Parag reppin’ D.C. on a glorious summer morning at Lands End in the Second World

My buddy Parag Khanna launched his book The Second World at a clutch of readings around Harvard last Friday and had a chi-chi launch party at Sparks House, the residence of Harvard’s official chaplain.

When I was living in Bandra, my pad was overrun by two-dollar cockroaches. I had installed a kitchen washing machine, the kind with one pipe to the tap and another to the drain. And I was slow to figure out the drain cover was there for good reasons. Crawly, six-legged reasons the size of small ponies.

Anyway, Parag swung through Bombay for a couple of days on his tour through Uzbekiranalbaniastan while writing his book. And pioneered the crushing of giant roaches with rusty wrenches, and the use of the living room A/C to cool the entire flat through the strategic closing of doors. The guy knows how to work it.

In return for my roachy Bandrospitality, I got invited to a chi-chi party in a small manse decorated like a museum, fabulous brownies, strong wine and an earnest fellow starting a group like the JFK Jr. world affairs forum, but for professionals (i.e. events start no earlier than 7).

One of the more interesting guests was Meghan O’Sullivan, the young, ex-deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan who was memorably slammed by MoDo in a breach of the Irish-American redhead code.

Redheads, libations, fisticuffs and politics. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.