I gave a talk to the Mangalore Local Centre of the Institute of Engineers this week. The meeting started with a snack of yummy fried chickpea balls and coconut curry and tea. After a blessing for learning, I was introduced and spoke for the requested 30 minutes mostly on California's water transfers and problems. The 40 or so engineers in attendance were interested and we had a good discussion afterwards. I was given a thank you gift wrapped in Christmas paper of cashews, a local delicacy. Someone had mentioned that a reporter was there. I am told that this article in the 18 January Mangalore Udayavani newspaper summarizes my (English) talk about water transfers and some of California's water problems. The article is in the local language of Kannada. Signs here are a mix of Kannada and English. In 2001, one-quarter of all Indians speak more than one language and urban Indians were more likely to be multi-lingual. English was India's second most popular language with 125 million speakers. Kannada was India's 8th most popular language with 51 million speakers.
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