Welcome to my global village!

Sharing with the readers my experiences through my travel, interaction with different cultures and my involvement through community work! Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2012 Day One

So 2012 is finally here for us in Fiji, the date appears 31st on the blog though!

1st January, 2012.

Started the morning with a cup of freshly (ground and) brewed coffee while watching news to see how well 2011 will be recapped etc etc. Al zazeera shows a clip where according to Mayan calendar 21st Dec 2012 is the end of the world?!? Should news channel convey something like that to its viewers considering there is no substantive evidence for that! Or is it journalism gimmick! Or is it to attract tourist (so says the reporter!)!

After my breakfast, I caught up with a group of senior citizen friends after a considerably long period! It was lovely to chat with them and share stories. At the same time it was sad too to hear how their children sometimes have no time for their parents and they feel neglected and ignored! I also gathered two lovely ladies, Keleti and Maria are no more, RIP Keleti and Maria. Keleti was a retired school teacher and it was always a pleasure listening to her world of wisdom in her calm manner while Maria was also a lively old woman whose presence in the room could not go unnoticed!

Got back home and thought of blogging straight away while listening to some Ethiopian Jazz and sipping away green tea!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Goodbye 2011 and Welcome 2012

Another year passes by...what have we achieved! It is good to spread a bit of niceties around if you can. I sometimes wonder how we the human-race behave and act! I hope and wish with the new year approaching the human race will learn to be more tolerant, respectful and sincere in their action more than just words!

A few issues put me in a reflection mode:

"Netiquette" seems cliched but cannot be emphasized enough considering an ever increasing community interacting online whether it is writing emails/ online forum/ VOIP etc etc. I have no idea how one can be taught 'netiquette', this is something that simply translates from a physical to virtual world, it is just more dangerous since the reaction reaches faster as it is just a 'click' away!

On the other hand "taking a person for granted" seem to be the most common issue with the ignorant ones! Or should I say its easier to choose to be ignorant perhaps because it serves our purpose, I wonder, again...

There is this young man (a very courteous, ever smiling, energetic with a good sense of salesmanship) who I have been buying vegetables from for the last 4 years - he is a constant reminder of how our society is yet not ready to assimilate school dropouts but hardworking and talented individuals into the mainstream workforce! Solution...

Food for thought as we get ready to welcome the new year 2012...

Friday, December 02, 2011

A fine play by a group of fine team : Fine Dancing

"Fine Dancing"- Finally being staged in Suva these days. A play by a group of talented artists, choreographer, writer and director - all Pacific Islanders. An excellent home-grown production!

I went to watch it tonight and came back mesmerized once again! In a nut shell, the play revolves around this abused woman who is struggling with her emotions and finally returns to her husband. In the booklet, the director informs that when this play was staged first time in Honolulu, he was confronted by a lot of women on the 'ending' with the arguement - abused wife should never return to the abuser. After the play I was thinking what is my take on this! I am pretty sure if I watched this play 25 years back I would have said the same as women in Honolulu. But now...what is my take! One angle: the abused wife has two small children and she returns for them! Another angle: she still loves the husband- she must be out of her mind to love the abusive husband, right! Even though I am passionate about women's rights and status in the society, I still cannot just think that she should not return or she should...there is obviously more to it...children to consider, the abused woman's frame of mind, her sense of security/ insecurity, may be the love is still intact which I doubt! I don't know and I am still thinking...

Overall, it was a fabulous show - the execution was simply brilliant, what better way to enjoy friday evening, it was worth the wait!