With all the sacks of onions under him, this man's being touted as the richest man in India today...
Prayer
| L ord, You know that I am growing older.
W ith my vast store of wisdom and experience, it does seem a pity not to use it all. But you know Lord, I want a few friends at the end ! |
In a run-down part of East London, a fire destroyed a dilapidated four-storey house that had been divided into four flats.
A Nigerian family of six Internet con artists and full time 'benefit cheats' lived on the first floor... all six tragically perished in the fire.
A group of seven Islamic welfare cheats, all illegally in the country, lived on the second floor... they too, all perished in the fire.
Six Albanian, gang banger, ex-cons - all claiming political asylum and living off the state for free, occupied the 3rd floor... they too died.
But the middle aged Indian couple who lived on the top floor miraculously survived.
The Equal Opportunities Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Activists, Black Community Leaders and British Islamic Council were all furious at the apparent racial inequality of the situation.
Why was just the Indian couple saved? Questions were raised in the House of Commons, the popular media picked up the story and within hours it was National and indeed International news.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, when questioned stated calmly that it would be unwise to jump to conclusions until all of the Emergency Services had completed their report. He closed by stating that he expected their initial assessment to be available within the next 36 hours – so perhaps it would be best to let the experts gather the evidence and report back before he commented any further.
A large motorcade of representatives from all five groups, together with the Home Secretary drove to the area, having demanded a meeting with the local Chief Fire Officer. They made sure that a large pack of popular Press and TV had been briefed on the visit and so the motorcade was met by a huge gaggle of journalists, TV interviewers and cameras.
On camera, they loudly demanded to know why the Africans, Muslims and Albanians all died in the fire and only the Indian couple lived.
One bemused Chief Fire Officer quietly replied...
"Because they were both at work."
| An oldish, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. |
Dear Arun and Chand,
Wonderful to hear you were watching NDTV in Cardiff on New Year's eve - and caught a glimpse of me in the debate on the Arushi Talwar murder
case of NOIDA (UP). On NDTV the clip I believe was for not more than two or three minutes?
In fact I was also on TimesNow channel at the same time the previous night on the same topic - but for a debate that lasted more than an hour (from 9pm local to past 10pm local): the NewsHour programme anchored by Arnab Goswami - it was a high profile line up of panellists too: fiery activist women's rights lawyer Flavia Agnes from Bombay; celebrated author and columnist Shobha De also from Mumbai; Supreme Court senior lawyer Pinki Anand; former CBI Director VijayRamaRao; former Addl Solicitor Genl of India Vikas Singh; and the rear-guard pidlywig ex-cop from Delhi yours truly Maxwell Pereira!
And on the day previous to that too (the day CBI filed their closure report in the Aarushi case in court) I was on the TV-channel CNN-IBN, also on the same topic.
Though after return from my travels - this October onwards - I tried keeping away from the channels for some time, in the month of December
they did not spare me; have appeared on some channel or the other every other day, if not everyday as it happened in the last week of the year. So it really becomes a bit difficult to inform friends in advance, especially since more often than not there is hardly enough advance notice given to me too by the channel, and all my appearances are live and never pre-recorded! Even so, I will try to inform if possible.
With warm regards, and wishes for 2011 once again...
Maxie
A New Year's wish for You and Yours...
Best wishes from Arun, Chand , Annu and Kabir.
May you get a clean bill of health
from your dentist, your ophthalmologist, your psychiatrist,
your cardiologist, your urologist,
your proctologist, your gynaecologist, your podiatrist,
your plumber, and the REVENUE DeptMay your hair, your teeth, your face-lift,
your love handles, and your stocks never fall,
and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides,
your cholesterol, your white blood count, your weight,
and your property assessments never increase.May you be sensitive to the needs of others
and may you create within yourself
a balance of your own needs.May you laugh at yourself
and realize if you were supposed to touch your toes while exercising,
the Lord would have placed them further up,
and may you realize the reason so many people
take up jogging is to hear heavy breathing again.May what you see in the mirror delight you
and what others see in you delight them.
May someone love you enough to accept
and forgive your faults and be blind to your blemishes,
and tell the whole world about your virtues.May you live in a world at peace,
with an awareness of the beauty of every sunset,
every flower, every child's smile,
and every wonderful astonishing beat of your own heart.If by laughter, I can cause you to wipe one tear
from your cheek, that is my only reward.Above all, may you continue to smile,
may your life be filled with laughter,
and may you never forget the words
found in the Book of Proverbs ..."A gloomy spirit rots the bones; but a merry heart is like good medicine."
The crazy(!) bunch of youngsters that passed out of St Aloysius College High School, Mangalore - class of 1960 - then notorious for being best in everything: best in studies, best in sports and games, best in extra-curricular activities including elocution, debate and singing; and notoriously best in good conduct and in bad conduct – they met in Jun-2010 to celebrate Fifty Years after - on the golden anniversary of the year of their passing out. They relive their crazy days!
