Iran And The Bomb.

Getting political for a change.

Tell me what you think.

AudioBoo - An Elephant In The Ashram.

India, The Beatles, an ashram and an elephant.

Say It To My Face.

I'm afraid that i'm going to have to get a little political with you all. Well, partially anyway.

This week, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has been in the news because of comments he has made about certain countries & their policies.
Firstly, whilst in Turkey, he compared Gaza to a "prison camp".
Then, whilst in India, he said "We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country (Pakistan) is allowed to look both ways and is able, in any way, to promote the export of terror whether to India, whether to Afghanistan or to anywhere else in the world."

Now, what David Cameron said may well be correct, i'm not going to dispute that. My point is about where he actually made the comments in the first place and why he made them where he did.

Why did he talk about Israel/Gaza whilst in Turkey & about Pakistan whilst in India?
It seems obvious to me & many others, that it was done purely to please the people he was talking to at the time.
I wonder whether David Cameron would have made those same remarks if he had been in Israel, or Pakistan respectively? I doubt it somehow.
And that is the main point of this post and it applies in both diplomacy and in personal life too.

If you have something important to say about somebody, whether that be a country, or an individual. At least have the decency and the courage, to say it to that persons face. Don't just say something to please the person that you are talking to. Say it to the people that it concerns & to the people who you are actually talking about.
If you do, i will have far greater respect for you.
Say it to my face, or don't say it at all.

It's Lake Fish Sir.

Whilst watching a video this morning by one of my favourite YouTubers, Margaret Fabrizio, who goes by the name "atree3", i was reminded of a story.

Margaret's video was one of a series she has posted about her recent trip to Vietnam.
This is the video:


Apart from the story, which will probably not make a lot of sense unless you've watched that video, especially the ending. This series of videos has also brought back many happy memories to me of past holidays, especially those holidays to more distant lands.

My story took place in Sri Lanka, which i was lucky enough to visit with some friends, way back in 1982. Just before the ethnic violence between the Sinhalese & Tamils started.

We were in a place called Pollunaruwa, an ancient city of temples & statues of the Buddha. My friend Keith & i were sitting in a restuarant by a big lake. Whilst perusing the menu, we noticed that they had fish on there.
So, we asked the waiter what kind of fish it was:
"It's lake fish sir",
"Yes, we know it comes from the lake, but what kind of fish is it?",
"It's lake fish sir"
"Yes, we understand that, but what is the actual fish called?",
"It's lake fish sir"
It was at this point that we admitted defeat!

Now, this might not seem like a particularly amusing story & it may indeed be one of those cases where you just had to be there? But, it brought all of those memories flooding back to me.

I have been lucky enough to travel to some wonderful countries. Countries such as Sri Lanka, India & Egypt. And in each of them i have travelled in an unscheduled manner, basically backpacking i suppose.
But, the common thing that keeps those memories fresh in my mind, is the fact that for each of those holidays, i kept a travel diary. All of which i still have.
In fact, after watching Margaret's video this morning & thinking of that lake fish story, i have gone back & re-read my diary about that Sri Lankan trip.

Although, i took many, many photo's during those trips. There is nothing quite the same as reading a travel diary that was actually written at the time. Especially when viewed with those photographs. It really brings them back to life.
Try as we might, we can never remember everything that happens, or that we experience. But, every time i re-read those diaries, i am transported right back to the day that i wrote them.
The sights, sounds & smells seem to jump right out of the pages. In fact some of the pages still have the original stains on them!

I'm not sure that that would ever happen again in quite the same way?
These days, we all go on our holidays armed to the teeth with technology. Whether that be a mobile/cell phone, digital camera, laptop, or video camera. There is no excuse, or any need to miss a thing.

Indeed, that is exactly what Margaret's videos have proven. She now has her exchange with that Vietnamese man all about tea, in digital form. She even has the ability to upload it to the Internet & let the rest of us experience that memory with her.
I have done the same thing myself, on more recent holidays to Spain & the USA.

In the past, our memories have only really lived on in our brains, on celluloid film, or on fragile paper. Now, those memories can be recorded digitally, edited & stored on the Internet for all to see, for eternity.

Just like an elephant, we will never forget (even if we want to)