It Belongs To Man To Err !!!

Trying to get back!!!

2011-03-07T15:12:00.001+03:00

I know i have taken almost an year's break and i can find so many excuses too for the same...
But i do have to say that motherhood, relocating to a new place, setting up house, the lill one doing new new things etc has kept me busy for sure...And now when i try to atleast check my mail, my lill boy hates it :P Ohh ya he is one attention seeking, possesive little loving devil for sure.....

So, slowly bit by bit, i am gonna try to return to the world of blogging...Wish me luck :) (And i do have to do it while he sleeps and thats a tough task for him :( )

A new year, a new beginning, a new step in life!!!

2010-04-21T13:16:00.001+03:00

This happens to be my first post for the year 2010. So wishing you all a very happy New Year and hope that it is the case with everyone and that all of you have started enjoying the new year…

Well I do have to say that this was indeed a very very long break for me (I have never taken such a looong break from the world of blogs before) and it was indeed very necessary to take it. The year 2010 is a very memorable year for me and it has already brought me lots of pain and joy and specially the date 01/01/2010 i.e. the first of January is extremely memorable for me… Ya as many of you already know it; my little one arrived on this particular day. And now this bundle of joy and pain was worth the wait I guess ;P

As I had mentioned in my earlier post, my expected date of delivery was 24th December and so mostly everyone thought that it would be a Christmas baby… Well since nothing happened on 24th and since my doctor told that I might have to wait for a few more days I enjoyed that day by going out for shopping and watching a movie… Then for Christmas I guess I did go to church and all, but honestly I really don’t remember and can’t seem to recollect whether I went to my cousins place for dinner and the whole works or whether I stayed back at home…hummm

Well guys before I go any further, I really have to mention the fact that I want to keep this a happy post and will write about all the gory facts and about the pains of this New Year in a totally different post. And I also feel that it’s best not to mix the feelings of joy with the pains and disappointments of 2010 which has just started…

Well I will just say that my pains started on 31st December night or rather in the evening and I finally delivered my little one on Jan 1st night (that also close to 10 pm). Even though I did face some problems during delivery I have to thank God that I got my son safely other than the fact that he has a red mark on the left side of his face which happened due to delivery trauma and which the doc says will disappear in a couple of years.

Day by day he is proving to be very naughty, sweet and already has a very aggressive mind of his own. But I do truly have to say that he is very sweet and cry’s the house down only when he starts to feel even a weenie bit hungry. And if we are late in giving him his milk, we do get a tongue-lashing (at times) or a lot of sad complaints in his own language while he drinks his milk :) hehe, well I am starting to enjoy motherhood which is certainly not easy and does tend to make me crazy at times and drives me up the wall… I am ready to pull my hair out at times, but I also do get my extremely happy moments too…

Right now, I am down in India and I guess it was ok and fun to be down here again… But guys I truly cannot stand the heat and same is the case with my little one…. Both of us sweat like pigs and I sit and curse the heat and keep telling that I want rains, that too heavy downpours… Well I did get my rains in between. To make up for the frequent current cuts, my father-in-law did get a generator so that his grandson won’t have to suffer the heat too much as it was an extreme change of climate for the little one…From the cold cold winter to smoldering heat and humidity :D

Anyway, thank the good lord that he has adjusted well to the climate change and is doing ok now… I do have to say that babies do have some (I would rather say a lot) tricks up their sleeve. When the current goes, he stops drinking his milk and stares at the fan… He will keep doing that until the current comes back or till we switch on the generator.

Well now he has entered his 4th month and his antics are growing day by day. God help me to keep my wits about me and am thankful that hair colors are available to cover my gray hairs that will keep increasing as the days go by…. I know that life and motherhood does have its ups and downs, I just hope that I will be able to cope well and in a sensible manner. As it is, since my hubby and in-laws do tend to get upset and alarmed too often if anything goes wrong with the little one, I have to keep my wits about me and have to be the cool one. (Even though I might be alarmed myself, I certainly cannot show that and my fear and can only keep hoping to God that nothing is wrong and that the baby is crying for silly issues only…. Phewww easy to say only!!!! )

So here starts a new phase in life for me along with a new year…. The other facts will come in later posts as I just want to stick to the happy facts right now. I just hope that I will be able to snatch some bits and pieces of time in between to update my blog and also to catch up on blogsvile….

A combination of topics!!!

2009-12-09T14:43:00.004+03:00

Well this post seems to be mixture of things and I am just typing down anything and everything that comes to my mind. As always I have been intending to post something and as usual I have put it off. How typical of me now!!!

Well, one main reason was that unlike during the earlier days, I was not getting enough opportunities to blog hop or even pen down a few words for my own blog due to work and some situations.

One thing I badly wanted to do during that period was that I wanted to pen down a few things about the movie ‘Pazhassi Raja’ as soon as I saw it, but kept putting off that too and finally ended up chucking the whole thing off. I do know there was a lot of praise and criticism for the movie, but it was good anyway. I did however feel that some element was missing and do not know what exactly it is…

Even though I am a Keralite, I certainly do not know much about the proud history of the state. Well u really cannot blame me for that as that’s the situation with our school systems. Another reason is that due to having done part of my schooling abroad and later part of it even though I did study in Kerala and all, I didn’t have to deal with Kerala History at all due to having followed the CBSE syllabus and all… Well one thing I can say I am proud of is that I learnt to read, write and speak Malayalam on my own and the toughest was learning to read and write. Well I won’t say that I can write well, but can speak well anyway :)

So at least watching a movie like ‘Pazhassi Raja’ made me wonder about the history of Kerala and all the brave people who fought for it etc. Although certain facts may or may not be correct in the film, we do have to give the film its due credit. After all it’s more of a film in this current era and not some autobiography or something… The film was picturised well and I did like it although I did feel that some of the foreign actors could have done better. Another thing is that for a Malayalam movie, this budget itself was way too much, so I really do have to say that they managed really well with whatever was available.

Now moving on from that topic - it’s December and even though the weather is turning cold and all, I do enjoy the holiday season and mainly the mental feel of it all. Well ya true that we won’t get much of a holiday feel and all coz we are in the gulf and there is no holiday as such for Christmas. Another sad fact is that Christmas will be on a Friday this year so most people will not be able to take an extra day off, but in another way it’s good for all those who won’t get off days anyway.

I guess it’s in India and other countries that we feel the festivities and the mood of the holiday season and all. I just love looking forward to the colourful holiday season, the celebrations related to Christmas and new year, the excitement that is seen among everyone, looking forward to the end of another year and the start of a new one hoping that it will be filled with wonderful things etc etc…

Another new thing for me this year is that life is going to take another turn and stepping into another phase in life is certainly a huge step and at this point very frightening for me. Motherhood and its responsibilities were a distant thought for me and suddenly I am faced with the realities of it. Well I guess the full shock of it will be set on me only after the delivery and the after the arrival of the little one. That’s when I am going to really really wonder what I have got myself into for a lifetime :)

Well, thanks to all the dear friends and well wishers who have already gone through the experience, they all are trying their level best to calm me and are telling me that’s it’s ok, no problem; it’s a wonderful experience and so on; I sure do hope that will be the case and that I will be able to deal with everything positively.
I am now finishing my 38th week (that is 2 weeks past my 9th month) and have around 14 to 15 days until the due date that my doctor has officially given. Basically the official date is for around Christmas and God only will get to decide the exact date. So I’m hoping to work till the end of next week if everything goes according to schedule and all.

Moving on again to another topic – I watched the Malayalam movie called Swa Le (short for Swantham Lekakhan, Staff Reporter) 2 days back and liked it a lot. Even though my brother and hubby were not at all interested in watching the movie, me and mom dragged both of them and my dad along and went for the movie. My poor tired dad as usual had a peaceful sleep during the whole movie while I saw my dear hubby and brother laughing their heads of on hearing some of the jokes in the movie. Ohh ya I (the devil in me hehe) did make them admit that it was a really good movie :D
I am not giving a review or anything about the movie as it will depend upon each person’s outlook and taste. I certainly am not saying that the movie is a huge thing or anything and even though it opened with such expectations, there were some flaws and all. But still it did provide me with the necessary entertainment.

In case any of you want to know what the story is all about, here is a small description:
The story set in the late eighties (a time before the 24-hour news channels and mobile phones) mentions about the big dailies of Malayalam, its fight over circulation, their staff reporters trying to do something overboard to support something anew, exclusive for their news papers etc.

This current generation which is used to the technology, will find it hard to digest the fate of many working with specific deadlines. Same was the case of the news man who had to really travel distances to fetch and create scoops and stories. ‘Swa Le’ has Dileep as Unnimadhavan, a committed reporter of Janachintha, chasing for stories, with an ill mannered part-time photographer Chandramohan (Salim Kumar). He has signed for a seven year bond with the small daily, which is in full throat activity to increase the circulation. With his meagre salary, Unnimadhavan finds the going tough and struggles to find enough time to devote to his pregnant wife Vimala (Gopika), who is staying in a rented house away from the city in a quiet village, that also across the river, with no proper health facilities and transportation. Since they married without the consent from her parents, and his parents r deceased there is no one to help them.

Things get worse as Unni is sent to report the state of a famous writer Paalaazhy Sivashankara Pillai (Nedumudi Venu) who is in his death bed. As he is asked to stay at the writer’s house daily till 3 am, until the last edition is out, Unni has to face the problem of having his pregnant wife all along at home, the problems she is having and all such things, but has to keep it all for himself due to fear about facing legal action from the paper if he leaves his job and so on. The movie goes on to tell how his struggles with time and emotions, finally provide fruitful, making him a big name in the media business.

The movie has succeeded to illicit some lighter chuckles all the way with the sensitive handling of the subject and with the honest narratives and plenty of inside jokes about the industry of the period. Dileep makes a cake walk through the role of Unnimadhavan, depicting the struggles of the working journalist with flare. Gopika also did a good job, even though I felt that her role did not have enough to do in the movie.

I guess that’s enough explanation about the movie right?

I am so happy to know that a very good and close friend’s short film ‘My Paper Boat’ has been chosen to be screened in the Copenhagen summit. And another amazing fact is that it competed with films from very experienced directors etc and has been the only short film from India to be chosen to be screened at the summit. Another thing is that I am also so happy to see many of his hard work paying off and happy that he is slowly being able to realize his dreams step by step.

Here is a link to the write up that came about them –

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Chennai%20to%20Copenhagen&artid=oEJL5ark2AU=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ=

Here is the link to the campaign site:
http://www.1minutetosavetheworld.com/

In this u can view the short film My Paper Boat

I guess I better stop writing now as I might go on and on about a few things and also about lost dreams and all :P

Swine Flu or AH1N1

2009-11-08T18:14:00.002+03:00

Photo Caption: The injectable version of the swine flu vaccine is shown Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 at Broadmoor Elementary School in Miami. The Miami-Dade County Health Department launched their H1N1 vaccination campaign Monday after having received their initial shipments. (AP)

I have been doing some extensive research about swine flu for my company and have suddenly come across so many facts which are indeed alarming. Up until now, I chose to ignore the disease all together to a certain extend so that I wouldn’t have to live in fear every day. But now when I read more and more facts, its alarming fact indeed and cannot be just ignored. None of us can ignore the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the swine flu pandemic "unstoppable".

Here are a few facts:
According to a review of the current epidemiologic data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) -- between 1% & 10% of people who develop swine flu require hospitalization. The new data was discussed on 27–29 October at a meeting of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization. Up to 25% of hospitalized people are admitted to intensive care units, and between 2% & 9% die. Pregnant women make up 7% to 10% of hospitalized patients.

The pandemic virus has infected millions globally with more than 6000 documented deaths and likely far more. The swine flu vaccine has been tested for only a few weeks on a few thousand healthy children and adults, including very few pregnant women, so we don't know how safe it really is for pregnant women, children and adults with chronic illness even though they are being specially targeted for vaccination by government health officials. There is also very little information about how safe it is to give swine flu vaccine with other vaccines, including seasonal influenza vaccine.

What is all the more surprising is that - Swine flu has driven up the price of horse meat in Mongolia, closed schools across Afghanistan and Ukraine and sparked a quarrel over whether detainees at the US base in Cuba should be vaccinated. Swine flu has also gone on to hit an isolated tribe of Indians in the Amazon jungle and more than 1000 members of the Yanomami tribe in Venezuela are believed to have caught the flu and it is feared that the flu will sweep through the area and kill many as these people do not have resistance to such introduced diseases.

Well look at the far reaching effects this flu which has travelled all over the world in such a short span of time and created such chaos. It is certainly a worrying factor that new new diseases are being introduced into the world and they are becoming unstoppable too. How do we live in fear everyday of our lives?

In my present stage, I am also too confused about the vaccine and am certainly not confident about taking the vaccine shot even though the health minister, other cabinet members and senior Ministry of Health officials were the first to receive vaccinations in order to show to the public in Kuwait that the vaccine is safe. I mean on what guarantee do I take that vaccination? How can I be sure that it won’t affect me or the baby for sure? How can I get the guarantee that no long term effects will show up later? With winter just around the corner, the climate has already started changing and many are down with the seasonal cold and flu which makes it all the more alarming as Swine flu is going to spread all the more.

Well the world just seems to be getting scarier by the day to live in with new threats, new diseases, new problems and all the kind!!!

Unhappy!!!!

2009-10-31T17:23:00.002+03:00

It’s been quite some time since I have blogged or blog-hopped for that matter. I really missed visiting the regular blogs that I read and I have been itching to write about many things too. Many a times I did start writing about all the things that I openly wanted to write about, but had to control myself midway as I knew that posting it wouldn’t be a good idea. I guess if the wrong people had read it, they would certainly have taken it in the wrong sense and that would have been a disaster (not that it mattered much to me!).

Anyway, I am really unhappy at present and my mental state has not been too good as I was feeling so low and depressed the whole of this past week and would have been happy if things had gone the way I wanted it to. But it doesn’t look like that it will and that makes me wonder about what I really want right now…

Luckily my spirits did cheer up after chatting about the problems to a few close friends who did give me all the support I wanted and told me all the right things. And boy am I lucky to have at least these good buddies to speak to even though they are in different parts of the world. Thank God for small blessings like these :)

I don’t know when, but I do have to find some time to visit all the blogs that I want to and I have already found that I have missed many posts which I know I’m going to enjoy when I finally sit down to it. Ahh I wish I could write a bit more openly so that I could really take a few things off my mind and be free of it. Anyway I am giving in to some things for the time being and hope that I can solve it and be rid of it in the near future, but am only wondering how I will put up with all that till then…

Anyway let’s see how things turn out and I do hope that things will go well soon enough. I guess I have to be more positive about things and try to portray a more positive image. But my main problem is that when I have been hurt really bad by somebody, its difficult for me to smile at that person the next moment and behave as if that person is the best person in the world. It will take me a few days to let the matter go and then only will I be able to smile openly… isn’t that always better rather than keeping so much bitterness in the heart and then behaving artificially on the outside? Well I hate backstabbing and all those things….Well looks like I am starting to blabber which I shouldn’t… I hope that I will return with a happy post soon!!!

Genetic /other disorders high among Arab population

2009-10-08T12:30:00.007+03:00

After quite a long time I have decided to write about something serious and that has absolutely nothing to do with me. I know it might sound boring, but I have been thinking about this particular topic a lot mainly because I found that there are a lot of genetic or that kind of related disorders among the Arab population and it’s very alarming to find it at such a high rate in a small country like Kuwait.

Ok I certainly am not an expert on this topic, nor have I done much research into it and I certainly cannot claim that this is 100% correct because it’s just an observation made from a normal human being like me and I certainly am no doctor. I certainly am not hurting anyone’s feeling, patriotism and such in the long run as this is just based on some firsthand information that I received.

Once I found out about this common occurrence of disorders among the citizens here, I started looking it up in the internet and also talked to a few Kuwaiti friends and they told me that there is an alarmingly high rate of disorders like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders); ADD (Attention Deficit Disorders); MS (Multiple Sclerosis); Autism; Dyslexia etc among their people… Another set of common medical problems that I have found among the Kuwaitis are – Diabetics, Obesity and various forms of Cancer (Lung, mouth and breast cancer being the most common).

Some facts that I know for sure are – I do know many Kuwaitis who suffer from ADHD, ADD, Autism, MS etc and since every other person I see seems to be suffering from obesity and diabetics I cannot tell that it’s a huge thing anymore. But I certainly would like to know why the above said are common among the Arab population.

I did some more reading up on it and found that one common cause that most researchers, sites say is that: Inbreeding is the most common cause of genetic disorder among Arab population. Well, since the practice of interfamily marriage is still relatively common among Arabs because of the structure of the Arabic society I guess that sure seems to be the main reason. But I guess they don’t have much of a choice when it comes to marriages as they have limited options to choose from and unlike India which has a huge population, Kuwait does not have such a variety to choose from :P

MS seems to be common among the women and ADHD/ADD is now common among the children. I guess obesity and diabetics must be mainly due to the life style, the kind of food they consume and so on. But one thing we do have to note is that the younger generation has become very conscious about health and body weight and so on and I know so many who are so adamant about going to the gym to be in shape. I guess the change is mostly due to their exposure to the western countries and growing education levels and so on. Another fact that has to be noted is that most of them are marrying foreigners too (even though it’s for various other reasons). I guess that will certainly reduce the common occurrence of such problems.

I do guess that a lot of publicity has to be given into this matter so that people take more notice of these facts and try and do something to get a healthier next generation. A lot of programs have to be conducted to create the necessary awareness and it has to be targeted at all sections of society so that the message reaches all. I do know that the government and other agencies have started doing a good work towards this and there were several campaigns about breast cancer awareness, awareness about the harmful effects of smoking and so on. I just hope that the good works goes on a much stronger note.

Wow, more reading up seems to have confused me and now I am hearing about new disorders and stuff. I just went through another study which showed another set of common disorders seen in Kuwait and they are:
•The Bardet-Biedl syndrome - which is a ciliopathic human genetic disorder that produces many effects and affects many body systems. It is characterized principally by obesity, retinitis pigmentosa, polydactyly, mental retardation, hypogonadism, and renal failure in some cases.
•Laurence-Moon syndrome - is a rare hereditary condition associated with retinitis pigmentosa, spastic paraplegia, hypogonadism and mental retardation.
•Meckel syndrome - (also known as Meckel-Gruber Syndrome, Gruber Syndrome, Dysencephalia Splanchnocystica) is a rare, lethal, ciliopathic, genetic disorder, characterized by renal cystic dysplasia, central nervous system malformations, and hepatic developmental defects.
•Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) - is a severe recessive X-linked form of muscular dystrophy characterized by rapid progression of muscle degeneration, eventually leading to loss of ambulation and death. This affliction affects one in 3500 males, making it the most prevalent of muscular dystrophies. In general, only males are afflicted, though females can be carriers.
•Phenylketonuria (PKU)- is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by a deficiency in the hepatic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). This enzyme is necessary to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine to the amino acid tyrosine.

And I guess I better stop about new diseases and their meanings as this is no medical blog or encyclopedia… (Courtesy of explanation about the above diseases from Wikipedia and images from google images)
I guess by now I would have managed to confuse many of you with this post, but I just wanted to write about it ever since I have known about these facts…

Baby Bloom Everywhere

2009-09-29T13:37:00.005+03:00

Looks like its baby bloom time all around me… Suddenly so many of my friends seem to be having babies or have just had their little ones recently... And so many including me are in the waiting line too!!!

It sure is fun to read all the emails about the latest news, the latest happenings in all their lives and its sure does give me the creeps too when I wonder how I will be able to cope with all this. Anyway, it is certainly wonderful to get reassuring replies from everyone telling that we will cope fine and all :)

Humm well hope that their words come true and that we will cope well with the new changes in life. When I think about it more, it sure is freaky like hell to think about what a change it is in life and that we have to suddenly become more responsible. Well I don’t mind the responsible part, but this is just not any responsibility. You are becoming responsible for another human being for the rest of your life, you have to plan so many things in life now and now it will have to totally become a separate family thing like your child and spouse will definitely have to become first priorities. Well I hope I can work it all out… Phewww!!!

It sure was a very hot summer here but now the temperatures have started reducing and it sure is a relief to have a cool breeze in the evenings at least instead of the irritating hot blasts of air… I sure did enjoy the slow life and lesser timings at work due to the summer in Kuwait and also mainly due to the fact that so many people travel out of the country and life becomes slower and roads become less congested. To top it, we had Ramadan also recently which made life all the more slower and I sure enjoyed it because of the really short work timings which gave me amble time to reach home early, rest more etc…

The unexpected long holiday for Eid was another added blessing because my aunt and uncle had come down from US and life got so hectic last week as it was get-togethers at different places for us and it all went on from early in the evening to the wee hours of morning. Every day for those 6 days we used to reach home only after 3:00 am and luckily I was able to stay in bed till afternoon next day. It was only my poor dad who had to wake up every day at least by 6:30 am so that he could attend the phone calls and then go to work and all.

Now Eid and all are over and it’s back to the old work timings and all. I sure don’t enjoy that too much and plus the roads are back to being congested too. But ya life is like that and we all sure have to cope up with it. Winter also will slowly start creeping in and suddenly out of the blue it will be so damn cold to do anything… That’s when we will start complaining all the more about having to wake up to go to work, about not having central heating and all that nonsense. (Well the main signs of winter creeping in here now is – its winter clothes everywhere and the summer ones are all on sale and stuff and not the climate… that’s why I said out of the blue it will suddenly be so cold!)

