Since I have become an occasional blogger on this site, I am going to share some news in brief. These may not be in chronological sequence, but please bear me out as I go about describing stuff that is happening in my life.
I have begun walking in right earnest. Every day for the last about 8 days, I have walked about 6 to 6.5 km at an average pace of 6 km/hr. I have walked a bit less than this only once in these 8 days, when my mood was not up to it. For several days now, an Egyptian friend of mine who works as an ER doctor in our hospital has been my walking companion. His name: Dr. Emaam Sayed. He has become health conscious just recently; he is about 42 years old, and is feeling the ill-effects of overweight. He is a nice, entertaining guy with a simple heart and a natural flair for comedy. I find that he slows me down, but it's okay, since, with him by my side, I am at least never bored to walk.
My village continues its steps of progress. A new bakery-cum-chocolate shop has now opened! It is a big chain that is HQ'ed in Riyadh. They make finger snacks, chocolates, decorative chocolate hampers, sweets and stuff like that. When I visited it today, there were three men, working to create hampers of biscuits and salted snacks. Each of them was from a different country - an Indian, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi! I chatted with them for a while before leaving the shop. Here are a few pictures of the offerings of the shop:
To have such a hi-tech shop in Al Muwayh means a lot of things: the people here have more options to choose from, they can find a greater variety of snacks without having to go to Ta'if for such treats, and, of course, a higher family expenditure on the occasion of someone's birthday or on the arrival of a new kid in the family or at the time of a wedding. On the other hand, it will provide the females of the village with one more place to visit to kill the time when their husbands are away at work.
An Indian-driven van banged into my car's front and broke the left side headlight and signal indicator light a few days ago. He claimed that it was not his fault as I had parked in a non-parking area. In fact, it was his fault, and several bystanders agreed with me being blame-free. However, the man seemed only to be a paid driver, and I let him go as I did not wish to aggravate matters.
Just yesterday, however, I discovered to my utter dismay that someone had removed and pilfered my car's front number plate and the Toyota trademark sign. This is an unusual crime to happen to an old car like mine! I was dismayed. I went to the police station and registered a complaint regarding the same and was given a paper that will allow me to drive the car wherever I want to drive it to. A new set of front and rear number plates would be sent to the station after a month or two, and I am expected to then receive these and get them fitted to the car. If the same number stays on the car, well and good, otherwise, if they decide to cancel this number and allot me a new one, I have to pay registration fees, insurance etc. anew! Really, readers will agree with me that this car, which seemed to be a dream come true in the initial few months, has proved to be an expensive and troublesome purchase for me ... and I regret this purchase that I made last year from my outgoing friend Dr. Narendra.
Next month, if things go all right, I should be in India on my annual vacation. Let us see what happens. I am eagerly awaiting it, not withstanding the fact that India is certainly in a mess on all fronts, be it the economical one, the one on social security, on honesty, on superstitious stuff, on religious harmony, on politics, on crime and criminals, on terrorism, on Pakistan or China policy matters, on relations with each other, on national integrity, etc. The only hope that keeps Indians alive and smiling is that they will be able to bring Narendra Modi in as the next Prime Minister of India ... and that he will wave his magic wand and all will be right with India.
If wishes were horses ....
Thanks for reading ... do leave your comments. Have a nice day.
I have begun walking in right earnest. Every day for the last about 8 days, I have walked about 6 to 6.5 km at an average pace of 6 km/hr. I have walked a bit less than this only once in these 8 days, when my mood was not up to it. For several days now, an Egyptian friend of mine who works as an ER doctor in our hospital has been my walking companion. His name: Dr. Emaam Sayed. He has become health conscious just recently; he is about 42 years old, and is feeling the ill-effects of overweight. He is a nice, entertaining guy with a simple heart and a natural flair for comedy. I find that he slows me down, but it's okay, since, with him by my side, I am at least never bored to walk.
My village continues its steps of progress. A new bakery-cum-chocolate shop has now opened! It is a big chain that is HQ'ed in Riyadh. They make finger snacks, chocolates, decorative chocolate hampers, sweets and stuff like that. When I visited it today, there were three men, working to create hampers of biscuits and salted snacks. Each of them was from a different country - an Indian, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi! I chatted with them for a while before leaving the shop. Here are a few pictures of the offerings of the shop:
To have such a hi-tech shop in Al Muwayh means a lot of things: the people here have more options to choose from, they can find a greater variety of snacks without having to go to Ta'if for such treats, and, of course, a higher family expenditure on the occasion of someone's birthday or on the arrival of a new kid in the family or at the time of a wedding. On the other hand, it will provide the females of the village with one more place to visit to kill the time when their husbands are away at work.
An Indian-driven van banged into my car's front and broke the left side headlight and signal indicator light a few days ago. He claimed that it was not his fault as I had parked in a non-parking area. In fact, it was his fault, and several bystanders agreed with me being blame-free. However, the man seemed only to be a paid driver, and I let him go as I did not wish to aggravate matters.
Just yesterday, however, I discovered to my utter dismay that someone had removed and pilfered my car's front number plate and the Toyota trademark sign. This is an unusual crime to happen to an old car like mine! I was dismayed. I went to the police station and registered a complaint regarding the same and was given a paper that will allow me to drive the car wherever I want to drive it to. A new set of front and rear number plates would be sent to the station after a month or two, and I am expected to then receive these and get them fitted to the car. If the same number stays on the car, well and good, otherwise, if they decide to cancel this number and allot me a new one, I have to pay registration fees, insurance etc. anew! Really, readers will agree with me that this car, which seemed to be a dream come true in the initial few months, has proved to be an expensive and troublesome purchase for me ... and I regret this purchase that I made last year from my outgoing friend Dr. Narendra.
Next month, if things go all right, I should be in India on my annual vacation. Let us see what happens. I am eagerly awaiting it, not withstanding the fact that India is certainly in a mess on all fronts, be it the economical one, the one on social security, on honesty, on superstitious stuff, on religious harmony, on politics, on crime and criminals, on terrorism, on Pakistan or China policy matters, on relations with each other, on national integrity, etc. The only hope that keeps Indians alive and smiling is that they will be able to bring Narendra Modi in as the next Prime Minister of India ... and that he will wave his magic wand and all will be right with India.
If wishes were horses ....
Thanks for reading ... do leave your comments. Have a nice day.
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