Interesting question - one which I had not addressed!

Today I met an avid reader of my blogs. Although an acquaintance of a long time, I have never had a chance to have an in depth word with him.

So he hit me right between the eyes when he asked me a direct question, which I have never addressed on my web pages or my blogs ever.

He asked me that in most cases I write on the blogs using the "Royal " WE. What he wanted to know was how much do Annikki and I have in common to write as WE?

Annikki is an introvert while I am an extrovert.

Me by Armeane Choksi.

Annikki is highly religious and focused on her faith. I am a secularist where all religions have the same meaning to me so long as it personal and not organised.

Of course we have differing views on most subjects. Our children will probably testify about the shouting matches we used to have when they were kids.

But, after discussion and debate, on everything we write about, we agree absolutely. Life in India, life in Finland, clothes (she chooses mine), hair styles (she designs mine), kids, grandkids, parents, grandparents, family, bureaucracy, police, lawyers, judiciary, and almost every subject about which we have very strong opinions - we tend to agree - but not without debate.

There are a couple of areas where we tend to disagree about life styles. One is the use of medical drugs and supplements . I tend to use none, except when ordered by a doctor for a specific condition. Annikki is a health fiend in that she reads everything there is to know, does not accept the advice of a doctor as she has read something different, and usually suffers much longer than me to get rid of a problem. The minute I feel any ailment approaching, I gargle with boiling hot water with sea salt added, and cool off the system with a teaspoon of honey. Lately I have moved to having cinnamon and honey. In the old days my mom kept me fit as a fiddle with ginger juice, lemon juice and some ground pure gold.

My migraine was cured by an old woman in the wilderness of India after all the doctors in the town had failed. My sinusitis was cured by a homeopath when nothing else worked.

So our differences are quite superficial, but our agreements run deep.

Over our 43 years of married life, we have had very few intense disagreements and usually they are settled before we get to bed.

Annikki is my friend. I look up to her as such a talented person you cannot find on the face of this earth. That talent is not for money, but for love. Whether it is her paintings, her cake designs, her garden designs, her house interiors, everything is to a perfection.

To see my views about her, I suggest you read my tribute I wrote about her on her 60th birthday! that was 6 years ago.

And I have not changed my mind one iota since that time!

Thank you for asking that question as, on the 28th of January we will celebrate our 43rd Wedding Anniversary and celebrate 19 years since the launch of Findians Briefings - our first publication together, of which this blog is one of the outcomes!