Catching up

Hi, ---Long time no see. Was busy in quite a few things. There was the trip to Rajasthan to attend the DAE- conference. What was most interesting was the three day holiday we took after the conference got over, in which time we visited Jaisalmer, the Desert and Jodhpur. Why I write "the Desert" separately, is because while at Jaisalmer we took a desert safari, in which we had a camel ride to see the sunset, and were able to spend the night in a hut in a camp in the middle of the desert; and could get up very early in the morning and go and watch the sunrise in the biting cold! This place was about 50 km from Jaisalmer, and it was a very memorable experience. Want to have a look at the pictures? Here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cygnus2/LandOfTheGoldenFort#
The last day of our stay in Jaisalmer was mainly spend in visiting the Golden Fort, about which there is a very famous film in bengali. Why its called the Golden Fort is a mystery I'll leave you to figure out! The visit to the fort, though short, was exotic. Once again, you should be able to see the pictures from the web-site.
The next place of visit was Jodhpur. The most remarkable thing about Jodhpur is the Mehrangarh fort. Even in this second visit to the place, I could not help but be awed by the royalty so deeply ingrained in the fort. Simply majestic; and superb! This time though I had a audio guide with me that helped to appreciate the fort and the things displayed in it much more. To satisfy your curiosity, without much trouble you can find out where the pictures are.
Then was the trip back to Jaipur and in the half of a day we had there, before catching our plane to Mumbai, we visited the Jaigarh fort and the Amber palace. Both very good, but seen before: the last time I had come there was in Quark Matter 2008; nearly 3 years ago.
The trip to these places in Rajasthan was extremely memorable. It was a short tour, very hectic but very enjoyable. All those days we were travelling in bus on the every other day. In retrospect, even the Jaipur stay during the conference was cool. Our hotel was in a very happening place in the town and we used to eat out nearly every day. In particular, there was this very nice kabab place, which we simply adored!

Back in TIFR was a time to complete applications and keep waiting. A very frustrating phase, punctuated only by the arrival of Arnab-da: the week in which I had great fun. Among other things, we would go out every day! The last day on which he left, he gave us a treat in Cafe Moshe; which had just amazing food. Kabir, Kusum and I went and it was a whole lot of fun! There was also one day spent at the WichLatte and one at ZafferBhai + Mocha, which was equally good.

All in all every thing has turned out well. I will finally be joining Bern as a post-doctoral associate. The group there is pretty good and I am looking forward to join there. In the meanwhile however, a herculean task awaits me: write the synopsis and the thesis and get the degree! And then in the months it takes to get me a work permit there in Switzerland, finish the remaining projects and maybe start new collaborations here.

Well, lets hope for the best!