The Indian subcontinent

Thanks to the convincing of Maria José, who believes she was an Indian (as well as a lion) in previous lives because of how much both resonate with her, and Kari, who worked with Word Made Flesh Nepal a few years ago, I have arrived to India to meet my sister. I actually fly from Chennai (Madras) to Kolkata (Calcutta) tonight to meet Abbs. She must be in Germany about now.

My transition from China to India was via Singapore - here are notable visits of the past few days (along with more soursop/mango juice):

My couchsurfing lady ended up boarding me and an Italian lady at her grandfather's house. He lives there with another granddaughter and his Indonesian maid. I have not yet made the "maid" adjustment and it always feels awkward. The granddad is 97 but still sharp. He was chief of staff of intelligence in the British Navy in Singapore and one of the men who made it out alive when the carrier HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by the Japanese in 1941.

I also had the chance to meet up with friend, Issac, from Singapore. I met him there three years ago when I was with the InterVarsity team. At that time, he was on the cusp of grad school. Now he's just finished the first year of a PhD at Stanford. Being a generalist like my father before me (we talk about this), I will probably never be really good at one thing - so it is ever-interesting to talk with someone who is. Issac's research is all about the way people work, and I enjoyed hearing him dissect his first year in the USA under the stressful conditions of a top-tier researcher.