hey

I'm in Delhi, and I'm on my way back to Mumbai and the states in the very near future. I saw the Taj Mahal, which was really cool, and spent some time in Jaipur, where I quickly made some interesting friends.

However, the reason I'm putting fingers to keys today is because I just received an email informing me that Ed Harrington died of a stroke, last week, at 82. Last summer, as I was preparing to travel, Ed told me to apply for a scholarship from his organization, the Harrington Foundation, even though I was not planning on attending an institution and was well past the median age of his scholarship recipients. He graciously gave me a scholarship that amounted to a quarter of my total travel budget, without which I may well have run into logistic difficulties here in India. Aside from this gift, I found him a very intelligent guy who had aged gracefully, keeping friends from many walks of life about him. I was looking forward to seeing him again in Minneapolis; he retained a great interest in life, and I sincerely hope his family and friends are comforted in their loss. The last time I saw him, he had just dropped me off at my car after we'd eaten lunch, and gone back inside his office. Maybe for a half minute or so, I waited in the parking lot, thinking; he did the same from his desk, watching a flock of finches peck at some birdseed. I started up my absurdly loud car and drove off to pack.

In other news, I'm doing well. I'm halfway through Henry Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer' which I don't like at all. I'm having trouble buying souvenirs for people, and I'm looking for a dentist, to try and score some cheap fillings before returning to the States in a little under a week. Cheers, readers.