Cousins. Of all kinds.

Cousins. What's the first thought that comes to your mind when you think of 'Cousins'?

Family, extended family, childhood fun, games that you played.

I have a lot of first cousins and second cousins. And yeah, I understood the concept of second cousins while I was in school. A more helpful description is here,in case you didn't know - Courtesy - Wikipedia. We share common ancestors, grand parents or great grand parents.

I grew up in a small town away from all my cousins. Most of my first cousins from both maternal and paternal sides, lived in villages and studied in rural schools in Hoblis or Talukas nearby their homes. In that sense, my siblings and I were the privileged lot who got a chance to study in the town's one and only Private English Medium School at that time. 

I rarely met them. It was only when we had some poojas at home. And may be when we attended marriages or functions outside of town or sometimes during summer and winter vacations.

When I look back at those years, the one thing I seemed to have problems with was that a majority of my first cousins were way too older than us. Some of them 10-14 years older than me. Blame both my parents for being the youngest in their families. We ended up being the youngest too :) So there was a huge gap in terms of relating to the phases in each one of our lives at the time. With some of them who were almost the same age as us, I remember having difficulty in sharing what's happening at our schools since they studied in a rural set up, and barely had any opportunities to explore extra curricular activities in sports or otherwise.

On the contrary, I was in touch with many of my second cousins who lived in the same town and studied with us. I remember discussing school stories with them through the noons over the weekends or during playtime. Also there were some of my older second cousins who I idolized and wanted to grow up to be like them. But again, they lived in Bangalore, a city which in itself passes on many things, which you can't relate to, coming from a small town. So I did face trouble on both sides of the spectrum.

Yes, there were all these constraints. But then, there were these high points as well. I remember spending so many nights on terraces in our villages homes, grandmas' homes, carrying mats and beddings. Watching stars through the night discussing the latest movies, songs and other useless things. And by 5 - 5 30 AM, when the weather became too cold to sleep on the terrace, we used to quickly run downstairs and then continue to sleep :)

I also remember relishing some home-made delicacies which our grand moms and mothers prepared for us during our vacations. My grand mom made this tamarind-salt-jaggery-jeera all crushed and made into little laddoos. Ah, so sour and tangy! One of my aunts made this awesome Beetroot Halwa. In fact I have never found it being made anywhere else and I wish more people made it, it's just so good. And those ice creams from the carts which you bought and ate together.

So, many years later when I started working and got hold of a mobile for myself I started calling some of them who also happened to have mobile phones/or were using emails, sometimes on their birthdays or wedding anniversaries. But still, I don't know birthdays of many of my first cousins.

2014. I feel the situation may not have entirely changed. But now I meet them more frequently and I do not let go of any opportunities I get to meet them and their children, in spite of living many miles away from them. 

Do you also have that cousin who talked too much, who spoke endlessly spinning stories, which you thought were not true? Or a cousin who didn't speak at all and sulked all the time? Or the one whom you avoided because of gossip and secrets slipping out of your circle? Or the one whom you idolized through your growing up years? Or the one in whom you confided in, more than with your own siblings? 

I remember reading this somewhere recently. ''A cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost". And I think to myself. Indeed.

Mothers, A Tale of Three Generations.

July 2012, ah, it's been a really long time. Between then and now, I am a mother of going-to-be-two year old toddler. And being a mother is what has brought me back to blogging which I diligently used to do few years ago.

During my growing up years I learnt a lot of things about my paternal and maternal homes and the people around them. My grand dads on both sides had two wives. Both their first wives were long gone before I was even born and with them, my grand dads too. So I had both my maternal and paternal grand moms, who were the second wives. They lived with us through most of my growing up years and teenage life.

Both these women showed strong support and love to their children, but not so much to the ones who lived with me, my mom and dad. I kind of always wondered, why is that. Never got any answers to my questions back then.

Many years have since passed observing my own mother and I am now a mother myself. A few observations though, stay strongly with me even today. Few strong revelations about Mothers.

Mothers most often worry more about the children who are not in front of them or with them. Even if the ones in front of them may have worrying issues at hand. Even if the ones with them worry more about their parents than themselves.

Mothers are most often not reasonable, in their attitude or behaviors with their children. They have a long list of expectations as the children grow up and become adults. They all do. Some of them let go after a point, some of them never do.

Mothers in Indian society adore their sons more than their daughters, you'd think, and you are right. Until his wife, the daughter-in-law arrives. My father is the only son and the last child amongst the three of them. He never enjoyed any bias for being a son, which is great. But what was worse is the fact that he lost much of the love from his mother, after he got married and had children of his own. Suddenly one of the daughters became the dearest to my grand mom and she grew blind to everything else. There's not a single day which has passed by, without both my parents worrying about her.

In many Indian families including my own maternal and paternal homes, I have seen extreme bias towards one or more children. In the process the child who has received less attention than the others tends to get disconnected or detached. Thankfully, this part though hasn't come true for myself, yet.

My mother loves all of us in the same way and complains about all of us in the same way too. She may be a bit more tolerant to some of us, than the others. I can't say the same for both my grand mothers. My mother worries more about the children who live far away from her, including myself though the ones with her, near her, cater to almost everything she needs.

I wonder, I really wonder how things will go with me as a Mother and I have a son.

I have lived the first half of my life on my terms. Studied what I wanted, though my parents thought something else was better for me. Took up my first job where I wanted, though my parents were apprehensive, worried that I would be miles away from home. Chose the love of my life, though my parents were completely aghast with my decision and abhorred me for what seemed like the longest few days/months of my life.

They came around, I convinced them, they convinced me.

My father convinced me that studying in a particular college on a payment quota seat would mean that I would get recruited on-campus and stay closer home, though I strongly believed I should take up a free seat in a college far away without burdening him any further.

I convinced my teary eyed mother while boarding the train to Mumbai for my first job, that I would take care of myself in the 'underworld' city. And that she can sleep peacefully.

I convinced my parents that 'HE' shall be the one and only love of my life. 7 years on, they know what I felt when I told them. They know that I live that everyday.

I will let my son live the life on his terms. I am there to advise him when needed, protect him all along and value his opinions as he grows.

Toys, Toys and MORE Toys!

You have to check out these pics to believe what an awesome toy collection drive we had today at Raheja Residency!

Toybank thanks -

• all those people who spent some time to dig their wardrobes for some toys which their kids would have thrown away long back!
• all those moms who got their kids along to our stall, and when their kids started feeling sad about giving their toys away, they consoled them saying "beta, you promised me that you'll give these toys, now other children will play with them".
• people who have now moved out of Raheja, but still came all the way to give toys after getting an email on the Raheja group.
• Friends and volunteers who managed to get the carton boxes, stationery, packaging tape in place for this drive.

Thanks everyone!!

Soft toys - cho cute!

Toddler toys!

I have to still figure out what this one is!

We've skaters too!

Toybank stall... no one's there though... he he he :)

Educational toys!

Idol worship or idle worship or ideal worship?

I came across a thought-provoking post in my organization's discussion board which happens to be a forwarded email. Posting the same here. I am not able to get the pictures from the forward posted here, so will give you just the "irony".

IDOL worship? Or IDLE worship? Or IDEAL worship?

The plight of Ganesha a day after immersion...!

Would you like your Gods bulldozed like garbage?
Left to rot for scavengers to feast... ?

Would you like your Gods to be maimed? Desecrated? Dumped?

And you create a hue and cry when some statue in your city gets ‘desecrated’?

You burn down buses and call for bandhs?

Was that statue a GOD?

OR

Is this GOD only a Statue?

You decide.

Wake Up!

Recently I had read about the various ways to prevent environmental pollution, to save earth which is already suffocating because of the deeds we humans have done and are doing.

I feel instead of looking at what are the ways of a doing a Visarjan so that it doesn't cause any environmental menace, I would rather try to look at the contradictory views people have in the society we live in. People in India don't mind leaving their God away into the waters causing all kinds of environmental hazards to the water-bodies everywhere. If asked, they'd say "it's Visarjan! After few days of worshiping Ganesha, god has to be immersed!”

Ask the same people how they feel when their gods get bulldozed like garbage, you wouldn't find anybody answering!! But when they find someone break their Gods down elsewhere; they make such a BIG fuss about things. Ya, because it's normal people who have done that, but in the former case it's just the Municipality officials doing their JOB!


Can't forget to quote the "burning down of a Chennai-bound bus" on Hosur Road in Bangalore 2 days back, just because TamiNadu CM Karunanidhi made a statement about the God Rama's existence. He didn't go break down any God anywhere, so why was the bus burnt down then?? 2 innocent people were charred to death because of this disgusting act! Should we call such people Hooligans or mere idiots who themselves don't know what they are doing?

