. Maybe some other time....

Cheers

Suji