Autumn songs

The sun's setting earlier now; leaves shedding their green garb for redder hues; colder, crisper mornings, as I take the short walk to the department each day, coffee-laden. A touch of homesickness too - reminders of friends and family back home whom I'd give much to be with, and a growing sense of the massive distance separating me from them. Even the internet's not enough to overcome that. In short, fall's here, and with it that warm sense of change tinged with melancholy - harsh impending winter, to be broken by holidays and snowscapes.

Cameron and HY were my distractions this weekend. After such a long time away from them both, I was overjoyed when they decided to visit Yale. We drove to the top of East Rock and took photographs, ate pizza and Thai food, explored the campus, but most of all just enjoyed each others' company. The evening before had seen Cameron at a fencing reunion (with banquet!). I ended up joining the gang at Mory's, a kind of gentleman's club cum rowdy sports bar next door to HGS, where drunk overdressed undergrads are to be found chugging trophies filled with a scary concoction. We had a lot of fun, though less so at a party in some guy's room in Trumbull College later on - the filthiest dive I ever did see! I'm told this is how American college students generally live.

I hit a bit of a low this evening. Class finished at 8.15pm (standard on Mondays). I had to wolf down food in Commons, then descend to the library (aptly called "Bass") where I began and completed a two-page memo on seven articles I'd barely had time to read on corruption - all within the space of two hours! Grad school sure teaches you to think and jot stuff down fast. One nugget of advice I was given before coming here was "Don't get it right, get it done!" For the first two years of coursework, that seems a wise adage. By the end of the writing-spree, I was knackered. But here I am now relieved to have everything out of the way, and increasingly less hung up about polishing each piece of work to perfection - there's simply too much for that. Balance is needed.

I have a great week ahead as it turns out, one peppered with little events and gatherings. I've been especially enwrapped in Hindi recently and think I'm making fast progress. Humming Bollywood songs in the shower, in bed, on the street ("bagoon mai bahar hein..."). I can't wait to practice properly again in India next summer!

With the unpleasantness of a work-heavy evening behind me, I now say good night.

Soon as midnight brought on the dusky hour
Friendliest to sleep and silence. Milton

:)zzz