Eureka! I found it...

All I could think of was...

'I read that in the TOI newspaper on a Sunday after 25th of Aug or I'd say precisely a day after Kilikili's event. I must somehow find it'.

Having this thought on my mind I have been doing a lot of digging into the pile of newspapers which is in the corner of my room. But couldn't find this newspaper there, though Aug 26th is like less than 2 weeks back!

But all thanks to 'www', I found what I wanted on the TOI website. I have never had a chance to visit this site before because I generally check the bbc or ibnlive from office for sometime in the morning. And when am back home, I hardly check any news on the net coz I manage to watch the important ones on TV.

Oh...! Oops didn't I still tell u what I found? :D .. Here u go...

"The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions or a clash of civilizations...It’s a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another that belongs to the 21st century"

I don't know why I was searching for this for more than a week now. I still don't know. I am just happy that I found it!!

I'd read the complete article 10 days back, but these 2 lines made my mind get lost in thoughts. It may be because I could relate things that have been happening recently with me and around me...with just these 2 lines.

I'm happy I found it! Eureka!! :)

Kilikili's awareness programme - Part II

Like I'd promised in my previous post, let me tell you more about the awareness programme I was part of.

I had just then finished distributing the handouts to the people in Coles Park for Kilikili's event, when I heard someone call my name out. That was Vinod, an active and enthusiastic volunteer for Kilikili and my companion for the awareness programme, who has LOADS of energy even in his sixties!!

We greeted each other and started our second task for the day.

- Our first visit was to a shop "Indira darshini" which is on the other side of the road at the Coles Park’s small gate. We met the man at the cash counter and introduced ourselves. I must admire Vinod's attitude to take this up so professionally. And I liked it because I felt so happy working for this good cause!

Vinod: "Sir, I am Vinod. We are volunteers from Kilikili which works for making public parks accessible for differently abled kids......" I joined the conversation to talk to the shopkeeper in Kannada.

Shopkeeper: "Please don't waste my time. Don't beat around the bush. Come to the point. What do you want??”

I was totally disappointed at his rude statement and his attitude towards the cause. I couldn't stop myself from giving it back 'like always'...

Me: "Sir, we have not come here to waste your time. We are trying to educate you about the facility given to disabled kids in Coles Park and how you can spread the word. Even we have come here taking some time out from our work schedules for a good cause. In case you don't want to donate, it's OK. But don't ask us not to beat around the bush because we AREN'T doing that ".

I was just too disappointed with this kind of a start. But Vinod never let our spirits die down through out the evening. He did try to urge that man to do some kind of a donation for the cause but the man went on to say that "I am not the manager here. Please come when he's around"!!

I didn't find one reason to get back to that place again.

I wasn't disappointed because that guy didn't contribute, but yes I felt bad that he didn't care to listen to what we had to say. I would have been more than happy if he at least helped us in spreading the word.

Well, we moved on to the next shop. We went into a mobile phone shop. We introduced ourselves. The shopkeeper was a guy in his late twenties. He asked us for more info and also we showed him our brochures and gave him the handout as well.

He was too happy to help us and donated a generous 100 bucks. Believe me I was not even close to being this happy when I got my first salary which was 8.5K!!

We have got the coupon books of 50 and 100 each done for Kilikili as part of the fund raising programme. These books also let us take down the contact details of the person who's donating and we were so happy to receive our first donation :).

Yes that did lift my spirits up because this guy showed so much interest in what we spoke and was happy being part of the cause himself.

Then we went on to visit small shops, departmental stores, small hotels and a diagnostic centre too and people in most of these were really not keen in listening to us and gave us one same "excuse" for not contributing -

"Our manager/proprietor isn't around. He has gone out. Please come tomorrow."

But still, we made a cool 620 bucks in just about an hour and a half!! :)

Well I have to mention one very important thing here. The entire amount which we collected was donated by men who are in their mid twenties and mid thirties...

This was seriously some food for thought. These were men who were educated, in their youth, who were patient enough to listen to us during their peak business hours, enthusiastic to ask us for handouts or brochures and who promised that they would "spread the word" :)

I mentioned this to Vinod when we almost reached our last shop for that day. He said "hey smart observation! All the old men did refuse to even listen to us and also they kept asking us to come tomorrow!!"

