Holy Abu

Sahil Ailsinghani

2016-12-12T18:35:00.000+05:30

My eldest grandson has completed 22 years today.Now he is posted in the Front Office at the Marriott Spa and Resort,Panjim, Goa.

Munni of all Trades: Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort: Review and My exp...

2016-06-29T18:39:00.001+05:30

Munni of all Trades: Lemon Tree Vembanad Lake Resort: Review and My exp...: Certain journeys in life are so precious that they always manage to carve a special place in your heart. They make you smile when you fond...

Munni of all Trades: My adventures with Lifestraw

2016-06-29T18:31:00.001+05:30

Munni of all Trades: My adventures with Lifestraw: There are people in the world who can drink a liter of water in one go and not feel thirsty for hours and there are people like me who req...

The Grand Reunion.

2016-04-26T19:06:00.001+05:30

My Eldest daughter Sonia Motihar settled in Mumbai, surprised me with a visit with her daughters Khushboo and Gulsha. On the left is Khushboo, employed by a NGO and an ace blogger and on the right is Gulsha, doing Chemical Engineering.They spent three days with me that ignited my zest a great deal

Back in Mount Abu

2016-01-24T18:34:00.003+05:30

After and interesting stay at my daughter's flat in Mansarovar, Jaipur I am back in Mount Abu AFTER 45 DAYS. My sojourn in Jaipur was eventful and ultimate in comfort and the days definitely flew. For this I have to thank my daughter, Rukmani and her friends Molly and Alan Jobard, who were a great help

Holiday in Jaipur.

2015-12-05T10:48:00.000+05:30

I am in Jaipur, after 12 years for a short holiday and recuperation with my second son Rajinder and third daughter, Sarla. After a long time I have escaped the COLD of Mount Abu.

The Pink City has a great deal for relaxation and hospitality. Firstly, my fourth daughter, Rukmani Hazari, who works in an eminent Educational Institute and is suitably settled in a cozy flat in Mansarovar. Then there are her family friends, Molly and Alan Jobard with hospitality and care unlimited. It is a swell set up. Thank you all for all for a wonderful stay..

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2015-11-25T18:40:00.003+05:30

At 82, I have developed a phobia for each and everything in life I face. An uncanny feeling that is persistent. But don't panic, I am in safe hands. So lfe goes on blissfully, though I am aching all over.

The Time of Reckoning.

2015-06-17T18:43:00.001+05:30

My eldest grandson Sahil Ailsinghani graduated in the Hospitality Industry from the IIHM, Ahmedabad in May 2015. It had been his passion to be a part of the Oberoi Group of Hotels. During his study period he tried hard and his wish was fulfilled.

He joined the Oberoi Trident, Hyderabad as the Assistant, Front Office. But he is on the learning curve and is being trained in the high standards of the Hospitality Industry for which the Oberoi Group is unsurpassed.

All the best Sahil. Keep up the good work.

Munni of all Trades: Nanaji. An amusing memoir by my grand daughter, Khushboo Motihar.

2014-05-28T18:51:00.001+05:30

Munni of all Trades: Nanaji: “Take this girl away!”, were the first words my Nanaji uttered when he met me. I was a few months old and had decided that his beard w...

Munni of All Trades: As precious as a grain of salt

2014-03-17T21:10:00.001+05:30

Munni of All Trades: As precious as a grain of salt: Her presence in the Irani cafe was enough to brighten up the whole place; her smile could charm anybody, even the crabby old man who...

A Mean Winter

2014-01-14T20:03:00.002+05:30

Its the effect of the Polar Vortex that has paralyzed life in the northern region.Here in Mount Abu the night temperature hovers around -2 C but in the Himalayan Region it is more and marked by snowfall and hail storms. But the cold is bearable and bracing. One can be suitably togged, move around and eat well. But not all in India can afford it. Here is the view of frozen Niagara Falls in the USA, facing the impact of Polar Vortex.

Touching New Horizons

2013-10-11T20:53:00.001+05:30

My eldest grand son Sahil Ailsinghani was in town for a couple of days.A second year student of Hotel Management at International Institute of Hotel Management of Ahmedabad, he has been selected for 6 months of Industrial Training at the Oberoi Trident, Nariman Point, Mumbai.

Needless to say, he is very much excited about the honor bestowed upon him. The Hospitality Industry has beckoned him and he is putting in great effort in excelling at the management. He was in town to meet us all as well the doting relatives he has. He left this evening on a very happy and enthusiastic note. He needs the BLESSINGS of every one.

My Second Grandson Tanmay

2013-02-18T18:33:00.001+05:30

This introduces, Tanmay, son of my second son Rajendra Singh, promoter of Jubilee Hostel, Mount Abu-Rajasthan-India and Renu, a senior English teacher in Rotary Integrated Senior Secondary School, Mount Abu, Rajasthan-India.

Tanmay 13 years , the only son of doting parents is rotund, rather pampered, student of class IX in my old Alma Mater, St. Mary's High School, Mount Abu, established in 1887.

Tanmay, academically, is a mediocre with the potential to do much better. He is loquacious for comfort, glib, quizzical , loves gossip and tends to be argumentative at times. He is a natty dresser, thus a bit of a show off, an accomplished chess player but a bad loser. He, however is indeed presentable, resourceful and possesses the acumen to fare much better in his adult years and carve a niche in society. May God Bless Him.

As of passing class X Tanmay has rmerged as a topper, having passed class XI Commerce stream in his school.

Worth a Glimpse

2012-10-10T19:28:00.001+05:30

Multiple Personality Disorder: Episode 1 // 4:18 | SURFING Magazine

Meditate Each Day, Keep the Doctor Away?

2012-10-01T20:24:00.001+05:30

Meditate Each Day, Keep the Doctor Away? - Dr Weil's Daily Tip

A Dystopian Narration

2012-09-25T19:52:00.001+05:30

Justin Bieber’s mom writes a memoir about her abusive childhood

MONSOON in Mount Abu

2012-09-24T19:15:00.000+05:30

With eagerness, the arrival of the monsoon is awaited by the people of Abu as well as the rest of the country. It is an exalting relief after months of excessive or subtle heat , mild drought and dust, to smell the delicious scent of wet earth once more, to see the trees, bushes and hill sides cleansed of dust and to see the greenery springing to life.The rain seems truly beautiful and provider of food to India's millions. Yet after the monsoon has been unusually active for some weeks, it is often cursed as heartily as its arrival was welcomed. And, mind you rain is a blessing as far as water does not leak through the roofs or seeps through the walls. But water flowing in the meandering scenic hill streams tops the reservoirs for regular supply of the Elixir of Life and imparts infinite beauty to the picturesque and brimming Nakki Lake, the one and only beauty spot of the hill station.

Paying for sex — and love. What A Life!

2012-09-14T20:09:00.001+05:30

Paying for sex — and love

The Book I Managed To Miss

2012-09-05T19:40:00.000+05:30

Over last 70 years, say since my early school days I have been a diligent and voracious reader, in my mother tongue Sindhi and my prime infatuation English and of course Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati fiction and translations there of in English.

Yesterday during the monsoon cleaning of my book racks I stumbled upon a paperback edition of " Six Great Modern Short Novels". The inside cover had an inscription - Nirmal Kumar Dhadhal 1955. I immediately and nostalgically recalled the gentleman. He was the enigmatic ruler of an erstwhile small state in Saurashtra, India. He had settled down in Mount Abu with his privy purse to educate his children and lead a sedate life.I came in touch with him when he had visited my curio shop. Somewhat depressed, he was impressed by a couple of books lying on my counter and marveled as to how I combined serious reading with my vocation.

The next day he returned, bringing with him a copy of " Six Great Modern Short Novels " and handing it to me shyly confided that he had bought the book for the heck of it but never got around to reading it and that I should read the same. I took the book home but lost touch with its owner. Some days later rumour circulated that Nirmal Kumar had disappeared under mysterious circumstances,leaving his family distraught. Side by side, the book was either misplaced or lost in my array of unread books , thus I managed to miss the extraordinary read for around 57 years.

