Potpourri

Who loves to go see a dentist? Here are some excuses that can come handy to avoid a dentist's appointment. The source is a comic strip created by certain Stephan Pastis can be found here . Enjoy!!

I have been following some Pakistani blogs and some American blogs that talk about the current situation in Pakistan and Afganistan. Abu Muqawama is one such blog started out as a forum dedicated to issues related counterinsurgency. However, it is more diverse. The move to diversify and focus on the current Pakistan situation was conscious. The two people who maintain the blog, Abu Muqawama and Londonstani, are both great bloggers. However, Londonstani is my personal favorite. Today's post (s)he wrote is absolutely amazing. Today this sort of journalism is hard to find. In the crowd of terrible media reporters and "yes, minister"s this kind of clarity and honesty in reporting stands out. Take a look at some her/his gems. I am sure you will love them and at the same time they will shake you. It is our nearest neighbor who is equipped with extremely powerful nuclear weapons and is about to get taken over by terrorists. It isn't a theoretical problem anymore. It is at o...

My coffee drinking habit continues. I have started liking this one cafe near Nariman point. It is inside a mall, like all good cafes in Bombay. It's called Coffee bean and Tea leaf. I went there thrice. The coffee there is very expensive, Rs 110/- for one solo cup of Cappucino. But its definitely worth it. They have got nice comfy sofas, fast service. I haven't really tried any tea here. But I cannot get myself to pay hundred bucks for a tea. For coffee, it seems alright. :) Mufins are a huge disappointment. Probably they keep health concious customers in mind when they add taste and gluttons in mind when they give them shape. As a result, those huge mufins taste really weird. So, this cafe is really all about coffee. I won't recommend anything else, but a nice hot cup of coffee. Do try it out when you come here.

Amit Trivedi! Yes, "one hell of a" music director that he is. A friend of mine once told me that when he reads a book he maintains a song or a bunch of songs on his play list as he reads that. Which then becomes a sound track for that book in his head. Amazing! Amit Trivedi's music has been a sound track for my last month at TIFR. Iktara, from Wake up Sid is a must listen. And of course, Dil Mein Jaagi from Dev D is mindblowing too. Keep listening....

My social life is coming to a standstill. I hardly ever hang out, spend time, chit-chat, go to social networks. I cannot believe I did all this through the days of my PhD. Being a post-doc is definitely very different, I am only now finding out. I seem to get hardly any time any more. The week goes past me. In spite of being in the most amazing locality on the face of this earth, I hardly go out. There is always more to do than what I have done. Partly this can be ascribed to my inefficiency. But that cannot be all. It must be that there is just too much to do. And at the end of the day I get so darn tired! On the up side, the TIFR campus is indeed worth staying in for long stretches of time. Yes, there is colaba out there just in the backyard, which I am not managing to visit as often as I would have liked. But who cares? I can always look at this sea and the landscape. Also, I am getting pleasures of figuring out small little new things everyday. This is exceptional and I am loving i...