He was excited with this thought and asked the guy from the near by tyre shop about the same thing, the guy had just then finished donating us a generous 50 bucks,

"Sir, we shouldn't worry about what the old people think or say when it comes to understanding a good cause like this. It's definitely the youth in India which will take it to greater heights."

Well, on that note let me thank Kilikili for such a beautiful day on the 30th of June! All of us truly had loads of fun!

Some things in Life... which I'll always do - Event with Kilikili Part I

Some things in Life...I always wished and wanted to do, which I'll always do and would want to do!

Let me introduce you to my world of 'community service' through this post and the ones which would follow. I have never blogged about my activities with the Community Service Group of the organization I work for. It's also called Angel Eyes :).

I have been working for this group from 2 years, while I was in Mumbai and now in Bangalore too. May be I always thought such things are sweeter in memories :) and hence I never tried to put it out onto my blog.

But I think NOW is the time I should be sharing my experiences here and should be letting my thoughts out so that people who would bump into this blog can relate to things they have seen/felt/experienced and together we can work on larger things in life...

I work for an organization called 'Kilikili' - this actually is a kind of sound associated with the kids' laughter in Kannada. Kilikili is an NGO in Bangalore which works for making public parks accessible for differently abled kids. The first thing you'd see on its Homepage -

"How come we never see a child with a disability in a public park?"

I'd say, we hardly see 'any' kid play in the public parks. Kids these days are glued more to TV sets, computers or mostly video games, play stations and other gadgets in town!!

When I first heard about Kilikili, I was very impressed with it's very objective and ideas. I thought it was amazing.

After a training session on different disabilities in kids and a few follow-up meetings, all the volunteers at Kilikili were eagerly waiting for the BIG day on 30th of June coz this day was the official launch for Kilikili with one park in Fraser Town - "Coles Park" going LIVE with the new equipments installed for the special kids to play in the park and also with the old ones repaired too!!

Just before the event, I and a fellow volunteer decided to go for an awareness programme in the vicinity of the Coles Park. This also included collecting any donations for the NGO from the people in the area.

27th June

I left office early along with hand-outs and landed at Coles Park at 4 30 PM, it was good weather in the evening with chill breeze in the park and tiny leaves from the trees dropping gently onto the ground. I thought this evening was a perfect start and so I started off my awareness program for Kilikili!

I had assigned 2 tasks for myself that day.

(1) To educate the people coming to the park about Kilikili and the equipment that was going to be installed for kids with disabilities in the park and to provide them with the handouts about the event.

(2)To educate the people outside the park along with a fellow volunteer, mostly small shops, hotels in the vicinity and see if donations pour in for Kilikili.

I'll speak about my first task in this post now.

Meeting people in the park was a good learning experience and I'd like to mention few conversations I'd with the people there.

- The first person whom I spoke to was an old woman who was busy reading mantras and shlokas from a book. I apologized to her for disturbing and went ahead to tell her what Kilikili was about and invited her to the event. She smiled, heard what I said and told me If she meets any disabled kid, she'd let the parents know about the new equipment in Coles Park.

Now that was a good start I thought...

- I reached the skating area in the park where these equipments were going to be installed before 30th. What made me happy was, I saw young moms and dads who'd come to drop their kids for the Summer Skating Camp, coz now I got more people to whom I could speak to about Kilikili and educate them on the same :)

- I met many young moms mostly :) which is typical coz "dad's out for work" you see :). But I did meet a middle-aged man who had got both his kids there for their skating classes. I spoke to him about Kilikili and told him the company I work for supports the same. He then said, "I work for Intel and you guys are doing a good job. I'll surely let parents of any disabled kid know about the same".

- Standing at the small gate where you'd enter into the skating area, I was busy waiting for more parents to drop in. Just then, the watchman at the gate came up to me and asked me "Madam, what's this all about?" I told him about Kilikili and instantly he smiled and said "Oh yeah, I know about this. I heard that the equipment will be installed tomorrow. Give me few handouts. I'll distribute them to more people before the event." :)

Sir, I really admired you for that. Thanks for volunteering!

- I also met a sweet young couple who sat there on the bench beside the fence of skating area. They were so patient to listen to me and were really happy with the idea! They said they'd let people know about it too!

