Off the beaten track: Down the memorylane

As I type this post, the weather is cool with some drizzling outside my window in Chennai. 

A few minutes back, as I was browsing the Net, I came across a wonderful website related to Ethiopia.  The photographs and posts reminded me of my stay in Ethiopia in 1982-83 when I had the pleasure of teaching physics in Ethiopian High Schools.  I remembered my frequent visits to Addis Ababa, a fabulous city with excellent amenities. 

Right now I am relishing Ethiopian injera (a local pancake resembling Indian dosa) and the aromatic makkiatho (strong coffee with milk) at an imaginary level.  As far as I know, Ethiopia is the only country where, I guess, you can order for 4 types of coffee: Bunnah (Amarhic term for black coffee), Bunnah Wotet (`Coffee with Milk'), Makkiatho (Coffee with a very small amount of milk) and Cuppuchino (the type of coffee left by Italians) even in modest restaurants.  It is believed that the term `coffee' comes from `Kaffa', a province in Ethiopia.

Off the beaten track: Good friends

Good friends are rare.  I sometimes nostalgically remember my very good friends.  Jos Kottuthundiyil is one such friend. He and I were colleagues in a school in Bhutan more than 30 years back.  We were also neighbours in the teachers' quarters.  He was a very softspoken gentleman and an excellent writer.  More importantly a friend, who had the courage to tell his friends, if they were wrong.  After I left Bhutan, I lost contact with him (like with many other good friends) due to laziness in writing letters.

As I was reading Bhutan Observer a few weeks back, I was delighted to read  an article and sent my feedback.  Thanks to the article, it has put us back into friendship after 3 decades.

As I remember my stay in Bhutan nostalgically, let me leave you with a First Day Cover and two stamps (3D and gold plated respectively) produced by the Government of Bhutan.