Et cetera

The year is coming to an end and it has been a very busy year indeed. First of all, I got married and started experiencing new roles and responsibilities.

Also, my sister gave birth to a cute little girl very recently and made me an uncle, officially. Earlier, I used to bribe a few kids to stop them from calling me "uncle". But now, I can't do that anymore. So one more new role. I'm desperately longing to see my niece ASAP.

Office has been more n more tiring with a lot of stress these days. People are squeezing me like a lemon there. But no matter whatever they do, they surely can't get more juice out of me than what I've in me.

One big surprise for most of my oldest friends out here is that I stopped drinking(not permanently, at least). After WD came to live with me, I never even thought of having that glass of nectar... ;)

Life has been going smooth as of now. WD is visiting India this week and this will be the first time in six months that I'll stay without her.

I'll be back to my usual posting about politics, sports and movies from my next post. BTW, talking about sports, GOD has just scored a 50th century in Test Cricket. And soon after that the other GODS cried with joy and it rained. What a coincidence!!!!

A disaster filled week

Hi friends, I am back here after a real loooonggg time and everytime I'm here I promise to come back soon, which rarely happens. But this time, I'm here to stay.

Life took a lot of turns and twists these days, but all for good. But this week has been disaster till now. To summarize, these are the so called disasters.

1. My Internet connection has been disconnected due to non-payment of the dues... :( But got it back after a day.
2. My mobile connection validity has expired and I didn't realize it for one whole day as the incoming calls kept on coming(grace period). I realized this when I tried to call a friend to accompany to the Internet office.
3. I went to the Traffic directorate to pick up a test date and the lady there, saw my driving details book and asked me about an application which I forgot at office. She said that it's not possible to give a test date "without looking at it".
4. Again, I went to the same office in the evening and this time, a dude was sitting there. He checked my Learner's License(LL) and informed that it expires in 3 and a half months and they have no test dates for 4 months.
5. So, I rushed to another office and got my LL renewed for an year. This time, I got the test date but its after 4 months and 4 days.

Waiting for driving test for more than 4 months is a stupid thing to do even for a stupid person like me, but this should happen for somebody who was lazy enough to ignore this for the past 4 years. But imagine failing in the test(which is quite common here) and waiting for another 4 months to get the next test. May GOD help me.

Well, this is how my week is passing. But there's some sunshine as the weekend is approaching fast and I don't have much committments. I hope to spend some quality time with WD. See you all next week.

PS: As the Internet policy in my office allows me to access blogs only for 10 minutes at a time, all that I've typed from the point 3 above got lost and I had to retype the entire post. Well, can't really blame anybody for this, except my stars.

Is the END near?

Well, don't back-off thinking that I'm late in seeing the catastrophic disaster movie "2012". This post is just about the recent climatic disasters and some stupid ramblings.

First in line is the cloudburst and its subsequent landslides and flash floods in Leh, India. In August 2010, a little less than 200 persons were killed in Leh because of the aforesaid climatic conditions. You might ask "What's so special about this?". Well, according to Wikipedia, The average annual rainfall in Leh is only 90 mm (three and a half inches). So, obviously, the cloudburst is quite surprising. And to add to my confusion, there's this article on the internet.

Second is what happened in Guatemala in June. There were volcanic eruptions, a powerful tropical storm, floods and landslides, and a frightening sinkhole. I think it's better if you watch it than me describing about what hell the people went through there. This is the link


The rest of the disasters are as below:

Floods in Pakistan

Russian Wildfires

Floods in Europe

Landslide in Pakistan earlier this year

Most of the above events are of surprising occurrence. Well, looking at all these, I can say one thing. We, humans, have messed with the environment in a big way. Looks like the end is pretty near. All we can do is to try to prolong it by contributing towards the greenery.

A historic decision

Today, I was happy. Not for any personal reason but for the announcement of Mr President, Barack Obama of the United States of America. The announcement deals with the decommissioning of the combat troops of US of A in Iraq.

