Twenty- five Seven

I’ve won myself a holiday!!!!!

May 31, 2014

Just when my problems with my Samsung seemed to be over, I began experiencing problems with my service provider. Vodafone it seems is upgrading from 3G to another G (naturally because I’ve just activated a 3G connection on my iPad) and from time to time I lose connectivity. With the temperature rising by the minute, this only added to my frustration with connecting to the virtual world and from time to time I would fiddle around with the phone in the hope of getting some message………

And what a surprise I got when I glanced at my phone late in the afternoon and found out that I had won myself a dream holiday to Malaysia!!!! Thank you Blogadda for providing this opportunity.

In March this year I had entered the malaysiajao contest hosted by Blogadda and the Malaysian Tourism Board and was simply blown when I found out that I was one of the ten lucky winners. So shocked was I that I actually thought I’d sleep it over before shouting it out to the world. I mean these kind of things don’t happen to me. Or do they?

Well, it seems that they do .

Now that I know it is for real I can shout it out from the rooftop

MALAYSIA HERE I COME

I am so excited about this that I can hardly think straight.

Read my winning entry at http://mumbaionahigh.com/index.php/2014/03/15/malaysia-dream-destination-of-leisure/

and get inspired to visit Malaysia yourself this year. In the meanwhile watch this space for more as I keep you updated on my dream holiday.

Thank you Blogadda and Thank You Malaysian Tourism for this wonderful opportunity.
By George! or Twins on Different Continents

May 30, 2014

Twins (Photo credit: { brandie })

Today was one of those days when I felt I had nothing to blog about when “pop” came a letter from my father. He is one of those bloggers who couldn’t be bothered about “blogging” having tried his hand at it several times and abandoned various blogs at different levels of frustration. From time to time when so inspired, he pens a few words and requests me to post or rather host the entry on my blog. So this is a guest post from him.

Same to Same

I was waiting to collect
medicines at the ECHS clinic when a Pongo came up to me and said to me

“Oh you are still waiting?”. I
couldn’t understand his query, so I begged his pardon.

He said nothing and walked away.

I was a bit annoyed with him as
earlier he had entered the doctor’s clinic ahead of me and took a long time with
the doctor talking away unnecessarily.

A little later he came out and sat in
the empty chair next to me.

“Do you know Col. Lalwani?” he
inquired. I answered him in the negative.

“He looks just like you. And I
knew he was coming here this morning” he said.

I told him that I had heard an
Arab of his belief that Allah makes 7 of each and sends them to the earth
simultaneously, hence you find so many faces similar and even continents apart.

“I could well believe in this “he
said and then proceeded to narrate to me the following.

He had been to Sydney, Australia
to visit his son. There was a Servicemen’s Club nearby where one day he had
dropped in for a drink. There he saw a gentleman sitting resembling his friend
Maj. George D’souza. He enthusiastically went up to this man and hugged him
pucca fauji style and wondering what in the hell he was doing there. The
gentleman was taken aback. Our man inquired whether was not he Maj D’souza,
George D’souza. He replied in the affirmative that he was George but he was a
Colonel !! He also confirmed that he knew of Maj. George who was in the Indian
Army. Our man was intrigued till Col D’souza an Australian told him that his
father was an Indian and married to an eastern tribal lady whose son was
‘George’. He later migrated to Australia and married an Australian lady whose
son was also named George.The Indian George became a Major and the Australian
became a Colonel; both in their respective Armies!Our man corroborated this
story with Maj George D’souza on his return to India.

The only red herring in this narrative is the
age difference between the 2 Georges which I did not bother about.

p.s. If any of you happen to know any of the Georges in this story, either in Australia or India, you may please tell my father at bjog@vsnl.com
Proud to be Indian

May 27, 2014

Despite the umpteen reasons for being happy to be born in India, there are equally hundreds of reasons to feel sorry for the state of the nation – the daily grind, the daily whine and the daily blah blah blah. Somehow nothing seems to really change and if it does, it is so imperceptible that it is almost like nothing ever moves. However, yesterday was one of those days when I felt proud to be an Indian.

As the sun began to set behind the magnificently regal Rashtrapathi Bhavan, amidst a congregation of friends and enemies, wellwishers and naysayers, the government of India headed by Mr. Narendra Modi was sworn in. Thanks to the incessant media blitz, several of the people present seemed like old friends and family attending a typical BIG FAT INDIAN GET TOGETHER where pearls and khadi mixed easily with saffron robes, uniformed men , humble sons of the soil, distinguished citizens, captains of industry and celebrities from tinsel town – indeed it was a true microcosm of the glorious country we call our home.

Because it was a solemn occasion there was no band baja or fireworks, but no one could deny a sense of festivity in the air, a feeling of hope and renewed energy and faith in the notion of nationhood and statesmanship that pervaded the atmosphere. With several of the ministers new entrants to governing one can look forward to an era of unbiased governance where tokenism symbolism and sheer populism finally takes a back seat giving merit its place in the sun.

As he signed his name with the flourish of a Mont Blanc pen, our Prime Minister himself has shown and proved beyond doubt that India can recognise merit and that hard work and determination coupled with integrity and selflessness can get a simple Indian to the top of the pile.

Yesterday as the entire cabinet stood beside the President I felt truly proud to be an Indian.

The photos are taken from the INDIA TODAY web page

I’ve won myself a holiday!!!!!

By George! or Twins on Different Continents

Proud to be Indian