Anyway I am looking forward to a good and pleasant climate and also waiting for some positive changes which has to happen really soon and keeping my fingers crossed so that some things will work out real fast… I just hope that the things I want will work out soon and God will certainly listen to our prayers!!!

Another Blessed year!!!

2009-09-13T13:47:00.002+03:00

Wow I can’t believe that another year in life has passed by so soon and it’s not like I’m getting any younger or anything and I certainly do not want my school and early years back… Well I would certainly love to have my post graduation years back coz it was so much fun :)

Anyway, I know that I have to thank the good Lord for the blessings that happened in the past year/years and am especially thankful that life is going on OK and that things went good so far… This year will also add another great change in my life and ya I’m certainly going to step into another phase in life soon… ‘Motherhood’

Pheww don’t ask me how I feel coz I seriously do not know and I do not know if I am looking forward to the coming years and sleepless nights… I just hope that I will be able to handle everything well without making a wreak of myself and others. Ya life has to move on and it’s the various cycles of life that is taking place. But it all also depends on how we handle things too right and that’s the only part where I’m a little worried…

Anyway, even though yesterday was a great day in life and all, my hubby darling was not able to make it here for my birthday thanks to the Jet Airways pilots strike… What else can I say about it? Anyway I just heard that the strike is over and hopefully the services will resume today and hubby will make it here tonight…

Just hoping and praying for a few good years ahead :)

HAPPY ONAM

2009-09-02T12:55:00.007+03:00

Wow, wow….. Onam is here :) and even though I am not in Kerala, or rather in India at all, I do feel the spirit of it this time even though I am not attending any programs and such.
My poor mom who was not feeling well made so much of an effort to make an Onam based Sadya yesterday for us and it was great indeed. The true fact is I just ate too much, then drank too much of the tasty Ada payasam she made and couldn’t move an inch. And ohh boy did I suffer for all that over eating… hehe I just couldn’t move around for another 5 hours and was feeling so sick…. But I wouldn’t mind having all those tasty stuff again. :)

So today is Thiruvonam and some of the family is gathering together at my uncle’s place to have the Onam sadhya at night and I do hope that I will be able to enjoy it as much as my mom’s cooking…

Anyway I do miss Kerala and the festival season and the hustle and bustle of the Onam so much even though I have never celebrated it much in life. It’s certainly a nostalgic season and its fun to see the whole state celebrating it keeping aside their religion and all other differences.

I guess having the Malayalam channels do help and it’s fun to see all the different Onam based programs and at least see the pookalam and sadhya and all that is going on in Kerala and feel as if I am there and seeing it all.

SO a very very HAPPY and Prosperous ONAM to all of you.

Image courtesy - google images

Furious furious :P

2009-08-11T11:35:00.003+03:00

I know that I took a break again from blogging! Not that I really wanted to do it but I just kept away because I did not want to write about all the kind of negativity that was pouring around me.

Ya I do sound nuts right… Well I have been feeling very low lately and with so many issues going on, was wondering how to cope… And I don’t think I can openly write it all here even if I do want to and would love to… (But that would be catastrophic and I literally mean it!)

I have also been having some difficulties at work and really hate it when people try to act too smart and try to belittle others a lot.… Believe me, my patience has been tried to the maximum but still I kept quiet today and I do not know why. I just do not understand why I did not burst out at that female when she came in even though I was extremely furious and boiling and a few minutes before that I was almost screaming at the walls for all the stupid things….

Ahh I know I know you must have stopped reading this by now,,, Well you can’t blame me too much coz I have been putting up with all this for so long and don’t know when there will be an end to all this. And I know I have been silent for too long and have been a kind of doormat for too long too…

Anyway I am certainly trying to maintain my cool and I know some of these issues might come up again in a couple of days and that’s when I don’t know how I will end up reacting. The only reason I haven’t taken all this to my boss is because I did not want to act like a nursery kid who takes her complaints to the class teacher.

Ok now about other things – Ramadan is starting on Friday or Saturday and I wish everyone ‘RAMADAN KAREEM’… Well life is supposed to be easier and better during this time here and I hope to God that it will be… Life will definitely be slower and quieter during the day and with shorter work timings everywhere people will be rushing to get back home and all too… Anyway after the first couple of days the evenings will be a huge rush coz of all the shopping the Arabs end up doing and believe me you will go nuts due to the traffic and all. And ya the Gabqa dinners and Iftar and all that too....

We will have a tough time trying to park the car coz most people would have ended up blocking the area and would have gone for shopping and it will be a pain to go and come. But anyway it’s a holy month and hope that much good comes out of it too.

Once again - RAMADAN KAREEM TO ALL....

Another thing - my condolences on the Jahra Wedding fire that killed so many people and injured so many too… (For those of you who are wondering what I’m talking about –please check the links:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_kuwait_wedding_fire#

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTE5NDgxNTUwMQ==
http://www.pr-inside.com/arsonist-ex-wife-burns-wedding-tent-r1445254.htm
http://www.kippreport.com/2009/08/burning-love/

Well I know that many versions of the story are out but that does not explain or set right what happened… The ex-wife set blaze the tent where the wedding party was going on due to which so many people dies and all of it were women and children and that too everything happened in just 3 short minutes.

Avenging is your personal things to do, but what did those innocent people who attended the wedding do? What about all those numerous number of victims who are in the hospital suffering from the most severe of burns? Will they ever get their life back?

Ahh the world just goes on to be a worser and worser place to live now…

Anniversary time!

2009-07-07T12:53:00.000+03:00

Wow I just can’t believe that one year has flown by me so fast! Time indeed seems to be flying and even half of 2009 has already passed us all by.

Guess what - It’s become a year today since my beloved one and I tied the knot and everything seems to have happened so fast and before I know it, a whole year has also passed since that eventful day :)

And it sure has been an eventful year I say!

All I can say is that, I’m really happy that we were finally able to tie the knot and that hubby was also able to join me here after a couple of months after the wedding. But right now, we both are just so happy and grateful that at least we are there with each other during this anniversary time. I guess we will have the real celebrations and stuff maybe next year and hope to get more time with each other.
Well, I know that this should have been a special occasion and special celebration as it’s the first year, but since we have known each other for so long and have been committed to each other, I guess it doesn’t matter much that we are not able to do anything special.

Humm now that I think more deeply about it, I can’t say that I’m too happy about the fact that I am not able to do anything special. So I guess I do have to say I’m a little disappointed about the whole situation. At the same time I’m am grateful that we are together and that’s what makes the difference I guess.

As with all married couples we have had our good and bad times, the usual fights and love for each other and all. That’s all part of life and especially because he is the more patient and caring one, things are going smoothly.

Now, I’m just wishing my beloved one and myself too, a special happy anniversary and want God’s blessing for all the years that lie ahead of us.

So --- “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US” :)

Hubby Dear’s Bday

2009-06-23T13:41:00.007+03:00

Ahh its hubby dear’s birthday today. It’s the first one after our marriage and I wanted to do something special, get him something special, go out somewhere etc etc… But nothing happened. In fact I was not even able to get him a card as I didn’t get time to go anywhere after work and I haven’t gone out shopping for quite some time now because of the rest I needed and all.

I just feel so bad…Ohh how I wish we just could get some time to spend together and do something special. Well I just hope that I get to do something special at least next year. Anyway, we are both happy at least to be with each other during this time.
I guess I made more of an effort to get something special done while we were courting and most times when we were able to be with each other, I have managed to give him a small gift and so on.

Well now, I just hope that things start getting better and we will be able make some of our wishes come true and so on…

I just once again WISH him a VERY VERY HAPPY SPECIAL BIRTHDAY….and hope to make up for it soon :)

*** Had to do a little editing here -- My dad made up more the part i didnt do. :)
When i reached home, I found that Dad had got a special cake, and also bought some Indian food like biriyani and stuff for lunch so that hubby dear could have something special.... Now thats a great relief and to top it all mom made some Ada Payasam (an Indian (keralite) sweet dish)...Ohh i loved it...

Back after a short break

2009-06-16T13:29:00.002+03:00

Looks like I do feel better after the really short break that I had. The doctor told me to take rest for at least 4 days and that’s exactly what I did. Took off from work and was resting at home the full time. The only thing I just am not able to follow is – drink a minimum of 1.5 litres of water per day so that I can reduce the medicine intake and stuff and just stop it altogether.

Well I am trying hard to drink as much water as possible but just cannot do so at times when I feel too nauseous; and it certainly is not funny running to the loo after having so much of liquid intake. On top of all this - Dad, mom and hubby are behind me telling drink water, drink water drink water!!!

Soon, I guess I will reach the stage where if I see water I will have nightmares… LOL Ahh I know it’s for my sake and health and all, but I just cannot handle the nauseous feeling which makes me act like a total B***h at times. It’s just that I get so irritated because of that feeling and want to tell everyone to try drinking water while they are in my shoes. I really mean it, when the food and water is filled till my throat and unless it goes down into my stomach, I don’t think I have the space for even a sip of water.

Ahh who said life is easy right? Humm I know tougher times and situations are coming and soon I will also have to make some tough decisions that I am not looking forward to too. Well its life and I have to face it headlong.

In the meantime, I am trying to make the best out of the situation… But to tell you truthfully, I think I did enjoy sitting at home ideally for a couple of days and the rest did do me good. Even the small break from the daily routine was refreshing. :)

Extremely Bored!!!

2009-06-08T12:44:00.000+03:00

Ahh I’m just feeling so bored and don’t seem to want to write anything… All I do want to write about is about my miseries and about work. But I won’t do that as most friends advised me against writing anything about work and colleagues in my blog and I also do not want to pass on the misery to you all too. Another reason is that, the wrong information will go into the wrong hands, so why doom myself?

Ok, now I’m being very brave here and trying to just forget about all that and get on with other things. On days like this, I plunge headlong into the blog world and enjoy and spend my time by reading lovely posts written by many in the blogosphere. It’s a lovely other world out there and its fun reading most posts as some are so well written and brings a smile on your face…

And today seems to be a little more peaceful than other days as I didn’t have to put up with all the hitting, banging, drilling sounds from the floor downstairs which is undergoing some renovation. Well from what I hear, they are starting a Starbucks outlet there. I do hope that is true as at least I can get some good coffee or snacks when I feel like it. Not that there is any shortage for all such things as my office building already houses 2 huge restaurants and the buildings nearby also have many restaurants and most of the fast-food joins are around the corner….But I have never taken the pains to go anywhere and I used to order Arabic food from nearby places for which I need help as I cannot place my order in Arabic.

Ok looks like I am just writing a lot of nonsense here and I better stop now before I go more into it…

Weekend long over…

2009-05-31T10:39:00.003+03:00

Ahh weekend and all is long over and its back to work again… I will surely be waiting impatiently for it to be Thursday again so that I can have a day off. Summer has started in full blast and the temperatures are soaring and will continue to do so for the next 2 or 3 months. Ohh I don’t think u will want to know the temp as they will really really be soaring above 50 degrees… I guess most India schools will close this month for the long summer holidays and will reopen in September, and I guess that will be the case with the other schools (Arab, British, American etc..) too except for a slight difference in dates.

Life will start to slow down as summer vacations are here and most people will travel, and it will be a relief to have less traffic on the roads. The slow months of summer will also be followed by Ramadan during which time life will definitely be all the more slower and guess what, I guess I do enjoy that slowness a lot. The only problem is that if you want to travel now, then there will be no tickets available and the ones available will be at sky-high rates too.

I would have loved to travel to Kerala and see the rains as I just love that heavy rainy climate and all… But don’t know if there will be any plans for the same even though my hubby keeps telling me to go down if I get enough days of leave from work.
Well even in the smouldering heat, Kuwait’s 27th cabinet was formed after the recent elections and stuff. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlـAhmad AlـSabah issued a decree on Friday on the formation of the 27th Kuwaiti Cabinet, the sixth to be led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlـMohammed AlـSabah.

I do hope that they will cast aside the negative outcomes of the previous cabinet and go forward with a positive approach to everything. There have been mixed reactions from lawmakers concerning the new Cabinet line-up. While some have unanimously commended the new government and called for more cooperation, others have expressed their reservations about it. The MPs called upon the new government to pursue a new approach and submit a comprehensive development plans or brace for more interpellations to come.

It’s also good to see a lot of new faces in the Cabinet and hope that the new Ministers will do a lot for their country. But unlike the last time, this 27th cabinet has only one female minister and she is Dr. Moudi AlـHomoud, the Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education. Well that is definitely a sad fact, but I guess 4 females MPs getting elected into the Parliament was good enough as it’s a great change for Kuwait.

Well even though Kuwait saw a great difference in elections and its result this time, especially since many were shocked to see that 4 women won the elections and so on, I do feel that these women do have a tough time ahead. Well the people did choose them, but looks like the Islamists will give them a hard time over everything. There was news on Friday that - A number of Islamist MPs have threatened to walk out of the swearingـin ceremony of the two female MPs if they do not wear the hijab while taking the oath of office. Sources said that the MPs recently met to discuss the legal procedures to be initiated against Aseel AlـAwadi and Rola Dashti for violating the Election Law which states that female candidates must stick to Islamic dress code during the elections.

Well in my opinion its stupid to cling on to such silly things as they did their campaigns and such things not dressed in the Muslim dress code, and people voted for them not based on the dress code, but their skills and stuff. So why create problems just for the sake of creating some kind of trouble. And there were so many issues like its sin to have women in parliament, it’s a sin to vote for them, it’s a sin if women vote and so on…which is outrageous.

Well anyway all we can do is hope for the best and wait and see how things go…

Its weekend!!!

2009-05-28T11:29:00.004+03:00

I am so unbearably glad that it’s finally the weekend. I just seem to be living only for that now and it’s like all my other ambitions in life has disappeared. My main focus during the start of the week is that I just want it to be Thursday.

Ohh no, I am not being a baby, imagining the whole thing or making a big thing out of it and all… It’s just that, one of the places I work at has just become too boring for me now and even the slightest things seem to be irritating me a lot. Maybe it’s because of my current stage and all or it must be because I have had enough… I guess my main problem is that I remain silent most of the day as I don’t have anyone to talk to and also because I am the only Indian in the place and the other Arabs spent time talking to each other. So in short, I kind of feel left out which I am ok with most of the time. But lately it’s started to get to me as some of them seem to be picking even on the smallest of things to create an issue which is very very irritating… (Humm hope they don’t read this :P)

Ahh I have always been that career girl, my ambition even now is to study further and all. But believe me, there are days when I feel “Ohh I wish I just could sit at home and rest and enjoy myself and not be bothered with a job and all.” Well in my case this is absolutely shocking as I just love working and all…

I guess one reason for feeling this way is coz - I don’t get time for anything now. I don’t even get to watch a decent TV show which I like, don’t get to relax and wind down etc etc… Nowadays I get up late in the morning, get ready very fast, eat and leave to office, then reach home after three fifteen, have lunch, rush to work again and sometimes get back home only after 9 etc. I guess it’s that part about coming home late, then not having time for anything etc which is more irritating… Well there were days I felt it’s good to get back late, but not now as all I want to do is just come and rest…

Hehe, I am not gonna start moaning about my work life and the bored feeling and all and go on elaborating about a lot of absolutely boring thing. I might just go on and on with it and about how depressed I feel and all. I am only glad that its weekend and that I do not have to come to office tomorrow. Well I know that one day is too short and it gets over before I blink, but something is better than nothing. Another good thing is that now I don’t have to work on Saturday mornings, so at least I will get time till Saturday afternoon to relax. Ahh thank God for small mercies…

A lot has happened!!!

2009-05-20T10:33:00.005+03:00

I guess a lot has happened in this short while that I decided to take a break from posting anything in my blog. Both India and Kuwait went to elections and the results too have come out; Sri Lanka has declared that LTT has been defeated; there are unofficial and official reports out that the Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the fight and yes of course the deadly Swine flu that has been spreading all over the world.

Now what am I to say about all this? About the Indian elections – I am extremely happy to know about the election results for India. I did want the congress party to come back into power and I am so happy that the communist party had such a setback in Kerala too. Congress won 16 out of the 20 seats in Kerala and what is amazing is that, I feel that congress got most of its winning votes from the communist supporters. What a situation right? It’s amazing to know that congress won in areas where they never even dreamt of winning and those areas were the strict, decades’ old communist areas too.

Hell well it’s not because I have anything against the communist party, but the face they portrayed to the general public was really bad. The internal group fights which got really bad, the back stabbing, the degrading talks that they did against the Church, bishops etc and so on. Well the party themselves decided and sealed their fate, so they definitely can’t blame anyone else for it.

About the Sri Lanka situation – I do hope that innocent people will be safe from now on and I do hope that this small island nation will see peace and harmony. It was a shame to see so many innocents being massacred for no reason… The fight between the LTT and the government did destroy thousands of lives and make things miserable. And I guess it sure is good to get confirmed reports about the death of the rebel leader. Well God only knows what exactly happened, whether it’s the rebel leader who really died, if it was – then how he was killed and so on… Anyway now all we can do is hope for the best and think that things have gone for the best…

About the Kuwait elections – Well its sure was a pleasant surprise and change to see that a change has come about. The most astounding of it is that 4 women (that too highly educated ones) got elected into the parliament and that sure is a huge feat. Looks like change is coming over this small nation and I do hope that things are definitely changing for the better. It has to work for the better as Kuwait sure doesn’t want to go to elections so soon again and what everybody wants is stability and people who will work for their nation rather than for themselves.

About the Swine Flu – I sure don’t know what to say about this, but for one thing I was so relieved to know that it did not originate in Asia. And when some disease originates in Asia, I see the kind of hassles that go on, now that people from US and UK and all are bringing the disease into Asia and around the world, I don’t see the same reactions. But looks like newer diseases are sprouting up each day and vaccinations and medicines are not available for these. What is the world going to? I mean where is all this heading to? It is also alarming to see that the disease is spreading and that India too has announced its first case through a passenger who arrived from the US. Well that seems to be the fastest way the disease seems to be spreading and how can we stop people from travelling?

A lot seems to be happening in my life too at present which I will have to write about at another stage :) Well I know that I have to make time to update my blog which I will do when the mood strikes and on days when I don’t feel soo tired.
Courtesy of images - Google images

Lazy Lazy me!!!

2009-05-04T12:24:00.006+03:00

I clearly have no idea about what is wrong with me nowadays. I feel just too tired and lazy to do anything and I guess now I have started to look tired too and my family is starting to get worried.

I for one was a person who used to get hyperactive most of the time or when the mood sets in and after that I will go on doing things till I drop dead. But now I never seem to get that energy and I hope I have not burnt out! Well I seriously do have to wonder coz, now I don’t even think about trying out new recipes and different types of cooking, don’t feel that I have the energy to clean and tidy the house, don’t seem to make much of an effort to blog or do anything which I do like a lot. All I do want to do is just curl up and sleep or just rest in peace somewhere LOL

So that’s why I definitely feel that there is a nut going loose somewhere!!! Pheww Well I do have other serious doubts too, anyway have to wait and see I guess. I had recently gone to India and during my visit, I went to a doctor to see about my headaches and back pain that I was suffering from a fall that I had long ago. The doctor is an excellent neuro-surgeon, and she just told me a few exercises to do for the back pain and gave me medicines to have for three months for the headaches and stuff.

After getting back to Kuwait, I started having the medications which I was originally supposed to start while back in India itself so the doctor could know if I was having any side effects from it like, lack of sleep or too much sleep etc. But me being me, lied that I had the meds, dint have any probs and came back. But after starting the medications, I soon found that I was having side effects like lack of sleep during the night and most of the time I was wide awake which was very frustrating. But I kept putting it off as my parents were travelling to the US and I was busy helping with their shopping and packing etc.

Once they left, I knew that the travel, the meds and all the work was taking its toll on me as I suddenly fell ill and had severe body pain for 2 days and did not go to work. Took rest and felt better, had some antibiotics for a throat infection during which time, My hubby was looking after me all the time, feeding me on time etc etc. So during this time, I had stopped having the medications that I got from India and after a couple of days I started having it. But to my horror I found that, this time the medicines were making me feel too tired and I didn’t have the energy to even talk to anyone. All I would do was go to both places of work, get back and just lie down somewhere.

Once my parents got back and saw all this they got really worried and told me to stop the medicines as I was turning pale etc. I have now stopped the medications and all. But I do feel nauseous all the time now. But I guess it definitly feels better than when I was having those medications and atleast I have the energy to atleast walk all the way to a bed atleast ... Ya there goes, so now parents and hubby are again worried and I just hate hospitals, needles, medicines and all that stuff and am dreading about going there. Not that it will be of much use as I know that I will soon be dragged there :( Well anyway i can atleast bring the whole hospital down when they bring those needles near me (Wicked laugh, thats as long as they dont throw me out!)

Hey but I do make a point to read other blogs and when I have enough energy I do leave comments too. :) ya its certainly serious time that someone kicked my lazy a** so that I can start moving around and do something useful. I guess i just got used to being lazy a lot and I dont know if i lost my interest in cooking becuase i feel lazy to put in all that effort. But i did discover a lot of cooking related blogs recently and just love all of it.

Dont want to depress all of ya anymore by writing about all the laziness and stuff...But in the mean time I will enjoy reading as many blogs as i can!!!

A sudden trip to India

2009-04-20T12:46:00.003+03:00

I have put off writing a new post as much as I can and suddenly I realized that it’s been more than a month since I have written anything. Well this time I was not lazy to write but just so busy

By the end of March, I took 10 days off from both places of work and took a sudden trip to India. I know 10 days is nothing, but it sure was a relief to be away and it was such a relief to be back in India at least for a few days. Home-sweet-home

Well it sure was not a pleasure trip and we did not get time to relax too much as it was quite hectic and the whole time we were travelling, getting some important things done and there was also quite a bit of shopping to do. It was also so hot and I just couldn’t handle the heat as I was soaked and drenched in sweat all the time. (So that shows that the peak of summer is not the best time to travel to Kerala, but it did rain too, even though I missed it all the time!)

I did stay for a few days at my Hubby’s place, spent time with dad, mom and sis-in-law and got to eat loads of tasty Kerala food. I also got to play with the new Labrador puppy (the new arrival) and I guess I petted him too much and spoilt him, but did try to get some discipline into him too by giving him a few whacks which were of no use at all.

Anyway came back to Kuwait before Good Friday and Easter and came and spent it here with my parents. We did not do anything special, I just took off from work in the morning on Easter day and stayed at home and took rest… hehe

After that it was again hectic as my parents were travelling to the US and so after work it was straight for shopping on most days and then packing and all that. Finally the day they left, I collapsed from all that and was down with body pain and a temperature.

So now, just regaining my health and it’s getting quite hectic at work too and I’m also getting back into the regular routine of life which is starting to bug me a little. Don’t ask me why, coz seriously I do not know… Well I guess that’s life!

25 Random facts about myself!

2009-03-19T11:32:00.008+03:00

Reflections (http://konnotation.blogspot.com/)has tagged me to put up 25 random facts about myself.

I have put off doing it for weeks now because I knew for sure that it would be a struggle. And now I know I will have to work on this on and off throughout the day to get it completed and to post it. Another problem is that I have been tagged for the same thing in Facebook and haven’t got around to doing it yet…LOL … Anyway I will now work it out here :)

Now the rules -

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.
You have to link the person who tagged you.
If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Ok here goes: The following are all the reasons for you to know that I sure am a weirdo!

1. I am very critical and it sure is the nature of the Virgo!Cant blame me :)

2. I just love reading anything and everything. There are times when I completed reading more than 3 or 4 bulky novels in a day. I go crazy here in Kuwait coz we do not get good books and the ones that I do see are ridiculously expensive, and there is no library that provides the English books that I know of. (Well I did find a place where they sell some books at a good rate.)

3. I understood the value of freedom that people in India take for granted. (Be it freedom to live how you want, freedom of speech, freedom of anything) They sure should be made to stay in a Gulf country like Saudi or Kuwait and then they will also know its value.

4. I want to travel and see a lot of beautiful places. I still haven’t gotten around to doing it yet and hope that I will be able to do it sometime.

5. I am an extremely sensitive person and get hurt easily. So I do tend to clamp-up a lot to in order not to get hurt.Hey can't blame me for it as experiance teaches you to be that way.

6. I used to hate Chennai so much due to the climate and the water problems. But I just miss that city so much and it holds a very dear part in my heart.

7. I got the best set of friends in life from Chennai and I just love and miss the whole freaky gang. :)

8. I am a loner. I guess I got so used to being that way and now just love that peace and solace of being by myself and crave to be alone at least for some time.

9. When I was small, like most other parents, my parents too used to force me to eat veggies, fried liver and all sorts of stuff like cauliflower etc… What they did not know was that I used to throw into onto the roof of the shop downstairs in order to escape eating it. Imagine finding lots of dried up boiled eggs and stuff like that on the roof years later…heheh (And I used to stack up all the chocolate milk and juice packets under the bed... :P )

10. I don’t get friendly with anyone easily. Ya I do have that starting trouble too.

11. I love watching movies. (I even love to watch most of the old Malayalam movies too. The ones from the 80’s etc...).

12. I surely do feel and know that the best years of my whole life were during the 2 and half years that I spent in Chennai doing my PG and the short period of work.

13. From KG to my post graduation I have studied in around 10 different schools and colleges. I sure hated most places because I always ended being the loner and the newcomer.

14. I learnt through experience that teachers can make or break a student. I turned out to hate maths coz of it. In fact I ended up hating that profession and started getting rebellious with most teachers due to the way they broke my spirit with nasty comments. (Ya all teachers are not like that, I know!)

15. I had to become or start acting very responsible from a very young age. Dad was busy with his business and mom with her office work, so had to learn to cope for myself, learn to cook and also clean a bit and to look after my brother while most of my cousins, to this day don’t even know how to hold a broom… Well mom did give up her job and all and stayed with us and now she tells I din't give her the opportunity to do things on her own...LOL Anyway I sure am so grateful to my parents for making me independent and they made me capable enough to stand on my own feet.

16.Unlike most people, I do not miss my childhood. I guess I hated it and just wanted to grow up fast as I hated the excessive studying and stuff.

17. I am extremely ignorant about the modern day music and bands as I tend not to follow it. But I do love the old Malayalam melodies. Must be coz I used to listen to it a lot when I was really small and it’s kind of etched into my mind.

18. I did academically the best during my PG as I did not have to face the pressure like I had for 10th and 12th. Oh ya most kids face extreme pressure during their 10th and 12th…

19. Even at this age I just love teddy bears and the soft toys. My hubby is always amused to see me running towards that side of the aisle while shopping. I guess I got my first teddy bear when I was 24 and I bought it myself. But ya my hubby did get me some cute little dogs (soft toys) etc when we were dating.

20. It’s a wonder that I am still writing this even now and another wonder that I reached this point.

21. I am so busy with work nowadays that I miss blogging and hardly get time to spend with my hubby.

22. I am really feeling weird after reading all the things that I have written above and feel that people will surely wonder what kind of a weirdo am I.

23. I just love cute animals like puppies and kittens so much and have a great compassion for them. In fact I do not have that much compassion towards humans. No that’s surely not weird coz animals do not hurt you, only humans do.

24. I really don’t think that I can tag 25 people with this one.

25. I love good and tasty food, like to try out new stuff and have a weakness for pastries and chocolates, but can never eat sweets beyond a certain limit.

Hurray I have completed all the 25 things about me, that too in a short time…. I’m supposed to tag 25 people but am not doing so. But anyone can take up this tag if they would like to do so.

Dust storms

2009-03-11T12:33:00.006+03:00

It’s been several days since I have even checked my blog and I miss reading through the regular blogs that I usually do look into on a daily basis. I know that I do keep telling myself that I should blog regularly, write on a regular basis and so on. It’s just that whenever I get this great mood to work and when I get ideas, I am nowhere near my computer. :(

Anyway, here is another post and it’s nothing interesting. This is something about the stupid dust and dust storms that are frequent in Kuwait, especially during summer.

Usually Kuwait does not have dust storms during winter, but this winter we had dust storms because it did not rain much. So because of the lack of rains, it’s predicted that Kuwait will have the worst case of dust storms this summer and it will be a regular kind of affair.

Ohh do not think that it’s nothing or ask questions like – ya its dust, what’s the big deal etc. These things are definitely a big deal here coz it disrupts life so much. Half the country ends up at the hospital with allergies and breathing problems, flights get re-routed, stranded, ports close down till the weather clears, more accidents on the road because of the zero visibility status, most houses and offices get filled with dust due to which half the time will be spent trying to clean up the mess, the itchy feeling it causes and what not!!!

Believe me it’s a royal pain in the wrong place. :(

Last Friday I went to a lot of trouble to clean up the whole house and by the end of the day I couldn’t walk a step coz of the over strain I had put myself through. And after that I was feeling so light and happy coz I felt that the house is so clean and all, but ya the nature was definitely plotting against me. Yesterday Kuwait had another bl**** dust storm, but I do have to say that because it decided to rain by afternoon, the dust settled down fast and it definitely became cold and chilly again. If it hadn’t rained/drizzled the damn dust would have been there for 2 or three days.

Ohh boy! Just thinking about going through this as a regular procedure through the summer is enough to put me into a deep state of depression. I hate the itchy feeling that I will have and all we can do is taste and smell dust the whole time and that doesn’t help you to get any sleep too as all we can do is smell dust in our sleep too.

Below I have given a copy of the news related to the dust storm and I have put in photos that I got from the internet and also from the Al Watan Daily newspaper.

KUWAIT: Mar 10, 2009 (AFP) - A blinding dust storm hit Kuwait on Tuesday, halting oil exports and forcing the closure of the Gulf emirate's three ports besides disrupting air traffic, officials said. Winds blowing at a speed of up to 60 kilometres (38 miles) an hour reduced visibility to less than 300 metres (yards) at Kuwait airport and less than 150 meters at ports. "We have halted oil exports until weather conditions improve," Kuwait National Petroleum Co (KNPC).

Issam al-Zamel, head of operations at the civil aviation authority, told the KUNA (Kuwait news agency) that incoming planes were facing difficulty landing. Scheduled flights out of Kuwait were still taking off by early afternoon. The meteorological department was forecasting the dust storm would continue until Wednesday. Kuwait has had virtually no rain for the third winter in a row, making desert sand loose and easily carried by strong north-westerly winds. Dust storms are rare in winter but common in summer when the temperature hits 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

Well i guess all of you saw the photos! Thahats how its during a dust storm and sometimes there is the red dust storm and sometimes that whitish one...Both are a pain anyway, and its in that climate that everyone has to get to work and get on with their lives!!!

Conditions bad for the labour class

2009-02-09T13:54:00.000+03:00

Yesterday night after getting off work I went with my dad to meet a guy who he was supposed to meet urgently. I decided to wait in the car while he went for the meeting and that’s when the mood to write struck me.

Since I (certainly) knew that the mood would vanish in a few seconds, I pulled out a pen and small book and started to jot down what all came to my mind. I got into that deep mood of writing which I rarely get into and that’s when suddenly it was all disrupted.

All I remember was that I was busy writing and suddenly the whole vehicle was shaking and all… “I was like what the hell is going on?” and lifted up my head to look around. That’s when I saw that a van which was turning had come and hit our vehicle from behind. I was furious and ya it was a late reaction too anyway, but I did gesture to the guy asking what his bloody problem was and all that.

I put away all the writing materials and jumped out of the vehicle to check if there was any serious damage and gestured to him to wait as he was a typical Arab guy and I couldn’t communicate with him properly. I then called up dad and told him to come and deal with the situation and waited for him to come. Ya he did come and deal with the situation and told the guy to go as he dint think the damage was a big problem :P…. Anyway that’s not the point, that’s it the mood to write certainly had vanished in an instant!!!

Anyway, since I had jotted down a few things about what to write and all here goes the post:

Life is not easy and the global financial crisis has certainly not made things any better for anyone. Kuwait which certainly has been a safe haven for many is not so anymore. Many companies which thought that they wouldn’t be affected by the crisis have been hit hard. Anyway I really can’t tell that is the serious issue here.

The main issue is that – The driver who provides me with transportation to and from my office told me yesterday morning that he wouldn’t be able to pick me up after work in the evening as he and most other drivers (who work on a contract basis for the Ministry of Health) from his company had decided to forego work on that particular day which is one of the busiest days for them.

Now to understand about this situation, you do have to know the background details. This driver works for a particular company which supplies/provides all the hospitals in Kuwait which are under the Ministry of Health with cars along with the drivers. They also do provide vehicles with drivers to various other departments in the governmental sector on a contract basis (details unknown to me).

This company charges the government for the services provide and I really have to say that the government always pays the bills ON TIME. But the company has not been paying these drivers correctly and my driver told me that it’s been four months since he got his salary, hence the strike or decision to not work yesterday.

I was asking him about the details today and that’s when he told me that the government for example pays the company around 170 to 190 Kuwaiti dinars (KD) for the driver and the cars per month. But the company pays these drivers KD 40 per month if they are doing a single shift and if they work a double shift they are paid 70 KD. From this amount they have to pay their rent, buy food, send money home, and buy petrol for the car and so on.

I was quite shocked to hear that they had to pay for the petrol out of their own pocket as I felt that it’s unfair. (Ya I know that petrol is cheap here, but still it’s a problem for the labourers who get paid such a small amount per month.) He was also telling me that if the vehicle meets with an accident or if there is any repair work, he has to take it to the company garage where they always charge around KD 200 and this amount is accounted for by cutting from their salary every month.

I really cannot understand why people do such things. Yes the company does get its payment on time and it does make some profit, so why can’t they pay their workers the small amount? How will these people live without that small amount? Don’t they need food and water to survive? Ya life certainly is not fair, but still people should keep up the basic ethical and moral standards.

One thing I am really happy about is that the hospitals were able to understand the situation and when drivers’ didn’t turn up in any of the hospitals yesterday, they met with the company and asked for explanations and levied a fine. This resulted in the company asking the drivers to go back to work and promised that the salary would be paid by the end of this month.

Another problem that these drivers were facing was that most of their visas were getting over or were already over and the company had not renewed them even after the drivers made several payments for this. So the uncertainty of their job situations was the added reason for their protest and the company promised to get that also done within the week.

Well I do hope that all this will work out for the better rather than things getting out of control. I guess we have to wait and see how things go and what actions are taken…

Crime rates uppp!!!!

2009-01-22T10:48:00.003+03:00

It’s almost the end of the month and I still haven’t written anything as I have been too busy and too lazy to write anything…. I know that’s not good… Lately I have been feeling all depressed and all pissed off too. Anyway forget that and let me get into the topic I wanted to tell about rather than wandering off yet again :)

Ever since I started doing the Local pages for the news paper that I work with, I have also been handling a column which deals crime news etc and we call it ‘Law& Order’. Well from doing so many of that on a daily basis I do know that the crime rate has gone up (gone sky rocketing!!!) and people still are not the least bit bothered.

Well I cannot blame them too I guess because it’s come to a point where I too don’t care anymore. I just edit and rewrite the whole thing without even taking the whole article into any consideration since by the end of the day all I want to do is to hand it in so that I can finish the pages and it’s only another story for me and one which I just work on to make it more readable and stuff.

Ok now one of the many things that did strike me was that the rape, molestation, sexual abuses etc. against Filipino women are way too high and it’s not at all news anymore and people hardly think that it’s a crime.

I certainly do have the feeling that the Arab men think that it’s their right to have any Filipino woman (or any woman I guess), but in particular this particular nationality. So many cases of kidnapping and raping them or the cheating cases and all have come up regularly and the Filipino maids too are being abused at a very high rate.(OK I am not telling that all Arab men are like that...)

Now why is this happening? Why do men here feel that it’s their right to abuse women and think that they are enjoying this? What is the world and this community coming to? I have a colleague at work who did write a feature about the Arab men and their cheating issue and in most responses that she got and from what I read, it was understood that they think it’s their right and it’s alright to cheat on their wives.
Most women too do know that the husbands cheat or will cheat, but many are ok with it as they don’t want to create any problems and they feel it’s the way of life. What an attitude right???

Here’s an interesting incident which happened: I used to have a colleague at office who joined with us some time back and he is a young and ok looking guy I guess (and handsome to Arab females’ maybe). Anyway, during a conference he did bring his wife and we happened to meet her. Later when we came to know about the birth of his little kid we all held a small party at office and did give gifts and stuff too and he did bring the kid to office too.

After some time, some of us were transferred to a new company and I did'nt keep in touch much with anyone specially since he spoke Arabic only and communication was a big problem. Anyway the interesting issue is that around 3 months back we had a new girl join us at work and she is very young and smart and all that. Next thing I know is that this guy kept calling her from the other office and stuff and then kept asking her about going out and stuff and he even gave the (usual)sob story – “I was engaged earlier, but that relationship broke. Now I am a free man, I am also heartbroken… I am a very rich man...My family is very very rich...blah blah blah….”

Well can you believe that?? Well the idiot at least has to think that we all know that he is married and has kids na? So the next time he came to office one of my colleagues asked him about his wife and kids and this new girl heard about that but acted as though she didn’t hear anything. It’s a few days later when he called again to ask her out that she told me about all the stuff that’s been happening and how he keeps asking her out and stuff. I was shocked for sure...The idiot who brought his wife around and showed that he is in so much of love and stuff could behave this way???

I guess values and morality etc are not an issue with most people now and for some the excuse is that they are alone in another country, work tensions and all that bull shit...Well I guess even thinking about writing such things is making me get irritated...

I sure wonder what the younger generation is growing up to be. It sure is a sad state of affairs. Another menace that many people face here is the problems they face in the public transportation buses. Many young school boys’ harass the passengers a lot and they even go to the extent of physically touching and sexually harassing the female expatriate travelers who are unfortunate enough to be travelling at that time.

The worst part is that no one can respond or go to the rescue as they are Kuwaiti boys and most passengers are expatriates who don’t want to take any risks and get involved. There was also a case when a female started to fight back and asked for help etc and she got pushed out of the moving bus by the kids… (Ahh that is one of the reasons I have never even gone near a bus :( )

Hey can’t blame me ok… I sure don’t want to go through such things… Well now seeing all these I wonder how I will handle kids of my own and how I can make them grow up to be better human beings…

Anyway we cannot blame the financial crunch and crisis around the world for the behavioral problems of all humans’ right? Ya sure that the crisis has put a lot of lives at risk because of the layoffs from jobs and stuff… I know that many people have lost jobs and are wondering what to do, most of them have families who depend on them and most are ones who are at an age where finding new jobs will be too difficult for them.

I sincerely do hope that this situation will somehow clear up soon. It has to…And ya I do hope that the crime rate will go down and that parents will start looking into what their kids do, try and control them and so on in order to make them better citizens. (They have to do something about the kids here as even the 7th graders seem to find alcohol and drugs in this strict country and the number of drug addicts are going up too. All these kids them drive harshly which are leading to a heavy rise in accidents and so many innocent lives are getting lost…may families are getting destroyed because of all this…It sure is a vicious cycle…
We all have to work to make things better…

Goodbye 2008, Welcome 2009!!!

2008-12-31T14:23:00.007+03:00

Ok here goes my last post for the year 2008...

Well I can’t believe how fast the past year has flown by. It was a good year I guess, filled with lots of sorrows, joy, changes and all…Ya it was the year I got hitched too :P Well that most certainly is a hugeeeeeeeee change for my life anyway…

I know that in general it was an ok year, but also a year which saw quite some problems in the world out there…We had the Mumbai blasts recently and ya the Israel – Gaza bombings which at present is going on… Can’t say that the world is becoming a peaceful place to live in anymore :( … I do hope that people realize what a waste of time/ money and lives all this fighting is leading to….Ya ya I know I can only hope, but we can all still work for it right???It was sure a year which saw a lot of natural disasters too...So i guess mother earth is also getting tired of humans and all the atrocities out there...

Well it was also a year where I got to see my best friends after a really long time and also an year where many of them joined the ‘Married’ club…Ohh boy it sure was also a year which made my pressure shoot up and made me go into fits of rage; and also a year which brought about a change in my attitude towards life in general and mellowed me down a lot from the extremely hot-tempered person that I turn out to be at times. (heheh ya I am nutty most of the time :P ) Ohh how could I forget – It was also a year which saw at least 20 or more of my friends become mothers/parents; some of them for the second time…

Anyway I am bidding goodbye to 2008 and hoping that the New Year 2009 will bring more peace and luck to one and all…Hope that whatever is in store for us is for the best and for our happiness…

The year 2009 sure does start for me with a host of weddings of friends and relatives and also quite a busy time for me as I don’t seem to have time for anything anymore….heheh I sure hope that I will have lots of holidays this coming year…Well that’s kind of like a prayer for me now….

WISHING ALL OF YOU OUT THERE A VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR FILLED WITH LOTS OF BLESSINGS AND FUN…GOD BLESS…

No time for anything!!!

2008-12-16T10:21:00.003+03:00

I have been wanting to write and post blogs regularly, but just don’t get the time now :( .....Ya ya I know I have to make the time, and that it’s possible if I try harder. The worst part is that I miss reading the regular posts of fellow blog buddies...

Now the main reason for all this is that, I started to do a second job too. Well it’s nothing to show off or anything. I mainly took it up the opportunity to be a sub-editor at an English Daily here in Kuwait. I had been passing off so many good opportunities for various reasons and this time I dint want to take the chance, plus it was a perfect way for me to kill time too as I had plenty of that on my hands earlier and I was also missing my hubby who was still in India. Since my parents and Hubby were so supportive, they made me go for it.

So in order to not lose my writing and editing skills and my touch with the journalism field in particular I took it up. But the thing now is that work at both places is getting hectic and there is a huge event coming up for which I do have a lot of stuff to get done and by the time I am done with this job, its already time to rush to the newspaper...

So now after almost 12 hours or more in front of the computer, I just do not have enough energy to come home and sit again in front of it. And I guess it’s not right too coz I leave home by 7:40am and I do rush home in between by 3:30pm to grab a bite and then its again rushing to the next work...Sitting there and editing and rewriting and after handing in my pages, I reach back home after 8:30pm and on days when there is so much work, by 9:30 etc. And that’s when I get to see my hubby who left his job and everything in India and came here just so that he could be with me. The timing sucks right!!! I know I know…. :(

I know career wise it will be a great progress for me and I am definitely learning new things, but I never knew that I would miss home so much… Me!!! Who always boasted about wanting a career only and not wanting a family life….Ohh ya life gives you everything… Well I know I should be thankful for the many blessings that I have, but ya me being me is sitting and crying that I do not have time.

Just hope that I can blog more often and hope that I can spend some time with hubby who waits for me all day… heheh the wicked me comes and sees TV from 9 to 11 and that way again I don’t spend time with him….Ya have to make time for everything and everyone….

A horror scene unfolded - Mumbai Bombings

2008-12-01T12:16:00.003+03:00

I just don't know what to say… Its unjust, horrifying, inhumane… words are just not enough to describe it. Why such injustice? Why so much violence? What did those innocents do? I guess the questions will just go on and on … And I know that we will not get any appropriate answers for such cruelty.

