india day celebrations

yesterday after a (short) day of studying i went to the quincy house gym with william. i rowed and benched for a bit while watching "run's house," which is produced by commercial juggernauts russell simmons and sean combs. after having finished, i said "oh no!" because i had forgotten my promise to victoria to attend some kind of food festival with her that day. it was around 6:30 or so, so i called her quickly. luckily she and two of her roommates had been waiting for me. so we took off towards mgh.

it quickly became obvious that the festival was a huge huge celebration for india's independence day, which is tomorrow - there was no shortage of brown people milling about. the T stop at mgh is above-ground and open-air - it reminded me of the 125th station. we crossed an overpass to get to the park area along the river. on the far side of the overpass we were able to enjoy a perfect view of boston waterfront in the afternoon sun. after i sighed deeply and thought about seaside adventures, we walked through the park towards the festival. after walking past a sailing club, the first thing we saw was a huge dome. it was freakin massive. "cool," i thought, "a big dome." we got around to the other side of it and we found that it was a huge semi-circular stage with about a billion indian people sitting on the huge lawn in front of it. it was so amazingly festive - constant performances, little kids running around, people dancing and chatting on the green, long lines for food, fly fly honeys strolling about, and supercrisp sunny afternoon air. victoria and i made a circuit of all the booths surrounding the green. this circuit took about 30-60 minutes. on the way we picked up lots of food, some truly vile beverages, a pair of shoes, a sign that said "PARKING FOR INDIANS ONLY", and some raffle tickets. we cut across the green to reunite with her roommates, who had been waiting in line for food, and found them in the center where we sat down to eat food, watch dance performances, and chat with some indian people. we waited until the end of a performance by boston bhangra. by then the sun had set (it was an amazing sunset). as we left we could barely see people in the darkness - for some reason they don't have that many lights in the park.

regattabar

lately i've been doing two things a lot:

1. rowing every day on an erg
2. listening to a lot of jazz

not at the same time though. hopefully i will get my fitness up before the 2008 games.

i haven't withdrawn money from the bank in a while. the reason is: i recently sold a bottle of champagne on craigslist. i sold it for 75% of market value, netting a good deal for jose the water-repair man and a tidy profit for me. it was a birthday present from a good friend at harvard, but overwhelmingly luxurious for a humble man like myself. having received 0.15 large as a result of said transaction, i was alarmed to find it dwindling at a precipitous rate.

ellellou

tonight i took the #1 bus back to harvard square from MIT. i ran into felicia on the bus - she was getting back from a hard day of shopping. she was wearing a black cocktail dress. while chatting with her about stuff i glanced at the guy sitting next to her. he was reading a book and i saw that it was updike's the coup. i got so excited - i told the guy "that is my favorite book of all time. I LOVE IT!!! god it's so good." he was a slightly hipsterish guy with blue-gray eyes, pale skin, and a dark buzz cut. he bought his copy for $3.50 in a brookline used book store. we had a twenty-minute conversation regarding the awesomeness of the book, updike in general, resonance, third-world dictators, what defines the american experience, and how hot felicia is (she appreciated it). he put me onto another writer with brilliant prose: italian umberto eco, author of the name of the rose and foucalt's pendulum. will be checking those out.

howard hughes

"you are a movie star. nothing more."

rose water riddle

one of the more unique hours of my life:

yesterday william and i were at the rotch library (architecture and planning) at mit. first of all, let me express how great this library is. it has beautiful teakwood tables, amazing architecture compendia, and a massive bust of michaelangelo's david.
william and i were studying - i was also intermittently reading spaces with water, volume 4. for a short study break we looked at a girl's photos on facebook. she is a supercute girl in currier with whom william was semi-involved in the past. a short woman sitting at the computer next to us looked over inquiringly and i explained to her: "his ex-girlfriend (not entirely true). and that's her new boyfriend." she laughed compassionately. bill went back to studying and i started talking with her. her name is leena and she encouraged us to study hard for our mcats, in part because she had gotten her MD and knew how hard it was (out here for a pimp). but she isn't a practicing physician. instead, she decided to be a writer. she has four books, one and a half of which are published. the first was a (published) book of poetry named rose water riddle, the second was a lyrical novel, the third a collection of short stories, and the fourth (almost published) a kind of melange. she took a unique route to becoming an MD and an even more unique route afterwards.
she grew up in suburban virginia as the child of pakistani immigrants. her last name, kizilbash, derives from the name of the murderous shiite militant group that helped to establish iran as a shiite nation (and essentially, forge a persian identity). after going to college and medical school, she finished an internship, some residency, and some fellowship in boston before deciding to take a break from medicine to write. she alternates between short spells of medical consulting and short spells of writing. her psychiatric training reflects itself in some (but not all) of her writing. she's a unique woman who has traveled and seen much, and i wish i could do her more justice.

Night Swim

Thirst of an ocean
Seabed of salt

Anchorless desire

Mapping her horizons
With his hand creases
Measurements of dark
Coal feeds the fire
Water burn

Part of her hip
Night swim.