- While all the incidents I have mentioned above made me so happy and encouraged/inspired me, there were also few others moments which pissed me off! I met few annoying people too. There was a middle aged mom posing off with her camcorder standing outside the fence, shooting the video of her kid skating. She came and sat down on a bench there, after the video session. Few minutes later, I went to her and spoke..

Me: "Excuse me Madam, I am Swetha. I work for an organization called Kilikili. Can you see the kids play there in the slides and wings? There are these special kids who can't really access the same. And Kilikili will be installing new equipment for the same. In case you know any differently abled kid in your vicinity, please let them know"

Before I could complete this, she interrupted me with an expression "Do I care?" on her face and with a chewing gum in her mouth,

She said: "There's NO disabled kid in my vicinity" and turned her face off.

I couldn't stop myself from giving it back to her. Immediately I added,

Me: "It's great to know that there are no disabled kids in your area. That's exactly what we wish to see and hear from everyone some day."

All in all, it was one amazing learning experience for me because this was the first time I'd ever gone on an awareness programme educating people about this NGO which wants every child to PLAY without any discrimination!

In the next few posts to come...you can read more about the event on 30th June and the interesting things that we encountered in our awareness programme outside Coles Park.

Let Go! Should I or Shouldn't I? Have I or Haven't I?

After a stomach-filling chat-eating session just an hour before dinner, it was quite obvious that I'd not have my dinner. I came back to my flat, freshened up, spent an hour at the cyber cafe and then there I was back in my den again!

I was surfing through the few channels available or I would say watchable! because most of the channels available would be the Mallu or the Arabic ones, both of which I can't understand...and a movie just began in one of them..

The star cast of the movie looked very interesting and it didn't let me turn off the TV and get into my bed...

The movie was "Nurse Betty".. Renée Zellweger playing the title role and it also had Morgan Freeman! So I thought it should be worth watching and went on to watch it...The movie has Morgan Freeman and his son Chris Rock chasing Renee, while she's chasing her dream to see her favorite actor of a soap she loves.. suitably called 'Reason To Love'

One day when she's watching her favorite show and is fully engrossed in it...her husband gets killed in the same house with her having absolutely no clue about it. She later witnesses that gruesome incident when she goes out to check the weird noises she heard while watching her show and there begins the story..

Betty gets into a traumatized state where all she remembers is her fav star who she thinks is her "ex-fiancé' and her romantic dream about seeing him and takes her car out and starts off her journey to meet him!

While on the other side of the movie, Freeman and Chris Rock start chasing Betty because the drugs they wanted to pick up from her husband are in that car which Betty has taken out for her long journey!

This is a movie worth watching.. and the story takes its twists and turns as it moves on and that's left for you to explore..

After the movie was over, I was still thinking about Renee's character "Betty".. I thought there was a Betty in me…I've come across few things or people in my life, which or whom I don't let go!
Betty always dreamt that her fav actor was supposed to be "with her" all the time and moreover she thought they were engaged!..huh !... which was of course not the reality..

Like Betty, everyone of us would have things, relationships, people, moments which we never want to let go out of our lives and try hard to stay in a world which doesn't exist!
I did read about the art of letting go in one of my friend's blog.

It's definitely true that I could relate to the post I've mentioned above…

I remember, I had this beautiful red skirt with tiny hearts all over which my dad got for me when I was 11 or 12 for my cousin's wedding…I wore it and every time I did, I loved wearing it…
It was lying there in my wardrobe for few years…And one day during my graduation, when I came home for a vacation from hostel…I didn't find it there!
For a moment, I couldn't digest the fact that " it isn’t here anymore??!!" and I ran to my mom… only to find out she gave it away to someone…guess to my maid's daughter…

While it made much sense to my mom that if I am not wearing that skirt I loved anymore, it's good to give it away to someone who'd wear it!
But for me, it took sometime for the news to sink in…and let it go!

This was just one of those "infinite" examples…and I am sure every one will have similar examples to quote…
All the greeting cards which I got for New Year/ Birthday, f'ship bands I got on the Friendship Day, pictures of Shahrukh and Sachin I collected for so many years…which eventually went on to become a BIG collage…and yeah.. it hung there in my room at the hostel for years!, Shahrukh's wallpaper on my desktop!...And the LIST goes on….

Do they mean something to me NOW?!!

Well...Have I let them go or Haven’t I yet??

