Back in Action Baby!

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That's right ladies and gentlemen, the blog is back and better than ever. After a few updates to the styling and a little fancy formatting built into the blogger website I have made this thing look pretty jazzy.

In case you have been wondering what I have been up to since the last post, there has been a heck of a lot. First was my first couple of conference presentations ever. The first was on the initial migration process of Ugandan Asians refugees to Canada in 1972 at Western University. The second was at the CHA's (Canadian Historical Association) annual meeting at the University of Victoria in B.C. entitled, "Being Brown in Black Uganda: South Asian Identity in Post-Independence Uganda". That one was mainly about complicating the idea of a singular South Asian diaspora. Since many Ugandan Asians look South Asian (ie. brown) many scholars have ignored their attachment to Uganda as home. For example when my mom is talking about "back home" she's talking about fresh cassavo (mojo), swahili, and Aga Khan schools in Uganda not anything necessarily related to growing up in the Indian sub-continent.

On the trail up Grouse mountain
The bridge in Whistler that I jumped off of!

After the conference I had a killer time touring Vancouver with friends and my cousin Adam who I hadn't seen in ages. On top of taking me bungee jumping and climbing Grouse mountain, he thoroughly spoiled me with pub tours and some home made mutton (goat) curry! 

Amyn Cha Cha and I at the first Starbucks

After that I headed to Seattle to see my uncle and aunt who I last saw thirteen years ago. I'm sure he was expecting a grown up version of the little chubby slash fat kid he remembered from 2000, haha. Nonetheless we had a wonderful time together checking out the classic tourist scenes like the Seattle Convention Centre and the Space Needle. We also had some outrageously delicious food including fusion Indian and English seafood. What does that exactly mean? It means delicious stuffed Alaskan Halibut with spinach and red piri piri sauce inside which is covered in a yellow butter based curry. OUTRAGEOUS!

As for what is happening currently, I have mainly just been reading away and taking out books on my comps list. By comps list I mean my comprehensive exam reading lists. Basically, chose three fields of academic study with a prof as your reading list supervisor and then read 60 books on each field and write 3 take home exams and one final oral exam all in November! I'll be talking more about this in an upcoming post so look out for that one. It sounds like hell, I know, but once you get into the rhythm of things it isn't all that bad.

That's all for now folks. I hope you enjoy the new look and the quick update on life! 

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