The Voice Box

Nice: Southern France Last weekend I was in Nice for three days, and I was amazed about the impact that the new tram system has had. I also remember the two or three years of digging, disruption and difficulty which preceeded this change. But that is over now. Years ago, the Massena area would be overrun with traffic. Today, the downtown area seem almost empty and free. The tram system did not just drive the cars away, it also redirected the bus traffic, leaving the main streets unclogged and open to pedestrians. Late at night though, there is an unusual calm which is created mostly because the shops are all closed. And the night crowd rather selectively target their entertainment. Still, there is a nice feel about the city. And I would say, getting around is so much easier.

New York Botanical Garden

Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California Sculptures by Edgar Degas Norton Simon Museum is a very interesting space. Situated in Pasadena, in California, it combines a very exceptional studio museum with a superb sculpture garden. The museum masterpieces include European works from the 14th to the 20th century, and a South Asian collection which highlights the best examples of work of that region. I was very lucky when I visited some weeks ago to see comprehensive works by the French artist, Degas. Degas is the subject of this post, and in a later post I will present some of the Asian deities.

The Shinkansens of Japan Many experiences fascinated me on my recent visit to Japan, but I must single out the wonderful shinkansens. That is the Japanese word to describe what we call the bullet trains. And in more than one ways, they never disappoint. I was surprised to find that they were not all made from the same mould. In fact, there were at least half a dozen versions suggesting a different character from the facial design. My first encounter was a journey to Kyoto, and I was amazed not just by the speed, but also by the platform organisation. All the coach doors final stop were tactfully marked so there was no danger of you missing your entrance. The locals were always extremely polite, and timing was always perfect. Another thing was the frequency of these trains. This suggests that the Japanese public do need to travel, regularly, and across the country. And probably, this is one of the reasons for their economic miracle. One moment you are in Kyoto, and about tw...

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT LONDON UK Our Politicians Are Guilty The recent revelations by newspapers about the embellished claims made by our politicians to cover their expenses remind us how little accountability takes place in our parliamentary system. The public revulsion, and the total dismay by the electorate, only serves to remind us how little we understand about the democracy we often boast about. Claiming expenses have always being an easy option to fiddle in any form of business. But the length to which some politicians used the system to benefits themselves, was a great shock to the easy pleasing British general public. There are now shouts from everyone for change, and of course, a totally new and transparent system. We will see how quickly any new system will be put in place. In the last few days, several people have called for the resignation of the Speaker, as they accused him of dragging his feet instead of dealing effectively with the situation. Should he resign? Of course h...

ABOUT COPYRIGHT The image, on the left, is very important to me. More than four years ago I took this photo of one of my favourite plants. This is a picture of a Pereskia bleo in bloom. The pereskias are not very well known plants, but they are definitely some of my favourite plants. More than a year ago I came across my photo being appropriated by someone else. It was quite a shock to me. Although I seldom plaster my name across every photo I take. I do, through publication, expect that my copyright be respected, and even to be protected. It was the surprise of seeing it being used by a plant company in the US to advertise on Ebay that got me. Trying to get Ebay to do something about it proved fruitless. In the end I had to sit back and watch someone infringe my copyright, and was unable to do anything about it. A friend of mine thinks that it is an issue worth pursuing in court. What do you think?

Mexico City Just back from a one week visit to Mexico City, and I truly enjoyed myself. It was a very long flight from London to Los Angeles, and then about five hours fooling around in LA before taking a Mexicana flight to Mexico city. The surprise how smoothly every aspect of my time in played out. Before leaving, the research I did about the city gave dire warnings about the do's and don't. I suppose their intention was to err on the side of caution. But after a week there, I am happy to report I had absolutely no hassle. Did I take the subway? Of course I took the subway, and sometimes in the evening time. But I was there to enjoy the best of the city. And I truly did. Living day to day was more than reasonable; most full course meals were less than a hundred pesos. and accommodation prices was way down because of the economic situation. The museums are fabulous , and as an art lover I had more than my fill. I would single out the National museum of Anthropology as absolute...

