Other Interests

Sudoku

Almost every morning I spend some time trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle from a newspaper. Apart from this direct interest in solving these puzzles, the mathematics of Sudoku also fascinates me. I played with this for a while and put a few things together into a web site on Sudoku.

Kakuro

For a while I found Kakuro interesting. Unfortunately, the daily Kakuro puzzles that I come across are not tricky enough to hold your interest after a while. Again, the mathematics of Kakuro interested me. I put together whatever I understood into a web site on Kakuro.

Photos

I spend quite a bit of time with my camera, but I'm not really an equipment buff. I have a glorified point-and-shoot camera, and I try to do a little bit of post-processing with GIMP: I'm not really an expert at any of these. Here are some of my photos.

Wildlife

I try to go tiger watching once a year. I haven't really learnt to recognize birds in the wild: I do a little bit of birdwatching around Mumbai with my wife and friends and help with bird lists. I find insects more interesting: there are so many questions you can ask about them. I have kept some reports of trips to places where travellers' tips may be helpful.

Lepidoptera

I find moths very hard to identify, so I track them in my page on Urban Moths. Some of the better photos can also be found here. Recognizing butterflies is easy, and I like to take photos of these colourful creatures.

Origami

On one of my sabbaticals I learnt some origami. After some inexpert paperfolding I began to realize why it is fascinating. I also found the mathematical aspects entertaining: did you know that you can trisect any angle by paper-folding? As I taught myself this old art I put together a set of links into a web page of Origami resources

The Indian Ocean Monsoon

I really don't know whether this is entertainment or work; I put together a web page on the monsoon in 1995 and it is very dated by now. I find the monsoon fascinating, and follow its progress every year. I also occassionally follow the progress of scientific work on the monsoon; sometimes I ask students to look at monsoon data. it is more of entertainment than work.