In Mr President's words, "Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about the end of our combat mission in Iraq, the ongoing security challenges we face, and the need to rebuild our nation here at home.". This is exactly what I was thinking for the past few years. For a country plagued by recession and unemployment and a huge social uproar against the war, is it really necessary to wage a war against someone?

After watching a huge list of movies that deal with the war and its aftermath like the critically acclaimed "Hurt Locker", "Home of the Brave", "Dear John" etc, I felt bad for the soldiers of USA than the people of Iraq. How long can one wage a battle for something which they are not sure of? To add to that, I saw these images in one of my favorite website which deals with current world issues.

I read somewhere that some 50,000 American troops will stay in Iraq for support and counter-terrorism training, and the last forces are not due to leave until the end of 2011 at the latest. But still, it's a huge sigh of relief for the families of all those brave soldiers.

Long live humanity. And for those of you, who want to read the complete transcript of the speech of the POTUS, the link is here.

Can't think of a title

I know that I'm writing this post almost a good 3 months after my last post. Well, all I can say is I was a bit busy.

Life's good. So far at least. Everything that has been bothering me for quite a few days got resolved. A small brief about some important things out of them:

WD's here, at last. The great Passport officials at Visakhapatnam kept her passport pending as she has a twin sister. They thought that "how can there be two passports with same DOB n same address?". Well, they should have seen the names instead. Anyways, they kept the passport application pending for six weeks before WD went there and all this while, the status is shown in the web as "Police Report yet to be received"!!!

A server upgrade that was on the cards for more than 6 months has been completed. And that too, during WD's absence. Thank God, she would have killed me if I was in office for more than 10 hours a day and that too for 29 days in a month!!!

Life's not the same from now on and I hope it's not hard enough for me and WD.

I'm back

Here I am, after having a confusing transformation from a bachelor to husband. I used the word 'confusing ' willingly, because I'm still not aware of my roles and responsibilities, even though I was married a good 50 days back. My mind refuses to come to reality and act completely as an adult. As WD is having some issues with her passport, she's still back home in India and I returned to my workplace 3 weeks back. I expect her to be here by this month end. Meanwhile, I'm passing time mostly on my PS2 and a new project lined up for the next two months.

Oops, looks like I didn't mention what WD stands for. It's Wifey Dear. Thank you God, for giving me a spouse like WD. She's good, understanding, caring, blah blah blah. The only problem with her is she expects me to be an adult at all times. But she is manageable, at least for now.

Wish me all the best in this new job that pays me well with loads of love and affection. I'll be a regular in Bloggerville from now on. I know that it's a short post compared to the huge change in my life, but I've lost someone so dear quite recently and cannot write much now. I'll write about it in my next post.

Wedding Invitation

Hi folks, I am no longer a lone traveler in the journey of life. A life-long companion is going to accompany me in this journey. As some of you know, her name is Sravanthi and our marriage is scheduled to take place in 15 days time, on 2nd April, 2010.

I, along with Sravanthi, request your gracious presence at our marriage in Penugonda, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India. The invitation is as below:
For those of you who are planning to come to the wedding, the maps showing the way from a couple of nearest towns to the venue are as below:
Routes: The town of Penugonda is about 35kms from Tadepalligudem station, 15 kms from Tanaku station, 15 kms from Palakollu station, 30 kms from Nidadavole station and 50 kms from Rajahmundry station.

There are government-run buses from Tanuku, Bhimavaram, Tadepalligudem and Rajahmundry to reach Penugonda. There are trains from Chennai (Chennai-Howrah Mail, Circar Express) Vijayawada (Ratnachal Express), Hyderabad (Gowthami Express, East Coast Express, Godavari Express, Konark Express, Visakha Express) Bangalore (Prasanthi Express) and Tirupati (Tirumala Express, Howrah Express) that pass through Tadepalligudem or Tanuku that are nearby stations to Penugonda. After getting down at either of these places, you can take a bus or taxi.

The nearest airport is located in Rajamundry, but I strongly advice you to travel by train/bus as the scenic beauty of all those lush green fields(on the way) come second to none.