The truth is that I did not follow this news well, especially when it started. All I just thought was " Ya again bombings, its becoming a regular thing now, why all this" and I turned my back on it. I know I also sound so insensitive and I guess I really was too during those days as the work pressure was just too much and I dint follow anything that was happening around me. But later only did I know that this was a huge horrifying scene unfolding in front of the whole world. --- 6o hours of terror and 195 dead … Bombs, fires, gunshots, blood, dead bodies all around!!! ---

Human lives don't seem to have any value in the eyes of fellow human beings anymore. WHY?? What has made the world so cruel? Why have people become so insensitive and uncaring?

Now to tell about another factor - Did we expect something like this to happen? Was India equipped enough to deal with such a crisis??? Why weren't we? How is it possible that the terrorists had so much modern technology at their disposal? How did they go in unnoticed with so much of warfare stuff and was not caught at all???

I guess it's true to say that this shocking and grievous act was supposed to be India's 9/11…Ya we can see blames flying around!!! This did, they did, he did, blah blah…..What's the point? That will not bring back the lives of so many innocent people. That will not pull their families out of that terror and grieving that will not bring back their joy and peace….

I do salute all the brave commandoes who gave their lives trying to save innocent lives. India has lost one of its best encounter specialists and commandoes… God be with their souls and families… The nation salutes you all!!! My heart goes out to a;; the victims and their families too...

India now has a huge task in front of it. The nation has to learn to stand together and fight against such evil forces that threaten everything and are absolute or pure evil. They should try and keep aside their differences and cultural barriers and stand as one to fight the evil common enemy....

News is still flowing in about the clean up, about finding more bombs and so on....hope all this ends soon....peace should return!!!

P.S: I Love You

2008-11-23T08:39:00.003+03:00

I had written a post earlier about the movie P.S.: I love you.....

Well looks like i will have to take back a few things i said after reading the book....The movie is nothing compared to the book...Even though the movie dint make me cry or anything, the book did...

And reading the book was way more better than watching the movie...Its good that i was able to get a copy of the book. I felt that lots of good things in the book were left out when it was made into a movie and that emotional aspect didnt work out well too....

For all those who opposed the movie, try reading the book to see if its sweet, simple and emotional...Ohh ya by the way, the book is not the epic of the era or anything if that's what you expect, but its just sweet, written in such a nice and simple manner that it conveys the whole scene to you very well...It makes us imagine and practically see the whole situation as if its happening right in front of our eyes...

Anyway I have alwyas been crazy about reading, that must be another reason why i like it a lot....

Taggeddddddd Agaiinnnn :)

2008-11-10T12:12:00.026+03:00

Ok La Belle Dame Sansmerci has tagged me once again…heheh well this was funny and the searches led me to some stupid pics too….anyway here goes:

As Swar said in her tag - the rules are simple:
Answer the questions below and do a Google image search on your answer, pick a picture from the results on the first page, with minimal explanation….. And ya I thought this was simple :(

1.)The age you will be in your next birthday: 29

Ya ya sure, don’t even get time to go to the bathroom nowadays: D

2.)A place you’d like to travel to: Wales

Ohh so beautiful, wish I could b there now!!!

3.)Your Favorite place: Kerala

Hahah…hum ya the monsoons r romantic…correct pic the state has used to promote monsoon tourism :P

4.)Your favorite food/drink: Chocolates/cocktail drink

Mummmm……yummyyy

Now that looks really good and i guess the pic expalins it alll :P

5.)Your Favorite pet : Puppies

Awwwwwwww!!!!!!! Aren’t they so cute, I just love em….

6.)Your favorite color combination:white and black

Hummm …well I guess it’s a nice pic :O

7.)Your favorite piece of clothing: tee and 3/4ths

Pheww, not exactly wat I had in mind , anyway watever!!!

8.)Your all time favorite song: Malayalam songs of the 80's

Wat can I say!!!

9.)Your favorite TV show: 24

Ya I like this show just too much…..

10.)Full name of your significant other: hummm let me just say Deeeee

Ya true, the light of my life :)

11.)The town in which you live in : Cochin and now Kuwait

Ya the famous Chinese fishing nets of cochin

Ya the famous landmark of Kuwait – The Kuwait Tower

12.)Your screen name/nickname: Enigma

Duhhhh!!!!!

13.)Your First job: MMG

Heheh now thats damn hilarious :P

14.)Your Dream job: I’m partly living that now – Editing and Writing

Ya apt

15.)Bad Habit you have: losing patience

hehehehe

16.)Your worst fear: seeing a snake

Ewwwww…….Sorry can’t handle even pics of snakes

17.)The one thing you’ll like to do before you die: Help the less fortunate people as much as I can

Ohhhh

18.)The first thing you’ll buy if you get $1,000,000: a special gift for my parents and hubby

sweet

Well i am not tagging anyone again...anyone who wants to take it up can do so :P

A Historic day for the U.S.

2008-11-05T10:03:00.000+03:00

Well looks like a historic day has been made in U.S. and the world will remember this. Barack Obama swept to victory as nation's first black president on Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. (And to think that I forgot about this issue altogether and dint even look at the news today. Its only after I came to office and one of my Arab colleagues gave some snide remarks that I remembered about it and checked online to see who had won. Ya ya I know, what laziness and ignorance right? Well it’s not like I was bothered about who will win or lose as I dint see any immediate connection it made with me!)

"Change has come," he told a jubilant hometown Chicago crowd estimated at nearly a quarter-million people. The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states. He also captured Virginia, the first candidate of his party in 44 years to do so(that sure is NEWS). On a night for Democrats to savor, they not only elected Obama the nation's 44th president but padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and in January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.

Well it definitely is a shocker for me to see that the mindset of the people in U.S. has changed. It’s a good thing to see that change is being accepted and that Afro-Americans are seen a better light. Could we have ever imagined that such a thing would ever happen? Well next I guess they will have a Woman President… (High hopes na…..)

Since I certainly dint follow the race for the oval office and all and about its impact on the world etc, I don’t know how it will affect India, Indians in U.S. etc. All I can do is hope for the better. Anyway let’s give congrats to the new president and hope that he can do a better job that ‘Bush’ and his war policies.

Here’s a classic lengthy tag!

2008-10-28T13:28:00.000+03:00

First of all, Swar I’m really sorry for taking up the tag so late. It’s been so crazy lately and had to also make that sudden trip down to India and all so hence was away from the world of blogging for quite some time now… Sorry…so here goes ---

Okkkk, I have been tagged by Swarna (La Belle Dame Sansmerci) and looks like this time the tag contains some complicated questions and its quite a long list of questions too….So here goes:

What have you realized recently?
I have realized many things actually. (The list me shockingly too long and it’s a shocking experience that I am going through too coz I didn’t realize so many things up until now) A few things that relate to my present situation is that - Life is not so easy as you think it is, marriage is not so easy either and now I can understand why people say lots of adjustments are needed, lots of sacrifices are involved etc. I dint know that balancing 2 families, a career, my own life, dreams, aims etc etc are so tough… Well thinking about having to do all this for a lifetime from now does give me the jitters. These are all the realizations that I have come upon now…well there are lots more too, but y bore all u guys with it 

Have you given your first kiss away?
Well looks like you are too late with that question…Ohh ya looong back :P

If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take?
Huumm, now that’s a good question…Well if it’s from the few blogs that I have begun to visit regularly and also if its blog buddies who encourage me well, then I think it'll b the following persons as they make me go wild with laughter, make me think a lot and just make me feel so much better after I read their blogs and comments – Preeti(Just mother of 2), Jane (Reflections), Arun (cockroach in cocktail), --XH—(tales of a lone wolf), Keshi (Viva forever), Solitaire , Neetu (wistfully yours), vik (Pass me everything.... Dudleybouy), Meghna (Delve into the Mind of a Budding Blogger), Tessie (The fat lady’s rantings), Thavy Dun and so many more…

Where is the place you want to go the most?
I don’t know about that. But I certainly want to visit most of the European countries and all. And the truth is that wherever I go I wanna come back home as that’s my most treasured place and that’s where I can b myself and b free(It also depends on the kind of place u call home too)…So there is no place like home…

If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?
I don’t dream unnecessarily : P LOL

Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?
Humm I hope to see. Don’t have much high hopes in that as rain itself is a rare thing here and I just hope that it will rain so heavily at least one day. Well I am a little romantic too, so love that rainy climate and the beauty of rain and the prospect of a rainbow and such.

What are you afraid of losing the most now?
Right now? Nothing!!! Well if it’s about most of the time then lots of things – like my family, the love they give, the love from my hubby and so many other things.

If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Well since I have always been low on luck, let me win and then maybe I will actually think about it…. Humm ohh ya maybe I might visit the places I want to, do things I want to, give lots of it to the people I know want the money, help in making my life a lot more easier etc etc

If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
I don’t think I will just meet someone I love. To love a person you should know them well, by that time itself we will know a lot about each other. Well if it’s to a person I love so much, I might tell or confess most of the things, but I have learnt from past experiences that confessing completely is very bad (be it to the one you love, to friends or to ur parents)…heheh and that’s the general advice I hear too…Do not tell what is not needed…hummm well I guess it all depends on who you are confessing too I guess.

List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you
Ahhh Swarna – I have known her since 2003 June and we did have lots of good times as classmates and friends. From my perspective she is -
1. Absolutely fantastic as an overall package.
2. Very talented – she writes so well, is good at everything she does, is very pretty, very intelligent and capable of going places. She is also a very caring person and should have seen her with the HIV affected little kids that we worked with during a PR campaign.
3. A little nutty like the rest of us … hehe all 18 of us in the mass communication batch were nuts and we had some good times. But ya like me and many others in the batch she was nutty too and very sensitive too.

What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Love me for who I am; don’t try to change me and make me into a person that he wants; should at least try to appreciate my work and encourage me for the little good things I do; should miss me; make me feel special, loved and all that etc etc…. hehe just love me a lot basically.

What type of people do you hate the most?
Hate the most huh – well I guess that would be the back stabbers, the liars, and the cheaters mainly. I guess that’s why I don’t have too much sympathy for human beings and love animals more… At least you dog will be loyal to you and give you back love unconditionally.

What is the one thing you can’t live without?
LOVE and CARE! And some more things too like my family and all…

If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?
Well I guess I would want them to point it out to me GENTLY rather than them keeping quiet about it. But I don’t want them to scream about it to me to, just make me understand in a good way...

Are you a shopaholic or not?
hummmm…….hummmmm….I am, I am not, I am, Am not…go figure…..heheh well it depends on my mood too and if given the chance yes I am, but since my parents do tend to point it out, I do control myself too.

Find a word to describe the person who tagged you
Hummm, I don’t think one word is enough…..so many r needed,…but let me at least use 3 words SMART, SWEET, Nuts hehehe….

If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
Now that is a whooper complicated quest…there r so many things I would like to change… The part that is not self-confident, the part which makes me listen and not react to s**t people put me through, the part which is sarcastic and b****y at times etc.

What’s the last shocking thing you’ve seen or heard?
Don’t remember, I tend to shut such things out of my mind.

Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love?
That’s not a practical question at all. Why is love and money compared? It cannot be at all. I really don’t understand why love n money is always compared…
We do need both to live, having lots of money and no love makes your life empty and likewise having lots of love and no money will make ur life miserable and that will end in losing love…have seen it happen around me too much.

Ok I am not tagging anyone, but whoever would like to take it up can do so. :)

Mushy, Gooey, Crazy Love???

2008-10-19T11:40:00.002+03:00

Warning: Those who think this is too mushy and fake kindly don’t bother reading.

After reading my close buddy’s blog post about her watching the movie “PS: I love you”, I was determined to watch the movie and then later read the book when I get a chance to get my hands on the book. Guess what – I took all the pains to somehow find the movie online, because even after searching in many sites, I couldn’t get hold of it. Finally I got to watch it completely and I have got to say that I’m impressed with the movie. I mean it’s so sweet…damn sweet I say again :)

Well it’s such a sweet kind of love, a concerned love… Don’t tell me that this doesn’t happen in our world. Anyone out there who would like to argue with me about this? Well you absolutely cannot. I tell you this because – (well before I start off, don’t any of you dare think that it’s crazy) I have felt that way about my hubby. I certainly have because unlike me, I know that he finds it very difficult to live without me. I guess in my case even though I’m extremely sensitive, I know to put a hard look in front of others and keep my grief to myself. But my hubby darling, even though he does put a tough look in front of others, he just doesn’t have it in him to live without me.

I know this may sound crazy, but I have seriously thought many times about writing him long letters to prepare him to get over it and move on in life in case anything happens to me. Many a times, I did get the weird feeling that something might happen and I did start out on writing too. But ya me right, I never got to complete it. Well I guess that was coz, I told myself “na nothing is gonna happen, I wanna have a long life with the love of my life.” After all, he did wait for me for all these years and his love did not decrease one bit even after I behaved very badly with him, was extremely rude, made him cry and did all I could to distance him. Even before the wedding and engagement I was in so much of confusion and all that I hurt him over and over and told I do not wanna marry him. But the great guy that he is, he waited very patiently for me, suffered all the hurt and stood by me. He put up with all my really rude behavior and ultimate madness. People he does deserve a huge award for that I say…Coz u cannot even imagine how cruel I was and that a person can be so coldhearted and bad.(Well the circumstances did make me that way I guess!!!)

I know what I did is really bad, but I was also under so much pressure and was going through a lot of problems. And because of people comments, I was so scared and wondering if I was taking the right decision, if I will regret this and so on and many more problems that I really cannot talk about now. Unlike what many others say, we also didn’t just show a false side of ours to each other while we were seeing each other. I made sure that he saw the kind of crazy nut that I am so that later on he cannot regret being married to me. I made sure that he knew what he was getting into and what he will have to put up with… And even after knowing me completely he stuck on!!!

So how can I say that there is no great love? How can I say that such love does not exist when I myself am experiencing it? He is definitely the stable anchor in my life. He did change me in so many ways, stood by me through all my troubles and problems and hysteria when we were seeing each other. Well I know most guys would have run in the opposite direction at full speed when they got the chance to escape. No he did not do that, he waited for me for 7 long years and is still waiting patiently. (Hehe, that’s coz I had to leave India soon after the wedding to get back to work) Ohh Ya Love at first sight does exist too…not for me anyway but for my hubby :P …But I have come to believe in love (I guess) and all that after this…

Guys, it’s so amazing to have a person in life who understands you completely. He understands even the small change in my moods, knows how upset I am, if I’m happy and all that. Well it’s a little freaky too coz even before I know it, he will know exactly how I feel.

Hey just because I told this much does not mean that life is a bed of roses. We still do drive each other nuts, there are things that we still don’t understand and things that make us go mad and disagree and all that. Ohh ya at times I just feel like kicking his ass and killing him too…But amidst all this also, love does exist strongly. If you had seen the fights that we used to have, then all of you would have decided to never marry in life or have a relationship. And you know what; I do have friends who decided never to fall into a relationship and all after seeing our problems and fights. That was the intensity of our fights …LOL

That’s why I feel that if anything at all happens to me, I want him to move on in life, fall in love again, get a good life again etc. I will never stand to see him in mourning or anything. Well I better stop writing this before I make a mess of myself…hehe…Ohh I just pray to the good lord to be with us and guide us through to have a good life. I just thank him for changing me at least this much and making me a better human being and for giving me the best blessing of my life- My darling hubby “D”… Thank U sweet jesus!!!

N.B: I recently got a chance to travel down to India to meet my hubby and guess what - I finally got a chance to buy the book….. I finally bought the Book “PS: I love you”…. Hurreeyyyyy :)

Plot summary
Set in Ireland, Holly Kennedy is beautiful, smart and married to the love of her life - a passionate, funny and impetuous Irishman named Gerry. So when Gerry's life is taken by an illness, it takes the life out of Holly. The only one who can help her is the person who is no longer there. Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry, so it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of 10 letters that will guide her, not only through her grief but in rediscovering herself. The messages are Gerry's way of informing Holly life goes on. The messages include various tasks and treats Gerry has left for Holly. This is his way of letting her know he will always be there for her. Each letter sends her on a new adventure and each signs off in the same way: "P.S. I Love You." Holly's mother and best friends, Sharon and Denise, begin to worry that Gerry's letters are keeping Holly tied to the past, but, in fact, each letter is pushing her further into a new future. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly embarks on a journey of rediscovery in a story about marriage, friendship and how a love so strong can turn the finality of death into new beginning for life.

Birthdays!!!

2008-09-14T13:55:00.011+03:00

Well what exactly is the relevance/meaning/speciality of birthdays???

A Birthday is always a special occassion for a person. Its not just kids who wait all year long for it, even the grown ups enjoy being pampered and loved.

When you are a kid - it’s a great time to enjoy, cut the specially made cartoonish figure cakes, open presents, be the special person of the day and run around with your friends and enjoy. As you grow older, it can be a special day to look forward to have a good time with friends, get special gifts from parents, and maybe get drunk too if you are at a proper age and if the situation is appropriate, wait to get something special from your crush/first love etc …

So what does it mean once you are over 28?

I don’t know…In some ways I guess it does feel special. From one angle it’s a day to feel some kind of joy, to have some special time with family and friends and all, to know and feel so good that most of them remember this special day and so on.

If you look at it from another angle, it is also a day to thank the God almighty for all the small and big blessings that we received till now, to thank him for keeping us safe all these years and for bringing us till here, for all our big and small achievements and so on.

It can also be a day to remember about the special people in your life, the loved ones who you miss, the little pain you feel due to not having your loved ones nearby to celebrate the occasion with you etc.

For me I guess I felt all of the above as like every human being I also have a childish side in me, a little grown up side and the mature side too… This birthday of mine on 12th Sept made me think a lot and also to not think about anything too… Hehe, pretty confusing na?

Well at a certain point I did miss my hubby who is in another country, the fun we used to have on birthdays when we were dating, the fun we used to have with friends during my life in Chennai (that’s mainly because those 2 and half years were the best years of my entire life), the fun with my best friends there and the little things I miss in life and so on…

At another point when my thinking went on to intense stuff like – why things happened so late in life; why get a great opportunity at this point of life and be thrown into a turmoil about whether to take it up or not, knowing that if I reject it I will always regret it; about why did I settle down so late; etc etc etc, I just stopped thinking at all and just went with the flow and let the day go by at its pace…

What actually made me say all this is a particular wording that was sent to me on my birthday and it said: “Why not seize the day to check out how your life is going? Rethink your errors and remember your successes, forgive yourself for your failures and take pride in your achievements. And remember that these errors, successes, failures and achievements are your story, the story of your life. And for this reason they should all be equally valued. Without them, you would not be who you are today.”

Isn’t it too meaningful? Isn’t this what we all should hear at some point in life? I feel that these words were written for each of us to understand and follow at some point in life. At a low point in life, it will make you feel positive and look at the bigger picture rather than just concentrating on the loses in our lives, about why that dint happen, why this didn’t work out that way blah blah blah…

These words somehow touched me so much in some way and it feels so right for the kind of attitude that most of us have towards life in this hi-tech busy era. We all do have to look back on life and thank God that we reached where we all are today without much scratches and problems, thank him that we overcame most of the problems and turmoil’s in life, that we became strong because of all this, that we are alive to see this day, that we are all safe and sound and that we have achieved so many things in life…

Ok I know I am getting a little too philosophical, so concluding this post for now coz otherwise it might turn into a huge novel. :P

BUT I CERTAINLY THANK GOD FOR GRANTING ME MANY OF MY WISHES … :)

P.S: I do have to say that on this birthday of mine it was thiruvonam (Onam festival of Kerala), hence i did get a proper traditional sadya with 2 payasams and all, got to cut the cake too and also got to have a non-veg dinner out with my parents (Well its a complete veg menu for onam)....Only thing was that I did miss my hubby a lot, but he did send me a gift and that was just a small relief....:)

Can't Say I'm Totally Ignorant!!!

2008-09-13T20:48:00.005+03:00

What got me thinking about this particular topic is the fact that I’m not up to date with the recent trends in the music world, specially the world of English and international music. Hey you can’t call that a crime… I just don’t have the intense interest for it, that’s all.

There was a time when I used to listen to some of the English music and stuff, but as I progressed in my years, I just did not get the time for it and slowly lost interest. But I do have to say that I like most Malayalam melodies, especially some from the 80’s era. It stays on my mind a lot and mostly according to my mood I try and listen to it too as I love these. I guess I like these old melodious songs a lot as I used to sleep listening to these at a very young age.

Now a days when the older and younger generation speaks about certain English, international albums and songs, I just stare at them and try to openly tell that I do not have an idea or nod if do know something. People seeing this think that I must be crazy not to know such things…Hey these things depends and varies according to each individual’s mood and taste.

If you happen to have an interest and love for such things, you will take the effort to know about it. I don’t have that interest, so I do not take the extra effort. Another problem is that now days I just get time to go to work and then get back and relax, browse at home and stuff like that. Many have told me “how can you not know this, that etc”, well like I told earlier; it certainly is not such a great crime people. Do all of you know about everything in this world?

Well I know that we should all know certain basic things, but the rest is up to us and I hate people forcing things onto me. I guess because of this, the rebellious side of me acts up and I just end up being completely ignorant about certain facts. I know there is a bad side to this as I end up not knowing many things because of this.

For example some people create so much of hate in you that it affects your life so much. The best examples in my life are many of my teachers. Due to certain mathematics teachers of mine, I ended up hating math so much that I just couldn’t handle it at all. Due to this I had huge problems for my 10th and also for my pre-degree. For my first year of pre-degree I just totally left out almost 40 marks worth questions in my physics paper coz that whole section contained math problems. That’s the bad side to not knowing many things.

