Reflections from the Village Bard
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…