Experienced Rotarians in Hong Kong used to warn against the District organizing major events such as the District Conference on a weekend in March that would clash with the Sevens. The reasons are obvious. Over the years such advice has generally been well taken. One cannot expect however the practice to be extended beyond the…
My last letter drew some rather predictable comments, mainly from male readers on the last section, but some unusual ones too. These responses and for that matter any response usually would help last me a little longer, long enough to spark a dormant ambition that I should perhaps write on a more regular basis. I…
Spring or Vernal Equinox is the time when the equator is in the direct path of the sun, when day and night are of equal length, and the North and South Poles receiving equal light, hence the name equinox. Technically or scientifically, it is a fraction of a second, but since most of us are…
Today, Hong Kong hosted the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and the 8th Asian Marathon Championship; and I was there, filled with awe and anticipation at first, became rather anxious shortly after the start, and overcome with joy, excitement and contentment in the end. It all started some months back when Standard Chartered sent round…
Rosita and I decided to spend the Lunar New Year holidays away in some warmer place; everyone had been expecting a cold spell. We had thought of Bali, but very few travel agents were operating tours at the time and spending a week in one hotel with no programme was not exactly an exciting proposition,…
Today, Catholics celebrated the Fourth Sunday of the Year and the Gospel reading was taken from Matthew 5:1 – 12. This is the passage which includes Matthew’s reports on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. Luke also made similar reports in his book. Almost each sentence and phrase in the passage has been…
I have been travelling again these days. By the end of the week, I would have been away for ten days, in Kobe for three and Geneva the rest, or most of the rest. I have been to most of these places before and inevitably these re-visits brought back old memories, including some rather old…
First, Christmas, then New Year, and Epiphany yesterday completed the holiday season, or as a former colleague put it, a crazy fortnight during which one could not get anyone to make any decisions of significance and even after decisions were made, they could not be kept for long. At first, I thought my colleague was…
The year began with midnight fireworks from Sydney to Hong Kong and Beijing to Singapore. Ukraine’s Chernobyl atomic power plant showed no signs that it would malfunction, while London’s Big Ben rang at midnight Greenwich Mean Time, as it would for every night. There was heightened security in the United States, but no major incidents…
That is what Pope John Paul II urged the faithful around the world to take up during the homily at the Christmas Eve Mass this year inside St. Peter’s Basilica, televised live to hundreds of millions of people in 47 countries. This year’s Christmas follows conflicts between nations, terrorism and tension in the Middle East,…
