A sudden trip to India

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!

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

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

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!!!!

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!!!

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!!!

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

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!!!