Well now that I am not in school or anything anymore, I guess I do have the liberty to know what I want to and not know about things which I do not have an interest in. After all it’s a free world right??? :)

Back from hybernation i guess!!!

2008-08-28T10:31:00.011+03:00

Well I know that I did take a long time in coming back. It’s mainly because I just got too lazy. Ya the wedding went well and sadly I had to get back to work within 20 or 22 days and so was missing my hubby just too much to write anything.

The funny part is that I did get so many ideas to write in between, but was just too lazy to pen anything down and just kept telling myself - later, later...

I was just going through some blogs today and came across an article in PS's blog which I felt is so true... It’s about how most of us, just concentrate on the black dots in life and don’t look at the bigger picture etc. It’s so apt for the kind of life that we human beings have. People just concentrate on the tiny miseries in life that they forget the small blessings that they have.

I do have to say that marriage certainly has brought about a change in me. I seem to have calmed down a lot and seem to be least bothered about things that would have infuriated me earlier. For example – My florist ditched me on my wedding day. Well she did my engagement stage décor etc and left and told that she will come the day b4 the wedding with my bridal bouquet, the manthrakodi tray, the garlands and bouquet needed after the wedding, will do my car decorations etc etc etc…

Many days ahead of the wedding I kept calling her and either she wouldn’t pick up or would switch off both her mobile phones. And when I did get through to her, she would tell she is busy with some project and to call her in half an hour etc, after which the mobile would again be switched off. Finally once when I did get to talk she said “don’t worry, I will do everything etc”

But 2 days before the wedding, I did get too tensed and my parents were also worried, but still we thought she would do it and that nothing would go wrong. The night before the wedding, my nerves were certainly on raw ends coz I still was not able to get through to her as both her phones were switched off. The worst fact is that I dint even have an excitement about my wedding as I certainly had so many other things to worry about. To everyone who asked me about wedding excitement, I just stared at them like an idiot and then told, well someone in my house is getting married and I am just running around doing the errands….LOL (Coz that’s all I felt, can’t blame me na !)

During the pre-wedding night party, I did tell my friends who tried to contact other people and my aunt finally called some guy she knew (that also, the call was made in the middle of the night telling the guy that we needed flowers, car decor blah blah)

As usual like everyone should tell brides, people kept telling me to go sleep early etc, but how could I sleep even a wink… I was not able to take a nap even for 5 minutes. Finally I got out of bed by 4am and had to push off to the beauty parlor by 5, for which I was late by 15 minutes…I kept trying to call that lady and still her phones were switched off… Finally reached home and posed for my snaps without any bridal bouquets and my bridesmaids hadn’t got their bouquets too… Well that when I burst into tears and I had everyone come running telling not to cry as “the makeup would run” [heheh well now it certainly feels funny….]

My aunt did save things by making another florist guy open his shop early and they tried and made things as fast as they could, but still there was a delay as the flowers from Ooty etc came late. Due to all these factors, we started the two hour drive to the groom’s place really late. I DO HAVE TO SAY THAT I REACHED MY WEDDING ATLEAST AT THAT TIME COZ OF MY DRIVER WHO DROVE SO FAST AND WAS WIZZING IN BETWEEN CARS AND TRUCKER LORRIES. It certainly was a luck that we reached alive coz at many a point I did know that we were gonners when we got stuck in between huge buses and trucks and just somehow managed to escape due to GOD’S GRACE ALONE!!!

Ha yes I am certainly a bride who reached my wedding half an hour late..heheh….after all this, my relatives and parents were waiting to get that lady into their hands to give at least one slap each..LOL… But the fact is, even though I was so tensed throughout the wedding, it just disappeared after the wedding ceremony… I was finally able to smile and even after so many days went by I dint call that lady up even once to enquire why she did this to me on my wedding day and destroyed so many of my dreams about the wedding ceremony which did affect so many other things.
She made me feel so indifferent about the wedding, she destroyed so many of my dreams about how I wanted the wedding to be, she made me cry on my wedding day, she made me behave so badly with my would be on the wedding day and also the night before…phewww so many things ….but still I don’t feel anything now as I am looking at the bigger picture of “Thank God the wedding happened without any problems, that I was able to marry my beloved hubby who waited for me for 7 years, that God did bless me in many ways”

Even now when people ask me did I call that lady, did I ask her the reason, I am like why bother, anyway the wedding is over and done with, what’s the use of digging up old graves???

Well I do have to say that this change of attitude of mine is only after the wedding, before that I used to cry daily thinking about all my small worries and miseries and wonder why God is keeping me alive… Something seems to have caused a change in me, calmed me down etc…I am certainly learning to change my attitude towards life..

Well ya but I do miss my hubby and do get miserable on some days wondering why I am not able to do anything faster to get him to come to this country. Well for that the emigration officials have to work wonders, in fact God is the one who should work wonders here :)

Well that was a pretty long post right…. So now I do hope that I can actively get back to blogging...Wish me all the best :)

nb: these wedding pictures have been taken from the internet...

Not Back Yet!!!

2008-06-26T20:44:00.002+03:00

Hi all u guys,

I know i havent been able to post anything for almost a month now... Well i am getting married soon and hence the tensions....I am down in India after two long years.... But no time to enjoy all that as i am running like mad to get things done and i dont even look like a bride or anything anymore...HUmmmmmm...well what does a bride exactly look like ??? well atleast i hope they are ones who gets lots of rest etc..But its my engagement day after and i still havent done half my things yet, dont even get time to sleep or anything....Well i hope to be back soon in blogosphere...
Kepp me in ur prayers... :)

How Disgusting!

2008-04-26T11:41:00.008+03:00

Well disgusting is no word to describe this and I have wanted to write about this right from when I heard the news, but was loaded with so much work and then suddenly now I remembered about it. I know that the whole world has know about this by now and that it is old news, but still I had to mention it.

Children groomed for sex by polygamist sect:
More than 400 children were found in a Texas polygamist compound which was the site of pervasive sexual abuse. Here, girls were groomed to accept sex at puberty and boys were indoctrinated to perpetuate the cycle. Girls as young as 13 were “spiritually married” to men who claimed several wives, and were forced to have sex with their significantly older husbands “for purpose of having children”.

Children were deprived of food and locked in closets as punishment, and severe beatings were also reported on the sprawling YFZ (Yearn for Zion) Ranch outside of Eldorado, Texas owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A number of girls who were pregnant or had recently given birth were discovered on the ranch after a desperate call for help made by a 16-year-old girl.

In a series of whispered calls on a borrowed cell phone, the girl told a local family violence center that she was being held against her will on the compound and was told she would be "found and locked up" if she tried to leave. The girl said she began to be abused soon after she was left at the ranch by her parents about three years ago and at age 15 became the seventh wife of a 49-year-old man. She said she is pregnant again just eight months after giving birth to her first child by a man who would force himself on her sexually and beat her "whenever he got angry," the affidavit said.

Other women in the home would hold her baby while the man identified as Dale Barlow beat her. Barlow would choke her and hit her in the chest and she was once beaten so badly that she was taken to the hospital with several broken ribs. The girl said she had no contact with her parents but knew they were preparing to send her 15-year-old sister to the ranch. While she was anxious to escape, she was worried about what would happen to her if she left the confines of the ranch. The girl has yet to be identified among the 416 children and 139 adult women removed from the ranch in a raid which began Thursday.A number of the children interviewed in the course of the investigation were "unable or unwilling to provide the names of their biological parents or identified multiple mothers". A judge has temporarily placed all the children into state custody as a result of what investigators found when they entered the ranch in an attempt to find the girl.

The 1,700-acre (688-hectare) ranch was purchased in 2003 and built by Warren Jeffs, who considers himself the sect's prophet and was jailed for life for being an accomplice to rape. The mainstream Mormon Church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - renounced polygamy more than a century ago as a price of Utah's admission to the United States. It now excommunicates members who engage in the practice and disavows any connection with the FLDS church.

Can we call this disgusting? This is worse than that. How can people stoop to such levels? Isn’t there a limit? Don’t their consciences bother them at all??Well they don’t have one right!!! One thing I really hate is draging God's name into such disgusting things and they have done all this using God's name and the use of a church etc. Worst part is that the parents gave their children to all this. How can they be so irresponsible that they did not even bother to ask about the whereabouts of their kids even once.

I have added some photos that were available on the net of some of the members of the church, a view of the church etc...

Bizarre Facts

2008-04-26T10:27:00.007+03:00

I have heard so many bizarre things in my life and looks like I have to read in the news too daily now...

Here is one strange one I saw:

Cereal, bananas make baby boys?
That’s the exact way the title of the news article was and as I read on it was funny indeed. If moms eat cereal and bananas raises the odds of having a baby boy. Well if women eat like it’s mentioned in the article; let me tell you they would be damn over obese moms. Well it might be true too but the amount of calorie level that increases the chances for a baby boy are not good. Ya I know that most parents in this modern age too want a baby boy and that the female gender is not the first preferred choice. I don’t think anyone can disagree on that fact because, studies have shown that India has high rates of female infanticide and that too it’s growing at an alarming rate. Sad state of events na? And god knows where all this is going!

Phewwww what all do we have to know daily....

Ok here another one:

Severed head to be put in museum
Police in eastern India want to display in a museum the head of a woman decapitated after she was accused of practicing witchcraft. (Well at least they say that seeing this will be a lesson for those who persecute innocent women). Is that so??Will it be a lesson?

A villager in Jharkhand state attacked the woman and chopped off her head at the weekend. The police think that displaying the head in a museum will create a sensation in society and could be helpful in preventing people taking to such heinous crimes.

In rural India, villagers often accuse women of being witches and blame them for natural disasters or for an illness, death or theft. Hundreds of them are killed every year and most incidents take a long time to come to light.
:(

Looks like animals are better than humans, want to know why?

Hundreds of villagers flocked to a remote village to see a baby girl who was saved by stray dogs after she was abandoned in a mound of mud by her mother. The child was saved after they saw three dogs barking near a baby covered with mud. The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew the attention of the local villagers.

Luckily the girl is now safe in the lap of a childless couple who adopted her. Female feticide, though illegal in India, is widespread as boys are traditionally preferred to girls as breadwinners, and families have to pay huge dowries to marry off their daughters. The United Nations says an estimated 2000 unborn girls are illegally asborted everyday in India.

well such crimes are increasing at an alarming rate too and India is on its way to be super power...

Where ever we look now, strange things are happening and the crime rates are also sky high. The world, as it jumps to being ultra modern seems to be the most unsafe place to live, even for an infant or an unborn baby.

I have been tagged !!!

2008-04-20T10:00:00.003+03:00

10 reasons to why I blog!

Yoo-hoo, I have been tagged by Jaggu and am sorry that I couldn’t post this earlier.

Humm well what exactly are the ten reasons that I blog? I really don’t know, but let me see…

1. It opened up a whole new world for me.
2. It feels so good to have people reading your written work and it certainly feels great to get the feedbacks and comments.
3. It feels good to have somewhere to write your heart out or somewhere to vent out the frustration and all.
4. I get to read so many different blogs and get to know so many new things.
5. It gives me a chance to meet so many different people from different backgrounds and cultures which is so good since you do it just by blogging.
6. Blogging gives me a soothing feeling and gives me so much comfort, especially after I have written out my pent up feelings and such.
7. Reading other blogs relaxes me.
8. There so many blogs which make me smile and laugh a lot (specially blogs like - Just a mother of two, Shades of gray, BeTwEeN tHe LiNeS, Psychobabble! And so many more).
9. It is helping me polish up my writing skills which I had abandoned long ago.
10. It helps me stay in touch and keeps me connected to what’s happening in this world…

Phewww there I have written it after breaking my head over it…I guess now that I think about it, these are just some of the reasons that I blog. Blogs do open up a whole new world for you and since I had written an article about how blogging helps the PR field, I guess I know or rather understand that blogging is also opening up a whole new world of communication even in the corporate world.

Well… welcome to the new age :)

Superstitious beliefs

2008-04-13T13:44:00.001+03:00

India is a country with lots of cultures and beliefs. I respect that fact and just love my country for the variety and beauty it offers. But even in this flourishing and upcoming age, especially when India is rising to be a super power, superstitions also seem to be flourishing like crazy. The last well known incident was about the little girl who has many hands and legs and was operated upon.

The latest incident that has made news is about a little girl named ‘Lali’ from a village in northern India. She is a baby with two faces and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess - Durga. Lali apparently has an extremely rare condition known as craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces. All of the little girl’s features are duplicated except for her ears (two only), otherwise she has two noses, two pairs of eyes and two pairs of lips.

Lali has caused a sensation in the village of Saini Sunpura which is 40 kms east of New Delhi. Upto 100 people have been visiting the little child daily at her home everyday to touch her feet, offer money and receive blessings. The parents (father- Vinod Singh, 23yrs old, a poor farm worker) insist that their daughter is fine. Luckily the villagers who live near her, the young parents and the overprotective local doctor are not ashamed of the extraordinary looking little girl. That's because while she may only be 2½ weeks old, she is far more famous than any resident of this part of the country has ever been.

The village council is very happy that the little girl brought fame to their village and is planning to write to the state government to provide money to build a temple and help the parents look after their daughter.

What more should I comment on this???? Well atleast the good part is that this has made world news and many people/docytors who see this will atleast offer treatment and others might offer the cash needed for the necessary treatment.

Here is something to be proud about

2008-04-07T11:25:00.002+03:00

An Independent Cuban blogger named Yoani Sanchez who chronicles the woes of life in communist-run Cuba was awarded one of Spain’s top journalism awards, the Ortega and Gasset prize for digital journalism.

Sanchez won it for her shrewdness in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba, vivacious style and her drive to join the global space of citizen journalism. Her “Generacion Y” blog is the most popular blog posted from Cuba (http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony/). It received 1.2million hits in February for its web page on a server in Germany.
Sanchez is a 32-year-old philologist who started her blog as a therapy to let out frustration and to write news about Cuba that would otherwise never come out. She has drawn considerable readership by writing about her daily life and describing the economic hardships and political constraints in her country.

Missing lady returns

I had mentioned in my earlier post that an Indian lady was missing, well it seems she returned home and doesn’t seem to remember anything that happened...There are so many stories going around, and so I don’t know which one to believe. Some tell that she was sprayed with something on the face by the taxi guy; others are that she went to a relative’s house and so on…Only the good lord knows what happened…anyway good to know that she is safe.

Indian woman missing!!!

2008-04-07T10:49:00.002+03:00

Although Kuwait has the world’s fourth largest proven oil reserves and is also the fourth richest country in the world, it is also a very small country which can be traveled in one day. In such a country when a woman goes missing for more than 48 hours, its surprising that there is absolutely no word about her and that the police can’t find anything at all.

Sarita Jennifer is a pregnant, 31 year old married woman from India who left home for work at 9 am and has since then been missing. Panic -stricken husband and relatives have searched everywhere and also lodged a complaint with the police, but no word as of yet. Everyone finds it strange that she vanished just like that and her mobile is switched off. They don’t even know if she has been kidnapped or such.

Well I do know that unlike during our childhood times, Kuwait is no longer safe and even though it’s very strict here, lots of problems keep coming up daily. But it’s very freaky because lots of us travel alone and I am a person who has to travel by taxi almost daily. I do know that many of the taxi’s are not safe and also do hear lots of stories daily. At least I keep hoping that my instincts and prayers will save me on most days because even when I get late for office and am out standing on the road for a taxi to come by, I never hail one when I get that uneasy feeling. Even though some taxi guys stop, if I am not feeling comfortable, I don’t even bother to look at them. It sure is better to be late to office rather than getting killed …

I do hope that the poor woman will be found soon…freaky world it is….

Why are people so nosy?

2008-04-06T11:30:00.005+03:00

Why the hell are people so nosy??Can’t anyone mind their own business nowadays? Ohh ya I know, it’s not just nowadays, the world has always been this way...Even though life has become so hectic now, people do find the time to be nosy. And even if they do not have the time to mind their own business, they do have the time to look into other people’s lives….

I just hate it when people don’t mind their own business and I have always been that way. I remember when we were small; we came down to India during the gulf war and had to stay in Trivandrum for a year or 2 in a much respected housing colony. The thing I do remember even today from my life there is how nosy people where, I used to see neighbors’ peeping to see what was going on in the next house, I used to see them eavesdropping to listen what gossips where being told and they even had the guts to ask you the next day, who the particular visitor was, why did he/she come, what purpose and so on…

Same as ever, I find the same kind of people everywhere today and I find that since most of the older people don’t have anything much to do nowadays, this is their main aim in life. Well can you blame me for complaining? I have personal experiences of people looking to see what’s going on in my house, who comes, who goes, what we talk about and so on. Similar is the case with relatives. Believe me, that is the most unbearable thing for me. I hate it when they want to know too many things and when they try to push their way into our lives.

There was time when I was job hunting and had to sit at home for around 9 months till I got a job I liked very much. And can you believe it when I say that I did have bloody nosy relatives who came and said to my face that I shouldn’t waste my dad’s cash by shopping etc, that I have the liberty to do it only after I start earning etc etc…WOW…I used to just rant and rave over daily comments and my parents used to calm me down by telling me not to bother with what they say and that as long as they don’t have any problem why should others.

Ya true…But the fact is even after I do answer to some of them, they are so thick skinned as to continue their former habits. Well now they all sit and wonder how much money I would have made/saved till date after starting work here, how much I spend on clothes, what kind of shops do I go to, why I go there, blah, blah, blah….

Now since I plan to marry the guy I love, they are all busy scrambling around to find out about my guy, his job, his cash deposit or whatever and so on. I did tell a few in the face to see him only on the day of our wedding and that I do not have any photos. Well I am sure that this post when read by cousins will surely create a HUGE hangama. Heheh well I might as well sit back and enjoy the whole joke scene that seems to be going on... Well don’t want to elaborate on some incidents now as word will get back to all of them soon :P

Anyway whatever it is I can’t handle nosy people at any rate. I guess that must be why I like anonymity and prefer my freedom so much. Hope that one of these days I don’t lose my control and bash someone up for being so nosy.

Divorce

2008-04-02T14:35:00.008+03:00

I have been doing some serious thinking about this particular issue recently, especially after I heard about some young couples who got divorced on - the same day of the wedding; another 45 days after the wedding; and another on eighth day after wedding. Ya I know it is certainly not shocking anymore.

It’s alarming about the way how life styles and values are changing and about this generation’s lack of concern for anything. Most seem to get married just for the heck of it and after looking at the outer appearance and stuff... Next thing you know is, “no I can’t adjust with him/her, so I’m getting separated.” That’s it??? So what happens to the vows taken, what about life and adjustments??? The worst part is if the couples have kids. They really don’t think how lost the child would be, the issues that children will go through, how destroyed they would feel and so on.

I had recently read an article about studies showing how high the divorce rates are in china and about the main reason for it. Well the reason there is that since there is a policy of having only one child and since China now is a booming economy, most couples are rich and they give their only child everything and bring him/her up in a much pampered way. The children of that generation do not know how to adjust, do not know the value of giving, and are known to be extremely selfish. Studies revealed that most young couples now marry only for social and monetary benefits and that as soon as they see better prospects they divorce and remarry. What a life!!!

The Romans had an interesting view towards marriage – ‘matrimonia debent esse libera’ or ‘marriages ought to be free’. This meant that either spouse could opt out of the marriage if things weren’t working out for them. Centuries later, Victorian England had a vastly different view. People got married and stayed together for better or for worse. Society frowned on divorce and divorced people were likely to find themselves social pariahs. In the present century, both these views prevail and with globalization, the ‘backward’ countries are catching up. Women, especially, with access to higher education and higher salaries, are less willing to put up with traditional roles and expectations. There was a time in India when divorcees where looked down upon and they were kept away from functions and all that. But if we go to look that way now, the case might be that we won’t have enough people to invite for anything.

Ya sure - A divorce happens after a husband and wife decide they can't live together anymore and no longer want to be married. They agree to sign legal papers that make them each single again and allow them to marry other people if they want to. Although that may sound simple, I really don’t feel that it’s easy for a husband and wife to decide to end a marriage. Often they spend a long time trying to solve problems before deciding to divorce. But sometimes they just can't fix the problems and decide that a divorce is the best solution. Some marriages are worth fixing and some are not so I really can’t tell ya don’t get divorced.

Some of the most common cited reasons for divorce are: Lack of commitment to the marriage; Lack of communication between spouses ; Infidelity ; Abandonment ; Alcohol addiction ; Substance abuse ; Physical abuse ; Sexual abuse ; Emotional abuse ; Inability to manage or resolve conflict ; Personality differences or ‘irreconcilable differences’ ; Differences in personal and career goals ; Financial problems ; Different expectations about household tasks ; Different expectations about having or rearing children ; Interference from parents or in-laws ; Lack of maturity ; Intellectual Incompatibility ; Sexual Incompatibility ; Insistence of sticking to traditional roles and not allowing room for personal growth ; Falling out of love ; Religious conversion or religious beliefs ; Cultural and lifestyle differences ; Inability to deal with each other’s petty idiosyncrasies ; Mental Instability or Mental Illness ; Criminal behavior and incarceration for crime etc.

There are so many other reasons too like - Lack of communication (happens to b main reason). It is one is one of the leading causes of divorce. A marriage is on the rocks when the lines of communication fail. You can’t have an effective relationship if either one of you won’t discuss your feelings, can’t talk about your mutual or personal issues, will keep your resentments simmering under wraps, and expect your partner to guess what the whole problem is about. Divorces often happen because people rarely discuss their expectations in detail prior to marriage, are less willing to work on their marriages afterwards, and would like quick solutions rather than having to resolve issues.

