Monday, August 10, 2009

Award! For me!

Thanks very much Anu (as Iam not able to link for some reason, here is the link http://www.anu-recipediary.blogspot.com/) for this wonderful award :-)
I am not sure that I am very derserving of it, or if I can keep up the chain, coz I've been breaking my head for 7 other bloggers whom I can bother, and I am pretty sure they are all going to beat me up for this! Well, lets do this, whoever is reading this consider yourself tagged.....howz that? ;-)

Now 7 things about myself that might be interesting to others:

1) I am pretty full of contradictions......I am a cleanliness freak, but at times would let things sit, just coz I dont feel like it; I am a fitness freak too, but could not care less at times....so you get the idea

2) I have too many modern ideologies and feel very trapped in our society at many points in life

3) I love to talk, but when I am angry & hurt I shut up; When I am fuming, I won't stop shouting and God save the target!

4) I am a very strict disciplinarian when it comes to kids; I am going to be such a parent for sure!

5) I love animals.....will do anything for them...hate watching movies using animals, or TV shows which are not fair to them; one day I hope to do my part in a big way for them in this world

6) I am not at all religious; but I believe in God. I wish people will drop religion and just trust in one God, with no name preferably.....saves everybody trouble!

7) I hate it when someone tells me what to do.....I take advice only when I ask for it (which I do) ....else please don't bother

Well there are seven trivia about me, which you may or may not have known.....thanks Anu, was fun :-)

Monday, August 3, 2009

Solution to control India’s growing population

Can you believe our Indian Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, actually commented that population increase is to be controlled by bringing electricity to our villages? His reason? “When there is no electricity, there is nothing else to do except produce babies; if there is electricity, then people will watch TV till late at night and then fall asleep. They won’t get a chance to produce children”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has also been published in international newspapers and online! I am dying of shame! Why do we really have such people as our decision making chief officials? Apparently he has told the press that he is deadly serious too and not even being flippant! Great!

And sex is now entertainment rather than an expression of love! What to say....

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Politics

I just came across an article about Kashmiri chief minister Omar Abdulla’s resignation over an alleged sex scandal, in Gulf Times, and caused me to reflect on the political scene in my own state- Tamil Nadu……what scandals have we not had?!!!
We have repeatedly elected either Dr. J. Jayalalitha or Dr. Karunanidhi and I am not a big fan of either one for obvious reasons. The current chief minister has many wives (and is not a Muslim to be allowed to do so by religion) and has you wondering why the law has done nothing about it! This has led to numerous children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren too (he has been independently responsible for increasing India’s population by a good percentage!)
Let’s talk about one in particular, shall we? Yes, we need a separate paragraph to deal with his son M.K. Stalin…….you name a child after Stalin what do you expect, huh? What kind of scandals has he not been involved with? Political to sex scandals, you name it and he would say “been there, done that”! I have heard of women who were kidnapped by him, women in the cine field disappearing suddenly and then quietly appearing again after weeks or months; real estate scandals due to which this family owns most of Chennai now; bribery scandals of which all are aware, but none dare to talk or dispute and what not. Is he deterred? Is his father deterred? Oh no, he just recently announced that he intends to make this prodigal son his successor and we are going to have more CMs from this same family! Who can’t be proud of our politics?
So, Omar Abdulla, take some lessons….. If you are indeed innocent and are really embarrassed and want your name to be cleared, I appreciate the sentiment. If this is just a political stance, you have learnt well from your geographically southern most contemporaries!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Update

Well, obviously there is a long gap in my writing; if anyone lived with me they will know there has been a gap with everything! Been lazy…not cooked regularly…not been in my usual form in keeping up with friends…let me think, what can I blame it all on?

