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
