Conquerors

I've been reading Genghis Khan for some time. When I went on my last trip to India, I'd filled my Ipod with lots of books. I've been reading them whenever I need mobility, which doesn't seem to be often these days. So my trip from the beginning to the ending of this book has been slightly longer than the time he spent conquering the whole world. It's an amazing story. His family lived on the steppes of Asia. This is not hospitable land. But somehow he managed had the brilliance of understanding human nature and the ability to rule the countries he conquered to bring China, Russia, Afghanistan and Persia under his umbrella. He never stayed in any of those countries; he loved the steppes too much. And, holy cow, he was brutal. They just seemed to be at that time. One guy had silver poured in his eyes and mouth. This was an honor. He knew he was going to be put to death. There was some symbolism in the silver thing.

He did not conquor India. Why not? It was too hot. He got to Delhi and couldn't stand the heat and humidity. Whoa, I was with him there. I think you need to be born in India to really appreciate that climate. I watched the movie based on the book I read last month, The Namesake. The movie is capitalized. I wonder why. Anyway, great movie. I loved the acting. As you may recall, the story is about Gogol Ganguli, first generation Indo-American and his family. There were scenes of the family back in Calcutta visiting their family. I told one friend that when I saw it, it was almost like being home. Oops, I guess Bangalore is not home. But it did remind me of being there.

The father tries to convince his new wife that America isn't so bad. They have gas all the time (and electricity, no doubt) and people don't spit in the street. He didn't mention the urinating beside the road. It is very clean in America. She soothes herself by making Rice Crisipies with all manner of Indian spices and peanuts. We all

crave the taste of home when we are gone.

I also read my last Swedish detective novel, One Step Behind. Two interesting things in this one. First, the detective is suffering from diabetes but doesn't want to admit it. As one who is pre-diabetic and not wanting to admit it, I enjoyed all this. I'm very lucky not to be where he is, but his feeling are familiar to me. Second is that there is a detective in the book named Lundstrom. That is my maiden name. Every time I heard that name, I chuckled. Fortunately, he was not a doofus. As for the mystery, it was more logical than the one that dealt with South African apartheid. That was a silly premise. This one was about killing people who are happy. I'm sure we've all wanted to do that from time-to-time.

Lovely visits this week. First with Jeanne and Rachelle and their spouses. It has been raining here in SoCal and Rachelle and Jack live right below the highest, most travelled mountain pass in the area. It closed that night and caused all kinds of delays in reaching their house. We all lived. It was great to see everyone.

Then we had to say goodbye to one of the directors of IT, Joe. He's moving back east to be close to family. I hope to contact him when I get back there. You can never know too many Irishmen. People came to his party who had left The Times 5 or 6 years ago. We had a good time, despite the sad occasion. There have been a lot of changes at The Times since I left. None are good, this one is very not good. Oh well.