And when it comes to relationships and people, it’s the same story again! History repeats!
It's so important sometimes to let them go because holding them back will create more problems to you and the person involved and the "relationship" ….

Though I know this, many a times I still think Should I or Shouldn't I?!!

Ridiculous is the way this world works!!!

She was so excited the day she met me before leaving...

My friend Priya told me that she'd be going home for a week's time...and was enthu about having a great time back home with her family and friends...

A week flew by and she was back here...but with all that excitement lost in her face... and all the josh locked up somewhere...

She was now telling me about the hardest times she went through handling the most difficult moments of her life so far...

It's been quite sometime now..And she had started realizing that she'd finally arrived at the MOST WEIRD phase of her life.. She was initially finding it almost impossible to digest the fact that she'll now need to step into a "NEW" world with a "PARTNER" into an institution which is unfortunately termed "MARRIAGE"!!!

I am sure almost every Indian girl will go through this difficult phase of her life... where she has a 1000 questions in her mind...driving her crazy day in and day out... and nobody around to answer these...and she'd be left with no choice...but to enter into this so called institution of Marriage... with all the questions unanswered...!!

She was telling me how things were definitely going to change... for good or bad.... which she has absolutely no clue about...

The first question she wanted just anyone to answer was... "Is this change required in my Life NOW?? Am I not happy the way I am...??

It'd taken her 24 years to build this beautiful web of relationships around her... And it's so difficult for anyone who's built this web of relationships around oneself...to come out and force yourself to enter into a TOTALLY NEW one now... !!!

Someone had once said "Change is the only constant thing in Life"…I'd say it's definitely EASIER SAID THAN DONE!!!

And she's now worried about handling the situation where she feels that... she's entered into a A World Turned Upside Down…She still can't believe if this is the same world she lived in all these days....

On the other side were Priya's parents...who felt it's "NOW" the time... that Priya got married...to the "RIGHT" guy... and begin the new phase of her life...!!

I was just thinking if there was any Indian girl who'd "HAPPILY" let all her relationships which she has built up for 24 years now, to take a back seat and get into "MARRIAGE" which the Indian society describes it funnily enough...as the "most sacred thing ever" ...

And more surprisingly...get into MARRIAGE with someone she's known "THE LEAST" all her life...

Isn't this ridiculous?

A Journey to Muscat...

Like any other software engineer being sent on an onsite assignment... i too was picked up for one :|
But the major difference was with the Destination :)... Unlike the typical US/UK/Germany...This was destination MUSCAT :)...

I finally reached Muscat....!!!! :)...It was indeed a BIG mission accomplished :D

SATURDAY 11TH NOV

My flight from b'lore was at 6:15 PM on Saturday, but how can a flight not get delayed if am traveling in that... :||
It got delayed for about 1 1/2 hrs coz of a technical snag...this always happens with me... :|||...

On sat night, I reached the Seeb International Airport, Muscat!!! It was 10:15 PM Muscat time.. :((...
If the flight had come on time... I was supposed to reach at 8:15 PM Muscat time...!!!!

When I reached Muscat, the crew announced "ladies and gentlemen, welcome to seeb international airport, the weather outside is 28 C :||......"and I was like "what the hell".... :(

And then I got down from the flight, took the bus to reach the transit of airport... and there... was the actual process...which I needed to finish

- I'd to get my original Visa...
- I'd to exchange my USD with Omani riyals...
- Get the passport stamped...

So got all this done....uffff... it was 10:45 PM...

Asked ppl in airport for a phone booth... and picked up my baggage and went there...guess what???
Its not a typical STD booth where you'll talk as much as u want, come out and pay a guy....You got to buy a smart card/calling card...

So... went back again... bought a 2 OR calling card...
Called my acct manager... the line was busy!!
Called my PM...The line was busy again!!!!!!!!!! I got TENSED!!!....

Now I used my LIL but SMART brains :)... called up the hotel guy.. AL WAFA hotel... where my flat was booked...
Asked him if it’s safe to take an airport taxi and come there... he said it’s not a prob... :)

So then...I called my dad. Who was sleeping after an exhaustive day...told him things in brief...and left for Ruwi which is 30 Kms from the airport...

My flat/apartment was booked in Ruwi... that’s where everyone from the project stays...

