heroes

framed, but not displayed:

10-11-84
My dear Pinakin,

I congratulate on your very bold action to jump in the truck driver's cabin and had a hand to hand fight with the vagabond driver who was escaping without paying octroi. It is not the Rs. 6000/- octroi which you have collected from truck owner or driver but your bold action and your sense of duty will serve as a strong inspiration to your colleagues and a glaring example to smugglers and this is the first of its kind in octroi and other departments of Corporation.

I am more proud of you because you are the son of my late friend Dr. Dixit.

With my best wishes and blessing to you for your future progress and regards to your mother.

Yours sincerely,

(signed)

Reuben David
Hon. Advisor, Sundarvan
Hon. Advisor (Zoo Complex)
Municipal Hill Garden Zoo, Kankaria, AHMEDABAD

Shri Pinakin Dixit
Asstt. Municipal Commissioner (Octroi),
Octroi Department, Outside Kalupur Gate, AHMEDABAD.

seen and heard 2

19 Jul 2007, Chicago (ORD)

near the unstaffed Air India counter in Terminal 5
Andean-featured grandparents sit in stony silence as
a boyish gap-toothed face framed by girlish black curls
peers from behind a wall of stacked suitcases and sings
along to a weak FM signal: “nobody wanna see us together,
but it don't matter, no, cuz I got you…”

seen and heard 1

18 Jul 2007, Louisville (SDF)

As I wait in line at the United check-in counter, hoping to fix up our revised travel schedule, a mother walks by with a small child wearing a backpack much too big for him.

Kid: "Mom, I have a hunch."
Mom: "What about?"
...
Mom: "Oh! THAT kind of hunch!"

The first words are always hard to find.

This is a record of my physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, lattitude-and-longitudinal, verisimilitude-inal, pardon-me-if-I-intrude-inal life. Two days ago, I turned 25 years old. Two days from now, I will have returned to Ahmedabad, India, my ancestral home.[1] It has been four years since I last visited.

I have chosen to share this space--and my life--with you. You are encouraged to make your presence known, and I look forward to reading your reactions, reflections, and guidance. Moreover, you are encouraged to meet each other. It is my hope that the conversations begun here will continue in your places of residence, on top of mountains, on buses (at a respectful volume, please!), on walks, under rusty ceiling fans, at diner counters, in underground tunnels, in cars, outside unsavory places of employment, within earshot of ukeleles, under the stars, at dinosaur-themed amusement parks, over plates of fried cheese, between stalls in public restrooms, in your graduate-school seminars, and via electronic signals originating from under your bed.[2]

A few last words: Much gratitude to the many friends who have celebrated this summer with me. We have had extraordinary cause for gratitude, celebration, self-criticism, and hope. The world before us is immeasurable, as are the gifts that each of us will leave for it in our lives.

It is, as always, an occasion for first words.

[1] Because of inclement weather in Chicago, my mom and I were not able to leave today. Nevertheless, through indomitable grit and sheer force of will, we shall succeed. More on this later.

[2] This is by no means a complete list, but you get the idea.