Daily Archives: 04/21/2012

What was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me? asks AshleyJillian in her post… It would have to be my Pope-mobile drive-by.

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I read a post by Ashley Jillian what was the strangest thing that ever happened to you… here is a link to her post…http://ashleyjillian.com/2012/04/21/super-curious/

Of course, it is long winded, but i hope you enjoy my answer.  I would love for you to contribute the conversation and share yours as well.  These are always fun to read and remember!

Paris 1997, August.
I was traveling through euroupe in 1997. I was 22 years old. I had been traveling alone for about a month and a half. Long story short, i had booked one flight before the trip and the rest was done on a whim… But i had to be in Paris by a certain day in August. At that particular time, i was to Amsterdam. It would have been a lot less hassle for me to fly to London from Amsterdam, but i had to fly from Amsterdam to Paris so i could catch my already bought flight from Paris to London.

Of course, a half an hour flight, they loose my luggage. It had ALL of my clothes and of course, they were all dirty by then. I waited in Paris for 3 days for them to find my baggage. When i finally got it, i had to find a laundromat. I ended up on a little cobble stone street right off of Les Invalides.

I figure out how to use their machines and what Francs were which to go into the coin compartment. Buy a baguette and a bottle of water. Did my laundry and walked down a street. Now mind you i have NO idea where i am in Paris. I had not really done any sight seeing because i had no clothes and the city was FILLED with youth catholic groups invited to Paris from all over Euroup to see Pope John Paul II.

They were everywhere. Wearing matching tee shirts and singing and clapping while walking in orderly fashion throughout Paris. Where i ended up was at the very end opposite the monument. It is set up with if i can remember right, long lawns, i think 6 of them. They were sectioned kinda like the mall in DC except for a blvd that goes down the center as well.

There were like a half a million of these youths and i think that there was an event with the Pope at the Eiffel Tower that day because the lawns were FILLED with people. Huge groups. All but across from the lawn nearest me, a local soccer team was having a practice game. I was the ONLY single person i saw there period. I was not having ANY luck trying to find a cab back to my hotel so i finally decided that… what the heck, i have nowhere to go & no one to see… I may as well cop a squat and relax on the lawns for a few minutes. Enjoy Paris after all. I had a towel, a book, a baguette a bottle of water, a walkman and a cigarette. Everything i needed.

Wow. from the ground and 1997, the layout looks so much more elaborate! I just noticed the pope and the lawns i guess!

After about 35 minutes or so as the sun was starting to go down, all of a sudden out of nowhere, it started to POUR. I tell you, i have never seen so many people vacate an area in such organization and efficiency than i did that night. Within 10 minutes the only people left on those lawns was me and the soccer team who was so sweaty they could not tell the difference and didnt care about getting rained on.

So i walk up to the top of this bottom left lawn. And waited. There was just no taxi’s and the couple i saw were full. I decided to walk into the center and crossed to the bottom of the second lawn on the right (hopefully you are still with me here) i was on the corner of this intersection in the middle of these lawns and was looking all around me.

Suddenly, to my right, my eye was caught by a lot of flashing lights. Emergency vehicles. A convoy of them. They were coming up the side of the lawns and drove to the top by the monument. Then turned down the middle blvd. I was the only person standing there or anywhere around really and just minutes before there were about a quarter million people gathered here.

That is when i got a drive by. Pope John Paul ll drove directly past me. within probably 6 feet with the whole procession and the Pope-mobile and all! It was like it was my personal parade! I was so stunned that i just stood there with my bags of laundry in my hand in my baseball hat in awe. I wish i had thought to pull out my camera but of course i could not think of something so practical at that point.

The Popemobile!

(it was this corner that i was standing i believe when i got the popemobile drive-by!)

As soon as the procession crosses down the center, the very next second an empty cab crosses between the lawns and picked me up. It is the only account i can ever recall thinking to myself, maybe there was some devine intervention right there, because it was like living in a movie. It was a mind bending thing the way it all didnt work out for reasons and then did. Like it was master-planned!

For me to think all these kids came miles and miles to see him and I didnt even know he was there or cared much for that matter and I got a private parade. Of all of those people who were just trying to get a glimps of the pope, i got to see him without any crowd fighting or anything.

I have had a LOT of weird things happen to me but this one is the one that comes to mind right now the most.

Sorry this is so long. It is hard for me to do cliff note versions of my stories… I am working on it!

How could this happen to one that had it all? Meenakshi Thapar bollywood actress beheaded by co-workers after kidnapping

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The body was found of beautiful Bollywood actress Meenakshi Thapar.  She was kidnapped by two of her co-stars of previous film Heroine, after hearing her talk on set about her family having wealth (which was not entirely accurate having come from middle class family).  Her family paid off part of the ransom to her kidnappers and they still killed her, strangling and beheading her.

Amit Jaiswal, 36, and his lover Preeti Surin were caught after having her mobile phone and SIM card on them.  After they confessed to the murder and lead authorities to her body.

They orchestrated the kidnapping by asking her to accompany them on a trip to Gorakhpur, a small town close to India’s border with Nepal and known for its Buddhist temples, where they held her hostage and sent a message a message to her family demanding  1,500,000-rupee (approximately $28,000) but Thapar’s mother only paid 60,000 rupees (just over $1,000).  They threatened to drug her and force her into pornography if the ransom was not paid.

Authorities found her headless body in a small water tank but have not yet found her head which they said they threw out of a moving train they were taking back to capital city of Mumbai.  Her torso was found and recovered Surin’s house in Allahabad on Wednesday.  The head has not yet been found.

I find this crime so unsettlingly horrific and tragic.  This young 26 year old actress had the world at her fingertips, finally coming up on more substantial parts for her to act in.  Her beauty so apparent and her life so viciously taken… for what?  GREED!

Now this is a prime example of why i believe greed is the most evil and poisonous threat to humanity.  It can lead people to do the most unspeakable things on the planet.  Nothing comes in the way of greed that it is not willing to chop down.  Even a human life.  It is the epidemic that is permeating the fall of western civilization.  The only thing that can match its strength is love and it is going to be a battle royal to see which will prevail.  Do not give into greed.  Instead give love.  It in turn will provide you with all those things you think greed will help you attain.

It is one sick day when two random people think that this is the way to get what they want!  Do they not have a level of conscience to them to not let this hardcore factor to their thinking allow them to be able to cary out a beheading?  This boggles my mind.

It is tragic in any place at any time for a family to lose a member this way.  No one has the right to take another person’s life.  If your greed runs this deep, you may as well take your own life because evil has truly corrupted your soul and you are nothing but a blithe to humankind.

Thank heavens this couple was caught because they deserve their comings from the world.  I hope they have to suffer slowly for the rest of their existence to feel a tiny piece of the fear and pain that they were able to invoke in their poor helpless victim and those that loved her.  This story happens to many others around the world, but because she was so beautiful and in the public eye, it is a real stand out case.  It just shows us to be glad for what we have and sometimes having everything can be a dangerous thing.

My thoughts are with her loved ones as are many all around the world.  May this not happen again (but unfortunately it will…. until greed is vanquished which i doubt will ever happen since it is a human trait.  Dont let it poison your mind.  You have the ability to control the level it has over you but only you can do this.  If not checked, it caused nothing but tragic results.  It is the root of pure evil!)

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