Indian shrimp pakoda and the ancient Chinese puzzle!

When Maria [she joined ID dept in September] asked if I needed anything from the US during Ramadan vacation, I asked her to get 'Tangram'. She hadn't heard about it earlier. Nor anyone on the bus. Maria was buying books for her department and hey presto! she found Tangram and gifted it to me. She bought one for herself too. I have many memories associated with with this beautiful Chinese puzzle. Rekha Abel used to have one. Calts Coffee Club!! Ara, Rekha, Priya, Savitha and me were its members. In Rekha's room in the old ladies hostel, we would generally gather around 11pm and chat till 2, 3, 4 am having tea. Ara would have coffee. Till 11pm either it was library, boyfriends, city or meeting guides. Rekha's room was tiny and cozy. Solving crossword puzzles, reading newspaper, playing pictionary, tangram... they were the wonderful days. That's when my hobby of star gazing with naked eye also had begun. With our small guides and the night sky map from the Hindu newspaper, we would locate various constellations. Rekha was very good at it. From Savitha butterflying-watching, from Priya bird-watching, from Rekha star-watching, I learnt. Walks in the late afternoons and get-together at nights - life as a research scholar was fun!
What I write is the period till 1995. Then everybody left one by one - Ara to Baroda [later to London], Rekha to Chennai [later to Hyd], Priya to US. In 1995, Indrani Roy - student of Ara and Tanmoy at MSU, Baroda joined and a new era of friendship began... We instantly gelled well coz of our love for tea! Later, Savitha too left to Chennai [later to US].















Tomato catch-up with times....