Why did I?

Why did I miss watching "Delhi Belly" in theater?
Why did I hate my career these days?
Why did I stop playing games on my Play Station?
Why did I never think of investing in Gold earlier?
Why did I resort to calling my dearest friends very rarely?
Why did I skip eating breakfast all these days?
Why did I try earlier for my driving license?


And Finally,
Why did I leave this wonderful place called "Bloggerville" for the past few months?

Some questions are better left unanswered than coming up with lame answers.

Same old title, I'm back

It's been more than a month since I dropped by. Main reason - blogging's blocked in office. Other Reasons - Been busy, Watching World Cup cricket, blah blah.

Just popped in yesterday to see what other Blogger pals are doing and found that most of the places are same like mine - seldom updated. Felt bad and thought of coming back with full fledged blog posts(as usual).

Anyways, since my last post, a lot of things happened. Let us give a small look at a few of them.

1. India won the cricket world cup! Was shouting with joy when Dhoni hit the winning sixer. That day was my first wedding anniversary too. It would have been more good if Sachin too made a few runs.
2. Anna Hazaare went on fasting for the approval of Jan Lokpal bill and he succeeded in it(almost, as of now). What was more joyful was the way how the common people of India showed their support for this cause. Long live, democracy.
3. Sachin Tendulkar scored a century in the 20-20 format! That too with the agility of a person half his age. Till date, in this season of IPL, he was not out on all the occasions that he played.
4. Bahrain was declared to be under military rule for an indefinite period as of now. Felt bad to see the peaceful little island engulfed in riots. Let's hope that everything will be back to normal soon. I know many expats who sent their families back and who are planning to shift somewhere else soon.
5. Wifey saw an English movie for the first time in a theater. She was excited and I'm happy.
6. At last the big thing(at least for me). My bestest friend, who was struggling to get his parents' approval for his love affair for quite a few years, decided to call it a day and married his sweetheart in a filmi fashion. Didn't meet the couple yet, but looking forward to it.

Well, will b back very very soon. Till then, adeos n take care.

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.

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.

Happy New Year 2010

Dear friends, this has been a wonderful year, both in and out of Bloggerville. Life will never be the same in 2010. Yes, life is not going to be the same. I got engaged to Sravanthi and the marriage is scheduled to take place in April, 2010. I'll share more on this in the coming posts. For now, I am writing this post just to wish you all a very happy new year.

Let's hope for the below in the new year:

1. All(if not, a few) of our wishes come true.
2. There will no be any more disasters natural calamities like floods, tsunamis, hurricanes etc.
3. The terrorists change themselves and let others live peacefully.
4. India will stay on top of the world(in cricket, though).
5. We look at some more technically brilliant movies like "Avatar" and feel-good movies like "3 Idiots".
6. May Telangana issue be solved in Andhra Pradesh.
7. Last but not the least, let us all pray that my salary increases at least 25%.

Simply speaking, I hope All iz well in 2009 and All will be well in 2010.

My return to Bloggerville on a wonderful day

Folks, first of all, I regret being away from such a wonderful place, Bloggerville. The reasons for my long absence(more than two months) from here are:

1. There was a fund-raiser organized by TKS in the third week of November. Thank God, all iz well.
2. I was on vacation to India for about a month, right after the above said fund raiser. Here too, all iz well.

I've been waiting for some proper time to return back to Bloggerville and there it was yesterday. Actually, I started this post yesterday but couldn't finish it off then. Anyways, yesterday has been an awesome day for me for the below reasons:

1. It was sister's b'day yesterday. All iz well.
2. India won the tournament against Sri Lanka yesterday. All iz well.
3. It was raining out here in Bahrain yesterday. Loved the climate. All iz well.
4. I was awarded a certificate of appreciation and a Gold coin by my company here for assisting in the successful completion of a major project. All iz well indeed.
5. The day ended fittingly well, when I went for the late night show of the highly anticipated "3 Idiots". Believe me, the movie was simply awesome. Just like most of the sites reviewed the movie, all iz very, very, very, very well indeed.

