Roll Call

So normally, part of the academic experience is continually moving and leaving former lives behind.  Which can be a little sad.  In my years in Norman, Oklahoma, I put a lot of energy into yogaing with the group I found there.  But alas my stay was only destined to be for three years.  When I discovered that I was moving to India, a very far place, that was actually good news for a couple of them, because they regularly visit India.  And they're coming on Friday!  So I think a post to introduce Team Ashtanga Oklahoma (TAO) is in order.

Jennifer is a super-friendly yoga instructor, under whom I studied the most at the studio.   We both enjoy early morning yoga ("Mysore") and ordering breakfast (called "Ujjayi Breakfast"), so we became great friends.  She runs classes called "Ashtanga Playground" and "Circus Mysore".   She let me take over the former once to teach a JYoga class.  Later she visited my Quaker group and led a fantastic yoga workshop, aimed towards elder folks.  Also Jennifer can be a determined blogger; in November alone she blogged more than I ever have.  Fun all around.

Stacy is Jennifer's usual globe-trotting partner, and another instructor at the studio.  She was my only classmate for many of the Mysore classes, and my main partner in Acroyoga.  We even performed in a couple shows together (which makes her Kevin Bacon number 4 or less).  She also owns a unicycle.  If you're someone (my mom) who's worried about my medical health when touring India, you'll be relieved to know that she is a nurse by profession.  Full of boundless energy, perhaps the most outgoing of the TAO, she's sure to land us into memorable predicaments.

Courtney has seen much of the world.  A Peace Corps alum, she worked for two years in Gambia, Africa.  She's also been to Costa Rica and is an avid climber.  At home Courtney is a mainstay of Norman's art scene, serving up poetry, dance, and, you know, art.  She currently holds a TAO record by having three blogs.  I only really met her once at a Wednesday Dinner for about ten seconds, but she's as welcome to visit as any loyal DAI fan!

Steven is an American Indian, or at least he's an American who's trying out "being Indian" for a while.  Born in the mountains of Pennsylvania, raised in the forests of New Jersey, he likes being a mathematician because you get to meditate for a living.  Recently India has been creating many attractive jobs in mathematics, while the U.S. has been destroying such.  Last year Steven's friend Raghuram invited him to a math institute in Pune to be a professor and add momentum to their new Ph.D. program.  There's some bureaucracy for that, so meanwhile he's chilling at the Tata Institute, where his job is basically to be collegial.  It's a neat place, but lately he's been itching for a vacation "within the vacation", so TAO is arriving at a great time.

So that's the TAO roundup.  We plan to explore Mumbai, Delhi, the Taj Mahal and Rishikesh.  Jennifer and Stacy are experts already at traveling in India.  We look forward to touring and taking pictures and blogging and (j)yogaing.  And being stared at a lot.

Banyan Tree Quickie

Right now it's too cold in most of the States to juggle outdoors, but here in Mumbai it's the perfect weather.  So, we can practice juggling all year long with no interruption, except for the monsoon season.  How far have we come?  Well here's me teaching Shiv to pass clubs:

Several of you have learned to pass in the same way; in fact with the exact same clubs.  So you know he's almost there.  (I've done this training like a hundred times.)  It's more of a challenge here because
a)  we don't know anywhere in India to buy clubs, and b) these guys don't get to see anyone passing clubs in person.  It really is harder to learn if you haven't seen anyone do it.  But that will soon change.

Stay tuned.

Steven and Sophie Get Haircuts

My adviser gave me a secret formula to study for my thesis.  We'll call it "The Stabilization".  The Stabilization outlines how to calm down a hysterical group through an intervention process with smaller, closely related groups.  The process was written out in an unpublished preprint of his that I had.  Actually the story of The Stabilization is an important ongoing story in my career; we may return to it on another occasion.

A couple years ago in Oklahoma, I was browsing through a new library book and saw The Stabilization.  Reading more carefully, I learned that my adviser had also shared it with arithmetic geometer Sophie Morel, who used its methods to calm down some of her own mathematics.  Last week she spoke at an international colloquium here at TIFR.  Of course, I made a beeline for her during lunch when she was relaxing with Gerald.  I immediately chatted her up about The Stabilization because, you know, there are only three of us in the world who have worked with it (I think...).

We started hanging out, and when she told me she planned to go to a gent's barbershop, I knew it could be a delicious DAI post.  Also, I needed a haircut myself, to look sharp when the Flying Yogini Sisters arrive!  We had two options:  either a place called "Vijay's Barbershop" which I had patronized before, or Arnab's suggestion, a store called "Hair Cool" across from Churchgate.  Once there, we were to ask around if we couldn't find it immediately, which sounds pretty straightforward when you're at a colloquium lunch trying to impress your new friend.

I raced back to my apartment, unwrapped my new "Flip Video", and started entertaining Sophie around Colaba.  We started by taking a local bus, and walked around the Causeway.  In fact she had already learned the Hindi alphabet, and some basic expressions.  Unfortunately, Vijay's was closed, and we couldn't find Hair Cool.  Most of the people around were stressful travelers hurrying to their gate, who weren't necessarily so familiar with the area.  So, I decided to ask the outdoor merchant guys (OMGs).  Or more accurately, I got their attention and pretended my fingers were scissors cutting my hair.  Two OMGs pointed us in a certain direction.  But as we walked along we noticed that there weren't any store fronts in that direction.  Soon we found that the second OMG  had followed us and pointed out that a third OMG was standing around giving haircuts.

Dear Diary, I'm sorry to report that I initially scared of getting my hair cut by someone without, you know, a store.  But Sophie was brave, and resolved to get her hair cut on the spot.  I filmed it, of course, and then went ahead and got mine cut as well.  Here is our Trimming Montage:

(Sorry about that first minute; there was a sticker on the lens...)  It was only ३० Rupees a head.  Afterwards she shopped for movies starring Bollywood crush Shahrukh Khan, and for Hindi Potter books.  We finished by sharing a pizza at Moshe's while talking about math.  It was fun!

Caution:  I don't believe that women would normally get their hair cut at a gentleman's haircuttery in India.  Sophie has a mischievous streak in which she propagates the illusion that she is male.  (Part of that was getting her hair cut short.)  In this way, she does not command the extra attention which can annoy more traditional western women wandering around alone in India.