Back to Blogging

Why the long hiatus in blogging, you may ask. Don’t really know. I guess that I was ready for a break. For the last couple of weeks, I have been on the road. After leaving Pune, I spent a few days in Mumbai. On the 24th of May, I was briefly interviewed on BBC World TV for their live program “China and India: Emerging Giants.” The interview was at the Taj Palace Hotel with the Gateway of India in the background.

From Mumbai, I went to Chennai. I spent time meeting principals of a couple of schools, including the Krishnamurthy Foundation of India school. I spent some quality time with Yuvaraj and his family, who were the most gracious of hosts. It is no secret that I think that Chennai is as much fun as sitting in a bathtub full of sharp knives. What made it bearable is the attention and care that Yuvaraj and Richa took of me, and the fun of being with Dhruv (6) and Sarang (3). Both were thrilled to bits that they had seen “Uncle Atanu” on TV.

After 3 days of awfully hot and humid weather of Chennai, my next stop–Bangalore–was a sheer delight. It was cool and comfortable enough that you did not even need a fan, never mind an airconditioner. My stay in Bangalore was a wonderful mix of business and pleasure. I spent time at two schools which had been recommended: Vidya Niketan and Vidya Shilpa. Discussions with those running the schools was very gratifying: I not only learnt a lot, I got some validation for some of my ideas from people who have been in the eduation business for a while.

The joy of being in Bangalore is in spending time with Vijay and Sudha, and their children Anupama (15) and Abhishek (10). I know Vijay for donkey’s years, since IITK days. Vijay is a prof of EE at Univ of Southern California, LA, and for the last few years is a visiting faculty at IISc Bangalore. Over the years, Vijay, Sudha, and I have spent many vacations traveling around in the US, and I have seen Anu and Abhi grow up.

In both places I got to meet my blogger friends. I had dinner with Prashant Kothari in Chennai. Prashant is a fellow blogger at the Indian Economy Blog. The Bangalore impromptu bloggers meet was at Madhu Menon’s restaurant, Shiok. I met Jagadish, Madhu Menon and Sandeep for the first time; Nitin (of Acorn) I had had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times before in Singapore. Excellent company, all thanks to the power of blogging.

Truth be told, I did not entirely not blog during this time. I had the rare honor of guest authoring Rajesh Jain’s Tech Talk on Emergic.org. The subject was on Indian education and the recent reservation issue. They appear in five parts, each about 600 words long. I had to exercise a great deal of restraint and not ramble on as I am wont to do on my blog. I am pretty happy with the results (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.)

Well, so that is all for now. I am in Nagpur for a few days. Next stop may be Delhi or Mumbai. Or perhaps it will be Nashik. Who knows where the winds will carry me to next.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey