Sidhu?

Ah. Do come and say hi when you're in Cambridge.

Last time I was there, Hagia Sophia was a museum. Even that's changed now.

I'll be there!

Congratulations, Cecilia!

If you want metric, why are you counting feet? You mean 0.3048 metres.

Niklaus Wirth (of Pascal fame) reportedly once said that Americans pronounced his name "nickle's worth". So, while Europeans called him by name, Americans called him by value.

I used to do that. Until one day I carried a very heavy load on one shoulder and ended up with a really painful trapped nerve in my neck. Now I always use both straps.

I like the thought. The word certainly has a lovely undulating sound to it. But it seems unlikely (with my pedant's hat on). Undulate comes from the Latin diminutive of wave (unda). I don't think the -la- in Sanskrit has that diminutive sense.

Fascinating. I look forward to revisiting the National Museum and seeing if they reflect the latest research.
nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/en

I'm sure the account attributing this to the Bactrians was the standard story when I looked at the collection in the National Museum in Delhi twenty-odd years ago. When did it change?