Finding the book after so many years is the best thing that has happened to me lately,as I had been hard up for suitable reading material. I have started with ' The Overcoat' by Nikolay Gogol. It is an immortal and exhaustive short work of fiction set in Russia and so must be the rest with the following titles:
The Dead by James Joyce.
Billy Budd Foretopman by Herman Melville.
Noon Wine by Katherine Ann Porter.
The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott.
The Bear by William Faulkner.

The Keeper of the Bees

2012-08-21T20:18:00.001+05:30

While relaxing in my garden, one fine morning, a couple of bees buzzed by and then were back instantly to refresh my otherwise active memory about having read 'The Keeper of the Bees' by Gene Stratton-Porter in my school way back in 1953.

The narration, a classical environmental read is about an immaculately laid out Bee Garden- Apiary in California, its elderly keeper, the Bee Master and his very young girl friend and honorary partner, an impish tomboy, who while wisecracking incessantly and humorously claims to have lived happily, every minute of her teenage years.

The book also centers on a Scottish immigrant, an ailing war veteran who while hitchhiking enters the Bee Garden, well in time to see its master afflicted by a seizure and then to phone the doctor and provide first aid as instructed. While awaiting the doctor's arrival, the Bee Master moved by teh sicerity f the unexpected visitor, implores him to be his guest and stay put till his return from the hospital. So the story moves poignantly

The book published in 1925 is still in print and can be read online. Here is to Happy Reading!

Where The Years Went

2012-08-12T19:51:00.000+05:30

On August 10, 2012 completed 77 blissful years. How and where the years are gone? For me the journey has been swift and sans qualms. But still a lot remains to be done and accomplished. The foremost on my agenda is my grand son, Saahil Ailsinghani. On July 21, 2012 he joined the International Institute of Hotel Management, Ahmedabad. At the Induction ceremony I was genuinely impressed by the IIHM and its young team. Needless to add,the Hospitality Industry is the need of the time and a presentable candidate has all the chance of success.So good luck Saahil! Try to EXCELL.

Arravali BHALOO - The Hill Bear

2012-02-21T18:51:00.004+05:30

" Horrible, hairy human with paws like hands in prayer,

Thus rises the stately bear

Seeing its towering shoulders and paunch's swing

My heart is touched with pity for the monstrous pleading thing

But beware! The nearer he comes with paws like hands that pray

It may mangle and rip your face away. "

To most of the people in India and abroad, the bears are begging animals, seen in zoos, as harmless and comic beasts, dragged around in the streets and made to perform for amusement. But, wild bears are in fact a constant menace to the humans and their vocations.

The bears, mostly live in hill forests and make short trips to villages around to seek a change of diet or due to unavailability of sustenance. They have poor hearing and poorer eye sight and are acutely irritated at being surprised or approached by humans and so, in a fit of temper tend to attack and viciously maul the unfortunate and unintentional cause 0f their annoyance, mostly human beings.

All Indian bears are black in color. The biggest, the Himalayan bears living in high altitudes, surprisingly have a short coat of fur and are aggressive. Their counterpart, the sluggish sloth-bears thrive in warmer locales of lower altitudes and the foot hills. Comparatively, they have long shaggy fur. The beasts are some what docile, more intelligent and thus, more interesting. Then there is the smaller species, that is most amusing and active , very easily trained and a source of joy to the spectators.

" So life is indeed enjoyment for Bhaloo, he lives with zest

Grumbling and tumbling through the forest hills he goes

The nocturnal robber, much to the awe and mirth of friends and foes."

The World of Limericks

2012-02-05T19:00:00.002+05:30

A limerick is a light humorous on nonsensical verse of five anapest lines, ending in a rhyme.

This year is the 125th death anniversary of Edward Lear, the creator and exponent of satirical and nonsense rhyme known as the limerick. Lear was an artist and a naturalist and with his 'Book of Nonsense' published in 1846, launched a literary diversion that continues to interest and engage good writers with wit and humor universally. However, no one seems to know as to why the limerick is so called. But it has been vaguely associated with the Irish county of Limerick for no rhyme or reason. Now there are limericks galore, penned over the years by acknowledged authors that circulate and humor and intrigue many enthusiasts. To cite a few:

There was a young fellow of Lyme

Who lived with three wives at a time

When they asked, why the third

He replied " One is absurd and bigamy, Sir, is a crime.

