The Witch & and her lonely broom

In the realm of the west wind drift

usha — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:16:44 +0000

Southern Ocean Series, Chapter: 4 Roaring 40’s & Furious 50’s: monotonous work, broken by a temperamental sea The design of the ship on which we sailed was either deliberately or accidentally ingenious. Our labs, mess and common room were on the same level as the main working deck; which itself was only a few meters …

Who are these people?

usha — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:05:46 +0000

Southern Ocean Series, Chapter: 3 30’s Latitude: Impressions of fellow passengers As things stood when we sailed out of Port Louis, I was only familiar with two other people in the entire ship – the two people from my own institute. I knew next to nothing about the other passengers on the ship – be …

Adventure is a state of mind

usha — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 07:13:59 +0000

Southern Ocean Series, Chapter: 2 Wind directions, projectile vomit, humungous swells and trepidation “The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.” That’s just Samuel Coleridge’s way of telling us that his ship was going south – and …

Right, Where are we going…?

usha — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:55:00 +0000

Southern Ocean Series, Chapter: 1 Kochi-Goa-Mauritius, by land and air, boarding the ship and freaking out. It all happened surprisingly suddenly. I mean, when I took up my first “job” as a Junior Research Fellow at a research institute in Kochi, my boss had told me it was a possibility. But still, it was …

usha — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 04:28:33 +0000

A handful of people have been asking me to do this for ages (almost 2 years, to be precise), and now I’m finally doing it – writing about my voyage to the Antarctic Ocean and back in 2009 (see earlier post). I actually maintained a journal during the trip itself, which was supposed to be …

usha — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:56:56 +0000

Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, …

A skewed sense of distance, space and time…

usha — Fri, 06 May 2011 11:59:24 +0000

Last week, a colleague of mine got married in her home town, which as it turned out was a distant outpost of civilization, in the high ranges of the Munnar Hills. To many people in my workplace, this was an opportunity to get out of the city on a working day, and get some mountain …

usha — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:37:47 +0000

Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives… and to the “good life”, whatever it is and wherever it happens to be. Hunter S. Thompson

Of unlikely friendships and likely stories

usha — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:10:35 +0000

But, why do I use the word "unlikely"? Because this is one of those people who genuinely gets along really well with pretty much everyone, is always smiling and making the funniest jokes and generally carries an "aura" of positive energy about him! In short, the kind of person that's likely to make me nauseous, if I had to be around him too much.

Ranjith the Magician

usha — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:18:58 +0000

...and of course, set new standards for an all-time favorite genre in malayalam cinema - intelligent comedy/satire.