I was introducing myself to an offline aquaintance, and I penned a few
passages I thought would be nice to have on the
Web :-)
The silly linewrapping is discourtesy of Outlook. Yes, I'm a glutton
for punishment.
----
> Even better, I still remember your name -- I'm absolutely
>horrible about that; for example I've forgotten all but two of the
new
>names I met at the wedding! Trust me, it's an honor. I just came back
from
>a party in NYC where I thought I only knew the host, but instead
about
>half
>the people there recognized *me*, but I had no idea... I've become a
>weasel
>at the art of conducting familiar conversation without a clue :-)
Comes
>from being such a unique sight, at least in the professional circles
I'm
>in: the image of a overenthusiastic large Indian guy in loud ties
seems
>unforgettable; a cheap short cut to celebrity, I suppose...
>I learned Hindi and English as a
>toddler,
>but it vanished by preschool. I had to relearn it when I went to
India
>when
>I was five or six, and the cook wouldn't serve me dinner unless I
could
>ask him in Hindi :-) I've always had a very muddled relationship with
>India. I think of myself as firmly American, and acutely aware that
almost
>everything I have or achieved in my short career wouldn't have
happened
>if
>my parents stayed in India: no computers, no deal-making, no
>flying-around-the-world, and most of all, no authority is ever handed
down
>to a twenty-something. I value my independence and privacy, enough
that it
>gives me the willies to go back to India and be reminded that there
>entire
>notion of selfhood is less sacred in the bustling extended family.
Says a
>lot that my parents had 9 and 10 siblings each and I'm a spoiled only
>child...
>
>On the other hand, my roots are growing more valuable to me. I think
that
>even a boy, it gave me a valuable perspective that America is not the
lot
>of the world's population -- astonishing as it might seem, underneath
my
>over-the-top performance, I'm very humbled that so little of what I
do
>will
>change the world's hunger, privation, and jealousy. I'm constantly
>pinching
>myself at my luck and driving myself harder to do more with my little
>breaks.I have a friend whose grandparents were the only survivors of
a
>Russian pogrom, and he's haunted by a different survivor's guilt, one
>which
>drives him to live in the moment, for the pleasure of others and not
to
>make prideful, ambitious plans. He's a very caring, hence popular
leader
>of
>hearts and minds, and I only ask to topple the global telephone
industry.
>We're still pretty good friends, though :-)
>Myself, I have a knack for trivia, which I indulge in shamelessly,
>addicted
>to reading whatever scraps of information I can ever find. Neatly
>squeezing
>out any possible room for *useful* knowledge, and certainly no
remaining
>scraps of common sense. My brain chemistry was made for hypertext: the
Web
>is my kind of medium.