Thursday, September 15, 2011

What SSR's Colleagues Gave Him For His 80th Birthday

It's sometime before September 18, 1980 and I go up to my dad who had been nominated President of the committee organising chacha's big 8-0 bash with the most important question of the year: So, what are you guys giving him for his birthday? We haven't decided yet was the answer. So that I had to gently pester the Minister of Education with the same PQ when I got the opportunity to do so. In the meantime I was rushed to several functions including the cake-cutting ceremony and watched the horse race dedicated to Seewoosagur chit-chatting with the birthday boy. He was a very approachable fellow and it was always a lot of fun talking to a Ramgoolam who knew that Titmuss did not win a Nobel.

So, what did they give him? A watch bhai Kher told me later. What kind of watch? His fellow Ministers contributed to buy him a Rs15,000 watch. 

Aren't you grateful to that teenager for carrying out this special investigation?

5 comments:

akagugo said...

What watch do you wear?

Watches speak for themselves, tell more about their owners and are a tell-tale sign of opulence that some need to hide.

There's another story (as from 11:25) about a stolen luxury watch relayed by Pravind these days, a darker story with more sinister undertones attached...

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Ki nu kav dir pu bann seki pa met mont?

akagugo said...

Bann saki pa métt montt, swa guett lérr dan zott portab, swa zott lerr dans montt lézott dimounn, ou-bien, couma enn infim minorité ki capav ti admirr bann skoutt kan zott ti tipti, zott pratik horology: zott dedwirr lérr d'apré position soleil...

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Ubyen u pa kas latet ek letan: nek fer seki u bizin fer...

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

Swiss watchmakers don't think Apple Watch will bring their industry to its knees like Japanese cheap watches did in the 1970s. (The required subscription to read this link is FREE and takes only a minute).

I wouldn't bet the farm on that. People are putting a premium on functionality and simplicity these days.