With this, I end this post and promise you that I'll be back soon with a lot of news as there are many things happening around me right now and I need to tell you all those.

A very late post

Dear friends, as you read this, I know that you'll feel that this news is outdated. But what can 'poor me' do? Even though the news is old, the hard-work and dedication behind that is ever-green.

I am talking about Pakisthan's vistory in the T20 World Cup 2009. Everybody thought that India and South Africa are strong contenders for the title(I thought no one can stop SA) and no one ever thought Pakisthan will be the ultimate winner. Coming back from back-to-back losses in the practice games, to win the title is not an easy task. On the other hand, our Indians never looked like champion stuff, even in the matches in the league stage.

However, Pakisthan cricket team knew that they should win the title to regain the charisma they lost in the International Cricket. And that was how they won it. In a country ravaged by numerous terror strikes and boycott by other cricketing nations, the only thing that keeps the spirit alive is cricket.

Many of us think that Pakisthan is supporting terrorism in India, but how many of us know about their internal turmoil. Check this link for some pictures of the children effected by the ongoing military operations in the SWAT valley of Pakisthan. Let's all pray for their well-being.

Also, please find below a truly remarkable picture of a historic event that almost went unnoticed(at least by me). It's the picture of Iraqi security forces celebrating the event of US troops leaving Iraqi cities:


Also, my condolances to all the fans of Micheal Jackson. Even though I'm not a great fan of him, I always knew the importance he's holding in some hearts. I read yesterday on some website that a total of 16 suicides are reported world-wide following Jacko's death. In Australia, they even set up a help-line for fans who went under depression after this. Folks, I know how hard it is for us to digest the death of Jacko, but isn't there a family waiting for you to return back home? Please don't resort to such things.

Pictures Courtesy: Boston

After all, who are we?

A couple of weeks back, there was a fire accident in Bahrain. A gas cylinder blew up in a building where more than 40 people are staying. Most of them are from my state, Andhra Pradesh in India. As soon as they heard the blast, they ran for their lives without taking care of their belongings. They lost their passports, money, mobiles and other valuables in the fire(this proves that we are humans and we care for nothing other than our lives).

All the people in the building are poor and all of them are dialy labourers. Most of them are run-away employees or people who came on visit visas and over stayed here. Almost all of them have large fines pending with the ministries.

As soon as we(TKS) got the news about this accident, our people rushed to the place and brought all of them to TKS premises(as they don't have any other shelter). Food was sponsored by some other NGO for them and our people took the responsibility of delivering the food. We collected clothes, blankets etc on war foot and distributed them to these 40 people immediatly. Thanks to many donors, we were able to fulfill the basic needs of those people(this proves that we are humans and we care about others too). It was heartening to see them scrambling for old clothes so that they have something decent to wear for work.



The first day was OK and then we asked them their details so that we can arrange for duplicates of passports, resident permits etc. But not many are willing to reveal these details as they are staying illegally here. Then we informed them of the possible difficulties they are going to face in the future because of their illegal stay and not a single one was interested to listen to those words. We also informed them that if they can leave Bahrain as soon as possible, we can try to nullify their pending fines, but still the response is the same(this proves that we are humans and we tend to take things lightly). They wanted to live like rats but don't want to go back to India. We don't know what problems they have in their home towns, but still it's better to leave than live such a miserly life here.

At first, they are manageable but after one day, they started demanding(kind of) instead of requesting. I was shocked by the following incident: We were distributing them some T-shirts sponsored by some other NGO and a couple of guys adamantly asked me to change the size as L size "may be" loose for them!!!!! Man, this proves that we are humans and always ye dil maange more.

Anyways, it's been two weeks since this happened and no one was ready to leave Bahrain till now. But the good part is they are back in to their normal lives and got into some other new accommodation. Long live, mankind.

