February!

So YES, this is my first post for the year and a month has already passed. Tells you something about what the year's been like so far. Here's what I'd like to present as my first offering -- an extremely up-beat presentation of statistics by Hans Rosling, Swedish doctor, statistician and entertainer-analyst, performing in this clip for the BBC -- sent to me by my sister Su:

TWO HUNDRED YEARS, FOUR MINUTES

I hope it opens easily. As for my recent month and three days since leaving the US? Well: I arrived in New Delhi on the 29th of December, flew to Bombay on the 13th, helped launch my friend Kiran Nagarkar's new novel THE EXTRAS on the 14th, flew to Madras on 16th, spent eleven days there and flew back to Delhi on the 27th and have remained put since then. Not for long, however ...