The venue for the marriage reception is The Daspalla Hotel, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. You can easily reach the coastal city of Visakhapatnam from anywhere as it is well connected with many other places of India. There are a number of flights, trains and buses from the other cities of South India. Please google them for the exact information.

For those of you who cannot be present at either our marriage or our reception, I humbly request you to shower us with your choicest blessings for both of us to lead a very happy married life. My contact number in India will be +91-9704159560. This number will be active from 26th March, 2010.

At this moment, I wish to thank my parents in helping me choose Sravanthi as my life partner. All those great friends of mine who were with me through all the ups and downs of my life, here comes another friend whom you would love to have in our group.

A biggg U turn in life

I was enjoying the benefits of being single for almost all my life except for a few greenish patches scattered here and there. And suddenly, everything went haywire during my last vacation to India in November 2009. My parents are quite busy for the past few months in searching a girl for me. And on November 28th 2009, I saw Sravanthi as part of girl-looking process. This meet was arranged in so much haste that I don't even have a proper formal dress to wear. Somehow, it all went fine and we liked each other.

She is the first girl I saw in the marriage proposal stuff. As my parents liked her and her family, to be frank, I said yes to this proposal. It was like "what the hell stuff" for me. I was sure that I can live with anybody. But the next day, after I got up, I was confused. I don't know whether the entire thing that happened on the previous night was true or just a dream. It all went so fast for me to realize the reality.

But, once we started our conversations over phone and a couple of quick dates(these too are hasty) later, we realized that we are the perfect matches for each other(OK, at least I felt so). She also has almost the same interests as me, same view of life as me etc. Sadly, my stay in India was only for a few days and I have to come back before we can meet much more frequently.

Our marriage was fixed to take place on April 2nd 2010(early hours of April 3rd). Yep, I have only 3 weeks of bachelorhood left for me, and this too I'm busy with office and furnishing my flat kind-of-stuff. I had a bad sprain on my left shoulder, thanks to those cricket matches where I've been faring much better these days. Frankly speaking, I don't even have time for bachelor parties. But I have to hold a couple of those soon enough.

Back to reality, I don't want to hide anything from Sravanthi and I'm answering all her queries about my personal life. She hadn't asked about the most personal stuff till a couple of nights back.

• She asked whether I had any affairs earlier and I had to bluff this one time and I partially answered that all those crushes are it-happened-kind-of-stuff and I was single for a really long long time.

• She asked whether I drink and I told her that I'm a social drinker but not a drunkard. Well, some of you may have some doubts on this and I can assure you that this is what is happening for more than a year.

I think she took the affair thing casual as it's common to have crushes now and then. But looks like she felt bad for the drinks stuff. I have to assure her that I'll quit alcohol if it really bothers her. But still, this kept bugging her and I feel as if I did the wrong thing by telling the truth. I had to take a word from her not to tell anything of this to my parents or her parents.

Now folks, did I do a right thing by telling all the truth about me? I know that we are meant to share our whole life together and there shouldn't be any secrets between us, but should there be some secrets that make our married life more prosperous? Like, life would be better if those are not revealed?

Time is the only thing that answers all these questions. Meanwhile, let me enjoy what's left in my bachelor life and you too enjoy your life. You'll receive a formal invitation soon for my marriage at this very same place.

The moment

I was away from Bloggerville for quite sometime, as this place is never the same as it was a few months back. Most of my Blogger friends have left the place and it was as if I was almost alone here. But what happened today made me jump back to this place. After all, this is my place, a place where I jump in joy and cry in pain and people join me whatever the reason is.

It was today, the 24th of February 2010, that History was rewritten. In fact, it can better be termed as "History is written" on this very day. This was the moment that the entire mankind has been waiting for, for the past 39 years and in simpler terms, for 2961 ODIs.



To cut short, it was today when the Demigod of Indian cricket made the first Double Century in One Day Internationals(ODIs). The milestone which slipped away from many greats couldn't escape from the Little Master. He conquered the last record which he wasn't able to lay his hands upon. And this came at a time when he was on top of his form. He made 5 International Centuries in the past 50 days. A milestone which scares anyone who tries to get it.

