Onward, ho.

There are (perhaps apocryphal) accounts that upon arriving in Hawaii for the first time, Captain James Cook flung out his arms, dropped to his knees in relief and exclaimed, “My! the natives look friendly.” Knowing as we do now what eventually happened to the good Captain and those friendly natives (they ate him), I’m setting off on my journey with a tiny bit more caution. I won’t hop into any inviting looking pots hanging over the fire, I promise. And while I’m sure that the natives will be plenty friendly in the land of my fore-mothers, I’ll try and avoid the hungry looking ones with sharp teeth. You can never be too sure with those heathen Hindoos, I know.

I leave tonight for the glorious mother country tonight, for a few days of civilized R & R before tracing the route (albeit by air and not sea) of so many brave and surely completely altruistic men and woman who went to Hindoostan to save the savages from their many-armed demon-gods, wipe the land of its pestilence, and bring general order and civilization. At least that’s what I wrote in my grant proposals. In addition to inconsequential and brief tasks like parsing through obscure archives, preparing to “write my dissertation,” doing oral history interviews and getting lost in the maze that is Delhi, of course. But who knows what those wily natives might enchant me to do once I arrive? I could be charming snakes and walking across hot coals by the time I arrive Friday. You’ll just have to keep reading to find out. I’ll try as much as possible to update every day and will go to great links to encourage you to comment on posts.