The Blah Blahs and the Yada Yadas

Last Saturday, I attended the long awaited hitching ceremony of my close friend, Nash. Nash and I go way back. (Ok, ok, so I’ve only known him for a couple of years. But in this high paced world, two years ought to count for something. A lot happens in two years. Governments collapse, companies fold [...]

It is time again for yet another installment of Hamish Joy’s tips for the prudent traveler. If you are not a prudent traveler, I would suggest that you read this anyway, because the cleverly hidden secret agenda of Hamish Joy’s articles is to increase readership. Why is that? I cannot imagine. But one of my [...]

The best minds in the world wouldn’t describe Hamish Joy as a travel consultant. And that’s not entirely because they’ve never heard of me, though that’s probably a big factor. The more compelling reason is that I have never travelled much. With the exception of one family trip to the country’s capital, I have always [...]

It is my nature, and indeed the strongest of my natures, to sit at home, chew on the popcorn family, watching TV with one eye and the computer screen with the other. The closest of friends would recognize me as the ‘sit-at-home’ type. Laze, it is often said, would be second nature to me ONLY [...]

“Eeeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!!!” Alarmed Lady: “Waiter, there’s chicken in my soup!!! Eeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!!!” (The room goes silent. Enter stage left, the hotel manager , puffing and panting….) Manager: “Please stop shrieking, madam. This is a reputed hotel. What you are saying is quite impossible.” A.L.: “But look at this… (she points at her soup bowl) What do you [...]

It is fun to recollect the good times you’ve had. And I dare say every one of us have spent time musing over the ‘good old times’ one time or the other. As we pass through life, the highlights get embedded into our brain, ready to be triggered at the appropriate moments, the respective neurons [...]

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.…” Hence quoth Shakespeare, but he wasn’t actually proposing that we call it by some other name. He was merely making a point. And he did. He made a very good point, whatever it was. Bravo, hurrah, and [...]

I have always been entwined in the fabric of music. It has been such an immense part of my life that I won’t be totally wrong in saying I was raised by it. As a matter of fact, some of the earliest memories I have is that of my father strumming on his guitar, putting [...]

Yes, that’s right. It’s French. And it means “I’m called Hamish”. The French use that expression for revealing who they are instead of its popular counterpart in English which goes “My name is Hamish”. This apparently makes more sense to the deserving French community, because, let’s face it…. How many people are bothered about names… [...]

It was a cold night. The wind chimed in rapturous melody, and all my friends were busy in the musical exertions prompted by the DJ. It was a time to rejoice. But alas, it was not mine. For hardly an hour had passed since my mobile got stolen. And here I was, left without a [...]