2 November
2023
1 November
2023
One of the newer Asterixes
I can not remember having read this one before – Asterix and the Missing Scroll. As always, it is wickedly funny. This is a later one. I think this was after Uderzo had passed away. Ferri and Goscinny did this.
Because it is a newer one, it has a lot of ultra modern references which makes it even funnier. An example… the pigeon minder let the pigeon fly away and immediately realized that he had not tied the message to its feet. His words? “Oh! Wait! I forgot to add the attachment!” 🙂 🙂
30 October
2023
Changed up my work desk a little
29 October
2023
You do not need to know cricket to answer this quiz
Most of my friends in the USA may not be aware that World Cup Cricket is going on. There are 10 countries participating. (unlike our World Series Baseball where we just invite Canada in).
Each team will play the other 9 teams resulting in 45 games and then the top 4 go to semifinals and then of course, the final.
I was looking at where different countries stand today. This is how the chart looks. Country name, points and the result of the last five games, starting with the most recent.
Study that table carefully.
In any column, you would expect 5 wins and 5 losses, right? 10 teams playing each other – 5 winners, 5 losers. That is how you would expect every column to be. And that is how the third and fifth column indeed are. But the first, second and fourth column have 6 wins or losses and 4 wins or losses.
How is that possible?
28 October
2023
Enjoying late evening in downtown
The bars were very crowded with Halloween traffic. I just needed a quiet place to read a book. Found a nice spot outside one of the retail stores. KC from next door Truck and Tap saw me and got me my favorite evening opener – an Old Fashioned!!
By the way, the book I am reading is “Outlive”. Have any of you read it?
28 October
2023
Like the miser in Aesop’s fables…
… who would count his gold coins and put them back, I did a similar thing today – but with fountain pens (decidedly of lesser valuable and certainly less sought after than gold coins). This month was special – I got fountain pens gifted to me by Karan Dhir at Mumbai airport, as well as DJ, PJ and the other Dhir here in Atlanta.
It meant I had to rearrange my inventory of fountain pens in the various storage cases.
Laid all of them out on the kitchen table this evening.
That would be
100 traditional fountain pens with ink barrels and cartridges
18 dip pens of the following style:
10 glass pens
5 bamboo pens
2 quill pens
1 feather pen
Somehow it tempts me to draw up a writing pad and start writing …
24 October
2023
This is not normal for me
But it did happen to me. Turns out, I shellacked the competition in a trivia contest. Admittedly, this was a competitor set of only another 300 people thoroughly jet lagged, alcohol addled and more interested in Bollywood thrillers than obscure facts.
The thing is it was a competition in the plane which had 5 levels. Each level had 16 questions. Level 1 needed you to clear 8 correct answers. Level 2 needed 10. Level 3 needed 12. Level 4 needed 14 and then of course – the final round.
The intriguing part is that I went to the final round before getting kicked out. As Jacob Zodikoff will tell you – I (and actually he too) can knock off most science, math or geography trivia. But the problem is most trivia is about art, music and pop culture. And I am a zippo there. For the record, the last movie I have seen is about three decades back. And I do not listen to any Western music.
I just go with educated guesses. My educated guesses were off the chart today!!
24 October
2023
This surprise by the numbers
Number of different airports I had to go thru: 6
Number of different airlines: 4
Hours in transit: 75
Hours in Durgapur: 75
Families surprised: 6
Number of Pujas seen: 10
Last time Pujas seen in Durgapur: 1992
Discovered friends from 50 years back: 3
Aunts/elders from met after 50 years or so: 2
Hoping the return segment will be smooth now. Regardless, this was one of the better surprises I have pulled off!!
24 October
2023
Serendipity strikes yet again!
I had kept some time to do the formalities in New Delhi Airport. It took a fraction of that time. I was done checking in, immigration and then security in 9 minutes!! Tried to keep myself busy perusing the various shops but, none of them were to my interest.
So, went to the lounge that I was assigned to and was just going to settle down in a chair, when I saw Nilanjan next to me!! Nilanjan (DJ’s brother) and Masha have become great friends from to the meetings we have at bars when they visit DJ and PJ. I have some fond memories of Covid times when a few of us were an informal bubble and we got to interact with them a lot!
He was taking the Doha route to get back to the USA. I am taking the Amsterdam route!
24 October
2023
This makes so much more sense
I have two flights – KLM taking me from Delhi to Amsterdam and then Delta taking me from Amsterdam to Delhi.
But I have one piece of paper as Boarding Pass. Never seen this before. Even when I travel domestic with the same airlines they give me two boarding passes if I am connecting.
This makes so much more sense. The bar code has all the details including what lounges I have access to in which airport!
Have you experienced this before?
