Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
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Dear Friends,
Some more stories by George Mickiewicz:
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ADVENTURES IN
George Mickiewicz
Monday, January 1, 2007 7:21:48 AM
I have made 2 consulting trips to India
OCTOBER, 2006 TRIP
People, people, people, people everywhere sitting, conversing, playing, walking, on bicycles and motorcycles, scooters, rickshaws, cars, buses, pushing carts, etc. – just an unimaginable mass of human beings and transportation modes
Tropical beauty that I had not seen since I lived in Venezuela and Trinidad or visited Brazil or Puerto Rico
Thousands of little business stands along all the roads that we travelled
Poverty everywhere we went
Animals everywhere including in the middle of roads (cows, bulls, dogs, monkeys, camels, goats, lambs but did not see a single cat) all very malnourished – animals are held sacred
Children, some barely walking, playing on the side of dangerous roads and relieving themselves when needed
Everyone I met was friendly and attentive
Hot and spicy food with meat (cows) never served; had roti for the first time since the Trinidad days.
Two of the team members coming down with stomach maladies that kept them down for 2 days.
Being very careful about what I ate and drank.
Cricket matches shown on television plus lots of coverage in the local newspapers; the national teams representing all the cricket playing nations including the WI were involved in a round-robin tournament in India for the ????? Cup (do not recall its name).
DECEMBER 2006, TRIP
Looking through the immense physical poverty at the people; saw them smiling, laughing and taking care of their hygiene in simple ways like brushing their teeth and washing their faces at water sources at the side of roads. The disadvantaged eating together on the side of the roads and sharing their food with others in large groups.
Small kids begging for money on the street, parking lots and on the roads.
Performed a little data collection around the driving practices in one trip between the plant and the hotel. It was about a 10-12 mile trip from one side to the other side of town and having to travel through downtown area; it took about 25 minutes:
Ø Travelled through 12 major intersections with only one having a traffic light. The intersection with the traffic signal also had a big timer that showed drivers how many seconds were left for the signal to change.
Ø Driver sounded the horn in our car 227 times during this single trip.
Ø 13 near misses where I estimated that we came within 6-12 inches of another vehicle, person or animal.
Ø 4 times the driver gave “the look”; the closest thing that I saw to road rage. The driver would stare very seriously, long and hard at another driver as he passed the other vehicle when the other person was deemed to have done something wrong.
Ø No accidents observed in this trip. But during my stay we were bumped once by another car and another time by a motorcycle.
Ø Did not see a single serious accident during these 2 weeks that I was there.
Some big shot stayed at our hotel one night; observed about 60 soldiers with machine guns in and outside the hotel plus secret service types. Never found out who it was.
Very genuine, friendly and attentive staff at the hotel.
Read a very sobering UN article entitled “The Richest 2% Own Half of Global Wealth” with the following points addressed in the article:
v 50% of the global population owns 1% of the world’s wealth.
v To be among the most affluent 10% required $61,000 in assets
v To be among the 1% richest required >$500,000 in assets.
v A quarter of the world’s wealthiest live in the USA followed in descending order by Japan, Germany, Italy, Britain, France and Spain.
Everyone, I mean everyone, has a cell phone as they are extremely affordable.
Indians love jewellery and invest in gold jewellery as a way of saving for the future and off-setting inflation. They took me to one of their jewellery stores and the choice was mind-boggling but very expensive. I learned that about 80% of all diamonds from Africa are cut and polished in India
The hot and spicy food was easier to eat this time.
The whole state, Gujarat , is dry and alcohol is officially unavailable but can be obtained if one wants to. Alcohol is available in all other states in India
Bollywood is real. In the newspaper every day there were dozens of articles on the stars. Dozens of Indian movies were advertised in the paper and TV.
Discussed several cultural and social aspects with my hosts or read about them in the newspaper:
ü Arranged marriages are successful because the parents can relate family values, beliefs and other key human factors. The son or daughter can back out after meeting the other party without negative repercussions.
ü Divorce rate is extremely low except in the Bollywood crowd.
ü Topic of being gay or lesbian is taboo.
ü Women have started to become a significant factor in the work force but very few have crashed the corporate glass ceiling within Indian companies.
ü Many Indians are leaving the country for opportunities in other parts of the world; USA and Australia
Still cannot fail to be amazed to seeing in the plant groups of monkeys, peacocks, an occasional snake, dogs (but no cats – I have yet to see one, period), plus bunches of different birds.
The December visit completed my obligations. Not sure where my next adventure will lead me in 2007, God willing.
On a personal and spiritual level these experiences have again reaffirmed my need to follow Jesus’ teachings that I share my “wealth” with those in need. I have tried to put this into practice this Christmas season as I prepared to celebrate the birth of Our Lord.
Be blessed, be good and be safe y’all,
George
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Now, a sad news, recently received:
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John Gioannetti
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Now, a sad news, recently received:
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John Gioannetti
Saturday, February 3, 2007 7:52:48 AM
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We shall wait for the next S topic, coming soon in your favourite Circular.
MARCH.
Thanks to George for the Cricket photos, he is the only ALUMNI that played cricket and had photos taken.
I am sure Nylon must have some?? Enrique Castells some others?
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Photos in this issue: (Any comments must refer to the photos number. Ed.)
57RB0001a7 Bunch of unruly guys??
57RB0001a8 Isaias Farcheg
57RB0001a9 Large group and Roberto Bodington ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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