To give some benefit of doubt to myself, yes, I have had a lot on my mind….but maybe it is beyond all that. I read an article on Yahoo (?) recently and it called ‘Wedding’ as ‘one of the top five most stressful times in any person’s life” Hear hear! I totally concur! Not that I am even in the country where the wedding is to take place, not that I am running around on an everyday basis to get things organized, but oh my God, it is a bit much.
Murphy’s Law seems to be proving itself right every single minute of the day too, and here I am waiting for things to go wrong not only with respect to the main “event” but with respect to everything including appliances at home, health, and what not! The last two weeks, I have had problems with parts of my body and with everything in my house; to give you an example, one evening last week the water dispenser suddenly started leaking, just when I came for a drink after sweating it out in the gym (after a whole day at work) - I had just lifted the heavy bottle on top of it the previous evening and hence had to move the full container down again! The bathroom shower curtain decided to fall down as soon as I got into the shower and no matter what I did just refused to stand in its place again. I dropped my original plans, got into the guest bath and had a quick shower. I then considered a drive to cool me and of course I don’t mean that literally, coz it’s a boiling upper 50s degree Celsius outside at all times of the day!!! Then many more small things happened the same evening driving me very crazy…..but well, let’s move on. More recently, my DVD player is acting very strange, refusing to recognize DVDs that it bonded pretty well with in the past! Worse yet, it recognizes, starts playing, and then decides it is no longer interested in what I have decided to watch and stops! See what I mean? Drives me insane!

But on the other hand, I am slowly getting more excited about the upcoming event; booking tickets, counting number of people, food arrangements, and SHOPPING :-) No, I am not doing the actual shopping at this point but the planning and directing people is fun too…you get to do that sitting on your couch, in front of the laptop. Of course, sometimes my fiancé and I are the middlemen and it’s not so much fun when we start fighting with each other, and trust me it happens more often than anyone can imagine. Everyone gets very touchy at times, it’s like the world is having its PMS! Those are the days I rue, but have now come to anticipate. My patience level has gone up dramatically, or so I like to think ;-)

Certain good things are happening….my little bro is visiting me, and we expect to spend some quality time together and I get to be the host for the first time in this new country…everyone in Doha seems to be on vacation, which implies bosses missing at work, roads relatively empty, desperate sales at malls, trying to woo the people left in the city, etc!

Just a quick update on last few weeks…..turned out to be a rant for the most part! But hey, I am writing again and hope I become more disciplined and do it almost everyday (dare I hope?). Maybe one day I can make these pre-wedding rants as a collection and give it to my children, titled “Now you know why your mom is the way she is!”?!!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's day!

Happy Father’s day, to the best father in the whole world!

Just a few words about the man of few words………..

He has been and is a wonderful dad….kind, trusting, loving, generous, encouraging, devoted, and courageous. A man of principles, he led by example; our family’s role model! I hope we have caught on at least a small percentage of his qualities!

As a child, I loved being given baths by him, food tasted extra delicious when it came from his plate…..it never mattered that I already finished lunch/dinner, I would always be ready when he started eating, for few more mouthfuls from him :-)

Memories I have of him are more of the subtle kind; many many of his words have stuck with me and I like to think I always act by them. Hope he feels the same and is proud of whatever my brother and I do.

One incident very close to my heart- I had participated in my first college level elections and was a nervous wreck the whole week and more so the final days before results were announced. Finally after we had the results, I called home excitedly and told my father I had won! He, in his signature calm voice told me, “We always knew you would win da, only you were tensed. Come home soon, we have reserved tickets to go for a movie tonight, to celebrate”!!! Could I have asked for a better father with any more trust?

Thank you for being you appa, love you very very much. You are our pillar of strength!
Happy Father’s day!

www.my-mother.net

My post about my mom for Mother’s day is now on http://www.my-mother.net/ --> Featured stories! This is a great website and I think a lovely tribute to mothers. They are finally going to put all the stories/tributes together as a book...what better way to appreciate our mothers right? Do send your own articles to stories@firstcounselors.com, or submit online at the site. See below email from the webmaster for calls for the same.

Dear Sunitha
Thank you for your story about your mother. It is now available online at
www.my-mother.net where you can access and read it.
Please also let your friends and relatives read your story online and perhaps they too will write and submit stories about their mothers. Together we can make this the greatest tribute to mothers. Hope you will blog about this too.
With best regards

Monday, June 15, 2009

Message to my teen-aged self? ;-)

Ammani (http://jikku.blogspot.com/) is a writer I admire so very much. She had asked her readers to write a letter to their own teenaged self for "If I knew then what I know now".

