tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:07:24 +0000"Everything has been figured out, except how to live." -- Jean-Paul Sartrehttp://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)Blogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-2536154826909776786Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:33:00 +00002009-12-12T10:33:12.336-08:00When I was a teenager, I never thought I would want to be teacher. I didn't see the charm in doing the same thing day after day, year after year. But after coming to America and starting to teach, it began to grow on me. And although I am not sure I want to teach for the rest of my life, I know I want to be associated with it in some form or other for as long as possible. I love the thrill of http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2009/12/alternate-histories.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-6652589786292724544Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:12:00 +00002009-10-19T10:12:28.098-07:00Teachers are always Ma’am(s) and Sir(s) Teachers addressed by name Text books with lengthy paragraphs Text books with pictures, back to being twelve Multimedia teaching is a rarity Multimedia teaching is a way of life, god bless youtube High propensity to cheat Even higher potential of academic honesty Good grades should be announced to all, Pappu pass ho gaya Grades are a private matter http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-schools-their-schools.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-8664176567224909428Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:14:00 +00002009-09-20T16:14:17.105-07:00The first time I moved out of my parents' home to start living independently was when I got a job in Chandigarh. As far as I was concerned, this was a big step. I had just quit working as an editor in a publishing house that believed in paying peanuts but producing close to 65 books a month. Compare it to most other publishing houses in India, this number is about 13 times the normal, industry http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2009/09/goddess-of-emails.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-6790226550063581920Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:49:00 +00002009-09-13T19:49:02.476-07:00I am currently reading the first of the four books that the Bangladeshi feminist author, Taslima Nasreen, wrote about her life. The title of the book is Aamar Meyebela or My Girlhood. It's interesting that Bengali, my mother tongue, and also Nasreen's, has no actual word to denote girlhood. The word for childhood is chhelebela, or boyhood. So no matter whether you are a girl or a boy, your http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2009/09/she-asked-for-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-2467194122059755798Sat, 05 Sep 2009 20:09:00 +00002009-09-05T13:09:08.265-07:00And so, I am back. I guess I love words and the freedom to jot them down online too much to stay away for too long. But there is something that happened to trigger me into resuscitating this blog this morning. What was going to be another regular trip to the farmers market today turned out to be a little more than that. There I was strolling around, taking in the sights and smells of yet http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2009/09/best-laid-plans.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-5021204543747784725Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:16:00 +00002008-10-09T09:24:11.323-07:00Long ago, I learned to say, to anyone who bothered to listen, "When people say they are too busy or they don't have the time for something they are just being polite. It's the easiest way to say, may be even apologetically, 'Sorry, but I am not interested.'"This is the 136th post on this blog. And although the blog itself was created in a time and space that seem far far away, it's been a good http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/10/epilogue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-7597271497947474445Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:26:00 +00002008-10-01T09:40:27.023-07:00Dear Mr. Rishi KapoorHello Sir! How are you doing? Long time no see. Or am I to really count your appearance on Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic? Where you yourself looked extremely uncomfortable as God. But then again not as uncomfortable as Mr. Bachchan in God Tussi Great Ho. Coming back to TPTM, just one question sir, what the hell were you thinking? Playing mentor to Rani Mukherji's less than http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/10/scars.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-6919274714347257193Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:38:00 +00002008-09-11T21:48:38.475-07:00While poking around some remnants of the past, I chanced upon my first assignment here at the University. It had to be a short story within 700 words or less and on any of the seven deadly sins. According to the Bible, these are: pride, sloth, envy, greed, gluttony, lust, and anger.A lot has happened since that assignment. I have completed two years in the program and most importantly changed my http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/09/debris.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-7246348364293532516Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:22:00 +00002008-08-31T02:26:52.027-07:00I have sometimes been accused of having more tolerance for movies than for people. I think my justification, at least to myself, has been that a trashy movie can be shelved and forgotten but the impact of a trashy person can last a lifetime. However, I sincerely believe that viewers like me, who will watch almost anything that comes out of Hollywood in the name of entertainment, and everything http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/08/two-kinds-of-endorsements.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-4198142336955810933Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:28:00 +00002008-08-28T03:47:34.350-07:00It's been a month of travels. Of new sights, friendships, and relationships. Of new writing, note-taking, and solitude. Of full circles and new memories. Home-->Sandpoint-->Port Townsend-->Seattle-->Calcutta-->Chittagong-->Calcutta-->Seattle-->home.And of revisiting those that matter the most.SANDPOINTAt Lake Pend Oreille With old friends, Scott and MikePORT TOWNSENDAt the Castle in Fort http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/08/grace.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-1967340882157200184Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:03:00 +00002008-06-09T11:00:41.030-07:00Wanted to update the blog but without much effort. So, a tag this time. Thanks, Skeety!Name three most valuable assets.Laptop, debit-credit card, cellphone. These must be on everyone's list I assume with a plus or minus. One truth in your life that haunts you every day?It’s also the only “episode of regret” but over time, I have coached myself to suppress it with distractions, however less than http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-straight-talking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-9012402405576296857Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:39:00 +00002008-06-06T08:40:45.726-07:00The closer I am getting towards my thirtieth birthday, which is a little over a year away, I am becoming more and more like my parents when they were in their thirties. Those days we had just arrived in New Delhi from Calcutta, their hometown, and my homesick parents were determined to surround themselves with as much Bengali-ness as possible. Right from the location my father chose for our househttp://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/06/language-barrier.