The Joker's Halloween

Well, the Joker's popular in Lincoln, Nebraska, San Jose and Mountain View CA.

Ah - I can hear my neighbor's windchime sloshing the neighborly birdfeeder.

No kids to dig into my candy bowl.

The weather feels very halloweeny.

I mark another year.

Synecdoche

Funny how none of the movie reviewers recollected that it's a spelling bee hall of famer final word:-)

Incidentally I thought the Madurai airport bookstore had a more decent book collection than none at SFO - but I can't seem to plough my way through Jhumpa Lahiri's sequel to The Inheritance of Loss, Unaccustomed Earth or Shobha De's Superstar India. I can't even stand to skim through Superstar India - De should really stick to what's she's good at.

Marquez's Of Love and other Demons to the rescue - but I wish the premise hadn't been a rabid dog. Strange coincidences.

I desperately don't want to be proved wrong in thinking we escaped the D word into a recession.

This time as soon as the Boeing hovered over the Bay and I could see the city, I felt a sense of belonging to and in America - no pangs of longing even for God's own country. I know she is beautiful. But that's about it.

Correction: I remembered a few hours after I wrote the post that Jhumpa isn't the author of The Inheritance of Loss but the Booker winner, Kiran Desai,Anita Desai's daughter.

America, I plead, make the right choice this November, pick Obama

I watched from the sidelines the last 2 elections to my disbelief. This is a watershed moment. Yes, I know democracy as it is practised here makes it easy to make the same mistake one more time. But exercise the same democracy decisively this time for a practical, open and tolerant team.

A tribute to accessibility - Gee Whiz - I ahve been getting my information from Nobel laureate Krugman on a weekly basis:-)

A 10 day trip to India

A wedding where the bride wore a hand made bridal sari, a bethrothal enroute to where I saw chinese fishing nets in action, crisscrossing God's own country every day, being asked about the Wall and main streets crises and whether Obama will win, catching the wind in the Indian train doors, sweating more than ever before, paying 5 times more for anything than anywhere else in India, auto rickshaw wallahs stating charges in Euros - "that just cost you 1 Euro":-), chancing upon bus loads of tourists everywhere, switching to the vernacular easily in several languages, new world class work/office complexes in tier 1/2/3 cities, experiencing "missed calls" a "only-in-india" cellphone phenomenon firsthand, eating oily, sugar dripping sweets and authentic fish moilee, ericheri, pulicheri,chakka kuru varuthatu, kachimor and mor molaga - i had one helluva 10 day vacation.

Back in America, I feel I belong..catching up, continuing in the red in the economy, dems yet to close decisively..