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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Et Tu, Manil? "What a Waste!"


Manil Suri confesses about being gay and about his love of mathematics in this article in New York Times:

"And there was something else. I knew I was probably gay, which was completely invisible in India at that time.

"I had obtained a fellowship to Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh. Immediately, I was surprised how easy it was to set down roots here. Unlike immigrants from other parts of the world, I had the language. I’d seen American movies and had read Mad magazine. There was no culture shock.

"In America, I finally had a chance to investigate my own sexuality and take small hesitant steps in that direction. Today, I’m with my partner of 18 years.

"One thing I was shocked by was how much Americans hated mathematics. You almost needed an antidefamation league for mathematicians. People actually took pleasure in explaining how bad they were at it. There’s a doll here that says, “I hate math.” You wouldn’t be able to sell such a doll in a sari."

What's this thing about being gay and writing. Seems Seth is gay and now Suri. As Shobhaa De once famously remarked, "What a waste."

Smirk!

1 comment:

Dr. Ally Critter said...

John, so was Somerset Maugham... and Oscar Wilde- but of course- with that history, how could you not have guessed?