Some background to me

I was born in 1940 in the bustling riverside town of Nausori, a short 40 minute drive from the capital Suva.

My parents, long dead now, started off as rice farmers, and my childhood was spent in devising yet better and better way to avoid helping in the rice paddies. It is this scheming that stands me in good stead now in my chosen profession. When I was about eleven, and had almost run out of ideas to avoid the paddy fields, my father changed careers and opened a small shop in our village. Being a willy fellow who sold on credit and charged enormous interest, bappa's shop soon flourished, and the rice paddies were a thing of the past. In fact bappa did so well that when I finished school and announced my desire to become a lawyer, Bappa was able to send me to the University of New Zealand, Wellington Campus (now called the Victoria University) in 1958, when I was 18.

Ah, those were the days, in beautiful Wellington City. I had no money of course (bappa sent me, but we did not quite work out the economics of living in New Zealand), and so worked in many factories while I studied. Wellington was where I met and married my first wife, the beautiful Wendy from Wellington. I returned to Fiji, with Wendy, in 1965, and after serving apprenticeships in a few law firms in Suva, I opened my own practice in 1968.

Wendy and I had a daughter in 1972, before Wendy became somewhat fed up of my various liasions around town, and returned to Wellington with our daughter, Cindy. Cindy is now also a lawyer, but she is simply CD, LLB.

I have had other tries at matrimony but am currently happily unmarried. I still have a small practice in Suva, and although I am now getting on somewhat in years, I am still the same hearty and vigorous fellow who returned to Fiji in 1965.

You will learn more about my life from the stories I will post. Till later, my followers.

Moce
ABCD, LLB

Postscript: Hi - this is Cindy Das. Just so you know - I am actually writing this for Dad while he dictates. Dad has no idea how to type and cant even turn on a computer. He does love surfing the internet though - mostly the Playboy and Penthouse sites. He does have some good stories to tell though, and so I am helping the old guy out. Ciao.

Welcome to my Blog Dear Followers

Good Morning, or Good evening, depending on when you are reading this.

Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Arvind Babu Charan Das, and I am a Barrister and Solicitor practising in the beautiful, but sometimes bewildering, isles of Fiji, or the Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji, to give my beloved country its full title.

So, Arvind Babu Charan Das, LLB, or ABCD,LLB, as my dear colleagues in the hallowed portals of the Nausori Magistrates Court lovingly refer to me.

This blogsite will bring to you my wonderful adventures and (sometimes) misadventures in the practice of law in Fiji. I am encouraged by reading the memoirs of that wonderful barrister, Mr Horace Rumpole, as told by his friend John Mortimer, to bring these, my memoirs to you. I do not pretend to the eloquence, either in my writing or my legal practice, of Mr Rumpole. No, no - I am just a simple Barrister & Solicitor in Fiji, and my adventures, in and out of the law, are limited to the Courts of Nausori, Suva and sometimes even Labasa (Yes, I do go overseas).

But if I confuse you - let me tell you something about Fiji. Fiji is a beautiful country made of some 300 islands, of which the largest Viti Levu, is where I live. Over 80 percent of Fiji's population live in Fiji. The second largest island is Vanua Levu, where there is a High Court in the town of Labasa (hence going overseas - ha ha, good joke that one) which I occasionally attend. Fiji has less than 1 million people, but we have murder, rape, and other forms of mayhem as much as anyone else. No no - we are not some backward people. Our political system - well, I will not speak of that. Moving on, we depend on tourism and agriculture for our income, and we are happily (well, mostly) multicultural.

I myself am a descendant of the girmitiyas, indentured labourers brought over from India in the lates 1800's and early 1900's. Indians are now some 35% of the population, along with chinese, europeans, part-europeans and the indigenous Fijians who make over 50% of the population. Indians were once almost 50%, but a lot left after the coups started happening (but we wont speak of that).

There are now over 300 lawyers in Fiji, and I am one of the old guard, in practice since 1965.

So now you know my country, in my next post, I will introduce myself in more detail. Come back to read, and be happy, dear followers.

Moce,
ABCD, LLB.