Hangover and I-Day runups

Hi people, here I am back in India, safe and single :-) When I returned, I did not feel any difference, maybe I was just plain happy to see my folks. But as the days passed by, I started remembering the teeny-weeny things and then started the hangover of this magical fortnight. Excuse me for this little childishness, but many firsts were associated with this trip, I had a lovely time.

This trip has also helped me in a major sense. I have decided to stay back in research for another year and see if I survive alone. If I do well, I try again, and if I don't, I quit :-D So I will apply for postdocs and since my boundary conditions do not extend very far, I can maybe go as far as Bangalore or Bombay.

I loved the institute I visited (ICTP in Italy). This is a UNESCO funded institute and attracts researchers from all parts of the world. So imagine, in this one visit, I met people from Brazil, Morocco, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Japan, China, Italy, Venezuela, Georgia, Croatia, Lebanon, France, Argentina, Algeria, Senegal!!! and saw people from many other countries. A lovely experience. One thing I noted is that everyone else is much well-versed in Geography when compared to me :-D Like my roomie said, she knows India's capital is Delhi, whereas I don't know where exactly her country is in Africa :-D India is very famous everywhere, and much of the credit goes to Bollywood - Shahrukh Khan is hot everywhere :-D
On our way back, we had some 12 hours stopover in Dubai. I roamed around in the airport to my heart's fill and line maarofied openly. (Many) Arabs are very handsome!! No wonder the western M&Bs have an occasional Arab sheikh as their hero. I met a very charming man on my way back to India, but unfortunately, I fell asleep pretty soon. I was cursing myself afterwards for this big blunder.
So ends my magical fortnight. Ill add little snippets to these posts as and when I remember :)
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In the run-up to the independence day, the news channels have been telecasting really good shows. Even Aaj Tak raised its level and had a show on "Hum nahi sudhrenge (we will not rectify ourselves!)" and showed all our(Indians) bad features like spitting and urinating on the roadsides, eve-teasing, corruption, jumping queues, etc etc. BBC has a series on India too. I am also looking forward to The Hindu's supplement on the I-Day. They promise a bunch of articles by eminent personalities and intellectuals.
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My posts might not be regular until I get a good net connection and a healthier attitude :-) So here in advance are my wishes for a
Happy Independence Day :-)