That Bloke In The Big Smoke

You can click on the image for a bigger view. [Taken Sat 28 May 2011]

As taken from Brown University's website:

"The Baccalaureate Service, with roots in medieval academic tradition, honors the achievements of the candidates for the bachelor’s (“bacca”) degree by presenting them with the laurels (“lauri”) of oration. Brown’s baccalaureate tradition derives from the immense range of religious, ethnic, geographic, linguistic, and musical traditions present within the campus community. The ceremony includes rituals, readings, and prayers from Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and animist traditions, as well as choral and instrumental music, the Chinese lion dance, poetry, dance, and Taiko and Senegalese drumming.

The service is conducted in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, completed in 1775 “for the Publick Worship of Almighty God, and also for holding Commencement in.” Significant portions of the University’s Commencement ceremonies have been held in the church ever since."

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As family we witnessed the ceremony from College Green on the main campus. It took place at the same time as the European Cup Final between Barcelona & Man United, but I chose to stay until the end of the Baccalaureate address that was delivered by Kenneth Roth, a 1977 Brown graduate and human-rights crusader. He has been the executive director of Human Rights Watch since 1993 and he spoke about "Finding Your Way When There Are No Rules" by "explaining what human rights' work and the Arab Spring say about making one's way in the world." Even though all the goals had been scored by the time I left, the talk was worth it.

According to Wikipedia, "Edison is one of the more diverse townships in New Jersey. It and the surrounding communities of Middlesex County are commonly known throughout the state and the New York metro area as being one of the region's main centers of Asian American cultural diversity." This is borne out in the demographics with 44% of the population classified as White and 43% as Asian. It's a pilgrimage for Indians in America.

Some of the following pics were taken with my sister's new retro-styled Micro Four Thirds camera, the Olympus PEN E-PL1. Can you guess which ones?




This is no joke and is a real movie. It won Best Film at the London Asian Film Festival and released in theatres on May 6. It marketed itself as "The Year's Other Big Wedding!" You can read more about it here.

( 9 More Pics )

They're some of the world's oldest and extensive public transportation systems, but even for a seasoned Tube traveller like myself, it was a little confusing to begin with. But figure it out and it's fairly straightforward to manoeuvre yourself around the city. They are also two of only four rapid transit systems in America that operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That sets it apart from even the Tube. It is a really good aspect of the Subway, even though we did not really put it to use. However I did have two issues with the network: first the lack of ventilation in most if not all the stations we encountered and second, the uncomfortable journeys in the trains themselves. I can understand how sauna-like conditions are good in the winter, but what about when it's warm/hot outside? In contrast, Tube trains can get hot but the stations themselves are usually really well ventilated. And as we learnt recently, the first air-conditioned Tube train stock have entered service, with a full completed upgrade expected by 2015. Finally, as we were in NYC during 9/11, I was not allowed to take a picture in one station on the anniversary itself. And I took care to avoid getting caught on other occasions, but still managed to sneak in a few. Enjoy!


This advert was plastered all over the Subway network.

( 7 More Pics from NYC's Undergound )

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art contains over 2 million works of art, including a unique collection of over 5000 musical instruments from around the world. The Met is worth every cent of the $20 entrance fee, even though I managed to wangle half-price as a student despite the fact my ID had expired last month! The audio guide is an essential companion for $7.50. You can get there by taking the green-coloured (Lexington Avenue/IRT East Side) subway lines served by the "4, 5 and 6 trains" and getting off at 86th Street station. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from there. The museum is located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile with its entrance on 82nd Street. It's very hard to miss once you're walking towards it along Fifth Avenue. There's also free Wi-Fi inside.


The world's oldest piano. Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano in 1698 but the one pictured is the oldest of three surviving items from 1720, 1722 and 1726. Cristofori called it "gravecembalo col piano e forte" (large harpsichord with soft and loud [sound]).

( More Musical Instrument Goodness )