New Blog

I have started a new blog called "Origin Of Hymns" wherein I shall try to place at least one post per day. I have another blog called "Where, What, How and Why" also.

Autograph

Not having anything particular to do than the routine reading I am now doing, I started to rummage through my collection of odds and ends and came up with my old autograph book that I had maintained during my boyhood days and through school in Burma. Brought back a lot of memories, especially those of my singing days in St. George's Cathedral in Yangoon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma). We got paid to sing, at least us sopranos did. Most of the jottings are from my friends and it brought me memories of Elizabeth San Ba (She was doing medicine a that time), her sister Esther San Ba; my organist George Ronson and Mary Maung Pe (we used to call her Kyu Kyu), Hazel and Flossie (who were singing Alto) and the others. I sang soprano till my voice broke and I sang tenor for some time till I left for my native India. There were also two other sisters June-Rose and Heather Forbes-Mitchelle. They left for England before I left Burma. There was also a Kendly Smith who also did his schooling in the same school I went to - St. John's High School.
I kept in touch with Esther for some time after I came to India and then the writing fizzled out. How I'd love to go back to Burma and look these old friends of mine.
I remember my friends from I.E.S. Khalsa High school, particularly a S.M. Writer. He left for the U.S after I left for India and he used to make soapbox radios using a crystal. I still have the letters from him from U.S. and from Esther San Ba (all in Burmese which language I have practically forgotten, so I am not able to read them).  I'm trying to find a website that will teach Burmese online but so far I've not come up with one. I'd really like to read all my old letters once again. May be I'll go to Burma once again and see my old friends.
Now that I'm old, I am able to recollect the small incidents in my life that happened decades ago. Old people seem to recollect their childhood experiences vividly as they grow older. I was there in Burma fro nine years, from 1954 to 1963, an they were the best years of my life. Come to think of it the best years of my life were till I finished college and then I found myself a job and life after that was somewhat different.

Nothing Much

Nothing much is going on around me. The only thing of real importance that took place was my wife's presentation of her post-doctoral thesis to the public. It was about "Fetal Risk" and it was well attended and also interactive. At the end of the presentation the examiners, four of them, appreciated it and gave her their recommendations to be submitted to the University.
Other than that I have managed to go through my collection of books that I had purchased during the early ninety's. I finished all of John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer and now I am reading Forsythe. These stories can be read again and again after giving them a reasonable gap, preferably a couple of years. Reading is immensely enjoyable and also relaxing. Beats watching the TV.
Time passes by swiftly. The day breaks and before you know it, it is gone. There is truth in the verse from a poem - "What life is this, so full of care, we have no time to stand stare. Not that I have a lot of cares. My retired life is peaceful though there is nothing much to do. When I am not reading I listen to music, eat, nap  and, when the day ends, go to sleep. Boring.
I some times stand at the window overlooking the street in front of my house and watch the people passing by.