he has a name... his name is robert paulson

i have a gecko that lives on my balcony. i named him gordo. he's a bit broad like me. he usually like to chill by the balcony light on the ceiling. emma called me while i was on R&R to assure her that geckos are not harmless. i assured her they are not. they can only walk on hard surfaces therefore skin was out of the question, along with bedding. hers is named oliver, i believe. she's come to not mind him so much, i think. we've come to notice yesterday that we have a rat. i don't mind them, i don't like them but, eh, no big. yesterday he scurried out of the office bathroom then right back in and down the bathroom drain. i then wondered if rats get claustrophobic. he came out again today. i named him. he is marquez domingo santiago balasubramaniam. my theory is that he is a disillusioned mexican rat who was so fed up with the poverty and squalor of his home nest decided to make a swim for it. where might such a rat run to... the holy mecca of rat-dom Karni Mata temple in the northeast indian city of Deshnok. instead he took a wrong turn at albuquerque and ended up in the poverty and squalor of our office in south east indian city of rajahmundry. the poor little bastard. having swam all that way the wrong way around the world, he was tired and said "fukk it, i'll just convert to hinduism anyways". thus he lives in our drain, probably eats our trash when we leave work (btw, it is 10:20pm and we have a ways to go before we get to leave tonight). so so goes the story of marquez domingo santiago balasubramaniam.

here are some funny pix: me trying to wear a sari as a manskirt (goti), ramesh helping me with a knotted drawstring, and me showing some pale, mosquito-bitten leg to the waiter.  good fight, goodnight.