This is what I would tell my own self: You never regret the things you did, but will always regret things you did not do.

It is here in Ammani's blogspot too: http://lettersforall.blogspot.com/

:-) Thanks for the opportunity Ammani....keep rocking!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Iranian Souq

Last few weeks have been quite hectic at work, but I have had loads of fun during the weekends. I finally made it to the Iranian souq/Old souq/Souq Waqif as it is called. Apparently this souq, which is about a hundred years old, has been majorly renovated in the last few years using of course, lots and lots of money! The first thing that struck me….” Ok does not look too bad! Can still step without inhibition on the stone pavements…..quite clean in fact!” and once we entered, “wow, what an amazing smell!” It actually smells like a native medicine shop, for whoever is familiar with that kind of smell from India. There are so many small shops around and they all look so inviting, as you feel like going and discovering all the hidden goodies in these small places :-) Most of the items are not packaged goods, but rather open in boxes and they will weigh out what measure you want and pack it up. While Asians may be used to this concept from olden days, it is no longer the custom in most places, and is hence very refreshing. I felt like I was walking the streets of old Tamil Nadu, with the small shops, and wooden planks for doors…..anyone remember those types? ;-)

One can get almost anything from these small shops in the souq……henna powder in huge boxes…..so many varieties of them – black henna, red henna, coarse types, softer types, etc; Other herbal powders, dried flowers for various purposes, dry fruits, including dried pomegranate arils; this is one of the best discoveries I have made in any shop in recent times! It is so deliciously sour, goes so well with other dried delights like almonds and walnuts, or even with breakfast cereal. All kinds of spices used in cooking are also available in their original state. The huge barks of royal cinnamon are an example! Best part, you are allowed to sample anything edible before you buy ;-)There are also things like dried, whole limes, crushed and dried garlic (that looks like chips), etc, which are all apparently widely used in the native cooking here.

Once you finish this side of the souq, the alley opens into a broad area with some very nice, what I call “junk-jewellery shops”! I started using this term since my childhood because my father always thought buying gold was the best thing you can do; it is an investment and good planning. I, his daughter, always loved anything that: 1) was not made of gold or any other metal of value 2) was huge and antiquey looking (mostly) 3) usually had no resale value of any sort and 4) were usually quite expensive too! These lovely shops carried beautiful chains, bracelets and earrings made of stones, antique looking metals, beads etc. Some of them were a bit on the expensive side, but many quite reasonable. I am trying to convince fellow family members that I can actually wear some of them for my wedding, but am met with caustic glares (or rude admonitions if on phone) that often silences me after some initial mumbling :-(
I have already been to the souq twice in three weeks for, of course, what else but these shops!

Now are you imagining the souq to be made of all these kinds of shops? Just when a newly visiting person may start to write it off so, a Basking Robins/Dunkin donuts branch appears, inside the souq!!! Just as you are beginning to recover, there is a Costa coffee! And also………….wait for it…………….a Häagen-Dazs outlet! There are also other restaurants, shisha (?) cafes and some interesting eat outs. The best part about it is you can sit outside in the open stone pavements and enjoy your cup of coffee or food here. This of course is subject to temperature conditions and by that I mean “NOT NOW in summer”! It is a boiling 50° Celsius already and nobody fails to inform me that it is “just the beginning”!!!

There were also some clothes, shoes, and kitchen accessories kind of shops, which did not interest me too much. There is also a ‘pet shop’ kind of area where they sell birds, kittens, rabbits, etc. these kind of places usually only make me sad and I left that area as soon as I could!

On the whole the Souq was a wonderful experience and I am sure I will be there for some essentials and not so essentials quite often ;-) Looking forward to showing some people around soon, so people, start visiting!

Can a letter be romantic and practical at the same time?

What a beautiful letter (below) by Beethoven to his beloved! How can one write such a romantic letter that is also so practical at the same time?

