Reflections from the Village Bard
/
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
We use selective memory to protect ourselves from unpleasantness in life that may come as an experience that we prefer to forget or ignore. The trick is to be able to discern right from wrong and learn to focus on what is important and pay less attention to what is not. Those who use…
India is holding the election to choose its national government to govern the worlds largest democracy where over 900 million voters will decide who will govern them. The scale of this massive election boggles the mind in its scope and the implications for the 1.3 billion people, many of them the first time…
We see the degeneration of culture in many parts of the world due to outside influence that diminishes the values in any culture that was traditionally held dear. It is a phenomenon that needs countermeasures so that the cultures are kept intact and passed on to the next generation. All over the world I…
This post on patriotism sheds some light on the word and how in some countries it is being understood, used or abused. Anyone can be patriotic irrespective of his caste, religion or creed. I recall a time during my childhood days when everyday before our school started, all the students were required to fall…
There was a time in the United States when the mixing of races was banned but such laws have been annulled so many people of various races get married and raise wonderful children these days. I believe this trend will continue as more and more people worldwide realize that racism is outdated. Did you…
We see women and young girls working hard in brick factories in India and other South Asian countries under slave-like conditions, poorly paid and exploited by the owners. They are treated as bonded laborers because they borrowed small sums of money they could not pay back with usurious interest. This looks at this…