Titbits

Somebody asked me "Are you really busy?". My answer was "Can you believe that after going home from office yesterday, I removed my shoes n just slept off without even changing my attire. Forget about the dressm I didn't even remove the mobile from my pocket?". Well, this is a fact. I was so stressed at that moment. And thanks to some management changes, my life is going to be f@#$ed up this month end. I want to tell my superiors the story of a donkey which died after it's master put too much load on it.

Anyways, my trip to Qatar was pretty small(just 3 days), but eventful. I visited some shopping malls and I loved the way the Villagio mall was built. It was simple awesome. I'll keep a picture of it in my next post. And almost after an year, I rode a quad bike and that too in real desert. That was one hell of an experience. But, the temperatures were soaring out there. Even though Qatar is just a few kilometers from Bahrain, the climate looked completely different.

Coming to other issues, my life has changed quite a lot:
1. My good old Sony Ericsson K750i moved aside and made way for the Nokia 5800 XPress Music.
2. My long time companion, Casio calculator watch(it was with me for the past 12 years without a complaint) didn't move aside but gave some space to a new Casio Chronograph watch.
3. I was addicted to video games when I was a kid. After all these years, I thought I need a break and bought Play Station 2 last week. OMG, I'm already addicted. Right now, I'm playing Price of Persia(Two Thrones) in it.
4. I am back into enjoying my fav dish of the world, ice creams. Every week, I'm making sure that I have a week's supply of them.

That's all for now. I'll be back pretty soon with a pictorial post. Till then, cheers and Hakuna matata

May Day Celebrations

Last weekend, we got three day holidays(thanks to the Labor Day). I hope you all remember that I'm a member of the Executive Committee of Telugu Kala Samithi(TKS) for the year 2009. We, being representatives of TKS, organize a picnic sort of event, every year on Labor Day to entertain the blue collar workers. As most of you know, this Middle East region is full of blue collar workers from India, particularly South India.

This year was the first one when I was giving my full support for this event. I was entitled with job of transporting all the materials to the venue and making sure that they all reach back properly. The event was organized on a beach front and more than 100 workers are supposed to participate in the event. So we went to that place the previous night itself with all the items needed for the event and put up some tents(to protect people from the hot sun while the event was going on). What we missed that night was some sort of flash lights, whose absence made our work more tough. We, somehow, fixed the make-shift tents and it was around 2 AM, by the time we finished our work and then we retired to sleep. It was nice to sleep at the beach front on mats. That was one wonderful experience.

Next morning(May Day), after waking up, we saw that some tents were loose(it was pitch black the previous night) and started fixing all those. By the time we finished, people started coming and we don't even have time to change to some decent clothes.

Many games were conducted for the workers(which they sincerely enjoyed) and the participants were duly awarded. Breakfast and lunch were served for the attendees. It was a nice feeling to interact with the lower class people and trying to make them forget their miseries for at least a few minutes. The joy we saw in their eyes, while receiving their prizes, was something that made us forget all the hard work put in by us the previous night.

I'll put up some photos from the event soon. Maybe tomorrow. Until then, adios amigos n senorita.


Participants getting ready for the three-legged race


Kabaddi.. kabaddi..


Winners and the Committee

Adeos 2008

We’ve been mugging up from childhood the famous proverb that Time and tide wait for none. So it’s proven once again. The year 2008 has come to an end in no time. In some parts of the world, the celebrations might already have begun.

2008 has not been just another year for me. It’s something different because:
• This is the year when I’ve made a lot of good friends on the Bloggerville, some whom I call brothers and sisters.
• This is the year where I’ve learnt a lot of things in professional life, particularly people management. The main lesson among these professional things is: don’t ever let your superiors think that you are at your disposal, anytime.
• This is the year when I met some wonderful people in the real world.
• This is the year when my little sister got married.
• This is the year when I saw happiness in some helpless eyes when they are helped.
• This is the year which helped me realize that there’s nothing called “mine”.