My angel, my all, my very self -
Only a few words today and at that with pencil (with yours) - Not till tomorrow will my lodgings be definitely determined upon - what a useless waste of time -
Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks - can our love endure except through sacrifices, through not demanding everything from one another; can you change the fact that you are not wholly mine, I not wholly thine -
Oh God, look out into the beauties of nature and comfort your heart with that which must be -Love demands everything and that very justly - thus it is to me with you, and to you with me.
But you forget so easily that I must live for me and for you; if we were wholly united you would feel the pain of it as little as I -
My journey was a fearful one; I did not reach here until 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Lacking horses the post-coach chose another route, but what an awful one; at the stage before the last I was warned not to travel at night; I was made fearful of a forest, but that only made me the more eager - and I was wrong.
The coach must needs break down on the wretched road, a bottomless mud road. Without such postilions as I had with me I should have remained stuck in the road. Esterhazy, traveling the usual road here, had the same fate with eight horses that I had with four - Yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties -
Now a quick change to things internal from things external.
We shall surely see each other soon; moreover, today I cannot share with you the thoughts I have had during these last few days touching my own life -
If our hearts were always close together, I would have none of these.
My heart is full of so many things to say to you - ah - there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all -
Cheer up - remain my true, my only treasure, my all as I am yours.
The gods must send us the rest, what for us must and shall be...

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Cruelty

In my opinion, anyone who is cruel and abusive to children and animals is not a human being; does not deserve to be treated as one. Period. It is such a horrible thing that people use religion to get away with these kinds of acts too! The article below just made me so sad…..can you imagine the number of children who have suffered for so many years in the hands of idiots and perverts disguised as fathers and nuns?!!! No one interfered too; there was nobody the poor, helpless kids could turn to! How can anyone be religious seeing such acts? Whom do you trust?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/20/AR2009052003809.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Look at this link below from yesterday’s Hindu Metro supplementary:
http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2009/05/20/stories/2009052050070600.htm
Somebody actually tied a dog using barbed wire!!! I do not understand how people can be this cruel. Same goes for killing any animal. Non-vegetarians can give hundreds of examples or references, religious and otherwise as to why they eat meat; I will never understand or accept it though. How can you eat meat knowing somebody killed that animal and in all probability it suffered horribly before its death? Don’t get me wrong, most people around me are non-vegetarians, including members of family, and many dear friends. While I am opinionated in this issue, I do not force anyone to convert; all the same I request everybody to stand up for certain issues as human beings and make sure in your own way you make some small contribution to animals in this world.
This recent post on his blog by Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States is very interesting.
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/05/michael-vick.html
I have always admired the work by this society and thank them for exposing so many issues to the public and saving so many many lives. The Michael Vick trial had me boiling for months….’how could he?’ was a question I could not get out of my head for a very long time. I wanted him to suffer more than all the dogs he killed and injured put together! This post by Mr. Pacelle made me very happy this morning though. I appreciate how the society is trying to use Vick to change the attitudes of many growing boys from similar backgrounds, thus ensuring removal of any new Michael Vicks coming up in this world. I hope and pray that Vick is really honest in his efforts and somebody is always watching him, because I am not going to be able to trust him for a very long time! This is also important, especially because no matter what he did, there are people who still worship him for the Quarterback that he was! When the six year long dog-fighting operations were finally discovered, many fans of his actually wrote in public forums “So what if he killed dogs, it’s not like he killed human beings”!!!!!!!! As you can imagine, my BP shot up so much after reading those kind of statements, that I would have gladly killed whoever wrote that myself and had no regrets.
If anyone wants to know more about Vick and repercussions he faced due to his actions etc, here is the wiki page about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Vick
Kindly also follow Mr. Pacelle’s blog, http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/ if interested, and I strongly urge all my friends to do your part, however small; volunteer for animals, donating just little bits of time for them, or make financial donations, however small. Every small good act or thought counts!
As long as I am in the link-giving spree ;-), here is also Qatar Animal Welfare Society’s (QAWS): www.qaws.org

Monday, May 18, 2009

When?

When did I grow up from a girl into a woman?
When did the world start to matter less and my inner voice more?
When did I start making my own rules according to the way I live and want to live?
When did I first fall in love?
When did you walk into my life?
When exactly did I fall in love with you and decide you were the love of my life?
When did we start fighting?
When did I begin to lose confidence in your unconditional support and love?
When and will all this be over?
When will you give me my childhood back as you promised?

