- Name: Maria Southard
- Age: 27
- Favourite Ice cream: Mint Chocolate Chip with a Waffle Cone and Sprinkles (preferably rainbow)
It's great to meet you. I'm glad you're here! My name is Maria Southard. I have recently acquired a husband and a new last name, and you may remember me as van den Akker. I loved my Dutch maiden name (and conversation-starter), but I’m okay with a more data-base friendly, easily-spellable (but not pronounceable) last name.
Why Sarkelifirangi? The words sarkeli-firangi tell a little bit of my story. Sarkeli means crazy or "mad," and firangi (फिरंगी) means foreigner. “Sarkeli firangi” is a nickname I picked up in Pune, India, where I grew up and was in fact, a crazy foreigner. When my friends set up my Instagram, we chose sarkelifirangi as my handle - and though no non-Indian can ever pronounce it (circle-phalanges), I’ve had it long enough to claim association.
Edward Hoagland, an American essayist, once quipped, "Henry David Thoreau said: 'I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew so well,' and like Walt Whitman, he devoted his life to presenting his enthusiams, assuming they had universal application." I'm here - like Thoreau - to talk about myself, and - like Whitman - to present my enthusiams for your reading pleasure.
In short, I am a voracious reader of truth and opinion, and this website exists to encourage both.