Time to wash down sad memories of 2009

What a day to return to my blog – the last day of 2009 – an eventful year… It’s been a year of mixed emotions for me personally… there were moments of happiness and then there were moments of utter despair and madness… but all in all, I would say year 2009 has been alright… But, for the world as a whole, it has been a horrible year… markets crashed and continued to crash as the year progressed… Then things started looking up until the Dubai World fiasco rocked the world markets once again… Finally, it is all coming to an end, I mean the year… the repercussions of the financial earth quake that shook the fundamentals of the world markets will continue to be felt in 2010 as well, at least in the first half...

Well, personally, I am all set to bid good bye to 2009 coz year 2010, I feel (so does my astrologer), is going to fill up my life with positive energy… While wife’s presence has already had a positive impact on my life’s course, the New Year, I hope, will add to it… I take this opportunity to wish you all a fabulous new year ahead and hope you guys will have lots of fun tonight… Forget the past 365 days… forget the gloom… forget the tears… tonight, a bottle of whiskey is all you need to wash down the dirt of the past year… When you open your eyes tomorrow, a new beginning will be awaiting you… Enjoy!

Believe it or not

It’s been more than a couple of months since I have been ‘stoned’ and the results, so far, have been nothing but incredible. Past two months have been eventful and to be frank, life changing, especially the month of June. In June, I have bid good bye to my single status forever and another major milestone was that I booked my first car (even though I haven’t got my license yet.. he he). And professionally, the past couple of months have been extremely good... some good stories and less stressful days… all in all, a magnificent phase in my life…

And now back to the ‘magical stone’. When I wore it, I knew I had to have strong faith in it if I wanted to get the best possible results. I would say it’s nothing less than a miracle. My life has been transformed to a great extent within a span of two months. For a few days prior to wearing this ring, I was apprehensive of losing my job due to the ongoing to downturn and I had other distressing things to worry about as well such as constant fights with my girl friend, financial problems etc. But, things have changed overnight and I couldn’t believe it…to be frank, I am yet to come to terms with what’s happened in my life in the past few days.

And if you ask me ‘Is the stone actually magical?’, I would have no convincing answer. But what I do believe is if you wear the stone and genuinely have faith in its power, then it could do wonders for you. And I am a living example.

‘Driving’ you crazy

It’s so easy to obtain a driving license in India; if you have money, you don’t even have to step into a car and the driving license will be delivered at your address. I never realized how important having a driving license is until a few weeks after I landed in Dubai. Here, driving license is like a precious, rare stone – damn expensive and extremely hard to get. And my struggle started more than a month back and I finally finished my classes and passed the garage parking, signal and assessment tests, and am now waiting for the ‘big test’ – the final test. Am I tensed? Yes, I am. Since I know it’s not gonna be a cakewalk, I am being a bit circumspect. Nothing comes easy in life, so I am preparing myself to face the big challenge and be successful. I need good luck, a lot of it and I expect all of you to shower luck on me. Thanks for that everyone, in advance.

Patience – what’s that?

So the countdown has just begun. ‘The big day’ is less than four months away. On the one hand, I am trying to calm down my mind, while on the other hand, my heartbeats simply refuse to slow down their pace… Yes, waiting for something is the toughest thing on earth to do, especially something as ‘special’ as your wedding, and what adds to the excitement is the fact that the bride is my long time girl friend and one of my best friends. I think that’s what makes this wedding so special and the wait more excruciating – she is my best friend. I can share anything with her and on a day out, we can both behave and enjoy like friends do. That’s what I love about this relationship. And I don’t want this equation to be disturbed once we get married. I want her to be my friend first (like she is now) and then a good wife. I am sure she understands the importance of being friends first more than I do and that’s exactly what makes her special.
In the meanwhile, my persistent efforts to wait ‘patiently’ for my wedding continue to bear no fruit and my heartbeats seem to ask me innocently, “Patience? What’s that?”

Finally the wait is over, or is it yet?

