--- On Sat, 21/3/09, Ravi Bellur <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Ravi Bellur <[email protected]>
> Subject: [silk] Introduction - New Member
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Saturday, 21 March, 2009, 9:28 AM
> Hi, all,
>
> Udai and my cousin Bala are long time friends, from
> childhood. I met Udai
> though him and after being subjected to my company on a
> number of occasions,
> he invited me to join silklist. I thought it was a fan club
> for the soy milk
> brand. But it's more likely a place to ask and discuss the
> larger questions,
> such as why some people, perhaps out of some nefarious
> monosaccharide
> racism, cannot tolerate a glucose and a galactose molecule
> getting together.
>
> I was born in the US to an Indian dad from Bangalore and a
> Danish mom. I'm
> currently in India, this being my 4th visit, and no visit
> every being less
> than 6 weeks. Synthesizing the voiced input of my friends I
> think of myself
> as a dilettante that is occasionally mistaken for a
> polymath.
>
> I did a 5 year sentence at Stanford Maximum Security
> Educational
> Institution, escaping from a sewage pipe into a rainstorm
> with a bachelors
> in economics and a masters in industrial engineering. I
> then worked in tech
> for some 12 years -- Intuit, Microsoft, some start-ups. So
> I lived in the
> bay area for a while (though I went to Seattle for
> Microsoft).
>
> I did product management and marketing stuff mainly,
> although I did run beta
> testing and usability for Intuit for a while. Everything
> from working on
> features with recalcitrant engineering teams to talking to
> press about new
> products while being chaperoned by toothsome but vapid PR
> women dressed all
> in black with yellow tinted spectacles that have no
> corrective power.
>
> I love rock and roll, put another rupee in the jukebox baby
> -- I play
> electric guitar and sing in a throw-together band. I also
> love things
> epicurean (but hate looking up how to spell words like
> that), and somehow
> was one of Zagat's top contributors for their 2008 bay area
> guide (touching
> form letter I got from them, but at least it came with a
> free book and map).
>
>
> Politically I've been a democrat for as long as I've been a
> voter, and with
> a Danish mom, I find little wrong with being a liberal and
> considering
> social programs for areas important to human dignity that
> are overlooked or
> underserved by the private sector (there is a difference
> between whether
> help is needed and whether the help currently given is
> working or not). In
> general I look to South Park and the Daily Show for the
> most truthful news
> -- paraphrasing Shaw, 'If you're going to tell people the
> truth, you had
> better make them laugh. Otherwise they will kill you'
>
> I'm currently in Bangalore (I've been in India since Jan
> 21st), taking a
> break from the vibe in the states and soaking in all that's
> changed since I
> was last here in the late '80s. As a person of Indian
> origin, I got one of
> these very nifty "Person of Indian Origin" cards that
> connotes certain
> benefits like not needing a visa, and being entitled to
> work. So I am very
> seriously contemplating getting some remunerative endeavor
> (like a job) and
> spending a prolonged time here.
>
> Although with an 11:00 last call at bars, I'm thinking
> someone deconstructed
> the name of the place and presumed it meant "ban galore" --
> as in how much
> can we ban. :-)
>
> Eager to enjoy the effervescent edification of ebullient
> erudition.
>
> Best,
> Ravi
Dear Ravi,
It is not my practice to welcome newcomers to the list because of my profound
suspicion that each such entity is Udhay, or some other member of the Trite
Three, in blackface, pumping up the numbers and generally acting as stalking
horses. Until they have proved under fire that they have personalities distinct
from Udhay, or Bharath, or Ram, they continue to be suspect.
However, your last line proved comforting: none of these three would dare to
reach back three centuries and use that particular figure of speech; their fear
of tarring and feathering would intervene. So presumably you are a real person,
and deserve a real welcome. And don't worry about having introduced yourself in
such an endearing and well-written manner; it can be forgiven, your served time
(Economics in what place? I thought they only did engineers) will be borne in
mind during sentencing, and slack will duly be cut, with due regard paid by our
younger male members to the possibilities dangled enticingly by you in your
tantalising mention of toothsome females with yellow-rimmed glasses.
Welcome to the asylum, and please wipe the razors clean of blood after use.
Your courtesy will be appreciated by other users.
PS: I happen to be a friend of the only fat Dane in Denmark. It started with
pity and ended in friendship. I couldn't help feeling sorry for him; he married
an Iyengar.
Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India Messenger at
http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/?wm=n/
