Travails of an unique surname

D'Sa

That's my surname. Three major reactions are elicited to the first hearing.

1. It's D'Souza
Them: "Oh, you mean D'Souza."
Me: "No, if I meant D'Souza, I would have said D'Souza."
T: "So what is it then?"
Me: "D'Sa."
T: "Just D'Sa?"
Me: "What does that mean, just D'Sa? You want more?"
T: "No, no, why are you so testy?"
Me: "No reason."

2. It's an abbreviation
"So what does it stand for?"
My face morphs into a question mark
"Like, what is the full form, tell no."
"Full form of what?"
"Of D-S-A."
"It's a full name, nothing to expand."
"So how do I pronounce it?"
"Di-saa."
"Deee-saaa?"
"Close enough."
"And it's not an abbreviation?"
"No."

3. It's a spelling mistake
"Oh you mean, like D'Souza or D'Silva or something?"
"Yes, but only D'Sa."
"Why?"
"Why???"
"No so like what is the full-form?"
"That's it."
"And what does it stand for?"
"Diciest Surname of all."
"Ha ha ha."
"Exactly."

So, the next time you meet someone with my problems, remember - it's just D'Sa.

Temporary bachelorhood

It's been less than a day since the wife has returned from her one-week sojourn at Pune and it feels great to have her back. It's funny, bachelorhood with all its lures of long, drunken nights, untidy environments and unabashed flirting seems to be fast losing it's sheen.

Of course, the wise say that one tends to find the same thing in marriage, but of course working at a marriage is very different from working at your bachelorhood! It's an emotionally healthier experience with good degrees of discipline that bachelor life lacks.

Half the time, I'm not sure whether I say all this because I've been just six months into my marriage (dang, it's exactly six months today!). But what the hey, I'm happy now, and all I can do is extrapolate!

Happy anniversary, my angel!

Nandigram and Xiantang

Amit Varma's article on Nandigram and the history behind it is really fascinating. I must say it turned my worldview of SEZs on its head.

Something similar happened in Xiantang, China in terms of landgrabbing and the villagers, fed up with corruption stormed the government building, threw out the bureaucrats and have taken possession of the government building since. True, anarchy isn't asolution, but just highlights that we developing countries are not that different.

Time Article Link on Xiantang:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1684209,00.html