Reflections from the Village Bard
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The process
Here you will read my biography, published in 6 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese (in Romani) and, finally, in Russian. It is a complete biography of 17 chapters that vividly describes my life experiences, from my childhood to my education and work experience, starting in Vietnam during the war and ending in the Philippines, when I retired from Sudan in 1994.
It has been a long road, full of challenges and achievements. They will read about the dangers I faced in Vietnam, where the war broke out, and in Haiti, where I had to live through the violent revolution. Other countries where I lived and worked, such as Burundi and the Philippines, also suffered very violent revolutions that had a great impact on me and my family.
My biography will take you through my experiences in all the countries where I lived, worked and studied, such as the United States and, later, the Philippines.
I faced many challenges in India and other countries, but somehow I managed to overcome them and get my wife and children out of there so that we could all live a better, safe and peaceful life in the Philippines, where I retired and raised my family. Our two children were educated here and then moved to other countries such as the United States and Australia.
Finally, I must acknowledge the extraordinary effort made by our daughter Kim to make the biography suitable for publication on Amazon. He has spent countless days and nights formatting every chapter to make it acceptable for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
I am very grateful to you for your contribution to the publication of my biography as an e-book. We really appreciate her and her helpful nature.
Amazon will create e-books for you, no matter where you live in the world.
The reason for my biography
It’s very tempting to write something to share with everyone online, because it seems like the whole world is connected these days. Even so, I feel that it is an overwhelming task given the enormous responsibility that comes with writing and opening my soul to unknown people who I will never meet, but who might read what I write and form their own opinions.
But I also feel that I must do it, even if it’s just to say that I do it for our children, who have the right to know their parents better. I wish my father had done the same, because I know practically nothing about him, except that he was a very intelligent and peaceful person. I also don’t know anything about my mother, except that she was a loving mother who sacrificed a lot to raise us all. I think we all owe it to our children to understand us better and perhaps learn from our mistakes and successes.
So one day I started writing. This is not just a biography, but a look at the complex relationships that develop over time between the people in our lives and the consequences of those relationships. It is true that I have gone through difficult times and I have met very bad people who have disappointed me enormously, but I have also met wonderful people in different countries who are still my friends after all these years.
So the path of life has been very exciting for me, because I was lucky to live it the way I did and I learned many lessons. I have written extensively about these experiences, some good and some bad, but equally interesting. I have mentioned the good people in detail and the bad ones only in passing, because it is better to remember the good ones who cheer you up than the ones who disappoint you. My opinions are mine, but I understand that others may have different opinions. If my opinions offend those who disagree, I must say that my story was not intended to be so and should be read with an open mind, free of prejudice.
I thank all those who have helped me during my long journey through life, but above all I thank my parents, who raised me, gave me an adequate education and taught me values that last and have been very useful to me.
Finally, I will say that without Jasmine by my side, this trip would have been less colorful and exciting. She is extraordinary and I am very grateful to her. Our dear children are our blessing and joy, and have made this biography worth writing.
I wish you all the best.
