2010 the 50th Year

Folks, this was in many ways the seminal year. I got to the half century mark, something I never imagined or planned to be at when I was growing up. It was such a distant thing. I was amazed by the 'Icomomist' magazine on their feature article this December issue related to the idea that people generally get happier in their old age. Even though individual cases differ a lot on the whole I have to agree with the conclusions. I am a testament to this, I am much more mellow and relaxed over the middle aged hill so as to speak. This year though was seminal in many ways, I got closer to India, did reasonably well in getting my research funding together, and more importantly got a new groove together to follow for the final tryst with life. Most important though is the fact that I can truly claim to be happy.

This is most important thing in a persons life, believe me I have seen things from the other end of the spectrum.

November in India

Spent the thanksgiving week in India. Weather was pleasant and was good to see the parents. Delhi remains the same stink hole with a few minor changes. First is the new airport. Definitely a major improvement over the older one, however did not match the hype. If you look carefully the airport is full of warts, I saw naked wires, bad construction and poor planning. On the arrival side, baggage handling is very very slow, and the immigration hall gets packed with a lot of confused people standing around. This remains unchanged from the previous airport. Outside the parking situation is better but the touts remain. Exit roads are new but traffic is terrible. Also a new metro connection between Rajiv Chowk and Gurgaon which runs close to home (Green Park station). Once more poor construction quality all over. Management was also poor in the sense that the trains were overcrowded and slow.
One the whole the reason for this visit was the marriage of Sushant with Neeti. Very nicely planned wedding with top notch arrangements. Handsome couple and emblematic of the new India. Confident and ever hopeful of their future. Best wishes to them.
Bandana had a great reunion with her relatives 'the Khandelwal clan'. Since this is the first of the many such weddings of the next generation we hope to have more such reunions often. Getting close to 50 these reunions are great and very important.

A Summer Week in Shanghai

Reached Shanghai for the 8th International Symposium on New Materials for Electrochemical Systems organized by Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Shanghai at this time of the year is steamy and wet. However the city never ceases to amaze me with the level of growth and sheer force of its development. Stayed a the Jianguo Hotel on Caioxi Road, which was very centrally located. Was received by Dr. Wen Wen at the airport, he is doing very well and at the present works as a staff scientist at the new Shanghai light source. He seemed to be well settled with all the trappings (car, apartment and socially as well). It was a good conference with a lot of papers and posters from students and postdocs, exuding the confidence and energy of China. I am posting some of the pictures which I took in Shanghai during my brief but enjoyable trips out of the hotel into the usual tourist places in Shanghai.

Most visited spot was in the bund area where the muddy Huangpu river bends with the very impressive sky scrappers over on the other side called Pudong. I have a video of this posted to show the impressive scale of the buildings. Nanjing road on the other side is the usual tourist area with shops and touts selling imitation stuff such as watches etc. Visited the famous bare M on the bund which is located in building no 7. Also went to the old Shanghai with its crowded markets and bustling commerce. One of the highlights was Dongtai road where amongst more quieter environs one could browse among the many antique shops selling exotic stuff such as the Mao's red book etc.

On the whole was a memorable trip, one among many to be made to this emerging economy.

See video a thttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAUvH7fAtBg

50th Birthday Bash

50th Birthday Bash

White Tiger In Bhopal

I must say this February my trip to Bhopal was wonderful. Met my brother and even saw this White Tiger up close. Bhopal appeared much better than Delhi, which has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. Delhi is in chaos, litter and unauthorized construction is everywehere. In addition this common wealth games have caused construction misery. Most of the construction being done is extremely shoddy and will start looking awful within a year. I cannot understand our fascination with RCC construction. No developed country uses this. To top it all we need to train construction workers badly. There is no concept of safety and detailing. White tiger seems to be our symbol, rare attractive yet ephemeral.

A Reunion in Delhi

This February I had an amazing reunion of my old mates from school. I must thank Sudhanshu Mittal for hosting some 20 of us in his house. Very impressive house and the setting in the middle of Cannaught Place was amazing. I guess I was the reason for the meeting and was surprised and very happy to see all the fellas, with some I spend almost 13 years (prep to 12th grade) in the same section. Lots of jokes and bonhomie. Some of the guys have not changed a bit. I must say I was the most transformed of all, perhaps not just physically. Lot of the credit of bringing all of us together and keeping this group alive must go to Sanjeev Bagga, who has almost made it his life mission. We are now approaching the third quarter of our four quarter life and with 50 years behind us we have some things to look back with fondness. I must say it was a journey back in time most of the memories were faded and with good reason. School days to me were the worst time in my life. Everyday was a torture, I somehow never connected with the concept of NCERT text books and the regimented learning, mostly rote. There was even a course called Moral Science, which I remember hating the most, even then it was hard to swallow the sheer hypocritical tackiness of the concept.

Anyhow I don't have too many scars to show.

Guys if any one reads this please send me your pictures at Sanjeev.Mukerjee@gmail.com

I hope to meet some of the guys here in the States this September during the New York section get together.