Bibhas has returned from India with the panjika. One of Mom's friends at work who is from China mentioned that they also have something similar to a panjika. What is it? The panjika is a lunar calendar marking religious holidays, pujas and other auspicious occasions that can be used to schedule important events...such as weddings.
It turns out there are three auspicious days in November and December: November 25th, November 27th and December 8th. The second date is ruled out because it is a weekday and additionally the auspicious time (yes it's that precise) begins at 3.00 AM. The 25th is a Sunday, therfore a possible candidate. But really the ideal date is December 8th. Why? It's a Saturday. The auspicious time is a reasonable 6.30 PM (although it goes till 4.30 AM). But most importantly it is my Dad's birthday...and also my uncle's! So December 8th, 2001 is the tentative date for the Connecticut part of the wedding.
In other news...our mailbox was vandalized! As Dad drove along the road he said it looked like every tenth mailbox had been bashed in. Some were badly damaged but others were just kind of lying on their sides. This prompted the following observations on his part: "If your mailbox is really screwed in tight and it is hit by a baseball bat then the mailbox gets really mangled and the post gets all damaged. But! If the mailbox is only hanging onto the post with a few nails, then when it is hit with a baseball bat it just flys off. It looks bad, since it's lying on the ground, but it will only be lightly damaged! Luckily, this was the case for our mailbox...but on repairing it, I put more nails in so...if it gets hit again it will get mangled."
Maybe we should look into getting a vandal-proof mailbox. According to the US Postal Service: "Mailboxes are considered federal property, and federal law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705), makes it a crime to vandalize them (and to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them). Violators can be fined up to $250,000 or imprisoned for up to three years for each act of vandalism."
What? $250,000!?