your friend
Anil
It’s very tempting to write something to share with everyone online, because it seems like the whole world is connected these days. Even so, I feel that it is an overwhelming task given the enormous responsibility that comes with writing and opening my soul to unknown people who I will never meet, but who might…
My early years were happy. I am Anil and this is my story. It starts in 1944 in the placid city of Sri Ram Pur where I was born, but that was the year of great tension throughout India. While the World War was raging in Europe and the East, India was engulfed in its…
Now I will leave behind the early childhood and move onto something more serious. In fact, one is not supposed to get serious at this stage, but I was an impatient kid who could not wait. For example, I could not wait to pass the high school exam and get to college, or I could…
I think it was June 6 of 1967 when I finally arrived in Saigon and was met by a big bald American fellow called Robert who said that he had come the day earlier but was told that the flight was cancelled. He had no trouble recognizing me because I was the only Indian off…
Philippines visit It pleased me to think that I was going back to Los Baños again because I really liked the place. I also liked the Filipino people, who seemed to be very friendly and were very easy to get to know. Of course, I was dealing with the educated Filipinos in the university town…
This time I arrived in San Francisco, from where I took the bus to San Luis Obispo. The classes were to start soon. Passing through San Jose, Salinas, the Steinbeck country, Paso Robles, Atascadero etc. I could see the scrub oaks and pastures full of cows until we came to the hills of San Luis…
Arriving at the Dar El Beida airport of Algiers one afternoon in September 1971, I found the custom’s officer a bit paranoid about the things foreigners brought into the country. He wanted to charge me hefty duty on my slide projector and the camera but Stephanie, who was the country director of the IVS, said…
Paris: The flight to Paris was smooth. I was offered champagne and excellent food being in first class, but I was thinking of the country I just left behind, perhaps never to return to again. There were many friends there, and I began to reminisce about my two years there. The country was very beautiful…
I arrived in the Philippines in July 1974 with about 5 dollars in my pocket and no one to receive me at the airport from IRRI, but that was hardly a problem. I knew where the BLTB bus station in Pasay was, from where I got on a bus to Los Baños. The fare was…
Getting out of the plane at the Bamako Senou airport in Mali, we were hit by the heat wave like a blast. Jasmine was certainly worried and covered up Jayanti some more lest she start dehydrating. We were all very tired after the long journey from Delhi via Paris and eager to reach a hotel.…
It was the month of December 1981 when we left Mali for good. My old friends Pierre and Monique lived now in a small village called Domremy aux Bois, a few hours north of Paris, so we decided to see them on our way to India. I had not seen them for over 8 years…
Soon we left India and the bad experience behind forever and flew towards the Philippines for possibly a new life and a new beginning. We had no plans other than reaching Pili in time so that Jasmine could get to see her dying father. But in Manila there were some formalities to complete. I had…
I was met at the Port-au-Prince airport by a Haitian employee of the AID, who took me to the hotel called Castel Haiti up on a steep hill and helped change some money in the local currency called gourds. It was indeed very nice of her to receive me and fix me up in a…
This time my visit to Washington, D.C. was short where I had to get an immigrant visa for the Philippines. The consulate required a complete medical check up, so one day I went to the George Washington University clinic to ask if they could do it. The nurse said that normally they did, but now…
I left one day in July 1988 for Addis Ababa, where I was to catch a flight to Kigali, which is the capital of Rwanda. It was to be a short visit of about one week to see the country and the project first hand and to decide if I will accept the job to…
So, having accomplished the mission in Burundi, I flew to India to pay a month-long visit to Mom. She was happy to see me again, although no one was expecting me. Mom hugged me and cried while others milled around asking where I was coming from, how long I was staying etc. so I told…
My last assignment Soon, the FAO office in Rome offered me the job of the project chief of a Farming System’s Project in Sudan and hired me as the Chief Technical Adviser or CTA in the multi-million dollar project and invited me to go to Rome for the two-week orientation program. This was in January…
I had often thought of quitting overseas work and returning to the Philippines for good. Living alone overseas did not appeal to me anymore. The kids were growing up and Jasmine was handling them alone. I also did not need the money. We had a very nice house in Naga all paid for and were…
I have often thought about whether my life has been worth it and meaningful, but soon a question comes up. Meaningful to whom? To me or to others? It is far easier to determine if it has been meaningful to me, but then meaningful in what sense? Does it mean that meaningfulness refers only to…
История Анила на русском языке Введение Преданность Пролог Глава 1 [Индия]: ранние годы 1944-1957 Глава 2 [Индия]: официальные годы 1957- 1967 Глава 3 [Вьетнам]: волонтёрство в стране, охваченной войной – 1967-1969 Глава 4 [Филиппины, Япония]: знакомство с культурами 1969 Глава 5 [США]: в смятении 1969 – 1971 Глава 6 [Алжир]: на ветру…