Towards Pluto ... for now
Editor’s picks
our visit to the lovely IUCAA campus in Pune, India
19 July 2025 . Wow what a lucky start to today. We got to visit IUCAA this morning — i was keen on seeing the Foucault Pendulum (which i saw and it was really cool!) but instead got a full tour of the 22-acre campus, where all the buildings are designed by Charles Correa.
July 19, 2025
a thirty-year correspondence...
Couple of weeks ago, my friend T invited me to a reading event at the Symphony Space. It was a Letters of Note event. I follow them on twitter and so knew that it would be a fun event to attend. It was indeed a wonderful evening, made even more special by the actors who read out aloud the letters, which were unique and startling and always revealing about the letter writer. What people write when they think only one person will read it is usually different than what they write if a crowd is going to read it. Jane Curtin read a job application letter by a funny woman from the south, writing in to the New Yorker. (I’m forgetting her name now.) Phylicia Rashad read a surprisingly ordinary letter from Queen Elizabeth II to Eisenhower about her drop scones and also included the recipe that had measures in the form of tea cups; 'very quaint' is all that came to mind. An everyday letter from a not-so-well-known (at the time) Keith Richards to his aunt was so exuberant and youthful and innocent that the vision of Richards now was hard to reconcile. One of my favorites of the evening was Kate Mulgrew reading a letter by Kathryn Hepburn, in perfect Hepburn pitch (honed perfectly from Tea at Five, I’m sure; Mulgrew even had Hepburn’s head-shake & voice down pat), a letter to Spencer Tracy, a letter unsent to him and unread by him, a letter of confession and of questions, a letter so beautifully honest that it made me cry. It was a cold evening that night. T & I walked a few blocks after just to take in the cool air. I mentioned how letter writing had been a wonderful activity for me growing up and how this event reminded me that the two long-running correspondences I’d had so far, had both ended. One by death. One by just times, they are a-changing. Both had begun when I was eight… and thirty years later, they were both over.
Feb 24, 2015
A walk around the block...
It's a little past 10pm [oops!] and I decided to walkabout round the block tonight. Nights are cooler than the days so it seemed like a good idea. Dadar-Prabhadevi-Shivaji Park neighborhood of Bombay is predominantly Maharashtrian, laid-back, and very simple. Life in South Bombay or "town" is far different. But here are some jhalaks (glimpses) from my walk tonight. The corner that during the day hosts a chaiwallah , vada-pav stand, and fruitwallah , is now a bustling little corner "bistro" with local faves such as bhurji (scrambled egg with masala), pav-bhaji , onion-tomato mixed stuff and gawd knows what more (I couldn't really tell). The neighborhood guys on motorcycles are cruising about trying to figure out what to do and where to hang out.
Nov 17, 2010
it's Diwali time...
Diwali is almost upon us. This year, 2010, Diwali is on Nov 5th & 6th. My brother & his family will be here. My mama (uncle, ie mother's brother) & his family will be here as well. So it's going to be a fun filled Diwali... family, friends, food, farrar (Diwali snacks), fireworks... all the necessary Diwali stuff. We've begun prepping for all this already of course. Gifts have been bought. Farrar - besan ladoos, bhajini chaklis, shankar parya etc - are ready to be had :) Family will soon be here. Fireworks will be bought later, only the no-noise-making ones though - fulzhadis (sparklers), flowerpots, chakras and more. We've also bought Diwali lights for all the windows. Only one item was left pending... the Akash Kandil (Diwali lantern). We decided to make one at home although there are some very pretty lanterns available all over town. We had a lantern framed out from last year so with some color cellophane paper, Fevicol, glitter paper, we completed our Diwali Akash Kandil - a regular dodecahedron - namely 12 pentagons. Here's how we did it...
Nov 1, 2010
Latest
our visit to the lovely IUCAA campus in Pune, India
19 July 2025 . Wow what a lucky start to today. We got to visit IUCAA this morning — i was keen on seeing the Foucault Pendulum (which i saw and it was really cool!) but instead got a full tour of the 22-acre campus, where all the buildings are designed by Charles Correa.
