Thanks for all the comment inquiring about my absence and well being. Amazing how those 2 are almost always presumed to be inversely correlated.

Been very very busy at work over the last couple of weeks and would be busy for more days to come.

Arrived in California on Saturday afternoon, went out to dinner and to a long 2hour walk by the ocean on the sands of Half Moon Bay the following morning, probably my favourite place in the world. It was a beautiful day, slightly cold and windy, but very desirable.

Noticed that beauty does not strike us with the force that it does at first. Maybe there is an element of immunity involved.

Caught up with a couple of very old friends who seemed to talk in the distance as my jet lag took over during dinner on Sunday night. I was finally awoken when the car stopped and I was asked to wake up and go back to my room - yes, I'd fallen asleep sitting up in the back :).

On the plus side, one of my friends compared the first chapter and style of the book to that of Aravind Adiga ... THANK YOU!!

Being down with a really bad case of stomach upsets of the food poisoning variety over Thu, Fri and recovering on Saturday and Sunday, allows you to catch up on a lot of sleep. I woke up really early this Monday morning, albeit thanks more to several stresses at play. Began my day with a chapter from a book printed by the press at Ramanashramam, and then decided I have to allow music to play. I can only think of this on such a still morning.

Early JKR interview... she's just amazing.