End of an era

Exactly this time, next week, I will be handing in my doctoral thesis and with that, my student identity over to the university. It ends a 10-year tertiary education era for me. I remember, I always wanted to be an academic, at some level, inspired by my father. But it became definite in my first semester of undergraduation when we had the pleasure of being taught by Prof. Banerjee, who is way better than ANY other lecturer I have ever come across. Infact, I don't think it can get any better than that. Of course, I can't imagine coming close to his level of academic excellence.

Here's a picture I took with him and Madam during the last trip to India. (From L to R - mom, madam, me and sir)

bad guys cooler than good guys lately

It appears that in recent years of Hollywood blockbusters, the bad guys have been way cooler than the good guys; while the hero requires a whole network of people and devices supporting him, the villain seems to be a self-sufficient guy...or girl.
The best instances of this are in Agent Smith from Matrix, who was much smarter than Neo (of course, except at the end), Silver Surfer from Fantastic four (unfortunately he goes over to the 'bright' side :D), Green Goblin against the super-lame Spiderman, and the best of all - the Joker!!! Batman was just a whiny wuss in the movie dominated by the Joker. Who could forget his "Why so serious", "It's NOT about the money" and "Look, I'll make this pencil disappear ...... ta-da!!"


Go the Joker and the gang!

Bania goes to the museum

The only Museum we have been visiting for the past 5 years is Children's museum, Maya lately has been showing some interest in all things Japanese. There was a Japan exhibit at the local museum 'Blanton'. While I was looking at the website I saw that the thursdays are free for all. The Bania in me got more interested in Japan than ever and we took a trip.

We zoomed past the Japan exhibit and the Renaissance, stopped briefly in front of the greek/roman statues I tried to get the kids to really see how beautiful they carved the clothes out of stone with each fold showing. They would not budge, Maya commented "how beautiful do you think they carved the clothes for this one". She was pointing to a nude...

Well, then we went to Cildo Meireles' "Missão/Missões installation. It's one of the permanent installations with the ceiling made of cattle bones and a pit full of shining pennies and a spine connecting the two. The girls spent majority of their visit there playing with the pennies. The bania genes live....

There are some pictures here.