And coming to the “personal” front,
• This is the year in which I’ve learnt some cooking.
• This is the year when I first watched an F1 race.
• This is the year when I first rode a jet-ski.
• This is the year in which I’ve bought some real cool gadgets(Guys are guys na?)

Well, I end this year here. I wish you all an extremely prosperous, recession-controlled, financially-stable, job secure, debt-free, investment-profiting, promotion-assured, hike-replete, war-free, air/water/rail/road-safe, earthquake free, terrorist-free, friends-filled, romance-blooming, healthy, joyous and cheerful New Year 2009.

Note: Those wishes are lifted from some mail. Don't think too big about my creative brain. It's too small.

Atrocities on females

I don’t know how many of you know what Mahatma Gandhi has told about Independence. His words were something like – India will get its true independence only when a woman(or girl) can walk alone freely at midnight on the roads.. Does anyone agree with this? I, myself, strongly agree with it. Independence is not just for individuals but it’s the same for the whole nation(humankind).

Now, let’s talk a little about LOVE. I know that it’s tough to talk just a little about it, but let’s try to do so. LOVE is between two hearts and it can’t just be confined to one heart. It’s not meaningful to say either that one should do anything to gain success in life or that one should do anything nasty to cover up his/her failure in love. I am bringing up these issues to show the increasing crime rate in my home state(or the whole world) just showing failure in love as the main motive.

About a week or ten days back, an incident happened in the town of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, India. Two final year engineering students(Swapnika and Praneetha) are attacked by some people who threw acid on them. Both the girls are seriously injured. Swapnika’s condition is still said to be critical. Police somehow caught the three assailants out of whom one Mr Srinivas was harassing Swapnika on the lines love for quite sometime. It’s another irrelevant story that these three guys were shot dead in an “encounter” by the police.

In another horrific incident, again in Andhra Pradesh, one guy attacked a married lady after she rejected a request of intimate relation by him. He cut her hands and neck.

And just yesterday, a budding actress was said to be murdered by her husband(her parents disagree that their daughter was married). The guy, after killing her, died by consuming poison. The motive was found in a letter that the girl started ignoring him after she started getting more chances in the film industry.

And one good friend of mine was a bit dull while we were chatting some days back. When I asked her for the reason, she said that she was in love this colleague of her for the past one year and when the matter was put in front of their parents, his parents didn’t agree for the marriage. And now, the guy was telling her that their relation can’t continue as his parents didn’t like her.

Com’on guys, why do we play with lives? I know it’s not just the guys who play the tricks always. I heard about some girls too. But, the majority of these issues are blamed(!) on guys. Let’s be an example to the other guys out there.

I don’t exactly know what I want to say with this post. But I hope you got the whole idea behind it.

Random ramblings

There's nothing important to write in this post and also, I'm very busy in office these days, thanks to the rapidly shrinking free space on my server. So, this post will contain some random ramblings rather than some specific point.

1. Stopped eating ice creams. Frankly speaking(or writing), I can write a biggg post on this issue as ice creams are something dearer to me and they mean much more to me than an edible item.

2. Saw Dostana last week. I loved that movie(even though, I started feeling some weird sensation when my friends touch me). It was one of the best comedy movies of recent times. The chemistry between AB n JA was awesome. Btw, Priyanka Chopra was at her sexiest best.

3. Went to an ice cream shop next to my house, about a week back. Thought of eating one but later withdrew the idea because of sudden rush of calorie-consciousness. Looked around and found some hot samosas. Took half a dozen of them to my flat and as soon as I took a bite, I felt that there's something wrong. Instead of the normal curry inside the samosa, they kept cheese. This is what the people call "cheese samosa". And for this stupid thing, I gave up my fav ice cream...... :(

4. Daily, a couple of friends visit my flat(as they are paying guests at some family's house) and leave as soon as we finish dinner. The day before, they left normally and I got up at 5 AM feeling thirsty. To my horror, I saw that I didn't close the door the previous night after my frnds left. But thank God, nothing happened. My wallet, laptop, handycam, watches..... everything were in tact.

