Dear Majumders,
Thank your for your wonderful hospitality in Kolkata. It was very fun to visit with you. It was also especially nice to talk with Gautama on the phone during our visit!
I arrived in the city of Gaya in the state of Bihar in India last night and the whole train station looked like a 'sleep over,' with much of the platforms covered in colorful, full length, sleeping bags, and pads and blankets, as people waited for their trains in the cool night. When M called this morning from Kolkatta, I was sitting just outside Bodhgaya Mahabodhi Temple (an UNESCO World Heritage Site), with my sketch pad out (I'm a beginning sketcher), drawing pictures including one of the main temple, together with the yellow gate # 2. (As the monks were chanting in the early morning, I also pulled out my practice chanter and played with ... and playing worked musically and innovatively and was enjoyable). A few of my sketches, and this one in particular, with pastel colors, came out alright. Thank you for your call, M. Last night I stayed in Gupta House (from the Lonely Planet guidebook, - and still quite alternative and kind of hippie, in a developing India), where I arrived about 11pm, was picked up at 7am this morning, and tonight I'm staying in the Shashi International Hotel. Bodhgaya receives an annual visit from an important Buddhist leader tomorrow morning, which sounds interesting and which I hope to attend.
India has so many people!
Warmly,
Scotty
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Saurav, Pallav, and Rinku!
Very nice to meet all of you in a variety of ways, both on the train to Bodhgaya, Pallav and Rinku, and electronically, Saurav! It's great that you work for Google in India, Saurav ... and I look forward to learning more about this.
Saurav, let's try to meet in a Google group video Hangout in late January or early February, after I return to the US in late January, unless we can serendipitously Hangout while I'm traveling in India, when internet wifi for travelers is variable. (I seem to have good access now and should have it through this evening)
Here are some related World University and School resources you might be interested in ... 'Applying to World University and School which is seeking its first high school applicants this autumn 2013 to matriculate online next autumn 2014' - http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.in/2013/11/applying-to-world-university-and-school.html ... and ... 'Admissions at World University and School' - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Admissions_at_World_University_and_School#World_University_and_School_Links.
What might be some of your interests in MIT OCW-centric World University and School (free and MIT), besides possibly becoming a Ph.D. student (per what your mother said - and since WUaS isn't planning at this point to offer a Masters of Business Administration), and possibly in business, drawing on MIT OCW's Sloan School of Management courses, for example - http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/ - which is also MIT's Business School, and which many people and students in India seem to be studying?
WUaS, for example, might be interested in collaborating with Google in India.
Cheers,
Scott
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