One of those (obviously the best informed, and putting me right in my unlettered place) who wrote back to comment on my post about tortured Indian English [making me thankful I read FmH’s comments section] was Nancy Gandhi, a weblogger who characterizes herself as “an outsider in Chennai”, in Tamil Nadu, southern India [I didn’t know mapquest did India! — FmH]. Under the Fire Star is her exotic, rich and enriching weblog, largely observing Indian culture. I gather she is an expat westerner; she does not directly tell much about herself. You get to know her through her exquisite eye, but are left longing for an “about me” page, something (anything) of a narrative about what she is doing in Chennai and how she came to be there. Would love to learn the significance of the weblog’s title as well. I speculate as to whether she is married to Ramesh Gandhi, to whose web page she offers a link. In any case, drink deeply, and drift back through her several months’ archives. And here is a catalogue of Indian webloggers, if you wish to drink more broadly.

Postscript: Nancy Gandhi writes back to say, in part:

“Under the Fire Star refers to Agni Nakshetram, ‘fire

star’, the astrological period ruled by the fire-god

Agni, which is traditionally the hottest time of the

year here. It’s always hot — I feel that Agni should

by rights rule the entire year.”