Monday, May 11, 2009

Trust and courtesy

It has been a long time since such a thing happened to me……..I have only seen people doing such things when I was a small girl! Yesterday I paid few thousand riyals (Qatari currency) to a very nice man (professional who owns a real estate and car rental company) for a rental car. He simply put it in his pocket without counting! I had to insist that he counted it at least once in front of me. He gave me a questioning look filled with embarrassment and then did it.

Are such trusting people still left on the face of this earth? Wow! Granted he might have counted the money after I left, but still it’s been a while since I experienced this kind of courtesy to fellow people. Glad to get back in touch with some of these roots that so make up Asian culture :-)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

To my mom on Mother's day!

Happy Mother’s day to the fantastic lady who is my mom! This post in dedicated to her :-)
Obviously this is not the only day I am thankful to God for giving me such awesome parents….but lets make today special by writing a little more about my amma. Post dedicated to my dad coming up soon on Father’s day! ;-)
What has she not done for me? Nothing…..what I am today is totally her making. Such an awesome mixture of beauty, brains and courage, she made the perfect role model; could not have asked for more! She made me work very hard….tough task master that she was (you can never be working up to your full potential!); she had rigid rules when I was younger about cleanliness (shower just 2-3 times a day? Why so lazy?!!!), sleep timings (the lesser, the better!), friends (talk to them in school….no wasting time again at home in the evenings, talking over phone!), vocabulary (the words, ‘no’, ‘can’t do’, ‘can’t find’, ‘don’t know’ etc did not exist in her dictionary!), etc etc…..
She also taught me the joys of charity and well-being, by being the most generous person I have seen! For example, she did not give leftovers to the maid we had then (single mom supporting three daughters), but actually made fresh food for her one day simply because she thought she looked tired that day! Now that she knows I am blogging, she has given me a list of topics to blog about, that would put Mother Teresa to shame ;-) “Blog about poverty, talk about various important diseases that need more funding, or can help poorer people” etc. I may not have responded too enthusiastically ma, but I am so proud of you for reminding me of such topics……that’s what makes you, you! I most definitely will too, coz I am her daughter and it is in the genes, right? ;-) If I do forget some values at any point in life, I am sure she will also remind me of the lost ones and give me one good talk that will make me wish the earth will open up and swallow me ;-)
At times of need, she proved to be the most courageous person in the family and was, is and will always be the most optimistic person I know! She never gives up when the rest of the world does…..I like to think I inherited little bit of that, but I do know I have a thread of pessimism in me many a times, that I inherited from appa’s practical approach to things. But I do like the balance that brings ;-)
She has also been my best friend throughout life and there is not much she does not know. I also firmly believe that if I can’t tell my mother about something I am doing, then it is wrong and I shouldn’t be doing it in the first place! Have also learnt this the hard way ;-) But who is always there behind me after I make those mistakes and am recovering? It’s always her and I am so glad for the total, unconditional support in life!
To end this senti post I thought I will write 10 things (facts, quirks, and nerdy things) about my mom (I may be killed for this)!
1) Floors at home have to be cleaned at least twice a day, with her best old friend, the bleaching powder!!!
2) She used to hate having pets at home, but now Dippy and Dashy are her children; more so than my cute brother and me! :-(
3) She actually does not mind food in planes!!!
4) She loves to gossip and makes sure she is aware of her neighbors’ activities, although she will swear otherwise ;-)
5) She is so young at heart, knowing all about the latest actors, singers, etc. and she is a fan of many as much as I am, or even my younger cousins in college and school are!
6) She is a great business woman too, even more than I suspect she thinks :-)
7) When I got bday cards from secret admirers way back in school, she actually decoded and gave me the name of the card sender!!!
8) She knows all about my secrets and crushes, even the ones I did not tell her; the shrewdest person I know in the world!!!
9) Jealousy is not in her nature at all
10) She wishes she had achieved so much more in life, without knowing how much she has influenced the world around her by being herself and her achievements are priceless!
Love you ma…..if I am even 50 % of the mother you are, I would be a fantastic mom too :-)
Keep rocking this world!
P.S – Happy Mother’s day to all other moms reading this post too :-) I am sure you are all rocking your kid’s world too!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Doha!

