Finallly, I published the long video-filled post on why I’m here in Calcutta. Here’s a teaser:

The first song in the video, “Oceanic, Part 2″, is by Anoushka Shankar. If you know her at all, it’s probably because she’s the half-sister of Norah Jones and the daughter of Ravi Shankar. For me, Anoushka was the shy girl who would sometimes flash me flirtatious smiles while she was still a senior at our high school and I was working at Miracles Cafe.

I remember, while in high school, that a few people would mention that she is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, but I didn’t really know what that meant other than reading somewhere that Ravi Shankar played along with the Beatles at some point.

The next year I found myself living in Kathmandu looking for pirated cassette tapes in Thamel (who says piracy is a thing of the internet?) when I found one with Anoushka’s picture on the cover. This can’t be right, I thought, and asked the shop keeper what’s up. Yes sir, she is very famous, he says. Well, what do you know.

Anoushka’s latest album, Breathing Under Water, is a collaboration with Karsh Kale. The album is practically a tribute to the sea. Wikipedia says she’s living in London these days, but I wonder if the album is a product of nostalgia for Encinitas’ magical coastline. From Cardiff Reef to Swami’s to Stonesteps to Beacon’s … any kid who grew up in Encinitas has strong memories of all of those beaches. Eating veggie burritos from Roberto’s, sipping on a mocha from Miracles, our first spliff, it all happened right there.