Pictures From Morocco

Visiting Fez After reading about Fez about what seemed to be ages, I finally had a chance to make a visit. I was in Morocco for five days, and decided to make the journey. I was staying in Rabat, and after a couple days of sightseeing, took the ONCF train early one morning, and headed for Fez. The journey altogether, from Rabat, took less than three hours and on the way we stopped at a few places, including Sidi Kacem and Meknes. Soon we were at the Fez Station, and I proceeded to have a walk around the very modern downtown area. This was going to be a day visit, and therefore I had to take everything in small steps. The city proved to be much busier than I expected, and after a brief tour I took a Petit Taxi and headed for the Medina. The concept of the Medina for me represented quite an interest, since my initial interest in Morocco has always harboured a fascination in Medinas. I was not to be disappointed about the Medina. But I did go back on my original promise to be my own tour ...

The Credit Crunch For the last weeks, even the most uninformed has been confronted with the state of the world's finance. The collapse of respected financial institution seemed to have triggered enough fear all around, to convince money world that things will never be the same. But the big game is on in the USA, where President Bush has managed to railroad Congress into passing a four billion dollar package which he claims is needed to save the local economy, and to restore confidence in the international money market. It started off as a $700 billion package, but after much debate and hostility by politicians across the board, the final amount had to be reduced and sweetened, to make it much more acceptable to the political spectrum. So far, the passing of the bill by both Houses in the United States, has done very little to calm the money market. The European Community leaders recently met to decide their course of action. Most expected more grand plans to support banks and other...

Visiting Trinidad Just returned from what can be termed as a short family visit to Trinidad. This time, the target was my dear mother, who is well past her eightieth birthday, and could do with a little cheering up. I travelled to the island via New York, deciding to take a couple days to look around that great city before heading to my final destination. It did not go all smoothly, American Airline cancelling the second leg of my journey at the last minute, all part of their routine checking of the functionality of their aircraft. Luckily, I was able to get on to a later flight which got me to Piarco International Airport by half past ten that evening. Since I was born on the island, these visits allows me a comparative look at life and people, and especially those who belong to my extended family. After arrival, I was promptly collected my younger sister and we headed for home in Tacarigua which was a short distance from the airport. In less than half an hour we were there. This make...

Dallas Texas After years of passing through Dallas Fort Worth, on my way to various parts of the United States, I decided to spend a few nights in the area. Soon afterwards, I was able to make sense of the DFW, and realise that Dallas and Fort Worth were separate entities, miles away from each other. I never made it to Fort Worth, but I did visit Dallas, and managed to get a a feel for the area. Outside the airport where I stayed at a Ramada Hotel, I was surprised by the arid and sparse vegetation in an unusually flat terrain. Even in downtown Dallas, this arid feel continued. Yet there was no mistaking the skyscrapers effect downtown, even though there was an empty feel as I walked through the town, and seeing few crowded areas. Most people appear to live in the suburbs. It was difficult in a short time to make sense of it all. One thing was very noticeable; there was a lot of room in the city. Maybe people are somewhat accurate when they say everything is bigger and better in Texas. ...

London Heathrow Terminal 5 The opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport yesterday reminds us how easily grand schemes can go wrong. The boast, since it was formerly opened by The Queen about a month ago, that this was to be the most advanced terminal in the world seemed quite hollow. And the opening chaos which followed, probably caught most of the general public by surprise. The truth is, whatever the pretensions of T5, it will probably suffer the well documented failures, just like any other Terminal. They are probably banking on the the grand food hall's elegant design, the highbrow restaurants, and the shopping arcades, to keep the travellers occupied even when things go wrong. Even if these elements do offer better service than at the other terminals, no one should seriously believe that this will make any difference to the airline's reputation. Remember this is a very unique situation where an airline, British Airways, has a terminal all for itself. Yet, when it gets it ...

The War Rumbles On It is four years since The US and the so-called coalition forces entered Iraq, on the their Operation Freedom campaign. The drama is still being played out, orchestrated by the US president and his team. Tony Blair has departed, leaving the newcomer, Mr. Brown, to resolve the dire predicament in which the British army now finds itself in Basra. Meanwhile in Baghdad there is a new surge. Well I say a new surge, because that is the way it is being described in the US. An additional number of troops which will somehow, rather miraculously turn things around. And it must be working, if you listen to the voices of the Republicans. And yet we know, nothing can be further from the truth. For the Iraqis who remain, life in the country has become a treadmill. The killings , the intimidation, the circular motions of ethnic strife, not mention ethnic cleansing; the truth is there is no end to their suffering. Yet their voices are never heard above the din and carnage which has ...