I personally know that People have gotten divorced for trivial reasons like – (don’t laugh!) – snoring; wife/hubby unwilling to cook/help out with household chores; watching TV too much; out with friends too long; doesn’t cook/behave like mom; in-laws advises of- “ don’t give in too much to him/her, keep your own stand”…..blah …blah..Blah…..phewwwww!!!!!!!

I really don’t know where the world is going to nowadays. Believe me, I’m getting freaked just at the thought of marriage just reading all this. Humm no one thinks that only when both sides cooperate will there be a successful marriage and that both people have to put in their full potential to make it a success. Ya we all are humans, we sure do have our good and bad moments and all that. But marriage is not a silly issue and I do agree to divorce in certain valid cases where it can’t be avoided. Only thing is that I can’t support silly reasons that come up for divorce. People have to try their level best to solve problems, talk out the issues and learn to love each other rather than oneself. I guess we should all learn to love our better halves before stepping into marriage and I can understand the reasons why most religions are making pre-marital courses compulsory now.

Well I hope the world will become a better place to live in rather than the other way round!!!

I just saw this photo on the net today in this site- http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisagilbert/2379179562/ with the heading: If you don't change direction, you may end up where you're heading. (Ya apt title na...)

Tata makes its presence felt...

2008-03-31T14:07:00.002+03:00

Tata motors that is about to launch on the global scene as the new owner of Jaguar and Land rover and a long term partner of Ford, is the other face of globalisation. At a time when the percetion is that Indian companies pay low wages and steal good paying jobs from the US, the new contract hs been given to a Incat in Michigan where they will employ lots of people.

Tata motors and Incat are the arms of the Tata group, a conglomerate that employs 289,500 people worldwide, does business in more that 80 countries and also accounts for 3.2 percent of India's GDP. The group also has 19, 500 North American workers.

Tata sold 580,280 vehicles in its most recent fiscal year. But its global ranking is likely to change.

Back Again (I hope!!!)

2008-03-26T11:48:00.002+03:00

I do hope that I am back again for good... Right after I decided to make a habit of putting in regular posts, I seemed to have stopped totally. Well the past few weeks have been so hectic with work and home and things that seems to drive me crazy and I have got minimum rest...

It was indeed refreshing to be able to read some blogs today, speciallly "just a mother of two's"...there were some intersting posts and through that i did indeed get introduced to many new blogs.

There have been so many things that I wanted to write about, and right when I sit down to do it, something or the other comes up and I forget about it totally and then that mood of writing is gone completely....

Well i do hope that i will get the chance to write regularly soon.

Manuel Focus…

2008-03-11T15:47:00.007+03:00

‘Praveen Emmanuel’ (a very good friend of mine) recently launched his website and it’s called ‘Manuel Focus’. He is a freelance photographer, documentary filmmaker and graphic designer with many years of experience. Apart from all these, he also serves as the ‘Director of Communications’ for Kids for the Kingdom (an international Christian organization).

I really have got to say that his works are absolutely fabulous and that he does know how to create magic with his lens. He is one of the lucky ones whose work enables him to travel all over the globe, meet lots of people, see lots of amazing sites and capture those images through the lens. He knows how to capture the complete essence of nature, people or anything that’s passes through his lens and present it to us in the form of absolutely stunning visuals.

Now to explain a little more about this multi-talented person and make him feel a little shy and embarrassed :P – he is an absolute darling, a perfect gentleman with an infectious smile who has captured many hearts…hehehe …ohh ya he did have lots of girls drooling after him and still has I guess… (Hey it’s the truth people since I have seen it with my own eyes when we were in college together.) Another thing that I have got to say is that he is also a wonderful friend who is there besides you through thick and thin.

Now you people have a chance to see some of his wonderful photographs and works which tell wonderful tales of his travels with just those stunning visuals. Please visit his website which features some of his works through the link that I have given here and give feed backs about it.

All those who do check the link, please do leave him comments about his work.(Leave a msg online either in the contact page or at the photo-story "F7" page)

http://manuelfocus.com/

Note: Included in this post are some of Praveens's works and also a picture of him. :)

Calcutta News

2008-03-09T14:15:00.010+03:00

After a very long and anticipated wait, I finally got a chance to see the Malayalam movie called "Calcutta News". It just came to the theaters here in Kuwait only last week, but I have got to say that the wait was worth it and I certainly enjoyed the movie a lot.

I know that I am telling this amidst mixed reviews which I certainly did not bother to read or check in detail until I saw the movie. This is mainly because I have learnt that we have to see the movie for ourselves and decide whether it’s good or bad and not just listen or believe any or every comment that comes along the way as peoples taste in a movie and its subject differs from person to person. There has been many experiences where I was told a movie was bad, and when I watched it, I found it to be very good and similarly when I was told it was too good, I didn’t feel it’s good enough or rather it didn’t rise up to my expectations.

Blessy, the path breaking director in modern Malayalam cinema who shot to popularity after making critically acclaimed films like Kazhcha, Tanmathra and Palunku - is now back with 'Kolkata News'. Moreover, he is for the first time moving out of his favorite south Travancore locations to the East of India, to shoot a different mystery filled romantic story in Calcutta, much different from his earlier ones which dealt with family stories which revolved around the life of a middle class men and families in Kerala.

This is the first Malayalam film to be fully shot in Kolkata, even though a few scenes of G. Aravindan’s - Vasthuhara, Shyamaprasad's - Akale, Kamal's - Mazhayathum Munpe and T.V. Chandran's - Kadhavasheshan were also shot here. The veteran Cinematographer S.Kumar has done a great job in capturing the grimness of Songachi, its myriad alleys, the majesty of old Kolkatta, its trams, Howrah Bridge, Kalighat, Oberoi Grand and its elegance amazingly. Hence the camera tells its own story and the efforts to paint some captivating visuals on screen have been absolutely successful.

Blessy the writer and director, this time holds a mirror to metropolitan India's ugly underbelly of trafficking in women, sex rackets and how a middle class girl from Kerala gets caught in it. It certainly is a riveting cinema which exhibits emotional depth, visual richness aided by lovely music and above all the knock-out performances from the lead of Dileep and Meera. But I did feel that there was some missing element to the whole movie and can’t seem to explain or put my finger on what exactly is the problem.

Meera Jasmine as usual portrayed her character convincingly and did full justice to her part by portraying Krishnapriya's strength and vulnerability beautifully and ya so is the case with Dileep as he also portrayed his part really well. (Well I don’t care if some of you can’t agree with that fact, but they have certainly portrayed their part well.) In the film Dileep is portrayed as a very lovable guy and Meera's character is crucial for the development of the plot and is portrayed as an innocent music-loving girl who is central to the theme of the film.

Ajith Thomas (Dileep) is an investigative television reporter with a leading channel 'Calcutta News'. He grew up in Kolkata and lives with his mom and sister and is an active member of the Malayalee Samajam led by a president (Innocent) and his wife (Bindu Panickkar).His team at the channel includes news assistant Smita (Vimala Raman), and anchors Aruna (Manasa) and Sheela (Brinda).

One day Ajith bumps into a newly married Malayalee couple in a tram, but the guy is hostile when he sees that Ajith is a Mallu. However, while editing news one or two days later, he is shocked to find that an unidentified body found near Kalighat resembles the guy he met in the tram. Ajith's investigative nature comes into the fore as he goes about finding the mystery behind the brutal murder of the guy.

The guy was Hari (Indrajith), who had married an orphan Krishnapriya from Pattambi and brought her to Kolkata, before his brutal murder. Krishnapriya is unaware of her husband's job or what he does for a living and is shattered to know about his death. However hope floats into her life after Ajith becomes her protector and also gets attracted to her for her innocence and their mutual love for music. The story then moves back and forth, delving into her past and revealing the blooming romance between them.

During the course of his investigation he falls in love with the innocence of Krishnapriya and her love for Hindustani classical songs. He also finds that Hari was one of the henchmen in a sex racket that traps innocent girls and sells them. Ajit along with his friends try to unravel the sex racket which operates from Sonagachi, the largest red-light area in eastern India using their television channel after Krishnapriya gets kidnapped by the sex racket gang. The film makes a strong statement against the trafficking of women and sex trade in big cities which are dependent on the gullible girls from villages across India including Kerala who are lured into it by middle men who con them into marriage. The dark and depressing side of the city, where women get sold, bought and used in the hundreds, houses of pleasure etc have been shown in such a way that it pulls at your heart. Blessy has a solid plot with an emotional core that pulls your heart strings like his previous films.

A significant aspect about the film is its music, composed by Debjyothi Mishra, an associate of the legendary Salil Chowdhary. He has provided music for films like Chokker Bali, Raincoat etc. There is an evident Malayali flavour in the compositions and there is Bengali and Hindustani music as well. The lyrics have been penned by Vayalar Sharath Chandra Varma. The melodious song - ‘Engu ninno vanna panchavarnakili…’ and the peppy number – ‘Kannadi kootile kowmara thumbikal….’are very capturing.

Calcutta News is a vital, sardonic and disturbingly brave attempt within the commercial film format at good meaningful cinema that also entertains. In fact it has strengthened my decision to help unfortunate girls caught up in sex rackets.

Details:
Producer: Thampy Antony

Director: Blessy

Cast: Dileep, Meera Jasmine, Indrajith, Vimala Raman, Innocent, Bindu Panicker, Maanasa, Unni Shivapal, etc

Music: Deb Jyothi Misra

I have been tagged!!!

2008-03-04T13:44:00.002+03:00

I have been tagged by pointblank (Neetu) about these particular topics and hence here goes:

Eight things I am passionate about:

Well I have absolutely no clue what I am passionate about. I guess there was a time when I was passionate about many things but now it's like I have resigned to the fact that many of the passions or love of my life doesn’t seem to work out here. Anyway these are some of the things I am still crazy about:

Books and reading: well I am still crazy about books and reading and I mean reading anything. I just love to read all kinds of books and relax and go into another world. I just love thrillers, crime novels, romance novels and ya even Archie comicsJ. (For almost one and half years I didn’t get much books to read here and I went totally crazy and became moody and what not. The worst part was that I did not find even one English library in Kuwait until recently when a friend told me about this gr8 store where I could reserve books I wanted online and go pick it up and could sell it back for a small amount if I didn't want it after reading and get other books. Wow… for me it was like finding heaven… hehe… that's how crazy I was about books and reading…)
Movies: I just love watching movies a lot or rather used to be so crazy about it. Well I still am to a certain point and that’s only because I don’t get to watch movies as much as I want to and don’t have any company to go to the movies with. Any day I love to see good movies and enjoy watching it too…But I swear that I can't stand some of the stupid movies which make no sense at all.
Friends: My life is all about having good friends around me. I just love most of my friends, even the ones who have hurt me badly and everyone at home says I am too forgiving and such. Well the fact is I just love most of my friends as many of them support me through tough times, lend a shoulder to cry on, listen to my bitching and fuming about anything and everything, make me laugh a lot (that is something I rarely do) and give me good company and so on.
Family: I am crazy about my family and love them a lot. (ya like Neetu said even I take them for granted most of the time and have hurt them a lot.) But still I love them a lot and miss them when I am away and am very possessive about them.
My freedom and space: Well I do love and freedom and space and hate it when restrictions are put. I need my freedom to do the things that I want and want to be left alone when I want to be alone. I just hate it when people come and disturb me unnecessarily and irritate me when all I want is to be left alone. That’s when I turn mean and irritating. hehe…
Sleeping: Ohh boy!!! This is something I am deeply crazy about. It's mainly coz I never get enough sleep and that also a sleep which is not disturbed. I take a lot of time to fall asleep and finally after the hard work of falling asleep I get disturbed by someone or something and then I lose all sleep. This makes me crazy to sleep peacefully and believe me I bite if get disturbed or woken up in a rude manner from my sleep…
Good food: I love to try out different kinds of cuisines and various varieties of food. And yes I just love chocolates.
Long drives: I just love to take long drives in a four wheel drive along the highway and such in good speed. It's so exhilarating and gives me a sense of calm and all that.

Eight things I want to do before I die (In no particular order):

Humm well there r many things that I want to do before I die like:
« Travel around the world; see as many places as possible; Enjoy the beauty and culture and all that.
« Send my parents on an all paid vacation or go together with them. Well Neets, this is something I have always been planning to do and hope that it will happen soon.
« Live in the way I want
« Get completely drunk at least once as I seem to have an amazing capacity for handling alcohol and never get drunk, only more sober.
« Try and learn the stupid Arabic as I need to survive in this Arab place. Oh I seem to be hopeless at learning new languages or infact any language.
« Spend some time in some gr8 place, completely alone and relax and have a good sleep.
« Try and help as many needy people as I can in my own way. (Well I guess I am happy about this one as I have started doing that.)
« Try and do something or make some kind of difference or awareness about the violence happening against women. Mainly help women from falling into the traps of getting caught in the sex rackets and such. Or at least try and help the ones who do and help in getting them a new life and so on. (This one I will do somehow or the other.)

Eight things I say often:

Now what would that be:
1.Whaat the hell…
2.F**k off
3.What the F**k
4.Bloody hell
5.Really?
6.Aha
7.Hummm
8. Ohh Puleeessseee...

Eight books I’ve read recently:

Humm don’t think I have read much recently. The ones I remember are:
· Absolute power
· Foreign Affairs
· Scandal
· Fire on the mountain
· Hello Darkness
· High Tide
· Saving Faith
· The Alchemist

Eight things that attracts me to my best friends:

· Shoulder to cry on.
· Inspiration
· Moral support
· To listen to their problems patiently.
· Movies
· Shopping
· Gossips
· Laughter

The rest I am leaving out neets. Sorry… That’s all I think that I can write about for now. And about tagging, well I have no idea who exactly I should tag, but anyone who feels up to it can write about it.

After effects of the foamy fun

2008-03-01T10:58:00.002+03:00

Well the celebrations are over but the after-effects are bad...

Some of the kids don't seem to understand the hazards and some are too bratty and spoilt to even bother. The worst part is most of the parents drive the kids around when they do all this nonsense. This is a common complaint now after each national day celebrations here in Kuwait and most people prefer to stay indoors rather than going out, specially anywhere near the Gulf road. More than 6 people have lost eye sight due to the harmful things sprayed into their eyes.

I really cannot understand why people do such nasty things like spraying people with urine, hair removing solutions, foams, white paint and other such harmful stuff. They are not at all bothered that many people's life become hell after this, after all what have they got to lose right?

Foamy fun

2008-02-27T14:51:00.003+03:00

Thousands of citizens thronged the Arabian Gulf Road yesterday to mark the 47th National Day and 17th Liberation Day. Children dressed in colors of the national flag and young men and women in cars waving Kuwaiti flags and portraits of HH Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and other Kuwaiti heroes filled the seaside avenue to celebrate the country's most important national events.

After the state's liberation from Saddam Hussein's troops after seven months of occupation on February 26, 1991, the Gulf Road celebrations have become an annual national event where crowds turn up in large numbers in an exhibition of unity and solidarity. All roads leading to the street, except the main entrances, were blocked by police in an attempt to reduce traffic bottlenecks as vehicles jammed the 25-km road.

The celebrations began soon after the liberation when Kuwaitis flooded the Gulf road to express relief and happiness that the dark days of the Iraqi occupation were over. A US-led international coalition of more than 600,000 troops drove the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait after launching the Operation Desert Storm on January 17, 1991. They completed their mission on the morning of February 26, one day after the National Day. Iraqi forced invaded the country on August 2, 1990 and drove many Kuwaitis out of thecountry. Hundreds were killed during the seven-month occupation.

Kuwait took its independence from British mandate on June 19, 1960 but late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah decided to mark the event on February 25 ech year because the weather in June is too hot. The country remained under British mandate for more than 60 years, although it enjoyed a considerable degree of independence during those years.

Kuwait National day and Liberation day

2008-02-27T13:19:00.001+03:00

My wishes to all the Kuwaitis on their National day and Liberation day which was on 25th and 26th of Feb....

Indian Railways posts record $6.3bn surplus

2008-02-27T13:01:00.002+03:00

Giant state run Indian railways which was once on the track to bankruptcy posted a record cash surplus of 250 billion rupees or $6.3 billion this year. wow.......

When the railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav took over the railway, one of the world's largest which carries 18.5 million people daily, it was burdened with huge losses. But he transformed its finances by expanding freight capacity and building new lines, leasing out ad spaces, introducing competitive bidding and other innovations. It is now one of the best cash generators in the public sector.

All in all the new budget seems to be good as its been presented with steps to boost freight operations, cut freight and passenger fares and improve services such as reservations and toilet both often an ordeal on Indian trains.

Yadav is now being invited by business schools to pass on his management tricks.

Howz the New Indian Railway Budget?

2008-02-27T10:53:00.003+03:00

Phew!!!! howz the new Indian railway budget? I dont know what to say......Well who knew that Lallu of all people could make such a whooping profit out of the Indian Railway???? Any comments??

I'm back

2008-02-27T10:50:00.002+03:00

Well i'm almost back..hehe after a few days of sandstorm and bad cold and fever, i'm almost back to blogging..Well looks like i have to do lots of blog trotting :) ... Hope to catch up soon. That is as soon as i get my energy back!!!

The conference was a huge success...

2008-02-20T12:13:00.009+03:00

I am just glad that the PR conference was a huge success and that all the hard work finally paid off... Only problem was that I was almost dead for a couple of days after and needed rest. Now Kuwait seems to be under the seize of a sandstorm which is in its second day which is irritating everyone so much and also making people sick including me.

Given below r some of the conference photos:

Pathetic...

2008-02-07T11:10:00.000+03:00

I really don't fell like a proud Indian or rather a proud Keralite today. This is mainly because I saw a certain news segment in the Malayalam news channels today morning. Well every news article does not bring me to tears, but this one did and for a change, I felt sympathetic, furious, helpless and what not.

Now to come to the issue - Kochi (In Kerala) the metropolitan city is undergoing a lot of changes and lots of development projects are coming up. Specially worth mentioning is the Vallarpadam project and Land has to be acquired for the proposed highway connectivity to the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal To do this they will be taking up land and evicting a lot of people from their homes. (Well ya I do know that to do such kind of good projects lots of modernizations are needed but this is too much...)

Today's news segment showed the police evicting a lot of people from their homes. The news showed the police rudely hitting anyone who protested and it also showed them pushing all the ladies who were protesting and crying and also the men who protested. They were then locked up into a house by force and the houses were being demolished at full speed. It was a heartbreaking site to see all the old and young women, children and even men crying openly and calling out to them to stop. Well how can you expect these people to stand and watch when their home and everything they ever had are being demolished right before their eyes?

All those who agreed to sign an agreement about moving were given one week time and many men signed this only because they couldn’t watch their mother's, daughters, little children, wives etc being thrown out into the streets. I saw many men signing documents while they were openly crying and trying to come to terms with what was going on.

Many of the houses were demolished and for those ones that were given time, the electricity connection was cut. I do agree that land acquisition and all that kind of stuff is needed when projects like this come up (after all my parents also did lose land when the government decided they wanted the land for smart city and things like that). But the people who are being evicted (especially since they are very poor) has to be given alternative lands and facilities before they are openly thrown out onto the roads. Where will they go with their ailing parents and young daughters? Where will they live till they can find other means to support themselves? After all they are being thrown out from the land that they have been living in all their lives, which they were born into and that were passed on from their ancestors.

The government can't justify this activity as they are paying the people only the value of the land that was there 5 years back. That is such a pitiful amount as 5 years back these places didn't have much value in terms of money. I felt so furious watching all this, especially because the present government is caught up in one scandal after other relating to shady land deals and so on. They can justify a land worth 500 crores being sold for 90 crores, but they can't pay the money that these poor people deserve nor can they provide alternative means.

I wonder what these people will do. Where will they spend the coming nights? Where and how will they provide any safety to their family? I feel so helpless. What can we do to help these poor people? What can we make the government do?

Vallarpadam Container Transhipment Terminal:
Vallarpadam is a part of the existing Cochin port. The Cochin port became a major port under the Major Port Trust Act 1963 and now has crude handling facilities, containerization of cargo and electronic data interchange facilities, which have put Cochin in the front as far as port development in the country is concerned. The Cochin port has unique geographical advantages as it is near to international sea trade routes which connect Europe and the Gulf to South East Asia and the Far East.

Vallarpadam Container Terminal Project (VCTP) will be a unique project in infrastructure, especially to boost containerization in India. VCTP was inaugurated by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on February 16, 2005. While inaugurating VCTP, Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "The project would be a role model for private-public partnership, blending efficiently private sector managerial efficiency and marketing acumen with public sector capital and infrastructure planning."
VCTP will be India's first ever International Container Trans-shipment Terminal (ICTT). According to a CNBC report, this project will enable India to move into the top 20 maritime nations. A detailed study of VCTP was done by Frederic R Harris, the Dutch Consultants and the total establishment cost of VCTP has been estimated at Rs. 2,118 cr. Dubai Ports International (DPI) has emerged as the successful bidder for developing and operating the project on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis for 30 years by quoting the highest revenue share of 33.30% to the Port Trust and the project is expected to be completed by 2009. It is expected to be one of the largest single-operator trans-shipment terminals in India. More details are available at this link about Vallarpadam Project: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=15219

About Kochi(from Wikipedia):
Kochi formerly known as Cochin is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city is one of the principal seaports of the country and is located in the district of Ernakulam, about 220 kilometres (137 mi) north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. It has an estimated population of 600,000, with an extended metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, making it the largest urban agglomeration and the second largest city in Kerala after the capital.

