more on Irwin

"But compared to the other personalities in the media and among all those off the media I have to say Steve" affected people's perception toward wildlife and nature. His antics on the screen and if the same as his behavior in his zoo unfortunately taught people that risks could be taken with wildlife (but remember on TV atleast he would caution against the same). Sure I have worked with venomous and non-venomous and harmless animals, and I have taken risks with them because I understood perfectly the circumstances, the animal's behavior among others. The one time I was in doubt I got bit by a viper. Irwin's method was important in appealing to kids because he was a cartoon, somthing the other media personalities have not achieved.

"I surely hope his legacy affect on the ideas of conserving wildlife and wilderness will have effect atleast in the parts, societies and governments of the world that he touched."

left knee - time out!!

yes, i've done it again. always knew my left knee was weak. I used to go jogging some months ago and perhaps a yer before that and at wierd intervals like that for exactly that reason - my knee is bad. only in the past i have never had it throb this way. I hope i can walk to the shitter tomorrow morning. Nah! I'll walk or use my bed pan, but I know the knee will get better. but what it means is forget running. everytime i ran in the past my knee will give a slight note of uneasiness, and I would switch to workingout on the floating ass machine at the gym or just go biking. well I was running in April and i switched to biking that time. I love biking, while its a great passtime and CV exercise I cannot do more than two laps with out additional motivation. for instance i do my third lap only if there is a hot girl speeding ahead of me, else i get gatorade and chill with the geese. I have wanted to run and keep running, I also want to salsa dance, and rock and tree climb. but after my knee squeaked in April I have felt uneasy dancing salsa. shit!!! i have only one knee on each leg and i have to take care of them like my babies coz I wanna play for a long time.

so I have been packing on some lard since last year. packing on lard (in my books) is usually because of women. all the women I have hung out with love to eat, and guess what I love to eat too. but I pack it on. so in the past year i have noticed my body does not let me monkey as much, i am stiffer and the hard sexy abs that i have are simply not visible. its not even a beer belly, so that is problematic. and that is why i decided I have to do disciplined workouts and run alot. I woke up this morning and decided I am going to run 10 miles as often as I can (1 lap around the lake is ca. 9.34miles). great weather today but i went late so i decided to keep it a bit short. I ran not more than 3 miles, may be 2. ran a bit more on the return lap and walked most of the rest enjoying the weather and the wind. got into my car drove home and oh oh!!! I cannot get out of my car. left leg is stiff. so much for my yoga routine tonight, I can't even walk home.

well thats it - I've injured my knee. I think I will give the knee a break and not run for exercise again. only the floating ass machine, biking, yoga, and other good stuff.

c'est la vie car nous vieillissons ! (I hope that translates right)

a letter I wrote a while ago. here she is again!

over a period of four years I had a single love and passion, not a girl but my research. I had had a few fleeting encounters inbetween that I will attribute to what I call my three week jinx. Essentially every time I met a girl that I had any degree of interest in, I left the continent three weeks later for durations that ranged from four months to a year. But I never had any regrets because I really really loved my work, and I still do though I am on a sabbatical. The reason for my sabbatical is complex. I got burned out from research but I think an important reason was a young woman that I met who for the first time in four years was really distracting me from my first love. Alas this was before I had confronted the three week jinx head on. I met this woman weeks prior to my departure from the continental USA for my research site in the East Indies.

A brief history of the relationship - she had been one of my students at the university. While I am very friendly with students I never indulged them inapropriately, and infact I never paid attention to this girl in my class. till the last day when she came to make a request off me. She had needed to make up some assignments and the ensuing conversation got me fascinated with her. Unfortunately I was unable to ask her out as I was still her teacher (for a couple days more). It was four to five months later when we randomly met again and I asked her out. And this was four weeks prior to setting sail from the continent.

Three weeks later. I didnt know how to express myself to her because I did not want to rush a relationship or any assumptions. but I was paranoid of the clock ticking and that I would not meet her again when I got back. I was also under pressure from my official and research responsibilities and was actually not sleeping (enough). I finally asked her out but things turned sour. She passed out and her friend (your namesake) got drunk and I (with lack of sleep and fear of losing her) had got drunk much faster than usual. She did see me before I left for the airport, and I am so grateful for that because I dont know how I had got through the previous days (I had worked deadlines like a zombie) or how I would have accomplished any research.

