Namaskar

The medieval malady that has left me stupid-sleepy with the off-brand Nyquil is the chief reason I didn't make mention yesterday of James Macpherson's implausible plan to improve Pasadena journalism..

But I'll confess to other distractions. I spend too much time on the phone, talking to people I have established relationships with in the city I've lived in or near all of my 32 years. From residents and police officers to municipal staff and politicians, I try to construct an an idea of not only what is going on, but why.

Personally, I welcome the participation of two Sahib scribes from the subcontinent. I can't wait to read their dispatches. Jamie's free post on Craigslist has bought millions worth of international publicity, but we'll see if Pasadenans take the bait.

Altogether, I've spent the better part of a year in India. From Lucknow's colonial relics, to Varanasi's mystical ghats, Agra's tourist ghettos, Delhi's choke of Mughal/colonial alienist architecture, Mumbai's cultural surrealism, Rajasthan's fading splendor and innumerable points in between. Shouldered a cherrywood sitar across many longitudes before it made it back to Pasadena. In fact, I've still got time left on my 10-year visa.

I've even written in the past about India's interesting collisions between ancient norms and contemporary culture, the significance of the rise of the BJP/Vajpayee, the inveterate/beloved angst with little brother Pakistan and the open wound that is Ayodhya.

But could I cover the Punjab's Vidhan Sabha? Would Chief Minister Sardar Parkash Singh Badal go off-the-record with me over a carafe of wine? (From my experience in Amritsar -- he might -- but only in his parents' attic with the shades drawn)

Perhaps we've been going about it all wrong. Maybe I've been wrong to think Editor Larry Wilson would write me up if I tried to cover council meetings over the Internet. Maybe ... I can have my cake and eat it to. Get that little studio flat off Soi 7 I've always wanted in Bangkok -and- write for the Pasadena Star-News.

For now, I wish Jamie luck. It seems he's poured all of his time and energy into Pasadena Now. I just hope he understands the critical concept of baksheesh.

For more, read: Foothill Cities' take.

Larry Wilson's column