5. Is anyone following Indian Idol 4? Sonali Bendre's looking gorgeous in it.

6. There was this arabic guy in my gym, whom we consider as a decent arab. But last week, when one "big fat Indian gal"(I picked this from Kungfu Panda where our hero was called Big, Fat Panda) talked to him in the health club, he started showing his attitude. Too bad!!!!!

Well, I end my list here(so that no one blames me for the head-ache they got after reading this). Have a nice day.

Alvida season

Hello folks, it seems to be retirement time for everyone. Be it in the Bloggerville or the real world. First of all, it was my dear blogger brother, Samby, who chose to be silent without any prior notice. And then it was one of my favorite blogger, Sneha, who decided to call it a day here. Believe me, I'll miss her posts terribly. But, I strongly believe that they chose to say alvida after giving it a lot of thought. All the best Sneha n Samby. And Keshi frightened me with those bubye hints, but thank God, nothing happened like that.

Well, coming to the other retirements in the real world, the news of Jumbo's retirement came as a blow to us(we were in office at that time). We never expected that out-of-the-blue from him. He was a great player, who helped India win many matches single-handedly. OK, I won't write much about him as you might have read about him recently in many blogs.

Coming to the central theme of this post, it's about the man who changed the whole Indian scenario of Modern Cricket. Ya, you guessed it right. It's Savrav Ganguly, the most successful Indian Test captain of all time. It was him, who made cricket look like war(I hope all you heard those cries of victory at the famous NatWest trophy finale), it was him who brought the team under one shade after the infamous match fixing allegations, it was him who showed the world how a captain must think(I strongly believe that he brought Yuvraj, Bhajji, Dhoni n co into limelight).

Ok, now you think that am a die-hard fan of Dada(as fondly called fans). No, you are mistaken. There were days when we used to fight in college about who's great: Sachin or Saurav. I always took Sachin's side. In fact, at some point of my life, I used to hate Dada. But slowly, I started enjoying his batting. I understood his emotions, liked this tactics, savored those moments when he used to take room on the leg side n slashed the ball to the off side - I enjoyed everything. I remember those days when I used wait for spinners to take the ball and Dada take on the spinners.

Now you may ask, why am I bothered about his retirement if I'm not a great fan of his? The truth is, I come from times when children used to grow watching Sachin, Saurav, Dravid and Jumbo win matches for India. The Indian Cricket team doesn't make any sense to me if none of them are present in the team. Now, already, two of the above four people announced their retirement. And Dravid is running through a very bad phase and we may hear his retirement news soon. And Sachin, the run machine fights on.

ALL THE BEST, DADA. YOU MADE WATCHING CRICKET A PLEASURE.

You can check this link for the career highs n lows of Dada and this link for the overall statistics of Ganguly's career.

Btw, did I mention that I cried when I read about Pete Sampras' retirement?

Ramblings

My blogger account had been screwing me from yesterday. I was not able to access my blog but I was able to read and comment on all other blogs. It was saying something like "403 forbidden - your query resembles a virus threat.... blah blah". At last, it allowed me in now and I don't want to leave this opportunity to blabber something here. Put on your seat belts n get ready for a bumpy ride.

1. Last Thursday, I went for a indoor football tournament with a severe headache - just because my roomie's playing in it. It was so boring that I stated playing games on my mobile and everyone was looking at me in a weird way.

2. After a long long time, we went for a real longggg shopping to the newly opened City Centre. It was on last Friday. We were walking that day for a little more than 7 hours without having a seat!!!! I bought a couple of three fourths n a track pant in Lee Cooper(they were offering a flat 50% discount).