July 19, 2025
a thirty-year correspondence...
Couple of weeks ago, my friend T invited me to a reading event at the Symphony Space. It was a Letters of Note event. I follow them on twitter and so knew that it would be a fun event to attend. It was indeed a wonderful evening, made even more special by the actors who read out aloud the letters, which were unique and startling and always revealing about the letter writer. What people write when they think only one person will read it is usually different than what they write if a crowd is going to read it. Jane Curtin read a job application letter by a funny woman from the south, writing in to the New Yorker. (I’m forgetting her name now.) Phylicia Rashad read a surprisingly ordinary letter from Queen Elizabeth II to Eisenhower about her drop scones and also included the recipe that had measures in the form of tea cups; 'very quaint' is all that came to mind. An everyday letter from a not-so-well-known (at the time) Keith Richards to his aunt was so exuberant and youthful and innocent that the vision of Richards now was hard to reconcile. One of my favorites of the evening was Kate Mulgrew reading a letter by Kathryn Hepburn, in perfect Hepburn pitch (honed perfectly from Tea at Five, I’m sure; Mulgrew even had Hepburn’s head-shake & voice down pat), a letter to Spencer Tracy, a letter unsent to him and unread by him, a letter of confession and of questions, a letter so beautifully honest that it made me cry. It was a cold evening that night. T & I walked a few blocks after just to take in the cool air. I mentioned how letter writing had been a wonderful activity for me growing up and how this event reminded me that the two long-running correspondences I’d had so far, had both ended. One by death. One by just times, they are a-changing. Both had begun when I was eight… and thirty years later, they were both over.
Feb 24, 2015
A walk around the block...
It's a little past 10pm [oops!] and I decided to walkabout round the block tonight. Nights are cooler than the days so it seemed like a good idea. Dadar-Prabhadevi-Shivaji Park neighborhood of Bombay is predominantly Maharashtrian, laid-back, and very simple. Life in South Bombay or "town" is far different. But here are some jhalaks (glimpses) from my walk tonight. The corner that during the day hosts a chaiwallah , vada-pav stand, and fruitwallah , is now a bustling little corner "bistro" with local faves such as bhurji (scrambled egg with masala), pav-bhaji , onion-tomato mixed stuff and gawd knows what more (I couldn't really tell). The neighborhood guys on motorcycles are cruising about trying to figure out what to do and where to hang out.
Nov 17, 2010
it's Diwali time...
Diwali is almost upon us. This year, 2010, Diwali is on Nov 5th & 6th. My brother & his family will be here. My mama (uncle, ie mother's brother) & his family will be here as well. So it's going to be a fun filled Diwali... family, friends, food, farrar (Diwali snacks), fireworks... all the necessary Diwali stuff. We've begun prepping for all this already of course. Gifts have been bought. Farrar - besan ladoos, bhajini chaklis, shankar parya etc - are ready to be had :) Family will soon be here. Fireworks will be bought later, only the no-noise-making ones though - fulzhadis (sparklers), flowerpots, chakras and more. We've also bought Diwali lights for all the windows. Only one item was left pending... the Akash Kandil (Diwali lantern). We decided to make one at home although there are some very pretty lanterns available all over town. We had a lantern framed out from last year so with some color cellophane paper, Fevicol, glitter paper, we completed our Diwali Akash Kandil - a regular dodecahedron - namely 12 pentagons. Here's how we did it...
Nov 1, 2010
these feet are for a-walkin...
I love to walk especially in my trusty birkinstocks . I wear them ALL the time it seems. Can't explain my obsession or fetish (call it what you will) with feet and walking, but here are some photos from my various walks. I also love textures and barefoot walking. In NYC, wearing vibrams made sense but here in Bombay, it's completely silly, especially when most people are walking barefoot for real... I take photos of my feet to document time & place & adventure and also other people's feet cause they are so cool.
Oct 4, 2010
Look up... and you'll see stars, even in Bombay...