It has been a long while since I talked to or saw this person. I have not made any attempt besides email. In the first six months she only responded when I said I was walking away from it all. And her response kept me waiting.

Today I am over her. I really dont know who she is today. But I am still fascinated by that person I met that day. Since then I have met a few others, but none have inspired me.

What puzzles me even today is that she had wanted to meet my parents and travel with me and do road trips - across India with me. She spent so much time with me that I really appreciate (I used to look forward to it) her for someone I really didnt know very much at a time I had very few friends here in DFW. She had asked to bring her photographs and stories and write letters and gifts from remote cultures. I brought them and over time have either donated them or gifted them off.

After the souring of our relationship I expressed my feelings to her before I said goodbye (that is when she responded and I hung on). She did not reciprocate her emotions and never said anything to me positive or negative. Sadly to this day the relationship soured not because of her or me, but because of her friend (details are graphic :D).

anyone is welcome to give me an opinion (to this day I have only told this to my brother (who saved me from that night) and his girlfriend (then/wife now). but they do not understand. personally if I meet someone tomorrow who captivates me I will be happy, but I am not looking to settle and no one has inspired me so far.

If you want I can give you her name and email address as well. What do you think?


In a couple months I may leave the country or Texas depending things in progress. I do plan to call her and say hello just before I leave (If she answers her phone or email).

Narendra affectionately known to his friends as Nai Boy

This is not an obituary blog, but If you read the note on Steve Irwin then this letter deserves a spot here too. This was a letter that I sent around to my peer announcing my friend's demise, I will edit it according here with translations and subtexts where appropriate. >>

Narendra - Pondicherry University 1998-2000, born in May of 1977/78

The sad news and the first news of this morning was that Narendra passed away. To those of us that knew him from Pondicherry, he was a great source of knowledge especially about the flora and the insect fauna, and nothing less about other taxa. He was a frenetic conservationist, taking it upon himself to correct the world and all around him, starting of course with his friends.

As with most of us, he too had to resist the familial pressure for choosing a career in the wildlife sciences. And for his modest background and family pressures, he did well. In the years since Pondicherry, he worked at IISc with Dr. Sukumar's group. His longing goal was to do his PhD on the dholes (wild dogs, another reason for his nick name - Nai in Tamil means dog). He was also engaged to be married to his girl-friend of a few years.

The years 1998 to 2000 were great at Pondicherry and would have been very very different if not for Nai. We made excursions together to Valparai, Cunoor, bird watching early mornings of the exams after drinking all night (he never drank much till some years later), playing pranks, feeding inedible hostel food to Nai's pets (also nais, you can see why he got his name, or was it my inability to pronounce the letter R); and most importantly for those of you disconnected with Pondicherry University history and our batch of ecology, he was one of the band of five that organized, rallied, and led a protest through the university and closed the university for a whole day (even today, this event supersedes all my degrees on my resume, thanks to Nai). The last point only emphasized his committment and support to causes that he believed in.

My last memories of him are from the summer of 2002. I visited with him on his field site. He has always been a warm host and so are his parents. We had corresponded as recently as a month ago fixing to meet in Madras in December. Sadly this will not be.

those were the days - a sign of times passing by and people passing on.

Steve Irwin

A sad day it is when a person as affable as Steve passes away. For me the passing of people and personalities is very dear, sometimes they are my friends, often we are anonymous to each other. A few months ago a close friend of mine passed away sadly it was not the way he would have wanted to go. If you know me then you will know that my friends and I desire one way to go, doing what we love the most. Surely but sadly that was hopefully the way Steve would have wanted to go. It may seem a bit wierd that I write a eulogy for a media personality that I have often regarded as merely an entertainer. But I do not feel this way to just anybody, but it seems toward people that had the merit and the ability to do something really good. But compared to the other personalities in the media and among all those off the media I have to say Steve had a charisma that made people and especially through children warm to the idea of conservation of wildife and wilderness. (I do have friends that have intereact3ed with Steve, and I have interacted with some others). I surely hope his legacy affect on the ideas of conserving wildlife and wilderness will have effect atleast in the parts, societies and governments of the world that he touched.

R.I.P.