The Return of the Natives!!!! Part 3

After The Return of the Natives!!!! and The Return of the Natives!!!! Part 2, the final part of Neelima's photographs from Kampala are here! I just hope I get to go there soon, very soon, with Papa, Mom and Neeti.

This where it all began, Rubaga Hospital, the hospital where I was born over 34 years back!

Another view of Rubaga Hospital! Wonder how it looked that Easter Monday?

Crossroads at Rubaga (Lubaga)!

Lubaga Cathedral, close to Rubaga Hospital! God blessed me when I was born!

The Sanatan Dharam Temple in Old Kampala! That's where I learnt about our richreligious heritage!

Swaminarayan Temple in Kampala. Am not sure it was there 30 years back!

The beautiful insides of Swaminarayan Temple. There is a stark difference between temples in India and those abroad. Temples abroad are congregational in nature, providing Indians with an opportunity to meet and socialise.

The Gurudwara in Kampala! That's where I learnt Wahe Guru (ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ) and Mattha Tekna!

The Langar (ਲੰਗਰ) at the Kampala Gurudwara! I had it many times 30 years back and will again, soon!

The beautiful Bosa family! Dr. Bosa was Mom's boss. And we became family friends over time. Mom told me that Mrs. Bosa once made a very smart shirt for me! We were pals with Sheba and Herbert! Estella was born after we left Uganda! They all have naughty but smart kids now, who love dancing to the tune of Shakira's Waka Waka! Speaking to all of them recently was like speaking to family. Yes, we have loved ones back home!

A lovely Ugandan treat laid out at the Bosa's! Can see lovely matoke laid out on table! I am hungry and I need matoke!

The Kampala Sheraton was home to my Nanaji, my Godfather!!!

Kaka Motors - a workshop that catered to our car's repairs! The Kaka family were friends. Sadly, Mrs. Kaka died recently. May her soul rest in peace!

Bank of Baroda has a major presence in East Africa, Uganda included. I used to visit this place often with Papa and Mom. They continue to be the bank's clients in India, 30 years on. That's called customer loyalty!

The Return of the Natives!!!! Part 2

Continuing on, from The Return of the Natives!!!!

We go alongwith Neelima's journey through my land, Uganda. The Natives returned (metaphorically) and they saw, eyes moistened, with emotion!

The Coat of Arms of Makerere University! The splendid crested crane stands for everything that is Ugandan, to me!
Makerere University was where Mom taught for a good number of years

The magnificent, colonial, administrative block of the Makerere University. That's where, I, as a four year old posed with Neelima, then a year old, for a smart photograph in 1981!

Makerere University's Faculty of Sciences, where Mom taught!!!!

Quarry House in the Makerere University campus. We called this place home!

The entrance to Quarry House!!!!

B 8, Quarry House, our home! So many memories, so little space to pen them down!

The balcony, where we all posed for photographs, with baby Neelima and Mom, when I animated the flight of plane. And again with friends, Sheba and Herbert, with me holding up a sketch of a plane. I remember running to the balcony when Papa used return back in his blue Fiat 127!
But some people move out, some move in, like this family, who graciously allowed Neelima to come in and click photographs!

That's where I used to play with other toddlers in the campus!

The Quarry House staircase. That's where I gallantly rode my tricycle down with a stunning result - I busted my forehead. Papa heroically rushed me to Mulago Hospital to stitch up my forehead. Bawling my guts out, I was pinned down by Mom, as Papa continued on with the task at hand!!!!

That gallant feat gave me the characteristic scar that I will have for the rest of my life. They say, everything happens for a reason! The scar will remind me of my home, forever!

Mulago Hospital, Papa's karambhoomi!

The hospital shot into the news internationally, when Dora Bloch, one of the hostages in the Air France Flight 139 hijack, was kidnapped from Mulago Hospital and murdered later.

Thank God, Papa wasn't on duty then!!!!

Mulago Hospital - Papa must have walked around here in his smart, white, doctor's coat, 30 years back!