Most people think that star gazing is not possible in a big city. But it is possible… I know from firsthand experience. In New York we met most every Friday and Saturday in Central Park to view the stars, basic solar system stuff, the moon, and open/closed clusters too. I hung out with some astronomy buffs Peter , Charlie and others. Peter generally brought one of his telescopes to the park. We all had our binoculars as well. As you can imagine, once a scope is setup, it's an immediate people magnet. People are surprised firstly to see that that star gazing is possible and then curious to see what we are looking at. Pointing out Venus shining brightly in the setting west sky would always draw lots of oohs and aahs. Mars & Saturn were also great favorites. The joy for me in star gazing is not so much the physics and theory of the universe etc but more the idea of the stars and how they move through the night sky. Watching stars moving daily allows me to connect with them and lets me imagine how seafarers in times past navigated by them. It's magical.
Oct 2, 2010
A Daily AMwalk... Good for the Body and Great for the Soul...
When in New York, I loved going walkabout, either in Central Park or along the river or just within the city as well. A typical day's walk was about 3-4 miles. I thought I'd continue a similar tradition here. However, walking in Bombay is a whole other ballgame. There are so many more things a pedestrian needs to look out for and pay attention to. Footpaths (sidewalks) do exist along most major roads though they either tend to be taken over by street vendors or are in disrepair, forcing people to then walk on the streets, which in turn places congestive pressure on traffic. The whole thing is rather messy and I haven't yet been able to figure out why a more orderly and coexisting pedestrian and vehicular traffic pattern isn't possible here.
Sept 20, 2010
The Flight Home to Bombay... contd
Although the flight was full, at my set of three seats, there were only two of us. I was at the window and a guy at the aisle. To add to this amazing luck, the seat in front of me was occupied by a 3-month old baby girl. Babies don't recline but they do cry. However I don't mind their crying, so it was a great pairing. The family with the baby and a young son were nice to chat with. We were all fellow Indians living in America, coming home to visit family and friends so had many of shared experiences. One of the highlights of the flight was seeing Jupiter right outside my window as we took off. When we reached midway altitude, I looked out to see the big dipper. it was unreal. I just didn't think a view of the stars en route would be so clear. We were truly flying amongst the stars. Earlier this year in May, my parents gifted me a pair of binoculars. Nothing fancy but pretty great. Nikon 8x42 6.3deg Waterproof. I've always been interested in star gazing. Back in school, we used to have pretty clear nights. A friend of mine was good with star maps and she was our guide of sorts. In New York, I hung out with Peter, Charlie and others who usually set up each weekend at top of the big lawn in Central Park, viewing from sunset to when the park closed at 1am.
Sept 20, 2010
Ganapati Bappa Morya...
Being in Bombay during Ganesh Chaturthi time is exciting. Hindus follow a lunar calendar so each year this festival falls on different dates. This year Ganesh Chaturthi started Saturday Sept 11th. This festival is celebrated with more vigor in south India than in the north; so yes, Bombay, Maharashtra, is south India. The day before Ganesh Chaturthi is known as Haritalika Tritiya and many families perform a puja (ceremony) on this day as well. Like most things in Hinduism, there are no set-in-stone rules for how to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi. If you have a Ganesh at home, in Marathi it's known as 'Ganapati basowla' literally meaning that Ganapati has been 'seated'. Families choose to seat Ganesh for different lengths of time: 1-1/2 days, 2 days, 5 days, and then 11 days. If you don't seat a Ganesh at home, it's tradition to go visit friends and family who have. After the Ganesh puja is the visarjan where the idol is then immersed in a flowing body of water. When bringing the Ganapati home and then during visarjan is when there is more than usual chaos on the streets. On Wednesday Sept 15th night, it was visarjan time for the 5-day Ganapatis and the traffic all over was pretty bad; I got stuck for an hour and half en route from Sion to Dadar.
Sept 20, 2010
Origami in New York and now in Bombay...
One of my favorite hobbies is origami. The national non-profit origami group OrigamiUSA (OUSA) is headquartered in NYC and I've been a member with them since 1997. There are many regional origami groups all over the US and of course, around the world as well, but having the national group in New York is great as we have monthly origami meetings (Folding Sundays) at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), where OUSA has had their offices since inception.
Sept 24, 2010