3. The climate began to change in this desert country. It's getting cold these days. The same Friday night, I had a couple of pegs of Glenlevit(it was an awesome single malt whiskey); went out for a little walk around midnight; had an ice cream; sat at the entrance of my apartment thinking about my past, present n future; helped a kid retrieve her balloon(that family's just returning back from shopping, I guess) and the way she said "Thank You, uncle" was sooo chweet. Overall, that night was pretty eventful.

4. Saw "Heroes" and loved the movie. It's a commercial patriotic movie with a novel theme but the movie seemed to drag a little bit. Had they shortened the movie by about 30 minutes, it would have been accepted by all classes of audience. For the first time, I loved Sohail Khan's performance. But the real bad thing is, I had to watch this movie outside India.


5. Ferrari's Felipe Massa lost the Formula1 championship by a whisker. The prerequisites for him to win the coveted crown are he should come first and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton should not come in a place better than 6th. Massa did his best and he came first and for a few seconds, everyone thought that he won the championship and there were celebrations in the Ferrari dugout. After almost 38 seconds(after Massa crossed the finish line), Hamilton dramatically overtook Toyota's Timo Glock for the fifth place and won the crown by a mere one point. Bad luck, Ferrari. Let's give it our best shot in the next season.


So friends, these are my random ramblings from the past few days. Will b back with something meaningful in the next couple of days(Blogger.com allows me to login).

Blood donation

After coming to Bahrain, I got smitten by a few qualities, one of which being the "Blood Donation" bug. So far, in my two year stay in Bahrain, I've donated it 5 times. I know that it's not a big deal, but considering the fact that I've never donated blood during my stay in India, this is some achievement for me. A picture of mine, donating blood at a blood camp arranged in my office, came in an Arabic newspaper too.

However, the real reason behind this post is not to brag about me donating blood. I noticed that many healthy people around me(some close friends too) just brushed off the very thought of donating blood citing different reasons. Some said they are weak(one of them looks like a goon), some said they are under medication(I know well that the only medicine they take is alcohol) and some just because they are scared. I tried to encourage them(not bullying) and educate them, even though it's up to them to decide, in vain.

What else is a better medium these days than a blog to educate people? So I gathered some valuable information on net which might help you in knowing the importance and myths of blood donation.

Some interesting facts about blood and blood donation:

1. There is no substitute for human blood.
2. Much of today's medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors.
3. Every two seconds someone needs blood.
4. Anyone who is in good health, is at least 17 years old, and weighs at least 110 pounds may donate blood every 56 days.
5. Only a maximum of 470ml of blood is taken at one session, which is just less than a pint.
6. Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
7. You cannot get AIDS or any other blood disease by donating blood.
8. After donating blood, you replace your red blood cells within three to four weeks. However, takes four to six weeks to restore the iron lost after donating.

The need for donating blood might be well understood by the fact that Statistics indicate that everybody will need blood(from a donor) in some way or the other. The approximate amount of blood needed in various incidents is as per below:

1. One cancer patient can use up to 8 units of blood each week.
2. One leukemia patient can use up to 2 units each day while waiting for a bone    marrow transplant
3. One sickle cell anemia patient can use up to 4 units each treatment.
4. One organ transplant can take up to 40 units of blood (a liver transplant can use up to 100 units!).
5. One heart bypass surgery can use up to 5 units of blood.
6. One bleeding ulcer can use up to 30 units of blood.
7. One hip replacement can use up to 5 units of blood.
8. One brain surgery can use up to 10 units of blood.
9. One auto accident or gunshot/stab wound victim can use up to 50 units of blood.

I get a happy n content smile on my face when I remember about my last blood donation. The reason behind that happiness is just because of the simple fact that I helped in saving someone's life. I'll be more happy if this post helps you to understand the need for donating blood.

