The Rat Race, From Above

People keep laughing at me when I tell them one of the best things about my new job is the view. But really, it's a good view! The skyline of Boston (and of Cambridge, for what that's worth), the landmarks, the big sky that is typically so elusive in hilly New England. I know it's not like I'm working in Switzerland - we've got our share of billboards and ugly apartment blocks in the way of our vista, but by and large it's pleasant. After living in a windowless cube for six months I would have been happy with a skylight, so this is really a treat.

In rainy weather, southern Cambridge looks like a jungle. The fog obscures the buildings of Harvard Square and gathers in the treetops like in some African rainforest. New England always looks like a forest when viewed from above. It's something I like about the place - it reminds me of home. I remember sitting in my dentist's chair and admiring the view of Evanston. His office was in Skokie, on Gross Point, several stories up. The land there is so flat that it doesn't take much elevation to get a good view, and I could see all the way to the lake. But it didn't look like Evanston; it just looked like a forest with a couple of buildings sticking out of it.

From an airplane one sometimes gets even more of a sensation of nature. From altitude the more distant suburbs of western Mass look almost completely uninhabited. Somehow it's only when you get up close that you realize nature doesn't live here anymore.

Nature doesn't live in India anymore, either. But check out the newest pictures, including some from Madikeri, my first stop in the mountains. And don't miss the new wheels I put on my car!