In the air

OK, here is a first for us: One of our faithful blog-readers is about to join us for an internship at Jeevan Sahara Kendra!

Ben Davy is 'in the air' as this is being typed out - his flight seems to be somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean - according to the Continental Airlines - and is running an hour late. Ben should be arriving to a muggy winter evening at 10.40 PM tonight.

Ben is doing a Masters of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre in Omaha. Its a long way from there to Thane - but that's where the heart trumps distance.

A few weeks ago I had a teleconference with Ben's supervisors. I had tried unsuccessfuly to get my mobile to make international calls - and so found myself calling from a phone booth in the local Gujarati grocery store. Standing next to the onions and potatoes and coconuts at 8 PM at night (and having temporarily abandoned the dinner guests for this assignment) I participated in a surreal chat with two learned professors of public health about how Ben would be using his 2 weeks with us.

And now Ben is on his way. A straight(ish) shot from Newark to Mumbai. Courtesy of the amazing technology (and relatively cheap refined hydrocarbons) that shrinks our world so dramatically.

Namaskar Ben! Aap ka swagat hain!