Today is the September Equinox, and back home this would be considered the start of Autumn. September makes me think of long shadows, bright but cooler days, and the evenings starting to shorten quite noticeably. Leaves are changing colour, and there’s a melancholic feel in the air. It’s almost the start of another academic year. Not so here in Bangalore… I think we’re coming to the end of the Monsoon. The lack of recognisable seasons is one of the things […]
(Image from World Bank.) The hashtag #Rs32 is trending on Twitter in India today. So is Planning Commission. The reason? The Indian Government’s Planning Commission just published a report which re-defines what it means to be poor, and in the process they magically removed a huge chunk of the population from the official figures for people living below the poverty line. And so they’ve changed who is, and who isn’t, eligible for government subsidies due to being on […]
It’s 17th September, which means it’s exactly 9 months since I came out to India. At the college where I teach, we’re just reaching the end of Term 3, and will start Term 4 in a couple of weeks. It’s also 21 years to the day since I started my first teaching job, as a lecturer at what was then Leicester Polytechnic, later De Montfort University. Like many people, I got into teaching by accident. But here I am 21 […]
It seems like the time for traditional festivals and celebrations here in Bangalore just now. Which is very welcome when Holy Days become Holidays… and we had 2 days off work this week. Wednesday was Eid-ul-Fitr, when Muslims celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. And the next day was Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival of Lord Ganesh, son of Shiva and Parvati, who is notable for having an elephant’s head. Today is Saturday and the Ganesh festivities […]