Mr. Brown Goes to Washington After a month of the being the new Prime Minister of the UK, Mr Brown is off to Washington to hold talks with President Bush. The meeting is not unexpected. After having such a cosy relationship with Tony Blair, it will come as no surprise that both political leaders will make a great effort to at least pretend all is well. Therefore, a lot is expected from Mr. Brown on his first official visit as Prime Minister of the UK. So far on this side of the Atlantic, the media have offered conflicting opinions of the kind of stance that Gordon Brown will take when he meets George Bush. Some are quite confident the that he will reaffirm and cement the UK special relationship with America. Others are not so sure. Many believe that the time has come for some plain talking with Mr. Bush, and emphasised that Gordon is in a good position to offer it. British troops are still in Basra, and the public is hoping they will be brought home soon. But the big question is will t...

Tony Blair is Leaving After months, or even years, of hearing about the departure of Tony Blair as Prime Minister of the UK, the event is finally going to take place. Mr. Blair has now named his date, and by the end of the month we will have a new Prime Minister. this manoeuvre may be difficult for outsiders to understand. But it has to be noted that in this country, the selection of the new prime minister will be done by the Labour members, elected to the Houses of Parliament. The role of the masses is to sit back and enjoy the process, whether they approve or not. Why is he leaving? It is simply to fulfil the agreeement he made with Gordon Brown years ago the share the leadership role, bizarre as it may sound. Rumour has it, at the launching of the new style Labour Party, they made that pledge. Of course, some others will offer a very different explanation. This is the view that he has run out of ideas, and has become so unpopular in the country, and in his party; the time has come f...

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF FRANCE It was interesting watching the final round of the French elections. Once the other ten candidates were eliminated, and the battle became a straightforward 'right vs left' contest. I knew Madame Royal would have a very difficult time. Looking at Monsieur Sarkozy, it was quite obvoius that he had done all his homework. He had already eliminated all oppositon inside his party, so there were no side shows to take his audience away from the main stage. The stagemanaging of his every move, even including the contrived spontaniety of his supporters, impressesd the locales who were not accustomed to this sychronised presentation. Obviously there were times when he went too far, as the episode when he mounted a horse to demonstrate maybe his 'wild west prowess'. Madame Royal was not so lucky. As a candidate for the Socialists Party, she suffered from all the backstabbing that we have come to expect from the left in France. Even in the final round the...

The French Elections With almost a week to go to the French elections, there is still a lot of undecided voters. Two days ago, I returned from a long weekend in Paris. While there, I saw very few live election rallies. Maybe I was always in the wrong place. There was quite a lot said on televison, and the newspapers were full of articles. But I was quite amazed that that the general public seemed to carry own with their domestic existence, with little overt reaction to the election. I visited quite a few parks, and all the locals seemed to be enjoying was the very good weather. Now that the current French President, Monsieur Chirac, is finally making the best of his last days at the palace, it is time to decide where we stand on the present candidates, hoping to be the next President of France. Altogether, there are twelve candidates vying for the office of president. Of the twelve, only four stana real chance of becoming president, according to the polls. Until recently, most people w...

Mr. Bush Visits South America George Bush is continuing his well orchestrated visit to South America. He started out in Brazil where he was met by thousands of demonstrators who were determined to let him know how they felt about him. He and the Brazilian President, after talks, signed a commitment to work together to produce more ethanol, the current fashion in biofuel. The American president moved on to Uruguay, and Colombia where he received a mixed reception. He will later visit Guatemala and Mexico. Many see his visit here as propaganda in the form of convincing the South Americans of how much the US really cares, not just about individual countries, but for the entire region as well. But with Senor Chavez of Venezuela spreading his anti-imperial message in order to counter the presence of Bush, there is a general consensus that the the visit will be watched and noted by all, but that the impact will be minimal, or a lot less than the White House expects. Probably the most importa...

The Saguaro National Park I have always had a lifelong ambition of visiting the Saguaro National Park. And after years of procastination, I decided the time had come to make the trip. Less than two weeks ago, on February 8, I started on this venture, which would no doubt involve a lot of flying across the Atlantic. From London Gatwick it was a ten hour flight to Dallas Fort Worth. Then I had to hang around the airport for four long hours waiting for my connection to Tucson. Eventually at 6.35 pm we were on our way. After three hours I had arrived, and was heading for the Red Roof Hotel where I was staying. My initial response was that Tucson was very flat, and indeed, well laid out. But because of jetlag, that first night I was in a bit of daze, and I headed straight to bed, very early. Early the next morning I ventured on a quick tour of the city, and decided to leave the saguaro visit to the weekend. As I had sensed, the city was very widely laid out, a striking contrast to the mount...