shanks, I have to ask you (before all frivolity becomes taboo), is your namesake the sitarist(?) popularized in the 60s, or is there another connection?

Ravi Shankar and the Beatles have, unfortunately, often been suggested as the derivation of my name, but this is not the case. (Weird, I know, given that my parents were 'into' the Stones and the Beatles around the time I was born, but there you go.) My middle name is actually my paternal grandfather's. The first name was a desperate attempt on my parents' part to find an 'Indian' name that would not be mispronounced by 'the English'. It failed miserably. My sister (Sonia) had better luck in that respect...

cheer

the sunshine warrior