Letter to Aniket

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I do LIVE, don't I, at 67, having the TIME of my life (it is close to 2 AM now), composing prose at a sizzling pace? Scherbakova, the Russian lady, suddenly crossed my thoughts apropos of 'Expertise' today; and made my day.

Here is the lowdown: Everyone was wondering why a novice in English was posted by the USSR to teach at such a prestigious place like IIT KGP. It turned out that the USSR also sent 4 of their Powder Metallurgists to install a new Russian Machine in the Dept of Metallurgy under an Exchange Program. They were all great guys...smoking, mixing, clubbing, and drinking with us here (the beneficiaries). But they were Academics, trying maybe to play truant. They needed a smooth and motherly figure to look after them and see that they don't stray from the straight and narrow Lane; and report if they show any tendency for mischief, so that their kith and kin can be 'civilized' there.

And 'My Fair Russian Lady' filled the bill to a tee.

This was the prevalent, but unbloggable rumor. I do a lot of suppressing the TRUTH (and don't stick to Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth) in my blogs (did you watch 'The Great Train Robbery'?...I didn't watch the movie 'My Cousin Vinny' but looked up Wikipedia after you mentioned it), so that the end result is graceful enough and I don't run into needless trouble.
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