It all began on a beautiful Sunday evening in the chilly month of December 2007, when two strangers met for the first time, with the smiling Lord Ayyappa benevolently showering his blessings on us in the background. And in no time, the thought dawned on us that we were destined to meet and be together. Or else, how could you explain the presence of the Almighty when two individuals meet for the first time? Probably, that’s what you call destiny. No matter how hard you try to evade it, destiny will always follow you like Vodafone network, always staying by your side.

After just over 18 months of relentless struggle, eventually the goddess of luck decided to give us a chance and we grabbed it with both hands. 7th of June, 2009, probably, was the day we had been waiting for, or so we thought. But, the moment this day came to end, our wait for the BIG DAY began, almost immediately. So, as you would have realized by now, there is no respite for us, not as yet.

Special days always look special, don’t they? The day of our engagement appeared special as I looked out of the window of my third-floor hotel room. The morning looked hazy, with creamy white clouds adding to the uniqueness of that Sunday morning.

It all got over so soon – the crowd, the ceremony, the feast, the cocktail party followed by the family lunch next day, and my heart was heavy again. The thought of leaving my love and family – both new and old –, even though only for a few months, was devastating. Tears often show you the depth of love others have for you. And as I was walking into the departure terminal of the Mumbai international airport, I didn’t know how to react. I wanted to look back, but I couldn’t, because the teary eyes of my loved ones were hard for me to put up with. The glossy interiors of the airport didn’t seem attractive, as my mind was focused only on the group of people standing outside comprising of my love, my dearest friend, my family including my new papa and mom and brother in law – each one of them appeared to me to be ‘love personified’. When you have so many people around who love you, you can’t help saying, “Life is beautiful, isn’t it?”.

Happy days....

It’s been seven months and four days since I landed in Dubai… and the past few months have been nothing but eventful... A combination of good, bad and sad moments… but the bottom line is I have enjoyed those moments and that’s only what matters… I haven’t made many new friends, but I have got rid of a couple of them who didn’t fit in my scheme of things. And yes, driving lessons have reached the final level, with only a couple of days left… And professionally, things are looking a lot better with rumours of layoffs gradually giving way to some minor organizational adjustments… All in all, I am going through a period of mental stability and peace… Hope this period lasts forever…

Never again....

They say, inspiring others to do something productive and creative is a great deed… or so I thought until the realization struck me that inspiring the wrong people to do something right could be a crap deed… That’s exactly what happened a couple of days back… Guru M, who generally excels at mentally torturing everyone in the company (physically she can’t as she is too weak), happened to read my blog and was immediately inspired to set up her own blog… And I was elated coz I thought what I did was a great deed and would therefore be remembered forever… But I was wrong… The blog, as far as Guru M was concerned, was only a new method to mentally torture others: this time a wider audience… The bottomline is Guru M has become a more sophisticated torturer and I am the reason for that… I apologize to all those who have been, are being and will be tortured by Guru M… guys, it was not deliberate.. After all, “To Err is Human, To Forgive Divine…”

“Some-times A Man Does Things Without Half Thinkin'
And What I Saw I Did Not Under-stand
Eddie Rabbit….”

Guys, now I understand what I see… Guru M is screwing everyone’s mind through her blog…

Yet another weekend

Time is flying and I am trying my level best to catch up… All I remember is coming to work on Sunday and before I realize what’s happening, its Thursday again… Claire, the cute receptionist, reminds everyone in the office that the weekend is only a few hours away as she greets us with ‘Happy Thursday’ with a smile cuter than her face… After the weekly team meeting, I am back to my workstation, lazily browsing through the internet, in search of, to be frank, NOTHING. Pretending to work hard is tougher than actually working hard…

In fact I have some interesting plans for this weekend… A fan of long drives, I will be going to Abu Dhabi on Friday with my friends to meet a friend… So Friday is taken care of… Saturdays start with my driving lessons and then looking forward to a nice massage session… lunch at a nice restaurant… some moments at the beach followed by a sheesha session at my favourite sheesha joint in Bur Dubai… not a bad weekend right?
Wishing you all a crazy weekend…

