Thamie's pages...

As I was going though the archived photos in my computer, I have sen this photo and should tell about this interesting gentleman here.He must be a septuagenarian. I met him along with my friend on a hot “Sun”day last year at the Point Cruz area in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Both me and my friend were surprised to see an authentically dressed Indian clad in Dhoti and Kurta in this part of the world were Indian Indians( this is how the FBIs- Fijian born-Indians were differentiated from Indians from India ) are very rare to be seen . We approached him, greeted with Namaste and started picking up a conversation with him. When I asked “Sir , where are you from?” the reply came that he is from India( West Bengal) and reached Solomon Islands as he was hopping!!! different countries. His reply has changed my paradigm on travelling as a need to travelling as a passion. It was amazing when he shown us a handwritten note which has a detailed study of history, Geography, culture, tradition,

This tiny little piece of tableware is what annoys me and many of my friends from hotels across the globe by its unique characteristic of “disappearing” and as a result makes the life of the guys from Food & Beverage trade miserable whenever they have huge requirement for the teaspoons. Perhaps, its cute appearance or its compact size makes it easy to slide in garbage bags, socks of staff or sometime attracted by the guests and end up in the handbags of female guests. My experience over years has shown that even hotels with huge inventory of the teaspoon has also got no immunity to this peculiar syndrome of running out of stock for teaspoon whenever they are required. Few months back, I had a tough time with the teaspoons when my team was packing equipment for an off-site high profile catering activity to the Solomon Islands and the Taiwanese delegates accompanying the President Ma of Taiwan during his state visit to this tiny (as a teaspoon) nation in the South Pacific. The

"Whatever happened, it happened well. Whatever is happening, it is happening well. Whatever will happen, it will also happen well. What of yours did you lose? Why or for what are you crying? What did you bring with you, for you to lose it? What did you create, for it to be wasted or destroyed? Whatever you took, it was taken from here. Whatever you gave, it was given from here. Whatever is yours today, will belong to someone else tomorrow. On another day, it will belong to yet another. This change is the law of the universe"

Got this from a friend... Here goes: Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?" __._,_.___

Today is International Chef's Day!! Each Chef around the world will be celebrating this day in their own style.What's the fun in celebrating this day by cooking delicious,expensive meal to cater in the usual way but it is really touchy when we celebrated this day in a very memorable way by serving lunch to specially challenged kids at Solomon Islands Red Cross school for disabled. My friend Chef Andy( I don't know why these chefs are so obsessed with their names to be prefixed with "Chef"-even Prince Charles or any head of a country will not bother if his name is not prefixed with " His Royal Highness" and "His Excellency" respectively but these chefs will ... ) has taken a lot of efforts to cook for them along with his team and served them with a happy heart. What a good way to celebrate.....

If "practice makes Perfect" why there are many lawyers who are still practicing without becoming perfect???

Despite the negative publicity created by the western media, India has become a successful and proud host of the Common Wealth Games 2010. Even on the day India is celebrating the closing ceremony BBC was found taking rigorous steps to tarnish the country's image by flashing all initial problems which occurred before the opening of the games..... Click the link below to see what CGF president Michael Fennell has to say about India as a host of CWG 2010... http://sports.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/oct/14/slide-show-1-cwg-2010-delhi-delhi-games-a-success-declares-fennell.htm

Today, I happen to see something which probably would not be possible in any country which the rules, security measures are rigid.I have seen 3 immigration officials waiting in the hotel lobby with their official seals and stamp pad- reason???? some of the guests of the hotel who are air crews have entered the country without getting their passports stamped by the immigration!!! and now when the immigration officials have realised it they are at the door steps of the passengers to affix " Entry made' seal in their passports. Though it looked like a WOW !! service by going out of your way, it has also made me feel why few countries are so fussy about their tight security at the point of entry and few are not. Had it been in any other country may be in Australia- by now those passengers would have been arrested as illegal immigrants if they have managed to enter the country by escaping the tight security measure. When you live in a tiny country ,you can enjoy few luxuries...

While I am writing this, the 7th miner out of the 33 trapped miners from the Copiapo' mines of Chile has been rescued after a long 69 days of ordeal. We, in our day to day life boast or have seen people boasting silly things like achieving budgets,increasing sales,developing human talents, reducing costs,completing certain program of studies as "triumphs". But when I was watching this live on my TV thousands of miles away from Chile sitting in Solomon Islands, it has given me the real meaning for the phrase " Moment of Triumph" which is " NOT just achieving the achievable things or achieving something which if not achieved by us today can be achieved tomorrow either by us or by someone else but "triumph" really means doing something with the highest level of determination,courage to save our own or someone's life in a critical condition which has unfortunately only one chance to do" For the trapped miners struggling for 69 days ,half