India

Visiting Sun Bangalore

June 4, 2008

After seeing my daughter graduate from Woodstock School last week, this week I’m visiting Sun’s engineering center in Bangalore, to meet colleagues – and film them! I haven’t been to Bangalore since 1980, when it was a sleepy little town. No more! The ride in from the new airport (just opened last week) took an [...]

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Gallery: Woodstock School Graduation 2008

May 30, 2008

My daughter Rossella‘s graduating class. Descriptions and video available of the awards, baccalaureate, bacc videos, behind the scenes, banquet, banquet videos, photos, graduation ceremony.

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Gallery: Woodstock School Baccalaureate Ceremony 2008

May 29, 2008

The Baccalaureate ceremony of my daughter Rossella’s graduating class.

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2007 in Review

February 3, 2008

another gorgeous winterline sunset, Mussoorie, December 2007 Feb 3, 2008 The past year was so busy that, in spite of the many articles, photos, and videos I published here, there are still travels and events that I haven’t even mentioned, video and photos you haven’t yet seen. 2008 is shaping up to be even busier [...]

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More Things to Buy in India – The Growth of a Consumer Society

January 21, 2008

^ Buduram the mochi (shoemaker), Landour, Mussoorie, 1980 When I first went to India in 1977, there wasn’t a lot to buy anywhere in the country. The basics – food, clothing, shelter, transport – were all available, but the consumer goods industry was severely undeveloped, thanks to a government attitude of “Be Indian, Buy Indian”, [...]

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Decorating in Italy – Asian Style: Adding Some Eastern Touches to Our Lake Como Home

January 3, 2008

^ Tibetan prayer flags in Lecco When we moved to Lecco, we consolidated the contents of our household from Milan with Enrico’s parents’ stuff from their apartment in Rome (they were by then retired to a much smaller place on the seaside in Abruzzo). In this way we acquired some beautiful furniture, fixtures, knick-knacks, and [...]

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The Crafts Museum in Delhi

January 2, 2008

Sunday, my last day in India, I hired a car to go into central Delhi, where I visited the Crafts Museum (on the advice of friend and commenter Alice). The collection is very interesting, some of it so beautiful and well made that I had to wonder where one draws the line between “handicrafts” and [...]

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Shopping for a Sari in Bombay – Part 2

December 29, 2007

You might think that shopping for a sari ends when you purchase the actual sari, but you’d be wrong. You don’t even get to take it home right away. First the salesman cuts off the blouse piece, a section of cloth woven together with the sari that you will have made into the choli – [...]

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Shopping for a Sari in Bombay

December 26, 2007

At a large sari shop in Santa Cruz. This guy got nervous after a while and asked me to stop taking photos – perhaps because of the contrast between his elegant wares and his loud shirt? Dec 26, 2007 Though some articles on this site might lead you to believe otherwise, I am not usually [...]

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Shopping in Delhi: New Discoveries

December 23, 2007

a shopping mall in Gurgaon I have written before about shopping in Delhi; here I’ll add some more details and tips, organized by location. It’s a good idea to plan your shopping days geographically, as Delhi is very spread out and traffic is horrendous – it can take over an hour to get from one [...]

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Delhi Sunday Morning

December 16, 2007

I’m sitting on a rattan footstool in order to be close to the modem – the wifi doesn’t seem to be working, but there’s an Ethernet cable, and the ADSL connection is good. Outside the window is a small, presumably ancient tomb, I have no idea whose, another of Delhi’s many semi-abandoned Mughal relics. But [...]

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Bollywood Rising – Watching Hindi Movies at Woodstock

December 9, 2007

dancing to “The Beedi Song” from Omkara When I attended Woodstock School, I never saw Hindi movies. This was partly a matter of logistics: Mussoorie’s two cinemas were available to us only on Saturdays, and a dark movie hall struck me as good mostly for getting groped by strange men – not something I was [...]

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Mussoorie Miscellany

December 1, 2007

So much to write about, but I’ve been so busy with so many things that it’s hard to gather my thoughts into a coherent narrative. So… a few random notes and photos. Life in Mussoorie is a lot more comfortable (and energy-intensive) than it used to be. Room heaters run on gas cylinders are very [...]

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Toys of Empire – Teaching Young Bengalis to be Bureaucrats of the Raj

August 22, 2007

While I was in New Mexico last weekend, Sharon and I drove to Santa Fe. The town has many museums, but we visited only one: the Museum of International Folk Art. It’s not big, but offers plenty to keep the attention. One room has drawers full of decorative panels from Bangladeshi rickshaws, and molé cloth [...]

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Ross Got Into Woodstock School

April 4, 2007

A week or so ago I ran across this on the blog of one of my new colleagues at Sun: To A Daughter Leaving Home When I taught you at eight to ride a bicycle, loping along beside you as you wobbled away on two round wheels, my own mouth rounding in surprise when you [...]

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Pinching Italians

December 3, 2006

Recently asked on the Fodor’s travel forum: “We’ve been told it is customary and acceptable for men in Italy to pinch women’s bottoms. Is this true and, if it is, what is the customary and acceptable response?” Over the years I’ve lived in Italy I’ve been asked this question several times. And it always makes [...]

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WOSA NA Reunion 2006

September 22, 2006

Note: Some of what follows will be incomprehensible and/or dull to those who did not attend Woodstock School. I have recently learned that I have far more readers among Woodstockers than I ever imagined, so this one’s for them – and anyone else who’s interested! The annual reunion of the Woodstock Old Students’ Association / [...]

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Thoughts on the Futures of India and Italy

November 19, 2005

^ a family of Indian tourists at St. Peter’s in Rome My India travel vlog, from the trip I took with my daughter this summer, is still in progress. There’s more video to edit, more photos (by Ross) to add, and, most of all, more thoughts to share. What struck me throughout the trip, but [...]

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India Vlog: Mehndi

August 16, 2005

In the evening, back at the hotel, we had mehndi (henna) painted on our hands, something Indian women traditionally do for big occasions, especially their own weddings. A complex design covering both sides of both hands such as we had done is called bridal because it’s most often done for brides (along with their feet). [...]

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Mussoorie Monsoon

July 30, 2005

Most Woodstockers are nostalgic about the monsoon, though we’d probably be a lot less so if we had to live through the entire season again! I had not been to India during the monsoon season since 1981, and had forgotten how beautiful the hills are when they’re lush and green and wet. Every tree is [...]

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