The Return of the Natives!!!!

They say that one always retains an emotional connect with the place where one is born and where one spends one's formative years. That had always been true for me, there has and will always be a soft corner in my heart for Africa in general and Uganda in particular, for that's where I came from!

Recently, my sister, Neelima, got a wonderful opportunity to visit Uganda. And Papa, Mom, Neeti and I were getting a live stream of the action there through her photos on mails and Skype.

Those moments were so emotionally charged and intense for all of us and particularly me. Thanks to Neelima for allowing me to share some of her photographs here. These show the places and sights that I had experienced in the first 30 years of my life.

Here comes the first of the series!!!

One of the first glimpses of my motherland, the land where I was born, Uganda!

Every place is unique, but the greens and blues of Africa have hues, nowhere else to be found. And Uganda stands out. Little wonder, Sir Winston Churchill fell so madly in love with this country that he called it the Pearl of Africa!

Lake Victoria! Will always have fond memories of its shimmering blue waters, green grass and palms fluttering on its shores!

Touchdown! The Return of the Natives!!! Wouldn't I have kissed the soil?

I am dying to get back there, with Papa and Mom to relive those moments 30 years back and to show Neeti where I grew up!!!!

Times change! Uganda Airlines went bust and now you have Air Uganda, but Entebbe etched into the embankment is an enduring image!

I will always remember Uganda Airlines Fokkers and Boeing 707s and its lovely African livery, with the majestic crested crane adorning the fuselages!!!

A magical view of the grand old Lake Victoria! I am dying to see you!

And I am told, the roads in Uganda have Airtel all over. Such is the convenience that you can buy Airtel SIMs from roadside vendors - no verifications, no activations, no paranoia, like we have in India! Such is the innocence in my land - they know no terror! Hope it stays that way, forever!!!

Kampala, the city that gave me birth! The city of seven hills! Makes me fall in love all over again!

There's always a little bit of India where ever you go. More so, in Uganda, where Indians have lived since the 1800s, except for a brief interregnum in the 1970s.

Fusion has been a natural consequence of the long Indian existence in the country. Neelima told me that chappatis and samosas have been integrated into daily Ugandan cuisine.

The Parable of the Pencil

I came across this meaningful piece on the Net and thought of sharing it on Rajeev's World. Here goes:

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.
"There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."
"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand."
"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it
to become a better pencil."
"Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."
"Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."
"And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write."
The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.
Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.
One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.
Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you'll need it to become a stronger person.
Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
Four: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside.
And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.
Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.
Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Making Sense of the Sensex?

Making sense out of the Indian bellwether stock market index, the Sensex, is much like making sense out of sex.

Things just happen, believe me. they just do!

Things, indeed, did happen in the last few trading sessions, with the Sensexbeginning its free-fall last week. That was just when the supposed experts on the markets were predicting the index touching 24,000 to 30,000 levels.

Isn't it amazing to see the frequency with which these predictions go wrong?

Just three years back, before the liquidity crunch induced the global slowdown, market pundits were predicting levels of 30,000 to 40,000.

But these predictions have never seen light of the day, at least till today.

It is true that we go overboard both with our pessimism as well as with our optimism. I remember those days in the early 2000s, when I religiously started micro-SIPping on the markets through mutual funds, 8,000 was a great big deal, with the levels nowhere being in sight. Then by 2002, markets tanked to the hellish 2,800 levels only to kiss 8,000 by 2005-2006. In all that my SIPping added to quite a lot in terms of an impressive return, though the absolute quantum was minuscule!

That was when people were starting to talk of India.

Today pessimism is in, I am told, because of runaway inflation, increasing crude oil prices and consequent growth concerns.

But then, India, with its 1 billion odd people will grow over the next 20-30 years, will consume, will produce for the world and will extend its services Timbuktu to Machhu Pichhu. If one does have that confidence in India, it will never be a wrong time to place a long term bet on the markets, even when it doesn't seem to make any sense at all (like sex!), even when things just seem to happen.....