A silly young man named Hyde

In a funeral procession was spied

When asked "who is dead?"

He giggled and said

" I don't know; I just came for the ride."

Thomas Bahler- My Online Friend

2012-01-30T19:31:00.004+05:30

I came in touch with Thomas Bahler on Facebook. Regular exchange of comments soon changed to a friendship online. One day he confided that he was an author and asked whether I had read his book ' Anything is Possible'. Saying no and quite unsure about his whereabouts, I asked him while giving my mailing address to send over the book, if possible. . He commented, yes right away and the next day pat came the comment that the book has been sent.

After 20 days the packet arrived all the way from New York. Overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of a stranger, my joy knew no bounds and I started reading happily. The book, an inspirational read, is about AESOP, born a slave in 620 BCE, he endured countless hardships and cruel masters, but aided briefly by his mother and then mostly by his sense of freedom of thought and wit and humor, enthralled the world over the centuries with his Fables and later with no access to wealth or influence served as an ambassador to the most powerful and the richest king in the world,Croesus of Lydia.

Prior to writing ' Anything is Possible' Thomas Bahler has enjoyed a distinguished career composing music and among the many hits he has composed is Michael Jackson's 'She is out of my Life' and has served as a music director for events sponsored by the White House including ' America's Millenium' and President Clinton's Inaugural Concert. ' Anything is Possible' inspired by AESOP, is his first novel.

The Sindhi Forbearance

2012-01-19T18:34:00.003+05:30

Born to excel and endure, the Sindhi Hindu had been the victim of vagaries of partition of India when Sindh was included lock, stock and barrel in Pakistan on August 14, 1947. Prior to this, the docile and industrious community had borne the brunt of Muslim domination, right from the beginning of the 8^th century when Mohammad Bin Quasim first ransacked Sindh and thereafter by repeated onslaughts over the centuries by Muslim marauders culminating in rule or say misrule by Soomras, Sammas, Kalhoras and ultimately by the Mirs who were vanquished by the British in 1843.

The British rule had been a respite from continuous intimidation and cultural deterioration but the gritty Hindu had stood his ground stubbornly. They not only excelled in industry and trade, amassing uncalculated riches but by administrative skill upheld moral values with character and dignity, despite shelling out outrageous extortions through their hard earned money. They were in a way, financiers to the Muslim rulers and later contributed to the British exchequer and were the founders of Sindh Warki cult- The Sindhi traders abroad who were in prominence all over the world.

Inclusion of Sindh with a Hindu minority, in Pakistan was a blessing in disguise as the caged phoenix escaped and triggered the Hindu exodus to India. Thus the community headed for a belated breather and freedom, to honorably make a fresh start. Considering the freedom movement and anticipating as to what was in store for them, the migrants had been well prepared to emigrate safely, sans violence and bloodshed with their liquid assets and embrace new horizons. Now on a safe ground and with a brief and welcome rehabilitation program by the Congress government, the Sindhi merrily set about the resurrection. Reconciled to their lot and minding their own vocation, the community mingled locally with gusto, adopting the doctrine with a cheerful demeanor, to live in India with a distinguished standard and inimitable lifestyle. They politely signaled subservience- the desire to serve, with a theme of liberation that needed rejoicing. So they did not bother to squint in the past and ardently looked to the future. They upheld the dignity of profession, avoiding the ravages of anti social activity with no political and welfare demands whatsoever, while the other communities demanded reservations, subsidies and handouts, in the process resorting to extreme and degenerate means of fasting, picketing, rioting, disobedience, self immolation etc. But no Sir! the Sindhi, though for a while down on his knees and financially depleted, refrained respectfully from resorting to unscrupulous means. On the contrary the Sindhi was appalled by the negative attitude of the rest of citizens of free India in its infancy. In fact, the entire nation should have stood by and shouldered and shared the problems that had been left unattended to by the British.

Withstanding the complexities of life to be lived and cherished optimistically, the Sindhi has scaled mountains and still chases success and dreams, having fun and living every moment of the escapade, being unceasingly hugged by greatness in life. Thus the Sindhi remains miraculously energetic and frantically alive.