Dizziness, Vertigo or Hangover?

What a lovely Sunday evening the 12th of July was - Hemant Jain sang for his Mancharohan- a ceremony where the guru states his acceptance of the Shishya and permits him to perform on stage henceforth.

I could only remember Hemant as the gentle clever types in Shailu's class in MACT- and definitely did not expect to find him presenting a classical music performance in his sprawling lovely home on a hill, which you reach after driving through some picture post card ranches, with a view of the bay area laid out as a veritable visual feast.

Ashima served a delicious Indian dinner made at home, for fifty people!!

Can't help but wish I knew these guys better in college, they seem so different, that they may actually have been. Shekhar Chitnis chatted for more than an hour with me on the phone- and also pointed out that this was probably more than we spoke in all of the years in college.

Was it just the times that made it so difficult for girls to know boys in engineering colleges in those times? Do the girls still have a hard time?

Anyway, the trip to the US has been singularly rewarding for me- thanks to one or the other person who has put me in touch with a friend, mine or their own.

So I met Shailus' pal Shipra from Cupertino on Friday evening, and we hit it off so well, she picked me up, persuaded me to sleep over and dropped me back too. My son was shocked- he slept at home while Mom was at the friend's.

Mohna put me on to a dynamic couple in Palo Alto- all of ninety years old. Premlata Behn is an active part of Chhajju ka Chaubara, a group of writers who meet on Wedesdays. Just this morning I was trying to call Suresh ji to help him start using Googles transliteration facility to write in Hindi. His phone had been busy all morning; his 87th birthday. We discovered that his daughter in law's father is Papa's friend- in Bhopal.

Any wonder why my head is spinning today?

Swear I haven't had a drop of alcohol- well not in the last 48 hours at least!!!