Thamie's pages...

We remember many words and in most cases, their meanings, usage, pronunciations as well. But how often we remember those who introduced a particular word to us? Not that often, unless either the word or the person is so remarkable or in rare cases, when both are. 1. The word : pc: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/    - Ms. Sumathy ( in pic below) introduced me the word "Etiquette" almost 3 decades ago when I was her student learning communicative English as a part of my graduate studies in hospitality management.When she first explained the meaning of the word, it was hard for me to comprehend and later with examples, she engraved the word deep in to my thoughts that every time I come across the word, I am able to relive that moment when I heard it for the first time.    - As a trainer, professional in the hospitality industry, whenever I explain, train my colleagues on lobby etiquette, telephone etiquette, service etiquette, business etiquette and so on, I remember her exp

     Growing up in a small town in south India, I used to walk past street vendors selling different items on the footpath (read as roadside as there wasn't a footpath).Among them, the one who always attracted my attention was the middle aged man who sold rings embeded with colourful stones which he claims as semi-precious lucky stones but were actually glass pieces.     Unlike other vendors who were selling essential commodities, the luck vendor was never busy with many buyers. However, occasionally he had customers who are to be first convinced about the 'quality' of the product and then about the 'positive' impact of the product.      I always pondered, "if wearing those rings, stones are sure to bring luck and prosperity, why was he not wearing them and becoming rich to live a better life away from this roadside?" and " what's so compelling for him to make others rich?"      As years passed, my visit to the place lessened from daily to

WOULD YOU COMFORTABLY TAKE VACCINES MANUFACTURED IN CHINA? I am coming across this question too often on social media by the “patriotic” Indians. *Chinese vaccines(Sinopharm, Sinovac and others) are approved by WHO and being used in more than 50 countries including UAE, Bahrain, Vietnam, The Philippines, Hungary, Indonesia with the approval of their local health authorities. *Millions of people in those countries are already vaccinated with the Chinese vaccines and that includes hundreds of thousands of Indian expatriate workers, permanent residents living in those countries. *India manufactures only 1 brand of Covid vaccine - Covaxin by Bharat Biotech and until now, Covaxin’s WHO Emergency Use Listing approval is pending – meaning, those vaccinated with Covaxin may be considered as non-vaccinated during international travel until WHO approves it. *Remember, Covishield is not an Indian vaccine. It’s a vaccine developed by Astra Zeneca (Oxford Univ., UK) and produced at an Indian pharma

I have always been fascinated by the entertainments of this God   man, Nithyananda aka HDH Nithyananda Paramashivam ( HDH refers to His Divine Holiness). Despite being a rape accused fugitive, he has been making rounds on the media for building his own nation, KAILASA and more recently for unveiling Kailasa currency through the Reserve bank of Kailasa😮 Let us see some interesting, funny facts about Kailasa and its de facto head of the state. 1. Nitthi (as how he is fondly called by people who love him) is a smart man who calls his nation as an E-nation to avoid his followers and potential citizens of Kailasa asking him where it is located. There are speculations that Kailasa has been set up on a privately owned island off the coast of Ecuador or in the Turks & Caicos islands, Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean.However, these governments have been denying the entry and purchase of any island in their territory by Nitthi. 2. Buying a private island is not any thing new as many

As I am writing this blog post, the world, especially India will be gearing up to celebrate the International Day of Yoga over this weekend - 21st June 2020.Yoga is an ancient practice of exercise both for the physical and mental well being like any other health regimen.But it has been packaged and promoted in such a way that it is a panacea for all health issues right from impotency to infertility to cardio vascular illness to COVID 19. I keep coming across photos, videos on social media with people of different age groups performing various Yoga postures and projected that flexibility of the body is equal to 100% fitness.Being a hotel employee over 2 decades, I have seen loads of drunk people at Bars and clubs who, under the influence of alcohol can twist their bodies in many unimaginable way without having an iota of knowledge about yoga😆 Mathematics, an interesting or the most hated course in schools can be compared to Yoga.Back in the school days, our minds have

If we were asked this question, "Who is your role model?" How many of us can think of a person instantly? It is always a very difficult to get an answer from the top of one's mind.Whenever I have come across this question before, I always create my imaginary figure by selecting various traits of different personalities from people I personally know to those who are globally famous. Further, when I tried to enumerate the traits that I am inspired by or wanted to follow, the most on the list is came from a popular person - Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Though I have visited a few times and lived for short periods in Mahathir's Malaysia, I have officially  nothing to do with that country.A couple of times, I've got the opportunity to see Dr.M in public events.However, never got a chance to shake hand or get a selfie with him.I remember having in my wallet, a photo of him cut off from a news paper in the early 2000s when I used to