This book is based on my fictionalized experiences in different countries. MICE is the acronym for the Middle East, India, Canada and Europe while OW refers to ‘Other Writings.’ It has some humor and some food for thought…

Excerpts:

       "So, Peter, how was the ride?"

         "Good," he answered, surprised at the sudden, silly question, and then added with his customary smile, "Now I know what to tell folks in England when they ask me on which side of the road Indians drive-"

         "What d’you mean?" I interrupted, quite impatiently curious.

         "I'll tell them,” continued Peter with his excellent sense of humour, “All Sides."  He smiled a softly mischievous smile.                

+

         “Mr. Singh,” said the officer, “You could have come in with your shoes on…”             

          “No sir,” replied the young Dharam Anant, “I wanted to show you respect and, as a Sikh, I cannot wear a cap so cannot remove it. Again, due to my religion, I cannot remove my turban to show you respect so I thought of removing my shoes.”

         Apparently, a long discussion on the Sikh faith followed and the officer became his friend. His work, of course, was done. I cannot say for sure when this happened or if some details are missing but the story impressed me and aroused a curiosity in me to visit the country my grandfather had loved…

+

Dollar, our pet mongrel is now just about three months old. We’ve already had the pleasures, the fears, the irritation and the excitement one goes through with a new-born baby till she attains the age of two or three. Dollar is more playful than any three-year-old and, to tell the truth, much funnier and a bit less of a problem, despite his naughtiness. He pulls out plants if left out in the garden; inside, every room is his loo and the bed-sheets, he thinks, look better on the floor. If we tie him, he cries his head off. Don Quixote-like, he attacks everything from a plastic bottle to a ball, growling and barking when he can’t dig his tiny teeth in them. Paper and clothes are his worst enemies but they are easy to ‘kill’. In five minutes flat, the paper is in shreds and the clothes unwearable.

+

My father promised he would “teach me a lesson and would inform my friends’ parents so they could take appropriate action against them. Dr. Mad was calmer after hearing this and explained how he had nurtured the tree with love and care, like his child and how the tree gave shade. He also added that people were cutting trees in the forest and it was “our duty to protect and grow trees wherever they are found.”

         “This doctor is totally mad,” I thought, “Who protects trees? The trees are just to pluck leaves and flowers from or to break their branches.”