Doha
A new city…..just moved here a short while ago……do I like it? An intriguing question……lets explore!
It started off by being a totally different experience, shocking me to the core at times, and pleasantly surprising me sometimes. It does not matter that I made a very expensive trip just months earlier as a visitor to check out the place and to see if I would like it. It turned out to be totally different feel when I wound up things from the US for the time being and came here. For the first several weeks, this “different” feel made me look longingly at the airport….very longingly at flights just taking off……making me wonder “can I just hang on to the outside of the plane and go wherever it takes me”, making me feel dangerously like Mort in Madagascar 2! My aunt’s house is also very close to the airport and did not help matters at all! Now although the feeling rears its ugly head at times, for the most part I can see the airport and act like a normal person; that’s quite an improvement, trust me!
When I think about what to say about Doha, don’t really know where to begin…..coz there is tons to say…..so lets break it down- I am going to try and be organized and discuss one thing at a time! Here it goes…..

City – how it looks and feels:
You can see a mixture of so many places of the world, that it is amazing. No two cities can be compared and so I cannot say that it feels like any one place for example. Doha has a beautiful skyline….a very developing one, and hence you will see an amazing number of cranes and construction sites from any given point of earth that you occupy. This is true for any where in the city; I tried counting the # of huge cranes that I could see from one signal this morning, for example, and I could not finish counting, although I spent more than 5 minutes at that roundabout! The skyline looks very pretty, especially at night and they have a very good assortment of buildings, of all sizes, shapes, and colors! The Al Corniche Street, which is the road parallel to the sea, is very beautiful, although very crowded, and this will take you on a nice drive, where you can see all the buildings of the skyline with a constant view of the sea! Having grown up in Madras, this is very important for me ;-)
On the other hand, there are roads that make me feel happy that I grew up in the happy crowded streets of India, with comparatively much better roads and very organized traffic!!! No no no, lets not talk about traffic yet…..that is whole separate section by itself!
This city offers huge shopping malls, and also old souks (can’t comment too much on those yet, but it will be a post later on, I promise). It is a great mixture of the western world and also has the great small shops that are so typical in Asia! People know you personally in these shops, provided you have been spotted a couple of times shopping there. You also have the anonymity in other places that I sometimes so crave, thanks to the effect of the US on any person who has lived there for even a year; There are any number of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc etc shops, which should put any Asian at ease right away. Ditto for restaurants; as a visitor last time, I was amazed to see almost all the American fast food chains in Doha, even Dairy Queen, as I so happily reported back to the greatest fan of DQ, whom I am incidentally marrying this year ;-) There is even a Toys r Us! So you get the idea…..

People & culture:
There is a great mixture of people from all over the world…..there are lots of people from India, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, USA, all parts of Europe, Africa, etc, which is really nice. Culture is predominantly Islamic…..natives wear their traditional robes and prayer halls form an important aspect of any floor in every building even! International people experiment more in the recent years I guess, although professionally, even sleeveless is not a permissible attire! This shocked me initially; a good chunk of my professional wardrobe was eliminated!!! Also you don’t feel like wearing such clothes even outside of work, because it is not that common and people stare at times……these are the examples of times you crave living elsewhere in the world!
People are otherwise usually friendly and helpful; I have heard from friends and read that children are pampered everywhere they go, but having no experience in the area, that is second hand information. I will add more to these sections as and when I have more experiences and things to add on; remember I am new here too!