I took an airport taxi...and old man was the driver of the cab... the cabs here were all fundu cars...it looked like u've have ONLY fundu cars here...
It was only a 15 min journey.. Coz he was driving at 110/120... !!!!!
And that was very NORMAL....coz all cars were being driven at that speed.. :)
And the ROADS here are too good.... no wonder he drove so fast...
And the cabs are all corollas...or much better cars....

I asked the driver..."how far is the place from airport"...coz I didn’t know it earlier...he said "very far"...
And I asked him another quest....there came no reply from him... aaaah i was already tensed that it was late...
and then this :| !!!! May be he wanted me to just quietly SIT :I

Hmmm...ok now for the drive...name a brand of car...and you could see a BIG showroom....a real BIG showroom...all thru the way.....There’s jaguar/peugot/mitsubishi/porsche/honda/hyundai/mercedes/.... and just every name...

And well... sitting in the backseat...i was engrossed in seeing the roads and cars...
And there's steering wheel on left side ..Here...US style haan... and FINALLY.... i reached the Al-wafa hotel...paid the driver 8 OR!!!! That’s expensive... but it was SAFE :)

The receptionist was a nice guy...
Receptionist : "so madam[actually he said madaaam:)].. You are Swetha..."
Me: "yeah..."
Receptionist:"where are u coming from"
Me:” India"
receptionist:” so how's India,how's it doing" and he gave a big pleasant smile...
Me:” good.." and i smiled back...

The hotel boy took my entire luggage and guided me to room... telling me how many ppl are now there in these flats from my organisation...


And he's a guy from Andhra... he was happy to know that i knew Telugu..
Then i asked him to get water... and closed my flat's door... and was inspecting it...

Ok then a few mins later...
My acct manager came to room to check if am ok, spoke for 5 mins and then i slept at 11:30....
When i got down at airport it was 28 C, so i thought its really hot temp here..
So turned on AC in room and also the fan :)

but by 1 AM, it was dead damn chilling.. Got up and turned off AC...:|

SUNDAY 12TH NOV

I was told by receptionist that he'll wake me up if i want him to every morn...
so I’d asked hotel ppl to wake me up at 6:30 next day morn...the hotel boy who works in night shift...promptly woke me up at 6:30 AM..
But i got up only at 7 :D

Got ready by 8:15... And PM picked me and 3 others from the apartments...

So on Sunday morn...we reached my client's office... which is a 15 min drive on the way to airport
had a burger in off canteen... don’t know if it was veg or non-veg... :| who cares :), didn’t bother to ask them at all :D

and i met an old friend of mine who was in Mumbai office along with me... he had helped me in Annual Bash activities last year...they all stay in near by flats...

hmmm... i now have loads of docs to read.. I might be given a laptop.. coz client is very strict on us getting laptops from India... coz there isn’t much place for them to accommodate us with desktops...every IT company's prob :)
so PM has asked me to get my laptop to off from Monday :||
he said he'll be arranging one for me soon :| ...but am sure that i'll be using mine :) all thru my stay...

hmm lunch time..had Rajma chawal in noon...may be that was mixed with meat... don’t know what meat means in Oman... mutton or BEEF !!!!
i didn’t know that until a colleague told me late in eve...
now i can’t do anything abt it... can i????

at 6:30 PM.. we left for home...me and other 4 colleagues took the taxi service... its 200-300 baisa per person....

i reached flat... freshened up...switched on TV!!!
guess what... there were only Tamil/Malayalam channels coming on TV!!!
i turned it off...may be I’ll need to tune it :|

and at 9:00 PM we went out to a Pakistani restaurant close to hotel for dinner...

came back... had a chat for a while in the reception with my colleagues ...went off to sleep at 10:15!!!

MONDAY 13TH NOV

today...I got my wake up call again at 6:30...but am one lazy goose :)... one thing i'll never want to sacrifice is my early morning sleep :)
i got up only at 7:30...got ready...took my laptop.... man it’s so heavy... couldn’t carry it from hotel till taxi stand...

We reached office...I am now going thru the docs :| related to the module i'll need to work on. There are around 20 ppl from my organization working on 2 diff projects... most of them have been staying here for 10 months now ...

alright will update this blog... with more of my experiences at Muscat.. we are planning for some trip this weekend.. let’s see...may be a camel ride in the desert :) or a visit to the sultan's palace :)

and if you didn’t know...abt weekend system in Oman and if you wondered why i was working on a Sunday...the weekend here is Thurs/Friday !!!!! :)