Since 1102 CE, Kochi was the seat of the Kingdom of Cochin, a princely state which traces its lineage to the Kulasekhara empire. Heralded as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the Arabian Sea coast from the 14th century onwards. Ancient travellers and tradesmen referred to Kochi in their writings, variously alluding to it as Cocym, Cochym, Cochin, and Cochi. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the site of the first European colonial settlement in India. It remained the capital of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa became the capital. The city was later occupied by the Dutch, the Mysore and the British. Kochi was the first princely state to willingly join the Indian Union, when India gained independence in 1947.

Kochi experienced decades of economic stagnation from independence until 2003, when it entered a period of economic growth, leading to a spurt in the city's development. A growing centre of information technology, tourism and international trade, Kochi is the commercial hub of Kerala, and one of the fastest growing second-tier metros in India. Like other large cities in the developing world, Kochi continues to struggle with urbanisation problems such as traffic congestion and environmental degradation.

Successive waves of migration over the course of several millennia have made Kochi a cultural melting pot. Despite the risk of overdevelopment, the city retains its distinct colonial heritage and a blend of tradition and modernity.

Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008 - Towards a new era in communications in Kuwait

2008-02-03T14:20:00.000+03:00

Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008

Multaqa Media Group along with the cooperation of The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) – Gulf Chapter – is organizing "Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008". This will be held on 12 & 13 February 2008 in JW Marriott Hotel, Kuwait; along with the participation of a group of 10 Arab and International experts specialized in the field of public relations, media and marketing.

I am proud to say that this is being organized after the huge success of our first conference back in 2006.

For more deatils please visit

our website: http://www.multaqagroup.com/

or the link : http://www.multaqagroup.com/prc2008/

Towards a new era in communications

The time and technology seems to be traveling so fast and everyday new technology is evolving at an unbelievable speed. Ya its true and I seem to be dumb about such things as I can't understand half the things that are going on. All I can say is that its really shocking to know that public realtions has evolved so much and that its using all the modern technologies like YouTube, Facebook, Blogging etc to keep up with the changing times.

I hope to learn more through this conference and sure have learnt a lot by researching for this event. Hope that it provides a treasure of information for all the people who are going to attend too.

Happy Republic Day

2008-01-26T10:50:00.000+03:00

A very Happy Republic day to all you proud Indians out there...

God bless India and carry it forward...

How weird is the world?

2008-01-20T11:18:00.000+03:00

I heard a news recently about how a man cut off his hand and microwaved it!!!! Well how weird do you think the world is? The man who is in his mid-20's believed that he bore the "mark of the beast" and so used a circular saw to cut off one hand and he then cooked it in the microwave and called the police. He was very calm when the police arrived and since he had put a tourniquet on his arm before, he did not bleed to death.

Well there were quotes from the bible that he used in order for this. anyway his hand was somewhat cooked by the time the police arrived. They moved him to the mental health unit.

Looks like the world is in total turmoil nowadays and that people are getting weirder and weirder day by day.

Blogging as a PR Tool

2008-01-17T11:20:00.000+03:00

This is my article about the above topic for the PR conference. (Do send in opinions)

What is a Blog anyway? If you don’t know what a blog is, you’re not alone; according to surveys, nearly two-thirds of Internet users don’t have a good idea of the meaning of “blog.” Well there might be a multitude of definitions available by now on the web. Some of those are – Ø It’s a frequently updated online journal or diary usually, often hosted by a third party; Ø Like an online dairy, This can be about and be used for anything at all, it can be used for news, reviews, products etc for a business, organisation etc. This is great as it helps the user stay in touch with the website with new and up to date information and so on goes the explanations.
While no one’s exactly sure how many blogs there are, estimates often range from 30 to 100 million of them, all over the world, and a new one is created every 7.4 seconds. Check out websites like Global Voices and you can get a taste for the global reach of blogging, or the blogosphere, as it’s often known as. There are many blogging tools available online, including free ones. For example, take a look at Blogger.com, one of the most popular blogging platforms. Blogger is a website that lets you set up a free account and create your own blogs - as many as you want. The site has basic step-by-step instructions, taking you through the process of setting up your account, naming your blog and choosing a design template. Then it’s just a matter of filling out a form and pressing a button. The online software does all the hard work, while you get to focus on the fun part - being creative and saying whatever it is you have to say.

Public Relations and Blogs

Due to the Internet, the current flow of information and opinion is unprecedented in human history. The creation of blogs has rapidly quickened the pace of the public relations and corporate communications industry. Blogs create a new platform for the consumer where one can be truly honest about their opinion. In a non-threatening and comfortable environment, bloggers can give their anonymous and honest opinion about a product with a sense of security. Blogs have the power to shape public opinion and it can give public relations professionals' valuable insight into their own work.
Blogs have emerged as a major catalyst for change in traditional PR agency practices. Not only are blogs now established as an important information generator, intelligence gatherer, reputation builder, crisis tool, networker, and free digital press, blogs are the delivery method of choice for global PR agency watchdogs who are demanding a new, transparent, and highly credible method of delivering PR services. Blogs can be much more efficient at syndicating content than traditional PR releases.
Perhaps the single most powerful aspect of blogs, in the area of public relations, is the personalization aspect. The writer is a real person, putting a human face on what might otherwise be perceived as an unknown and distant company. By developing trust among the various readership groups, the blog writer provides a personal link to the company.
If the goal of a public relations effort is to work in coordination with sales and marketing, a blog will establish the trust required with current and prospective customers and clients, while in the past, public relations depended upon controlling the message that was put forward from the organization. The unspoken goal was to manipulate public opinion; hence the prearranged message was centralized and carefully vetted for wording and nuances.

Blogging as a public opinion medium gives up that tight control, and presents a message in a conversation with the reader. In that sense, the blog cultivates public opinion. With increasing transparency, inside and outside of organizations, the best approach is one of open discussion and blog is the ideal delivery vehicle for the same.

Many people have begun to mistrust the traditional canned public relations approach as lacking honesty. The openness of a blog changes that perception entirely. A blog can enhance that perception of honesty by delivering the straight goods on an issue. With that open approach, lacking the traditional tightly controlled message, trust in the company is enhanced and that trust translates into more life long customers and clients.

Why Your Business Should Have a Blog as a PR Tool
As blogging has gained prominence, it has become a vital public relations tool for companies. No longer is it enough to just have a Web site, now a company needs a blog to help it gain publicity and to help its employees or leaders to become thought of as experts in their field. The transparency is a popular reason for blogging, particularly for companies that want to be identified as mission-oriented or socially responsible.

Businesses are accepting blogging as an integral part of PR because it allows firms to engage with current and prospective clients on a one-on-one level. It is a low-cost, high-return tool that can handle marketing and public relations, raise the company profile and build the brand. There are only about 5000 company blogs, so there is lot of room for you to take your niche and gain valuable exposure.

If a disaster should strike (crisis situation), your business blog can provide an immediate and personalized way to address the issue and avoid sounding like the “spin” usually associated with traditional PR. Rather than shutting down communications in times of crisis, a company can post regular and open information on its blog. It can address the crisis fairly and honestly while keeping the public completely aware of where the business stands and its plans to move forward.

A company’s blog also plays an important role in gaining the attention of the media. The news media is constantly on the lookout for potential news stories. A growing number of editors and journalists are reading blogs on a daily basis. By writing about your industry, reviewing products, providing company news and providing commentary on your industry, your business’ blog is a ready source of news stories. Journalists will also come to view you as an industry expert if you write in a style that reflects your personality and knowledge.
Any business seeking a public relations vehicle, should add a blog to their Web site. The authentic and personalized blog voice is natural fit for any public relations and will benefit your company during a crisis. As more journalists and editors read blogs, it is imperative for your company to keep up with the trend.
Conclusion
Businesses seeking a public relations vehicle, that provides numerous additional benefits, should consider adding a blog component to their website. The authentic and personalized blog voice is a natural fit for any public relations effort.

A rapidly growing number of journalists and editors are reading blogs on a daily basis. It’s becoming imperative that companies start a blog to keep up with that trend. Thanks to the addition of an RSS feed, a blog’s updated post can be on a journalist’s computer in seconds.

Old style tightly controlled public relations are becoming a thing of the past. So get into the new public relations paradigm, by adding the personalized voice of a blog.

Wow its Thursday!!!

2008-01-17T10:07:00.000+03:00

Wow I'm just so glad that its Thursday. I can have my weekend off tomorrow. Want a relaxing day off from work and just enjoy the peace and calm of not sitting at the computer for a long time. (Well ya i do have to come for a half day on Saturday, but atleast I can enjoy the holiday tomorrow!)I wanted to post some serious stuff, but realized that i cant do it in a hurry coz i do have to state a few facts too. So just decided to put in what come to my mind.

On top of that i have to get four articles ready for the PR conference magazine that we are coming up with. That seems to be driving me nuts and I have asked friends to read it and tell me their opinions. Well I certainly didn't know or rather didn't keep up with the revolutions of technology today and was not aware that all this has a huge impact on Public Relations and so on.

One thing I have got to say is this job certainly is teaching me a lot of new things. I am glad for that. But I do need my breaks in between to come up with a fresh mind and all that. Nowadays I do feel that I just live for it to be Friday or a holiday, see how much the goals in life have reduced to..Pathetic right?? Where have all my career goals and hardworking ideas gone to?? Looks like they jumped out the window...

Now i certainly do know what it means to take a good break in between and not get a total burn out. Anyway i plan to enjoy the weekend off and come back with a few serious thoughts later. I guess i will post one of my serious articles for the magazine here and hope to get some response about how it is.

Isn't it meaningful??

2008-01-15T12:09:00.000+03:00

The wording on this particular picture is really meaningful and I believe that this can carry us forward on a very depressing day. It says:

"If you want something you never had,

do something you have never done.

Don't go the way life takes you.

Take the life the way you go.

And remember you are born to live and

not living because you are born."

Well it certainly is a lot meaningful to me as there are numerous days when i feel that there are many things that I have never had and feel that I'm living only because I was born.

To get over this kind of depressed feelings, you really need a lot of boosting and confidence. Maybe while reading it the first time you wont feel any difference, but atleast it will help you to get thinking about the positiveness in it.

Hope that these words will touch your heart.

Left side right to 'leave bed'

2008-01-14T09:48:00.000+03:00

Today i came across an article which said that - getting out of bed on the left side is the right side. Sleep scientists, feng shui experts and psychologists put their heads together to analyse the best way to get up in the morning.

Left is best, they decreed in a study undertaken. Feng shui expert said getting out of bed on the left side is associated with all that people hold dear - family and health, money and power.

Psychology and motivation experts said that the left side helps us all to think rationally about the day ahead. The right side of the brain is responsible for emotions like fear and stress which only dilute your potential for for having a positive experience.

Well it does seem to be a good piece of information and when I think about it, I really have no clue if its true or not as I think I mostly get up from the right side now. And ya there was a time when I used to get up from the left side too. But really don't remember if it made me feel positive and all that..hummm...

well those who want to try this can try it out and let me know how the great experience is!!!

'Separated twins' marry, forced to break up in UK

2008-01-13T10:19:00.000+03:00

Twins who were separated at birth and raised by different families met later and married but were forced to breakup when their discovered their true identities. It certainly is a tragedy for them and all who were involved. I can imagine the heartbreak and emotional distress they might be going through and its certain that they will need therapy and all that stuff to get over this.

Now with in vitro fertilisation(IVF) on the rise, and with large number of people being born by IVF, the risk of such cases are high too as most end up not knowing their true identities. This shows that the children do need to know who their birth parents are in order to reduce such risks.

This is certainly not the first time that such incidents have been reported all over the world. While the foster parents do have their explanations, the risk of biological siblings marrying are on the rise and this leads to lot of other genetic diseases too.

Well good luck to UK as they try to bring up new laws regarding the Human Fertilisation Embryology Bill. And lets see how things go in India.

Tata Motors $2,500 car to put India on global auto map

2008-01-09T10:43:00.000+03:00

Only 10 years ago, India's Tata Motors Ltd unveiled its first car, a hatchback, that established the truck maker's credentials as a car maker. Tomorrow, the $7.8 billion company unveils its boldest initiative yet, a car that will sell for just $2,500, less than half the cheapest car on the market. Dubbed the 'People's Car', it will determine Tata's place in the global automotive area. They might also export the car as it would sell well in Africa and South and Central America.

There are worries about whether at such low costs it can meet safety standards, whether its a ticking time bomb, whether it will add to the growing pollution rate in India and so on.. Well everything will have to be seen after the car's performance on the road.

In a way i do feel that's its good because now low income, middle income families can also strive to get a car for a family instead of being crammed onto a scooter with luggage and kids and all.(Ya sure the oil, gas, fuel prices are going rocket high, but that is not slowing down or stopping the Indians in buying cars and all that.)

Thailand plans $9m funeral for princess!

2008-01-09T10:32:00.000+03:00

Thailand's prime minister approved a nearly nine million dollar budget for a lavish funeral for the sister of the nation's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last week. The government plans to construct a vast crematorium in a park near the Bangkok's Grand Palace for the funeral of Princess Galyani, who died of cancer on January 2 at age 84.

what kind of comment can i tell for this? Sure i was stunned to see that this amount was being spend only on a funeral. Ya true she is the princess and the only sister of the King. But still a 9 million dollar budget?To do what? Ya sure i am stunned and at a loss for words when i think how many people out there r dirt poor and don't know what to do for one meal. Well if it was some private citizen doing it, i wouldn't think twice, but when its the government that's spending so much....

Ya i know that its a royal matter and so on, but i still do feel that they could have reduced on the amount and used it on something better rather than a funeral (specially when it will be held in 5 or 6 months). Meanwhile her body is lying in a teak coffin, surrounded by golden urns and jeweled decorations at the Grand Palace.

Some beautiful quotes!

2008-01-08T14:42:00.000+03:00

These quotes are so meaningful and beautiful and will touch all of us equally as they refer to all.

Enjoy your life today
because yesterday had
gone and tomorrow may
never come.
(Alan Coren)

I love you
not for what you are,
but for what i am
when i am with you.
(Roy Croft)

A life with love will have thorns,
but a life without love will have no roses.

Morocco 'blogoma' Maghreb's liveliest

2008-01-07T12:04:00.000+03:00

Well it may be a far cry from the millions of blogs active in the west, but Morocco's blogosphere has taken off as the liveliest free speech zone in largely conservative Muslim North Africa. The Moroccan "blogoma" as it is called, is home to atleast 30,000 sites. Inspired by blogers elsewhere in the Arab world, Moroccans saw these personal websites as a way to circumvent censorship while debating various issues.

well since we Indians have all the freedom we want, we wont understand it when blogs and press freedom are not allowed. We will feel it is ridiculous when so many blogers end up in jail for many of their comments. Like for example, a Saudi bloger is in jail now for some blog article of his, similar cases have happened in Africa, Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Algeria etc..

I guess we should be thankful that we have atleast this much freedom to express what we want.Well i cant say i am in the safe zone, because I am in Kuwait and here not much of press freedom is allowed (even though they say there is)!

Did we think this day would ever come?

2008-01-06T11:26:00.000+03:00

Well did we ever think that the day would ever come when USA would have a African-American president or a lady president? Both seems to be impossible because, even though America boasts of equality and all that damn things, when it comes to choosing their president they will never keep upto that mark.

But strange things do seem to be happening and i am eagerly waiting for the results as i want to see if Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama will come anywhere near to becoming the next President of the United States of America.

Well if it was India, I sure could have expected anything as even the most illiterate ends up ruling the most educated. So can we say that about USA? NEVER! As they will never choose a President with a - criminal background, illiterate background and one who does not know to speak even a word in public. And all these do happen in India the wonderland of democracy!

Well inspite of all its fault, i am still a proud Indian. Thats crazy too...

An old song!

2008-01-06T11:06:00.000+03:00

As I walked by myself

And talked to myself,

Myself said unto me,

Look to thyself,

Take care of thyself,

For nobody cares for thee.

That's exactly how i feel mostly and that's what i feel the heart says to me as it keeps warning me about the worldly ways of this world.

well that feeling has reduced a lot but it keeps coming back to haunt me on most days and warns me about bracing myself for lonely days in life and i guess its a way through which i seem to be protecting myself from being hurt.

Walking and talking to myself is what i do mostly and that's how i seem to talk my problems out, that's how i try to understand things, but it sure is a scary and depressing feeling at times.

But on the whole i do enjoy the feeling of loneliness mostly and get irritated when i do have people around.

Sounds crazy Na?

Iran hangs 13 on single day!

2008-01-03T10:38:00.000+03:00

Wow Iran is back in full swing with the hangings. So with the start of 2008 they managed to hang 13 people on a single day including the mother of two children who murdered her husband after discovering her husband was having an affair.

The hangings, the first reported in 2008, were the latest in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic as the authorities impose a drive they say is aimed at improving security in society.

Well if that's how they implement rules to keep society safe, then what would India have done? Executed all or 99% of its citizens??

'My time to lead will come'

2008-01-03T10:28:00.000+03:00

Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal said in a message on the website Facebook that his "time to lead will come" despite his inexperience - and the fact he knows his life will be in "critical" danger.

19 year old Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a history student at oxford university took over as chairman of Pakistan People's party after his mother was slain. He said in a message to people who left condolences on Facebook that he was still just a student who enjoyed eating junk food and watching television and told that he would try to learn as he is not a born leader or politician or great thinker.

Well i do sincerely hope that this boy does get to lead a peaceful life and hope that he gets to enjoy his student days before stepping into his mother's shoes and taking hold of the Bhutto dynasty. Until then hope that his father will hold the reigns tight and safely too.

Scotland Yard is asked to aid in Bhutto inquiry

2008-01-03T10:02:00.000+03:00

President Pervez Musharraf and his government first denied any help in the investigations that the international world had to offer and now he has requested the Scotland Yard to assist in the investigation. Looks like these people have some serious problems on their hands and have no stability of thinking too.

Pakistani government officials have rejected calls for an international investigation into her killing but have left the door open for assistance conducted from outside the country. They then proposed to president Musharraf to provide French or European experts. Well i guess that must be after France and the 27-nation European Union bloc offered help in the Bhutto probe and all Musharraf had to say to the the French official was that the idea is interesting.

Well looks like we can all watch and wait and see so much more of this stupidity from the Pakistan government.

Benazir issue again...

2008-01-02T12:01:00.000+03:00

2008 just started and Pakistan government seems to be going bonkers. They first apologized to the the country and the whole world about their statements about Benazir dying due to hitting her head on sunroof and by evening they went back to denying that. Well what can we say about this, other than the fact that there sure seems to be a conspiracy and also that Pakistan government is making a fool of itself in front of the whole world.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Benazir's son Bilawal has been appointed the new chairman of the party, that way power stays in the Bhutto family. Well the 19 year old Oxford student seems to have been loaded with a huge responsibility and lets hope that he does it well as he has more than six years to learn before he can legally start out political works. Until then hope his father will carry the party and its work forward without anymore scandals.

Happy New Year...

2008-01-02T11:54:00.000+03:00

Well...2008 has arrived... Hoping that this year will be great.

One great year that we can never get back has passed by, we are all an year older (yewh!) and more experianced with the world and its ways. Hope that these many years of experiance will teach us to be better and responsible human beings who are of some worth to others.

I'm back at work today and already wondering about my one and only resolution which i havent got around to yet because i'm purely lazy to even think about it. But i do hope that i can overcome that laziness and get around to keeping up the resolution soon.

Happy new year once agin to all u guys...

Goodbye 2007, Welcome 2008

2007-12-31T10:39:00.000+03:00

Well today is the last day of 2007 and something which will go into the past and can never be regained. It was not a bad year for me, pretty OK i guess since it was also a year which brought some changes and good luck in life and not at all depressing like 2006 which was really bad for me.

So many things to be remembered, so many things to cherish and love...Humm the past was both good and bad, but hoping and praying that the NEW YEAR of 2008 is going to be spectacular and also a year where major changes will happen and major decisions will be taken.

Of all the 27 years in my life, the best years for me were 2003 to 2005 which were spent in Chennai, in a wonderful college with spectacular friends. I did well both academically and socially; got to make good friends who i cherish, love and miss so much now and will always be a part of my life; had the 2 best years of my life and enjoyed it. Well what more can i ask for? I know that i can never get those days back even though i do keep wishing for it. But life goes on and the world moves on...

That were also the years that helped me know my fiancee more and helped grow a strong friendship and bond with him, and it was also 2 years filled with joy, happiness, tears and enjoyment. The years which i will always remember and keep in my heart and value because of the best friends i got in life.

2006 isn't worth mentioning as it was a depressing and tiresome and also sentimental year for me and am really glad that its over.

2007 gave me a good job in a place that i am really comfortable at and am really lucky to be at. And its also a year where some good and bad things happened, but still some major decisions for the future were taken too. 2007 also gave me a chance to connect with lots of long lost friends and made me value friendship a lot.

I am looking forward to 2008 with lots of hopes and hope that it will bring luck and that it will be a prosperous year for me an also for all those around me. I have also decided to take some resolutions which i hope that i will be able to stick to as its the first set of resolutions for me. I just hope that the future will bring lots of good luck and that all our dreams will come true. And i do hope that my major plans and decisions for 2008 will work out well.

I am thanking the good Lord for all the blessings that he has given and showered upon me in life, for the wonderful parents, a wonderful brother and also for a wonderful partner to share my life with.