Back to Blogger n Bahrain

It rained in Hyderabad on Monday evening. The sky was cloudy from the morning, alerting people that there's lot of rain to pour down. It started as a slow drizzle which was welcomed by everyone on the road. And then after some 30 minutes, it started raining cats & dogs (well, I've never seen one falling down the sky). It rained heavily for some 90 minutes, making a lot of pools on the roads(Hyderabad became like Mumbai when it rains). Everyone enjoyed the pleasant weather, but the aftermath of that downpour was very bad. There were traffic jams everywhere; shops were closed because of the wind; there were power failures etc. But life became normal slowly after a few hours.

I wrote all this just to say that my vacation was almost same as the above situation. I was aware from the past few months that I was going on vacation in mid August, just like the people were aware of the rain before hand. My vacation started normally, without much happening in the first week, just like it drizzled before the downpour for 30 minutes. My vacation changed its look two days before my sister's marriage and I was extremely busy for 10 days. It was only in the last few days of my vacation that I sat leisurely at home and enjoyed mom's cooking. Just like the aftermath of the rain, my condition is very bad now(after returning from India). I feel solitary, deserted etc.

Well friends, I'm back to Bahrain yesterday morning. Straight to work from airport. Felt sick as I didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours during Sunday and Monday. Had a sound sleep yesterday night after taking a couple of pegs of fine Scotch whiskey(well, it has been an alcohol-free-vacation). There's loads of work awaiting me at the office and my flat badly needs a makeover. So, it'll not be soon that I write more on my blog or check out all your blogs. Please pardon me if I miss some of your posts(I am sure that lots of posts are awaiting me in your blogs). I may start visiting all your blogs from next week.

For Pavi, who kept forward her concern about my mobile number in my blog, "Pavi, that number doesn't work now. It'll wake up the next time I come to India".

Happy Friendship Day

I read somewhere that LIFE can termed as a journey where the co-passengers are your family members, relatives, friends etc. But the most important of these co-passengers will be friends(for anyone). Also, I saw in some movie that you can't decide who your
parents/relatives are going to be but you can decide who can be your friends/lovers. That's the beauty of friendship.
Just imagine the world without any friends. Well, I can't even try to do so. It's been friends who were there with me throughout every up and down of my life. They were the people who were giving me morale boost when I lost her, when I was in search of a job, in fact every important phase of my life.
It was my neighbors when I small enough to stay away from school, it was classmates when I was in school/college, it was other job seekers whom I met at interviews when am in job search, it was colleagues when I got myself a job, it was Indians when I came all the way to Bahrain - but no matter whoever they are, they gave me their best and they got my best in return. After all, what's in friendship if we don't share things with friends which we are unwilling to share with any others?
If it was these people who were my friends in my real life, it was all of you in my virtual life here at Bloggerville. I wouldn't have lasted here if it was not for you who were patient enough to read all my stupid posts. Thanks for being patient.
I thank GOD for giving me all of you, and you also know that we, Indians, drink PEPSI a lot and so we believe in the motto "YEH DIL MAANGE MORE". So I ask GOD to shower more of his blessings on you all.

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY TO YOU ALL.


These are best of friends whom you'll ever find(everybody has their own captions, right?)


Update: My friendship day finished with a couple of Margaritas and some sea food at a Chinese restaurant. How was yours?

One hour

I had a childhood friend who was my best best friend and partner-in-crime most of the times. This chap is settled in the US of A for quite sometime. We talk often on the cheesiest invention of all-time, the mobile.

Last night, I returned from a farewell party at around 11 30PM and thought of giving him a call to say "hi". We started talking about our schooling days, love affairs, marriage plans, movies, this, that etc. I paused in the middle to see the time and the display of the mobile showed 1:02:37 as the duration of the call. I felt as if we just started talking but.... I've to hang up the call as it was already around 12 45AM and I've to wake up at 05 30AM to be able to reach office in time.

All I can say is "Friendship rocks". We never feel bored to talk with friends.