Language:
Yes, this needs to be a separate section! As a tourist last time around, I had such funny incidents to narrate…..the gardener who told my aunt, “Tomorrow no water, tomorrow, tomorrow no water, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow no water”, which simply put actually meant, “don’t water the plants for next three days”! Or the security guard in a school who gave us directions to the Principal’s office as “Go straight, turn to right, more straight turn to right, more straight turn to right, big hall coming……there Principal is sitting, secretary is sitting”!!! I left his desk flabbergasted, mentally imagining myself taking a complete turn and coming back to an open hall where the Principal and secretary where sitting on the floor, just waiting for people passing by! At the same time I was counting my blessings that he could at least speak this amount of English to guide me to the approximate area. While dealing with staff of this kind, one often might have to face this issue, which trust me is just funny than anything else. It gets a bit annoying only when you need to deal with professionals and their emails can be quite unhelpful because of this kind of language and communication is a hassle. You can mostly get away with speaking English or any Indian language even, especially Malayalam. If you know Malayalam, actually you are better off than knowing English! There are so many Keralites here. Professionally too not knowing Arabic can sometimes be hard, and again this depends on individual offices and departments as far as I can tell. It is not that hard though, and I am now used to any surprises that these issues are capable of throwing at me. My biggest worry though is bursting out laughing one day, when someone is seriously trying to communicate something! ;-)

Traffic:
Here we are at my most favorite section! The traffic here shocks you at first and as a passenger, especially if you are from anywhere other than Asia, you don’t think you can drive at all. Don’t worry……you can do it; you just need tons of courage and confidence! Most traffic rules are not followed by people who own huge SUVs and in this part of the world, where gas is so cheap, that’s most of the population! People keep telling me it is much better now with more rigid rules and heavy traffic violation fines etc. One very new thing here is the concept of roundabouts everywhere…..I have already been driving here for more than a month and I still don’t know what exactly the rules to turn at a roundabout are! I pretty much just wait and watch and sneak at any point when I can, while just hoping and praying I don’t hit anyone or vice versa!!! Ok, I am mildly exaggerating, but it is true that there are no rules followed for the most part and you just need to act smart on the road! As long as you have full control on your driving and good brakes, its fine I guess ;-)
Here is an extract from Qatar Living forum, which might sum up a lot of the attitude of driver’s here for you:
I was driving a LAND CRUISER yesterday from RAS LAFFAN to DOHA and donno why, but all the vehicles in front of me were automatically moving to the right even if I don't flash the light... This made me feel like a KING/SHEIKH even if don’t want to be... STRANGE HUH...???.
9:27 PM and here is one response:
Strange feeling isn't it?
I have the same problem in my Pink KIA..
!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) he he he……

These are all some the things I wanted to write about and this turned out to be a longer post…..been writing it for two days already whenever free!
So, to sum up do I like the place? I am beginning to love it! :-) I guess I like moving around the world and exploring new places. I do miss the US very badly and the life I had established there, but I am enjoying the challenges that this new place keeps throwing and even enjoying the driving. I guess when I drive again in the US, I am going to be bored!!! You see it is too easy :-)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

There it is......I can hear her voice again! Strange how it suddenly bellows into the whole room.....she is asking me if I ate today and if I went for my usual morning walk; did I have my favorite snack? What can I tell her? That I miss her very much? She visits me once every few years, loves me and spoils me thoroughly. She spends almost her entire time with me, except when she is out with her friends or out shopping. We go for walks regularly every morning to the beach and throughout the day she makes sure I am very comfortable and not fighting with my son! But after some weeks together, she always leaves with those big bags in the middle of the night. After that regularly, I suddenly hear her voice mysteriously booming into the room asking me if how I am, telling me that she misses me and asking if I miss her! All I can do in return is wave my tail in recognition and to say I miss her very very much too, look bewildered and wonder where she is talking to me from!

P.S. This post is dedicated to my pet pal Dipsy and his son Dashy :-) This is what I assume they think when I speak to them over the speaker phone, or when I am online with the family!
Hi to all who might come accross this blog by accident and to friends who will be forced to read it!
While I have been an avid reader of many great blogs, this is the first time I am trying to actually write one myself, thanks to the persistent efforts of a dear friend and to motivation by great bloggers! I hope this becomes a space where I keep up with lots of writing and maintain it as my own teeny tiny space in cyberland. This has been a very very eventful year.....I moved to a new country, took up a new job and am getting married to my sweetheart of many years. Do keep checking in for some interesting posts, musings and of course some irritated rants ;-)