During a recent conversation with a friend who is graduating this year from the Kennedy School, he reflected on how the two years had changed his life and some of the defining memories of his time at HKS. It got me thinking about my first year at HKS and what abiding memories and impressions I would carry with me. It was an incredible year with ( Read more... )

It's been almost a month at Harvard and in the USA and I thought I'd take a break and quickly chronicle some of the events of the frenetic first month. It's certainly lived upto expectations, thus far. There is always so much happening; at the Kennedy School and in the broader Harvard campus, that one wishes there were more than twenty-four hours ( Read more... )

In a fortnight, life promises takes to a rather interesting turn for me, as I leave India for the USA to commence a 2 year Master in Public Policy degree at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. It's a dream come true for me; a dream that has been fulfilled after such a long journey.( Read more... )

For a football lover, last night's European Champions League final was an absolute treat. Of course, if like me, you're a die-hard supporter of one of the finalists, it was heart-stopping stuff! Moscow '08 will rank with the other great European Cup finals - Istanbul '05 when Liverpool pulled off the mother of all comebacks and '99 when Manchester ( Read more... )

I will unfortunately not be in New Delhi on 17th April, when the Olympic torch is scheduled to pass through the Indian capital. I have a strong feeling though, that it will invite a lot more trouble on it's relay around India Gate than it has thus far, in other cities around the world - in Paris, London, etc. The Olympic torch relay has already ( Read more... )

I've been fascinated by the Arab-Israeli conflict ever since I read "O Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre as a high-school student in Bangalore. Next month, I will finally have the opportunity to visit Israel and the city of Jerusalem, when I travel to Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Palestine - or rather, what many hope will one day ( Read more... )

'Dhaka diary' is a bit of a misnomer for this entry because it chronicles my first trip outside of Dhaka, to the bustling port city of Chittagong and then further south to Cox's Bazar beach (purportedly the world's longest beach!) and the island of Moheshkhali, near the border with Burma (Myanmar). The trip was a breath of fresh air (literally!) ( Read more... )

If I've been coming to office bleary-eyed of late, it's because the knock-out stage of the Champions League - arguably the most mouth-watering feast of football, barring the World Cup - has started. It unfortunately does often become a distraction at work too - with detailed analysis of the future of football (Pato, Benzema et al) becoming more of ( Read more... )

Happy New Year folks! After a wonderful Christmas and New Year's in Cochin and Bangalore, I've returned to Dhaka and am back to the serious business of chronicling my (mis)adventures ( Read more... )

I attended two co-educational schools upto 8th grade and subsequently attended an all-boys school as a boarder. It does merit mention though, that we did have *limited* interaction with our sister school - at the biennial "socials"/ball, church(!), etc. I was pretty shocked when I recently heard that the St. Joseph's Boys School in Bangalore - with ( Read more... )