Yet another weekend

Time is flying and I am trying my level best to catch up… All I remember is coming to work on Sunday and before I realize what’s happening, its Thursday again… Claire, the cute receptionist, reminds everyone in the office that the weekend is only a few hours away as she greets us with ‘Happy Thursday’ with a smile cuter than her face… After the weekly team meeting, I am back to my workstation, lazily browsing through the internet, in search of, to be frank, NOTHING. Pretending to work hard is tougher than actually working hard…

In fact I have some interesting plans for this weekend… A fan of long drives, I will be going to Abu Dhabi on Friday with my friends to meet a friend… So Friday is taken care of… Saturdays start with my driving lessons and then looking forward to a nice massage session… lunch at a nice restaurant… some moments at the beach followed by a sheesha session at my favourite sheesha joint in Bur Dubai… not a bad weekend right?
Wishing you all a crazy weekend…

Stoned

Finally, after much deliberation, I decided to give it a try. My first meeting with the Stone Guru did the trick. He spoke a lot and I listened to him patiently. I have really become a good listener these days. What a great achievement! Jokes apart, I found myself listening to him carefully and beginning to believe in what he was saying. A glimpse into my past and something about my present and nothing about my future… that’s what it was all about… but I liked it… and my decision to wear the stone he suggested, a Blue Sapphire, was almost spontaneous... as I was walking out of his cabin, I knew I was going to wear it… soon…and eventually I did…
Now, what does this stone do to you? I am not sure.. in fact I haven’t done a research yet, but I hope to do it this weekend… just curious.. that’s it… nothing more.. nothing less… The Stone Guru told me Saturn is the strong planet in my kundli (horoscope) and to please Saturn, I should wear this stone.. and trust me guys, I do have faith in the power of stones.. I have vague memories of reading some books on gems and stones during my college days… I wasn’t so fascinated by it then though… but now I am a different man… I do actually believe in things like this and think it can change my life… it remains to be seen whether it will bring happiness and wealth to my life, but one thing I can tell you is ever since I wore it, I have been going through a period where I am experiencing complete peace of mind… yes.. my thoughts, I feel, are clearer now and I think I know what exactly I have to do… I am looking forward to this 90-day mission wherein I have to live a life without alcohol… This is the first time I am doing it ever since I started drinking.. so not a bad start… will keep you in the loop of what happens in the next few days.. ‘non-alcoholic and divine’ days… Om Shaniswaraya Namah!!

Of shattered dreams and tears

It’s been just over six months since I landed in this land of dreams. But, as soon as I landed, The Land of Dreams began turning into a Land of Shattered Dreams for many… When ‘hiring’ gave way to ‘firing’, every second person you meet has a story to tell… a story of struggle, hard work, and finally tears… The mantra on everyone’s lips is recession… but the truth is most of them don’t even know what it exactly means… all they know is it can hurt them… hurt them badly…and it has… I have seen broken hearts… tears… depression… dejection… where are all the smiling faces gone? What happened to those exquisite, sunny days? Where have they vanished? Will they ever come back? Questions… plenty of them hang in the air.. searching for answers.. but in vain… We all need to wait… patiently… hoping to see an end to this seemingly endless crisis… till then, be prepared to see more broken hearts, shattered dreams, tears and many more…

I am back after a break....

It's been months since I have scribbled something on my blog... It is not that I have not been wanting to do it,but somehow the initial excitement of living in a new country has engulfed me for a bit... which is understandable...I know I want to write and I have been writing in the past few months, but the only difference was that it was purely professional writing.. nothing personal... in the cacophony caused by the global financial downturn has dominated my writings rather than what my heart felt like writing.. anyways, I do now realise the importance of giving vent to your feelings, or else they will clog your mind up, causing sleepless nights and uneasiness... well, all I gotta tell you guys now is that 'I AM BACK AFTER A BREAK'...

See you soon...