A tale of many cities

Next stop, Mumbai. As usual saying goodbye is not something I am very good at, but in case of Marseille, it is relatively easier. For some reason, I could never identify myself with the city. Whenever I travelled to other parts of France, I did not feel like coming back to it. I loved Montpellier, Toulon and the lovely city of Perpignan close to the spanish border. But after staying one year in Marseille, I cannot say that I will miss it very much.

After having spent different amounts of time in many cities, I feel that every city has a unique character.The small city of Okazaki in Japan has some memorable moments of riding bike and waiting for the cherry blossom, aka, Sakura. I felt at peace with small lanes and cafés in Bologna. The red houses in Perpignan reminded me of it. I had a brief encounter with Genoa. Ah, the tasty Focaccia!

So, bottom line is I am not as emotional as I was when I left Bologna. As for the future, I am curious to see which city lies in my path next.

An Italian present

Sometime back, I published an interview with Silvia, on her views on India. Silvia also decided to take my interview on Italy and Italian culture. Silvia is one of the most kind hearted persons I have met, as is evident from her other blog on slums in Mumbai. I don't know what to say, except, "Tiringrazio, Silvia. Sei gentilissima."

The original interview is in Italian but thanks to almighty god Google, you can read the translated version here.

Vivaldi

It's snowing in Marseille. Something that happens very rarely, they say. The streets, houses, trees are covered with snow. Even the first few meters of the sea are frozen. It's a beautiful sight.

It's at times like this, that you cannot find words to express yourself. So you look for them elsewhere. And this time, I find them in Vivaldi's Concerto No 4, Winter and I marvel at the creative genius, that stands the test of time after 300 years!

Shivering, frozen mid the frosty snow in biting, stinging winds;
running to and fro to stamp one's icy feet, teeth chattering in the bitter chill.

To rest contentedly beside the hearth, while those outside are drenched by pouring rain.

We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously, for fear of tripping and falling.
Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and, rising, hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up.

We feel the chill north winds coarse through the home despite the locked and bolted doors
This is winter, which nonetheless brings its own delights.

Silvia's reflections on India

Prologue : After reading Silvia's post about the Indian film festival in Florence, River to River, I was quite touched by her thoughts and emotions about India and Indian culture. And I felt that many Indians would like to know about them. So I thought about translating her post into Marathi, a lanuguage spoken in Maharashtra, Western India and which also happens to be my mother toungue. And in order to add more information about her, we decided to do a short interview as well. So here is the article and the interview in English and the Marathi translation is here and here.

I would also like to thank Silvia for all her help.

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Silvia is originally from Genova, Italy. After completing her Masters degree in Physics, she works as an editor in Bologna. One of her interesting qualities is her love and affection about India and Indian culture. She has been to India three times and she is always trying to understand India and Indian culture through books and movies. I was amazed when I saw the list of Indian authors she has read. I have not heard of many of them, let alone read them.

Silvia came to India in the summer of 2007. But this was not a trip for sightseeing. She was going to teach chliders in Mumbai slums for a month. This was in collaboration with Akanksha, a non-profit organization that works towards providing children with education, skills and character. She has recorder her experiences in Mumbai on her other blog. They are very touching and leave you full of emotions.

Afetr getting to know about Silvia's work, her affection about India and Indian culture, I thought about doing a small interview with her.

Me : When did you first decide to visit India? And how many times have you been there?

Silvia : My first "contact" with India happened in 2002, simply reading Rushdie's Midnight children. Through that book I felt India was really a special place and I wanted to know more, to visit it, to learn about people and culture. And while I was reading my second Indian novel (Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things), I got an email from a guy living in Kerala (same place where the novel is set!), interested in Italian literature! We become very good friends, he sent me a lot of books of Malayalam writers (that I loved...). Then I decided to go and visit him.

I first visited Rajasthan and then I moved south to Kerala and stayed with his family (wonderful experience!). Second time, I went to Ladakh. Third time, I worked in Mumbai with slum children.

Me : What was your first impression of India when you arrived? And has it changed?

Silvia : My very first impression comes from arriving at Delhi railway station at 4:00 am to get a train to Jaipur: there were so many people sleeping on the floor that I could not step in! It was a little bit shocking... In following first days I felt a bit disoriented, but then I found Indian people so nice and friendly that I started to feel at home... My impression is constantly changing with time, just because I learn more about the country and the people. Anyway, I think Indian culture and society are very different from ours, but it is incredible to see how human feeling and emotions are so similar across different cultures.

Me : Could you please tell us a little bit about your experince of working with children in India?

Silvia : It was one of the best experiences of my life! I taught Math and English to children from different slums in Mumbai, working together with Akanksha, a wonderful NGO that really makes a lot for these children. But the most important thing was the human contact with the children. I learnt a lot from them, much more than they learnt from me. The most amazing was to see how children living in absolute poverty were so hopeful and so ready to give. I came back with a word in my mind: 'human'.

Bologna : Casa lontano da casa

Ho apenna finito di leggere romanzo di John Grisham, The Broker. Aparte che Grisham é uno di mio scrittore preferito, il libro ha un altro aspetto interessante. La storia succede in Bologna. La cittá dove abitavo qualche tempo fa, una di mia cittá preferita in Italia. Prima di scrivere questo romanzo, Grisham é stato in Bologna. Il romanzo descrive Bologna perfettamente. Piazza Maggiore, via della Independenza, Strada Maggiore, Le Due Torri, Porta Saragozza, Porta San Donato e anche molte strade piccole.

Mentre leggevo, ho sento nostalgico. Mi riccordo, ero più triste quando ho lasciato Bologna. C'e l'ho tante memorie di Bologna. I buoni gelati, le serate passate in Piazza Santo Stephano dove i ragazzi cantavano, la basilica di San Luca, le estati caldissimi e gli inverni freddissimi. Una volta, mi ricordo stavo tornando da Svizzera. Il treno é arrivato a Bologna e della finestra del treno, ho visto il nome 'Bologna'. Improvvisamente ho pensato, “finalmente, arrivato a casa”. Poi ho realizzato, la assurdità della situazione. Forse, Camus ha ragione. La vita é assurda. Ma nella mia mente, Bologna é sempre una casa lontano da casa.

Change has come to America

At last, looks like change has really come to America! Congratulations to Barack Obama!

It's a bug! It's a feature! No, it's Windows Vista!

Vista woes abound the net. They vary from vista defrag running all night to the dreadful UAC popups. Usually it's quite clear wheather an annoyance is a bug or a feature. However, I came across one where the jury is still out.

In Windows Xp, to unmount a USB you right-click on the icon in the taskbar and a popup says "This device can now be safely.. blah blah." You remove the USB and the popup vanishes. In Vista however, when I perform the same operation there is a new window carrying the same message with an OK box and I have to spend one second to click OK. I have to transfer data from the lab to my laptop several times a day. As internet in not allowed inside the lab, I use a USB. This means that I have to click this box at least once or more per day. Counting one click per day for 365 working days, I spend at least 6 minutes clicking something which has absolutely no meaning. I ask the OS to unmount the USB, the OS does it and asks me back if I am OK with it. Then I tell the OS that I am okay with it. To borrow a quote from Seinfeld, "What's this? An Abbott and Costello routine"?

I don't know what's your take on using bad words; to each his own! But at times like these, my vocabulory of Italian bad words gets used in full flourish.

It should not be too difficult to fix this bug feature. And I am sure there are bright guys at Redmond. Or maybe we have to pay wait for Windows 7?

In a discussion on slashdot (see the UAC link above), someone put it very succintly, "Microsoft embarasses me as a computer professional." Need more be said?