Category: post

Thank you Avi

Was flicking through a notebook and suddenly memories came rushing back of the last pages of Avi’s notebooks in grad school – pages full of reg numbers and signatures, for Avi to sign proxy for.

Class after class, when the signature sheet got to him, he’d crane his neck to see who all from his list were absent and sign for them. Sometimes taking 10s of minutes just checking absences and signing on their behalf. He rarely missed a class. And it was equally rare that he forgot to mark for those who missed.

There were times with 10% of class present, but only 10% marked absent. All thanks to Avi. Never cringing, never being haughty or overbearing, always with a smile, signing for whoever asked :)

Thank you Avi! From me, and probably also from a huge bunch in 41/11.

And thank you again, for bringing a smile on from the memory of those years together.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Paul Sherwen actually pronounced the whole word on ITV’s Tour de France highlights package – as a suggestion to Tony Martin’s earlier comments of ‘Super Tired’ and ‘Super Happy’. Wonder how many shots that took? :)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – definition by Google

PS: Interesting that the word is way more popular today than it was when the movie, Mary Poppins, was originally released. Sign of the socially networked times?

Jardines – Amitava Ghosh & The Economist

Last night I started reading Amitava Ghosh’s latest novel in the Ibis trilogy – Flood of Fire. The novel, continuing from the previous one, has part of the storyline based in Canton in China during the Opium trading era.

Like many good novels, the storyline weaves in real life facts and characters. One of them being William Jardine, who first appeared in the 2nd novel the river of smoke, and is again present in the background (so far) in flood of fires:

Flood of Fire - William Jardine
Flood of Fire – William Jardine reference

 

Then, today I was catching up with the latest issue of The Economist, and came across this:

Economist article on Jardine Matheson investing in China
Economist article on Jardine Matheson investing in China

 

Interesting coincidence of timing.

Race, Hate & Flags

Just over a week ago, I was wondering on the ideological significance of someone displaying an apartheid era flag.

Today, the same flag appeared on the jacket of a guy who goes on a mindless killing spree at an African American church in the US.

I’m still judging.

We rescued a cow

Yesterday, Chewie and I rescued a cow.

While walking on the mount, we noticed the cows were congregated around one of the bottom gates, and there were a couple of ladies on the other side of the gates. Initial suspicion was that the ladies wanted to get on the mount, but the cows were blocking them. Soon, it became clear – as the walkers had exited the mount, one of the greedy cows had followed them through the first trap gate to get to the vegetation in the middle. As the gate closed behind her, the cow got trapped between the twin gates – meadow on one side, the heavy traffic of A31 on the other.

On realising its predicament, the cow started getting agitated – not letting the walkers back in to release the inner gate. Other cows too congregated around the gate out of concern.

Once the situation was clear, I put Chewie on lead, and we calmly walked down to the gate. As the other cows saw us approach, they quietly dispersed, leaving the gate access free. I stood on far side of the gate, Chewie calmly stood next to me, and opened the gate. The trapped cow, quickly scampered through – to the meadow, to other cows, to freedom!

The ladies thanked us, the cows gave us a grateful smile (I’d like to believe), and we walked back up the mount. Halfway up, I released Chewie off lead. He found the ball that he’d dropped earlier, and we merrily carried on home, happy1,2.

  1. I was happy at having helped a cow, but more so at Chewie’s composure – he stayed calm all through, acting mature, never showing any concern towards or against the herd of cows, let alone bark or growl.
    Chewie was happy because he had the ball, and we were headed home to his food – the two loves of his life :) ↩
  2. The scenario as it’d have happened if Raghs were with us: I put Chewie on lead, to go rescue the cows. She starts protesting, getting concerned at how he’ll behave, and how the cows will react to us. Chewie senses the anxiety in her body language and tone, and starts getting anxious himself. His anxiety passes on to the cows – through body language or barking. Unsure if we’re friendly or not, we get charged by a dozen, heavy cows. My remains may right now be splattered, mixed with cow dung, on the mount. ↩