Showing 1 - 3 of 3
Empathy and difficult choices
Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 17/04/2017
» That skinny woman clad in a sari carrying an infant in her arms waited for me in front of the bus door. A few small children wearing dirty torn clothes gathered around my legs looking up at me. Like robots, they repeatedly uttered words "Sawasdee, Maharanee [meaning a queen]. Khob khun kha", begging me to give them money. These sights and sounds were common at all pilgrimage sites in India I visited recently. Initially, I felt pity for them until I asked the guide and friends if I should give them money. They warned me against more beggars' arrivals.
Time to impose controls on hazardous e-waste
Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 28/06/2013
» A few days ago, I read that the Thai Social Enterprise Office had to extend its deadline for accepting donations of old mobile phones from the general public due to the poor response to its appeal. The donated phones were to be given initially to a sample group of 100 needy disabled people under the One Stop Service for the Disabled Project organised in association with the 1479 Call Centre.
(Un)friendly greetings
Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 19/06/2012
» It is a tradition for people in many Asian countries to greet each other with queries like, "Have you eaten yet?" and "Where are you going?" Since Jan 22, 1943, the word, sawasdee, initiated by academic Phraya Uppakitsilpasarn, has become the official greeting in Thailand. Meaning good fortune and prosperity, it can be used in place of "good morning", "good afternoon", "good-day", "good evening" and even "goodnight". However, many Thais, in particular those upcountry, still greet each other the old way that refers to eating and whereabouts.