I returned from six weeks in Sri Lanka and India, a trip back in time, in the company of beautiful people, great food, and warm breezes, and was looking forward to capturing my travels on paper and reliving the memories, only to find my adopted homeland of Canada in the middle of climate-challenging winter storms […]
Junfraujoch (elevation 3450 feet) The 90-minute ascent from Interlaken up to the Jungfrau took three trains of constantly narrowing gage to penetrate many tunnels, but it took only a 20-minute gondola ride to descend into Grindelwald on the return journey. Even in this, the off-season, the lookout at the peak was packed with tourists –
Swiss Miscellany – Part 2 Read More »
Switzerland is a country I had constantly avoided during my travels around Europe. It lies in the middle of the continent, protected by mountains. Neutral and boring, I thought. I was surprised when I finally bit the bullet and put it on my bucket list as Country #70 to be visited according to my “one
Swiss Miscellany – Part 1 Read More »
I was raised to regard loyalty as one that once earned, remained for life, or until the demise of those to whom we were loyal, or until that loyalty was betrayed. So, one was loyal to one’s family, one’s country (even in battle), to one’s old school, and beyond academic years to being an “old
Loyalty Died With Advertising Read More »
When I entered high school back in the old country, when “streaming based on aptitude” began, I asked my dad which of the three available streams should I enter: Science, Commerce, or Arts? Dad replied, “Well, in my time, the bright kids went into Science, the average ones into Commerce, and the duds went into
The Value of the Arts Read More »
I remember the closing scene in the movie Camelot, in which a sad King Arthur rests his hand on old comrade Sir Pellinore’s shoulder, looks upon his burning kingdom being destroyed by lust and greed, and says, “You know, Pelli – the Roundtable was ahead of its time. Perhaps in a thousand years, people will
Retirement creates a restlessness and a despair that can be overpowering. We are no longer in the workforce, stoking the engine of commerce that makes this liberal-democratic, capitalist country function. At cocktail parties where we once proudly proclaimed, “I’m a VP….” or “I own XYZ company…” or “I am on the Board of Directors of
Well, I finally joined the precarious ranks of the “Two-million” in Canada, set to double in number by 2026 – the medical orphans – i.e., those without a family physician. I have been here twice before. The first time was when I immigrated to this country in the late ’80s. At that time, I just
In February last year, I wrote an article for the Anchorman titled “This article is NOT written by a robot,” to maintain that I was still in control of my subject matter. ChatGPT had just been unleashed on the world and was turning it upside down. Editors trembled, Writers wept, and Publishers rubbed their hands
In Search of Sentience Read More »
Most Caribbean islands, barring Cuba and Hispaniola, do not have a colourful recent history of revolutions and invasions, other than for the battles fought between their former colonial masters—the British, Dutch, French, and Spanish—for the possession or exchange of these volcanic outcrops. But Grenada has one, as recent as 1983, and it was interesting to
Grenada – an invasion that worked Read More »