It’s still early in the morning, not yet eight. I take Maya out because I’m still sleepy and don’t know how to keep her occupied. Though this is summer, it is still chilly in the mornings, between 55 and 60 degrees. There is a note by the doorstep. “Fred’s Jewelry and Watch Repair” it says. The shop is opening some distance away from our house, not very close.

I imagine Fred and someone else, his son or maybe his wife, waking up at 4 am, their eyes still half-open, forcing themselves into their car, their hands clutching a cup of hot, watery liquid that passes for coffee in this country. Fred drives slowly as his son jogs from door to door, placing the note at each doorstep. There must be hundreds of houses between here and his shop. “Over twenty years experience”, the note says, “20% off the first week for all watch repairs”. The note is on a white paper, the quality of the print reminding me of bygone days when such notes were cyclostyled, four or five notes to a page to be cut later, ink smudges in places, a few pages not properly aligned. All this work to have people see the note as they walk out, maybe to pick up the paper, or take their dog for a walk, maybe annoyed at this unsolicited note, hardly glancing at this labor of love, before throwing it into the garbage.

I imagine his excitement, his nervousness at this endeavor, the first day of opening his own new shop. Is this his first ? Does he pray that morning, hoping for an auspicious beginning ? Has this event made a god fearing man out of him ? I imagine his smile at the first customer walking into the store, the smile a mixture of happiness, fear and nervousness. I think sometimes that starting your own business is liking riding a roller coaster, 24/7. I wish Fred well, may he find success and peace of mind.

Of all the news sites that I visit, I really like the two new discoveries that I made in the past couple of weeks. One is polymeme which: “uses a unique buzz-tracking approach to identify what’s currently hot in 20 areas, ranging from economics to evolution, and present it to the reader along with all sources that are currently talking about it. Thus, you can track how ideas – or memes – propagate through this new emerging networked public sphere. We would consider our mission a success if we expose you to the maximum number of new ideas on every 100 news items you read!” The other site is called Alltop that is touted as : “a ‘digital magazine rack’ of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points—they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed.”. For example, I can read the headlines from most Indian newspapers via the India category of Alltop. I think both these sites are pretty cool.

Another week is over. The nanny was on vacation most of this week, away to attend her nephew’s wedding. I took off from work and stayed at home, taking care of Maya. This is the second time since Shanthala started work that I’m doing this. Maya was easy to care for, but I’m drained at the end of each day. Over the weekend, I let Shanthala pick up the slack as I sat and wrote middlingly, the words jumbled, the ideas inchoate, purpose uncertain, writing because I wanted to. I remember a quote by a painter, Chuck Close:“Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work.”

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