"May all your dreams turn into reality and all your efforts into great achievements. May the New Year bring new hopes, new promises and new reasons to celebrate your presence in your lives.
May this New Year adorn your life with many beautiful things and sweet memories to cherish forever. And care of those whom the heart holds close, along with abundant joys and happiness, for you and your family. May all the dreams in your eyes, all the desires in your heart and all the hopes in your life blend together, to give you the most spectacular New Year ever."

"Wishing you life's best this New Year, Have a joyful & prosperous 2008"

So what is a Blog and howcome its the latest tool for PR?

2007-12-30T14:27:00.000+03:00

Well what can i say about this. Even though i have been a blogger for more than an year, i still cant define it. I do know that there are many technical definitions for it like : "A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order", "A BLOG is a publication of personal thoughts, experiences, and web links. It is updated frequently and is usually a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the web or in the media. ..." etc etc... For me its just my own personal or private space where i can express my thoughts, feelings, opinions etc freely.

Until a few months back, i never got the chance to study various blogs and its importance and also only did this as part of my research work. But now i seem to be more involved in it as we are coming up with a Public Relations conference in February 2008 and the theme is "The New Trends In Communication". For this i had to first come up with the latest topics and tools related to PR and even had to find international speakers who are specialized in these areas.

Blogging seems to be working wonders for the PR area and its seems its easier for editors to go through many blogs to get articles and so on and that you can either boost or destroy an organisation through blogs. Well like any other area, blogs have their negatives and positives too and when misused can cause a lot of damage.

Well its true that i am going nuts over this one because technology seems to be progressing every second and i have to run unbearably fast to keep up (at least with the basics).And worst part is there are too many things to know. Anyway i did learn how important RSS feeds are today for PR and that there is some new device called "KINDLE" Amazon's new digital content reader which sold out within 5.5 hours upon its first release and that it could cause some kind of PR revolution.

Well who knew all this. As it is everything is a revolution by itself for me, so whats the difference if its KINDLE or RSS feeds or Online media rooms or blogging...As my research work continues for this particular magazine that we are coming up with for the PR conference, i find that there are plenty of topics and articles which are also opening up a new world of knowledge for me and i hope that it will help the organizations in Kuwait too.

But what would be helpful is if any of you know anything new about PR, blogging, and all that stuff do send in information as this will help me a lot in providing the people out here with better information on such latest trends.

And the revolution for me is- I have started subscribing to so many RSS feeds that i don't get the time to check all this. But anyway i seem to be putting in more time and effort into at least going through many blogs and also do put in my comments.

Wow everything now seems to be revolutionizing PR and is a new tool for PR. Surprising Na? Full scale advertising and PR campaigns are now done via the Mobile Device --- The "Third Screen" and also through YouTube. Well what other developments can happen other than all this???

Am I A Feminist

2007-12-30T13:24:00.001+03:00

You Are 73% Feminist

You are certainly a feminist - whether you know it or not.
You believe in gender equality, at least most of the time. You also believe there are a few exceptions.

Are You a Feminist?

How Feminine Am I?

2007-12-30T13:14:00.000+03:00

You Can Hang With the Guys and the Girls

You've struck a good balance between girlie and laid back.
You can keep it casual but when you dress up, you are as girly as the next girl.

How Feminine Are You?

Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008

2007-12-30T11:11:00.000+03:00

Kuwait Conference On Public Relations 2008

February 12 &13, 2008 – JW Marriott Hotel – Kuwait

The New Trends in Communications

Conference Overview:

Multaqa Media Group has the pleasure to welcome you to Kuwait Conference on Public Relations 2008 in association with IPRA – GC; International Public Relations Association – Gulf Chapter.

The Conference on Public Relations offers you a group of leading regional and international PR experts and practitioners that will put within your hands the latest thinking approaches to best practice professional public relations. The conference covers most of the latest trends and topics in Public Relations which will help every PR person and most organisations.

The conference sessions and workshops offers something for everyone. You have got to put what you've learned into practice with the help and guidance of experts in the field of PR. Valuable sessions and workshops will be addressed that will enhance your PR skills and avail you the chance to gain the expertise and meet the challenges of PR.

For more details please check: http://www.multaqagroup.com/

As the plot thickens!!!

2007-12-30T10:32:00.000+03:00

Looks like things are going really out of control in Pakistan. Contradictory statements about Benazir Bhutto's death are creating lots of confusion and the riots just seem to be increasing. I kept switching channels and checked out a couple of newspapers and everywhere it's the same contradictory headings which are going to create huge problems for President Musharraf and his government.

Some of the scandalized headings are: "Islamabad accused of cover-up"; "Pakistan rejects foreign assistance in probe" etc. And the most shocking one is that Al-Qaeda denies having any link with the assassination. So now who is responsible? That is a million dollar question right? Pakistan government keeps telling its Al-Qaeda and Qaeda keeps denying it. Well in this case i do believe Qaeda because they usually take responsibility for many assassinations and if they are denying such a big incident then its true.

Well something will have to be done soon by the Pakistan government instead of trying to cover up things in front of the whole world, especially when many people saw the entry and exit bullet wounds in Benazir's head. So with so many witnesses for this, how can the government still deny that no bullets were found in Benazir's skull etc? How can they still stick to the fact that she died after hitting her head on the sunroof during the suicide attack? So what about the bullet wounds?

As I mentioned in my last blog, it is indeed true that post mortem was not done and that the body was buried in a big haste. Well I can understand the Muslim tradition of burying the body at the earliest, but in this case exception had to be done, at least by delaying the burial for few hours.

The comment from the coroner's office is that no one asked for postmortem to be done and so on!!! What an explanation!!! Well now things are getting all the more suspicious.

Let's wait and see if the mystery will be unraveled or if it will always remain a mystery.

Daughter of Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto

2007-12-29T12:31:00.000+03:00

Charismatic, striking and politically sly, Benazir Bhutto who was reared amid the privileges of Pakistan's aristocracy and the ordeals of its turbulent politics was assassinated on Thursday while attending an election rally. It is indeed a sad news and a cruel end to democratic Islamic world's first woman prime minister.

I was surprised to know that she attended both Harvard and Oxford and also the fact that she held many prestigious positions at oxford when she was a student there. She is remembered as "fiery and fun" by her friends there and they all say that her father's death changed her a lot.

Her end was very tragic and has caused chaos and riots in Pakistan. But a thing i don't understand is, when such a prominent figure was assassinated, how could they bury the body without doing a postmortem? Why create more confusion and chaos to the already tense situation? Also why so many contradictory statements like: "The Interior Ministry said Bhutto had not been shot, nor hit by shrapnel, but had been killed when the force of the explosion smashed her head against a lever on the sun-roof. Security officials had earlier said she was shot in the head and neck." So what exactly is the cause of her death and who did it?

Really confusing right? Well even though she criticised India in her her last statements at the last rally she attended just moments before her death, I still feel that its a huge tragedy and loss to the Bhutto family and Pakistan. She was the projected image of democracy in Pakistan and her family has met with such a tragic end. She was buried alongside her father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 after being deposed by a military coup. Her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, who both died in unexplained circumstances, are also buried in the mausoleum she herself had ordered to be built.

My condolences to her family and at the loss of such a well known lady.

Narendra Modi back in power

2007-12-26T14:38:00.000+03:00

Narendar Modi is back in power in Gujarat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

humm would love to give longggg comments, but biting my tongue coz i mite blabber a lot..

only one comment.........TYPICALLY INDIA!!!!!

Taslima Nasreen literaly Chased all over India!!!

2007-12-02T11:11:00.000+03:00

What a shame for India...Its unbelievable to know that this good author was practically chased and thrown out of many states and attacked by idiots. Well she wrote the truth and many people in the name of religion couldnt stand it. The worst part is that India is said to be growing in all areas and religion and its issues slowly starting to diminish , or it looked like it was...But all has been proved wrong!
The poor lady was not accepted in most states, and was not even given a hotel room to stay in. Such an ordeal she went through...And to know that Bengal which has the communist party ruling (who brag of not having religion and such issues) couldnt offer her a shelter until recently.
And ya the religious extremists have managed to make her withdraw many lines from her book. She now wants a peaceful life...

Wat can we say about such issues??Its really a shame that India doesnt seem to be growing in that area of religion.

Isnt Orkut both a blessing and a curse??

2007-11-11T14:30:00.000+03:00

Well discovering orkut was great.And after one and half yrs of orkut, i seem to hav had enough of it.well cant say i am totaly tired of it, but still its a curse at times.Specially wen u have so many freaks out there waiting to get ur info and pics and do something with it and the number of fake id's on orkut is too much...The number of idiots who trouble the girls r high in number too...

anyone to disagree with this??well in this case i am 100% sure and have had too many experiances...I have actauuly had enough of friends requests from starngers and freaks and
finally i ended up writing - "I AM NOT HERE TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS. SO PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW ME, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME FRIEND REQUESTS OR ADD ME. (I will personally try and kill idiots who do that.)"

Atleast that seems to have had some eefect, plus my "no response" to messages from starngers are working a bit...Another major problem is idiots copying ur snaps and misusing and also using it to create fake ids in our names...something has to be done for more security i guess...

Well in one way it is good, coz u can get to meet long lost buddies after so many years and can keep in regular contact now..

Well everything seems to have its positive and negative aspects, but looks like the negative aspects seem to be on the rise everywhere!So orkut is sure a blessing and a CURSE!!!Well cant complain too much na, coz even i keep in touch with all my friends this way....

after soo long!!!

2007-11-11T14:27:00.000+03:00

Well i seem to be trying to write after a long gap...wel wat to do, tried writing several times, never could complete anything....today i seem to be in the spirit for things...heheh..well thats a rare occasiion for me anyway...and nothing much seems to be happening in this boring country...anyway i am happy that i was able to overcome atleast a little bit of the wriers block or watever!!!

What is life?

2007-09-03T15:20:00.001+03:00

What is life exactly? Does anyone seem to have an answer for that??
For some people life seems to b so smooth and things always seem to be working positively for them while for others it seems to be going on moderatly and for others everything seems to be going wrong...
ya true that life is not "a bed of roses", "box of chocolates" blah blah blah...ya sure people can give all those dialogues till they face their own problems...ohh ya if u think abt such things intensly and deeply , 100% u will go crazy and get depressed etc...

best is have a round of drinks and go to sleepin peace...try and think of good things or rather dont think at all so that life will just pass on...

heheh i seems to be going crazier by the minute..well wat to do..after all life is never easy na!!!

Tire urself if u dont want to think abt the problems of life!!

2007-09-03T15:12:00.000+03:00

Life always seems to pop out some problem or surprise at u and i feel the best way to not think abt anything is - tire urselfs out....Ohh ya after doing that, at the end of the day ur eyes will be sooo droopy that u wont have the strength to even have dinner!!!

Well i also seem to be doing that a lot lately. After getting back from work, i seem to be busy at home too and then i go out for walks which take and hour and by the time i get bac and rest, i feel soo tires and in the mornings i am not able to open my eyes..hehehe..that way i seem to have less time to think abt problems and dont sit around and cry like i used to and dont bitch abt not having anything to do or read....

Life seems to be so starnge na...god knows how the next generation is gonna turn out if this generation is so damn crazy!!!!

Taslima Nasreen Threatened!!!

2007-08-18T11:47:00.000+03:00

This is really outrageous! I really cant belive it that muslim clerics in eastern India has issued a "death warrant" against the controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen if she does not leave India soon.

India is goin back to the Ice ages or what??whats happening to this country and its people as we are progressing? And even worse is the fact that anyone who kills her has been offered a cash award of 1,00,000 ($2,400) and other than this additional rewards will also be given it seems.

As it is, it was really shameful that she was attacked publicly when taking part in a function and now on top of it this too..People in India have to be really shameful about their behaviour and about the growing attacks based on religion.

i have really got to say that her writing is really good and she is only writing true facts based on problems she faced or true life incidents she knows about. Looks like many people dont want the truth to be out!!!

Pakistan: The 'poor' neighbor

2007-08-16T12:04:00.000+03:00

This is yet another article from the Kuwait Times..plz check links to read the full article.Everything given below has been quoted from it.

Link: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MjUzNDExODI0

"Sixty years after its birth, India faces a number of serious problems - not least the growing gap between rich and poor, the criminalisation of politics, and the flourishing Maoist and Naxalite groups that have recently proliferated in the east of the country. But Pakistan's problems are on a different scale; indeed, the country finds itself at a crossroads. As Jugnu Mohsin, the publisher of the Lahore-based Friday Times, put it recently, "After a period of relative quiet, for the first time in a decade, we are back to the old question: it is not just whither Pakistan, but will Pakistan survive?" On the country's 60th birthday, the answer is by no means clear?"

given below are parts of the article:

"On the ground, of course, the reality is different and first-time visitors to Pakistan are almost always surprised by the country's visible prosperity. There is far less poverty on show in Pakistan than in India, fewer beggars, and much less desperation. In many ways the infrastructure of Pakistan is much more advanced: there are better roads and airports, and more reliable electricity. Middle-class Pakistani houses are often bigger and better appointed than their equivalents in India. Moreover, the Pakistani economy is undergoing a construction and consumer boom similar to India's, with growth rates of 7 percent, and what is currently the fastest-rising stock market in Asia."

"Nevertheless, despite the economic boom, there are three serious problems that Pakistan will have to sort out if it is to continue to keep up with its giant neighbour - or indeed continue as a coherent state at all. One is the fundamental flaw in Pakistan's political system. Democracy has never thrived here, at least in part because landowning remains almost the only social base from which politicians can emerge. In general, the educated middle class - which in India seized control in 1947, emasculating the power of its landowners - is in Pakistan still largely excluded from the political process. As a result, in many of the more backward parts of Pakistan, the local feudal zamindar can expect his people to vote for his chosen candidate."

Sixty years after its birth, India faces a number of serious problems - not least the growing gap between rich and poor, the criminalisation of politics, and the flourishing Maoist and Naxalite groups that have recently proliferated in the east of the country. But Pakistan's problems are on a different scale; indeed, the country finds itself at a crossroads. As Jugnu Mohsin, the publisher of the Lahore-based Friday Times, put it recently, "After a period of relative quiet, for the first time in a decade, we are back to the old question: it is not just whither Pakistan, but will Pakistan survive?" On the country's 60th birthday, the answer is by no means clear?

A more confident India

2007-08-16T11:54:00.000+03:00

Plz check out this link and read this article too...
It portrays how much India has grown too inspite of all its problems.

Link: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA1NzY1Mjc1Ng==

These articles include a lot of things i wanted to say!

2007-08-16T11:43:00.001+03:00

I realy liked this particluar article which came in today's Kuwait Times with the title "The Cult of the sex goddess". Sagrika Ghose has wrtten well about many of the problems that India and the women in India have even on celebrating its 60th independence.
I felt that it was well written as i was thinking about so many similar things and was waiting to write about it.

Plz check the link to read the article and do let me know ur comments.
Link: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzkyMDU3MDc1

Independence Day

2007-08-15T13:50:00.000+03:00

Happy independence day to all u lovely Indians out there!

60 yrs of freedom huh! really great na? Vande Matharam!!!

Well that was the spirit for my country.60 yrs of freedom and still a long way to go.India sure is on its way to becoming a super power with a booming economy but yet seems to have the biggest issues too. I guess i shouldnt say too much on this particular day and instead should just count my blessings about having atleast this much freedom.
ohh ya i am grateful for the freedom that i enjoy, but i really do want India to rise out of its many growing problems and issues. For eg:- Female infanticide & feticide, the ever growing poverty, growing cases of HIV/AIDS, casteism, riots and killing based on religion etc etc etc.
I know that we cant eradicate such problems all together, but all indians have to work together for a lot of things and without working towars the common goal, we wont reach anywhere.

Anyway happy independence day again!

confusion!!!!

2007-08-15T13:42:00.000+03:00

I seem to be between the devil and the deep sea now! I have this issue thats been bothering me from yesterday and i know it wont bother everyone, but it is bothering me!

The thing is i saw this ad in the paper for a job vacancy and would love to apply, but i am really scared if it will upset or cause issues for a friend who works there. Well many might think that i am being silly etc, but i happen to so sensitive and thats why it bothers me so much i guess.

Ya i do know there are vacancies there and thats why they put the ad, but i am still worried about upseting a good friend....

Ohh boy!! i do sound like a nut na?and i just wish that things were much simpler in life!!!

OOOhhhh boy!!!

2007-08-13T11:54:00.000+03:00

dont know y...but i dont seem to find any topic to write about..humm well waqt kind of block is that???
until last week i was happy that i would be getting some time to myself..now that i have got it, it feels so sad and depreeesing..dont know y...

Check Out a Friend's Snaps and Do Vote!!!

2007-08-04T13:45:00.000+03:00

Hey all u guys reading this blog, plz do check out the link i have given and sign up in that webite and vote for my friends snaps to stay in the contest...Well to be exact i will paste below his instructions:

My Dear Friends -Pls take 5 mins of your time and go this website - http://www.oktatabyebye.com/contest/contest-homepage.aspx this is a online travel community for travel enthusiasts and outdoor lovers. If you're interested in travel go thru their entire website - its pretty neat.Anyway, they've been running this "Travel Photography Contest" the past few days and the catch is that its a publicly polled contest (atleast to enter the first round). So, pls take a minute off and on the page linked above there's a column which says "Search photos by" - you can enter my first name and last name (Praveen Emmanuel) OR enter my "Display Name" below - ManuelFocus. This will immediately open the five pics i have posted on the site and all you have to do is select "This picture should stay in the contest" on the right-hand side and click "submit".

hey people do vote, coz his pics r really wonderful...

The mobile communications in Kuwait Suck!!!

2007-08-02T12:18:00.000+03:00

Well I really can't help telling out the fact that mobile connection providers in Kuwait rob u blind. It's already unbelievable that they take incoming charge and on top of that they simply pull out money from prepaid cards…can you believe that? And who can you complain to regarding this? Absolutely no one and there doesn’t seem to be any solution for this. And I can say that it's true because I have gone through this several times and to be sure that its happening, one day I recharged my mobile with K.D. three and didn’t use the phone at all for a day. Next day I checked and my balance is only K.D one and two hundred Fils.
I went through the same experience yesterday. Recharged my phone and had a balance of K.D. Six and two hundred and fifty fils. I tried making an international call and cut the line as soon as the connection went to a voice mail. The duration of that was just 2 seconds and my balance is K.D. Three. Now what wonderful things should I say for this? Its so damn frustrating and the worse part is nothing can be done about it.

Life is so depressing!!!

2007-07-28T13:38:00.000+03:00

Ohh damn...:( I had typed out a long article and the next minute it disappears. Well it does prove to me that life is indeed too depressing.
Humm well its not that I am too crazy or anything but it is so scary at this age when you do not know what you want in/from life. That makes it even more depressing, especially when I wonder what kind of a future is awaiting me. Well I am not sure this is what I want in life and being a typical Virgo woman, I am always too critical and unsatisfied about anything and everything. Everything around me seems to be depressing me and I feel that I want more out of life not just this! L
I hate the monotony of things and do crave for a little adventure now and then especially in this boring and dull country. I really do not know how people spend their spare time here! Nowhere to go or visit, or spend time and the most unbelievable and frustrating thing for an ardent reader like me is the fact that this country does not have an English library! Can you believe that? Well for me it is indeed unbelievable and if anyone who reads this knows of one do let me know.
These are all facts that sum up to be certain reasons for my depression. Another main fact is that I miss all my close friends and do not have any here. The time here, has made me understand more about the value of close friendships and how friends are indeed a necessary factor for having a happier life. It is indeed so relaxing to have good friends with whom you can share your problems, your happiness, share a good laugh and even have a shoulder to cry on and I indeed do thank God for the internet and chatting facilities. What would I have done without that too?
I was just talking about this depression thing to a friend today and we were like "ok looks like we should all go see a shrink"! Hehehe…:P . the funniest part is that both of us agreed that the shrink would need help after he/she is done with our session!!! :)
Ohh but this entire talk still does not change the fact that life is so depressing! :(

topic crisis!!!

2007-07-26T12:52:00.000+03:00

Now i seem to be having a topic crisis...LOL wondering what to write about...well i certainly want to discuss about Orkut..(Will surely use it as my next topic.) and yipeee i got another topic...about how blogging, mailing, sms and chatting are destroying my english language....

"Hawally Monster" - caught!!!

2007-07-25T14:21:00.000+03:00

After a long year of run and chase and catch and release, the rapist of Hawally was caught. The 27-year-old Egyptian bodybuilder was arrested at the airport while boarding a Jazeera flight to Luxor. The man is suspected of raping 18 kids, all of them under 10 years of age, in Hawally and two in Farwaniya. A pure case of pedophilia. The amazing thing, when he was caught at the airport, was that the cops knew his name and had been searching for him. Thank God he decided to fly for holidays back home. Otherwise maybe he would have been roaming and raping kids in Kuwait for God knows how many years to come.

3 of the victims identified the rapist in a line up and Security sources noted that right on entering the room, the suspect was amazed to see the children whom he looked at as if he knew. 'He had his mouth wide open by surprise which showed his broken tooth all raped children had described to the police', said the sources pointing out that all three children charged at the suspect the moment they saw him and started beating him but they were stopped by the detectives attending the lineup.On their part, watching the suspect helplessly without being able to avenge for themselves, the children broke down and started shedding tears of helplessness.

humm ....my only comment is thank the good Lord and it shows that the world is no longer a safe place; even for little kids! (Crimes against small children have been on the rise and the statistics are really shocking.)