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-3561943351552695163Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:25:00 +00002008-06-02T07:29:43.270-07:00Sometimes, the best lessons in life are short, so short in fact that they can be wrapped up in less than five minutes. A few days ago, I was in the local bus and coming back home from the campus. The bus was being driven by, shall we say, Fred. Amiable, friendly, and in his fifties, my favorite part about him is his distinguished silver mustache and the easy laugh lines all over his face. That http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/06/brevity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-655356637643630239Mon, 19 May 2008 23:50:00 +00002008-05-19T17:02:45.840-07:00My Orkut account has been hacked in the most unusual manner. I cannot glean any untoward activity that has been performed through my account, but the hacker has as of now, made me a member of two Brittney Spears' fan clubs, and one of Amrita Arora, Shakira, Mandy Moore, Angelina Jolie, Hermione Granger, and Hansika Motwani, the latter being the one with the exciting privilege of starring across http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/05/emergency.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-3346621393491612259Thu, 08 May 2008 04:45:00 +00002008-05-07T21:49:40.450-07:00I am just back from seeing the finest movie of my life. It’s called Iron Man. No, please don’t dismiss the movie based on its name. Read the review at least. Please, I insist. Iron Man is originally a Marvel comic hero and his real name, that is when he steps out of his red and gold platinum-something glitzy costume, is Tony Stark.The movie unfolds like this: Stark is a multimillionaire because http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-iron-rusts.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-1922536200466194739Mon, 05 May 2008 14:57:00 +00002008-05-05T08:05:18.685-07:00Two almost back-to-back posts! I must have rediscovered my blog!Today's post is about two poems of Vikram Seth that I particularly like. This semester I had taken a poetry workshop, as a result, not only did I have to write twelve poems of my own, I had to read a similar number of poems of my classmates, plus nearly a hundred others. These two have been particularly interesting, mostly because ofhttp://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/05/verses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-1191924478047534391Sun, 04 May 2008 01:02:00 +00002008-05-03T18:10:20.821-07:00Yesterday was one of the most rewarding days of my life. Initially, I had constructed the sentence as “one of the most rewarding days of my professional life.” But that didn’t say much, whereas I wanted to say it all... As a five-year-old, all that I wanted to do upon growing up was become a teacher. There was nothing particularly remarkable about that dream because almost every other http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/05/being-on-cloud-1556-1605.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-5772346982068626539Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:33:00 +00002008-03-30T17:43:24.132-07:00I would like to share this link with all of you today. Please take some time to explore this website, and see how as a nation we have perfected plagiarism. We have bestowed on these plagiarists awards, honors, respect, and pot loads of money. Let me know your reactions as many dearly loved icons from your memories come crashing down.http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/03/iconoclasm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-4726290505344307794Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:57:00 +00002008-03-02T17:15:55.737-08:00In another hour, I would have spent seven uninterrupted hours in this cafe. I did the same yesterday as well. Today, my laptop-engaged fingers are tired already, I am hungry, I have digested the turkey sandwich I had four hours ago, I have had three potent shots of caffeine since the time I came, yet, there is still an armload of writing to finish. I teach both my classes tomorrow (and also on http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/03/rants.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-1283936305379211751Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:54:00 +00002008-02-09T13:26:36.620-08:00My dearest dude Rohit tagged me. I am supposed to list six random things about myself, and they all have to be unimportant. But, I am going to take this a little step forward, and list ten things instead: 1. I hate taking baths on Sundays. (Only in winters though!)2. I need to be part of a world where clothes can wash themselves.Every single time. 3. Reading horror calms me down. 4. I am http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/02/ten-degrees-of-randomness.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-1989962199896372669Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:17:00 +00002008-01-19T13:32:34.323-08:00I fear I am growing (online) anti-social. I am disinterested in blogging, I rarely update and my finger has hovered over the delete button quite a few times in the last month. I am barely there on my Orkut and Facebook accounts, again I am thinking of deleting both. Part of me wants a fresh start, a clean slate, or at best some motivation that will make me jump back at these previously loved andhttp://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2008/01/to-new-distractions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-5687974591111373312Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:27:00 +00002007-12-30T09:43:40.477-08:00Was showing the following photos to my folks today. These are of my neighborhood back in Moscow, the tiny university town in the state of Idaho. Let me know what you think. http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2007/12/other-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-2365852503552202974Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:15:00 +00002007-12-08T13:18:31.423-08:00After spending nearly five hundred days out of India, I am back for a month. To mislead my parents, I had told them that my date of arrival was going to be December 14. Instead, thanks to the immense cooperation from my sibling, numerous friends, and all my students, teachers, colleagues and supervisors, I was able to leave the US one week before semester actually got over and arrive in New Delhihttp://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2007/12/expected-time-of-arrival.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-731214366050364665Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:29:00 +00002007-11-07T06:34:27.441-08:00So, I decided to get rid of my offensive "About Me" on Orkut, the one where I said that people with moronic selves and spellings should not get in touch with me. This was two days ago. I promptly got rewarded for my efforts last night when Dharmesh requested for my friendship. This is his introductory message, "Hi, I am from Kanpur India, like to have conversation with u on any topic,u like.in http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2007/11/conversation-partner.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21137943.post-3270858660536063960Mon, 22 Oct 2007 23:25:00 +00002007-10-22T16:39:01.202-07:00It’s been three days and I am still haunted by him. On Friday night, some of my friends took me to see Into the Wild. Based on Jon Krakauer’s book by the same name, the film traces the last two years of the life of Chris McCandless, an intense and smart young man who decided to give up a cushiony life and comfortable future for living it out in Alaska. All by himself and by the dint of what he http://kirrinisland.blogspot.com/2007/10/on-living.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Woodsmoke)17