The Diary of Anne Frank was discovered after her death. It was a diary kept while she and her family were in secret hiding.

The Diary of Anne Ku is a live cyberspace diary - containing the first thoughts and feelings of the moment (without further editing or enhancement) jotted down by Anne Ku as and when she feels like it. 1st May 2000 is the first entry.

The Diary of Anne Ku

RUSSIANS, CHINESE, INDIANS

4 May 2000

I have always wondered why my non-Chinese friends suggest going to a Chinese restaurant when they see me. That is, I just assume they think I know what to order.

Tonight I went to see the Kirov Orchestra perform Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and two of Prokofiev's ballet suites. I went with my Russian friend, her boyfriend, and her Russian colleague. A Russian evening after they had returned from St Petersburg and Moscow.

I had no desire to go to India until I saw the movie Kama Sutra. The next day, I sought out an Indian colleague to have lunch - to ask him all about northern India.

What does this say? Does Chinese food taste better when you share it with a Chinese? Does Russian music sound more authentic played by a Russian orchestra and enjoyed with Russian friends? If that's the case, I will have to go to India with an Indian friend.

Growing up in an international neighbourhood full of translators and editors, I thrived on diversity. I got introduced to foreign cuisines not in restaurants but in neighbours' houses. Years later I repeated that diversity in my own household in St John's Wood: a five storey five bedroom house on top of a French restaurant. I finally learned how to make those wonderful dishes in the kitchen below my room.

Tonight the amazing music evoked fond memories of my piano students from long ago. Two of them were my Russian neighbours. Where are they now? Do they know what fantastic heritage they carry? What wonderful music lives on? Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Moussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, to name only a few.