As I'm jotting this down, South Africa is losing quick wickets, but I'm not bothered about the win. In fact, it's not just me who's feeling the same but there are billions around the world who just can't even speak, out of joy. It'll be only like an icing on the cake, if India wins.

Sorry folks, I'm so happy that I can't even write anything here. But I promise to return back soon and share a lot more.

Poor Vaishnavi

It was said that demons used to exist in the past when none of us were born, not us, not our fathers, not even our great-grandfathers. It was also documented that GOD used to take some or the other form to keep things in control and save humankind from these demons. But day-after-day this is proven wrong, again and again. Yesterday, I was sure that the demons are still alive.

Most of you might have heard about the kidnap of a cute little kid, Vaishnavi about 3 or 4 days back. Reports say that this girl, aged 10 years, was traveling in a car with her brother and a driver, when some masked miscreants attacked their vehicle. The driver who tried to tackle them was brutally stabbed and the girl's brother managed to run away. Then the kidnappers took the girl in the same car and deserted the car somewhere far. Everybody, including me, was hoping that the girl will be left alone once they kidnappers get their ransom or some shitty demands. But no demands are made and yesterday, the unthinkable happened. The girl was found dead, in fact her charred body was found.

Sad news is that her father got heart attack twice after hearing the news of his daughter's death yesterday evening and he died today morning.

Reports say that the persons behind this kidnapping are the brothers of the first wife of the kid's father. It was said that they paid 5 million INR to the kidnappers for this brutal deal. Now tell me, are the demons dead? Or they started living in human form? Or is it us who are making ourselves demons for silly issues?

GOD bless the girl's soul. Btw, with all these incidents, I am planning to take up the daring topic of "why should Indian judiciary system change" for my B2 speech in Toastmasters.

2009 or 2010 - we'll never change

Folks, I hope you all had a great New Year Eve. My celebrations were at tKs where I was the only single guy and the rest of the gathering were families. But still, it was fun.

Till 10 PM last night, I wanted to write this post about my icebreaker speech yesterday in Toastmasters club. But after 10 PM, my ideas changed and what I saw on NDTV, shocked me.

Those guys were airing some footage of a rural background where somebody was wounded. I got some interest and started watching it and as I came to know of the whole story, I broke into tears. The story goes on like this:

A sub-inspector(SI) was going to his police station on a two wheeler and suddenly, he was attacked by some miscreants with some crude bombs and sickles. Their plan is to hack him to death, but suddenly they saw that a convoy was approaching them and left the man wounded. The convoy belongs to a couple of ministers of the Tamilnadu state(one was Minister of Health, I suppose) and even a District Collector was with them at that time.

The police who were with the convoy try to chase down the attackers, but they managed to slip away by hurling bombs at the police. The real pathetic story starts from here. This SI who was wounded was literally crying and pleading for help and nobody even went near him. According to the news channel, the District Collector got down from his car after 8 minutes and called for an ambulance. The honorable ministers got down from their vehicles after 20 minutes and did nothing. An ambulance reached the place after some time and on its way to the nearest hospital, the SI succumbed to the injuries. He was crying and pleading the passerby's to help him for about 30 minutes.

The saddest part is that, after basic investigation, the police has stated that this is a case of mistaken identity and as the SI was wearing a helmet, the attackers mistook him for another cop whom they wanted to kill.

After seeing all this, I was wondering why the news channel crew was filming the whole incident without helping the dying man. But promptly, there was a scrolling showing that this video was shot by a freelancer. Let's hope so!

What is the need for us to celebrate a change in calendar, when there's no change in the mindsets of the people? May God bless the dead man's family with its choicest blessings and may people inculcate that helping nature in themselves.

Wicked Whisper: I think that all the people who are present there are as responsible for the man's death as are the attackers. Should we prosecute all of them?

You can click here and here for a couple of videos showing the incident, but beware, they are not for the faint-hearted.
Video courtesy: Times of India.