goggly

Visit to any new country always evokes a curiosity. South Africa was also no exception. This was my first visit to any country in southern hemisphere where summer occurs from December to February and winter from June to August. For me, it was the end of the summar and beginning of winter. Second part of the curiosity was to hear stories about apartheid. A word, not english but come from Africaans meaning ‘separation’. My visit was to cover cape town and johanneburg. The word ‘ cape of good hope’ brought memories of history school book british/portugese/spanish seafarer’s pictures (sea bandits under royal tutelage !!) on the edge of their wooden warships with single lens telescope in search of an Indian coast but would give up the chase assuming as a dead end of the earth. Other than apartheid, rugby, cricket, mahatma gandhi’s ashram in durban and in recent years mugging stories and cape wines; I had not much of inkling what to expect in this visit. Arrival at J’burg( that’s what locals...

I had arrived just previous day in Cape Town and today was my first working day. When I arrived at Hotel Cape, his face looked familiar. This was despite, him wearing a cap. Cornrow style golden hair braiding on a blond skin. It took me just few seconds, to remember Andrew Symonds. As I was admiring his similarity to Symonds, another tall man figured in. This time, I knew , he was Kasporovitz. Suddenly it dawned upon me that I could be at the place where Australian team is around. Just few days ago, a marathon cricket match had culminated that turned out a world record. It was possible that Australia team be in Cape Town. I was right. The test match was being played here. Seeing these two players getting out of hotel made me stop and look around. I saw big white bus standing to ferry the team. Just few souls were there waiting for taxi. I was wondering about scenario at Indian hotel. I looked at the bus. Gilchrist at the end of the bus was conspicuous with his nail biting. As I was fi...

A junior manager, a senior manager and their boss are on their way to a meeting. On their way through a park, they come across a wonder lamp. They rub the lamp and a ghost appears. The ghost says, "Normally, one is granted three wishes but as you are three, I will allow one wish each" So the eager senior manager shouted, I want the first wish. I want to be in the Bahamas, on a fast boat and have no worries. "Pfufffff, and he was gone. Now the junior manager could not keep quiet and shouted "I want to be in Florida with beautiful girls, plenty of food and cocktails. "Pfufffff, and he was also gone . The boss calmly said," I want these two idiots back in the office after lunch at 12.35pm" Moral of the story is: "Always allow the bosses to speak first"

Almost a decade ago, while in Oman. I had heard about Chiang Mai. Since then, I must have made at least ten trips to Bangkok but every time Chiang Mai and Phuket remained out of my reach. Pictures of elephant rides amidst the exotic greenery of Chiang Mai made yearning for this place more acute. It was coincidence that on my way to this place, I happen to see a Japanese movie shot in Chiang Mai. Reaching one day prior to business meeting can be a good excuse to avoid jet lag but it also gives an opportunity to do some sightseeing. In my previous meeting, I spent a day at Mekong Delta after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City and then seeing Ku Chi caves as a part of ‘beating retreat’. I was hoping to see something spectacular next day and therefore immediately started rummaging through travel magazines as soon as I arrived past midnight. It became evident, most of the exotic places were out of the city limits and most day tours would start only by early morning to extend till late hours. I wa...

All over the world the goddess of Justice is shown blind-folded holding evenly balanced scales in one hand and a sword in the other. The meaning is quite clear: Justice does not discriminate between people according to their status in society or wealth and is even-handed in using the sword of punishment to those who break the law. It is time we made this figure conform to the reality of justice as it exists in our country. We should take off her blind-fold to let every Indian see she is blind in only one eye and one side of her scales is lower than the other, and the sword smites only the poor and the helpless. Pick your own examples: Jessica Lall was shot in the head in view of dozens of people. The murderers were identified but these persons resiled from their statements. Without doubt they had been bought over by the prime accused whose family had money and political clout. All the accused went free. It was a disgraceful miscarriage of justice. But it has many precedents. Zahira She...

My introduction to entertaining Hindi Cinema began in 1971 with Haathi Mere Saathi. My parents, graciously would grant us one movie in a school vacation as a tribute to our endurance throughout the year of drudgery and suffocation at school. The movie that was bestowed with great fanfare would go through stringent scrutiny of my father for its contents. No wonder, movies that came in our lap either had animals or strong social or religious overtones. Haathi Mere Saathi –with Elephant, Janwar aur Insaan –Tiger were those early entertainers. After almost three decades, in emirates flight on my way to Chiang Mai, elephants arrived in a similar grandeur through Japanese movie ‘shining boy and little randy ‘. Raju– Rajesh Khanna was replaced by Yagira-Tetsu Susumu. Background shifted from south India to Japan and chiang mai – Thailand. Haathi Mere Saathi portrayed fierce loyalty of elephant towards his master while ‘shining boy and little randy’ displayed commitment by innocent child toward...