Some sort of celebrations

Everybody says that it's the big day for me. But not many friends have called to wish me. So, the celebrations have been dull.

Yes folks, it's the 4th of July. Another year passed by in my life and I've turned one more year older and it's just 73 years more to complete the century for me(the only big ambition in my life these days). As one of my blogger friend wrote in her blog, it's not important how old you become, but what matters is how wiser you've become. I hope I did some justice to those words.

Well, I've cut a cake arranged my friends, last night. It was yummy. And right after a couple of hours, Indian cricket team won a tense match against West Indies. What a start for the day!!!! But the rest of the day(till now), has not been so good. All my close friends here have work these days. So I was all alone from morning: chatting, reading news etc.

A few close friends called till now, but none of my best friends called me. Seems that they forgot the occasion. So just like every year, I'll wait till the night and remind them on my own. Till then, let me indulge myself in the fantasy world of gaming.

And hey, wish me all the best on the occasion. All you Blogger friends gave a new dimension for my life and altered my thinking capabilities. Thanks a lot for that. Life is not the same since I entered the Bloggerville.

This is the cake I've cut last night.

The strip on the cake reads: Happy birthday fun Sathi.
The reason: I try to be funny always.... :(

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Dear friends, as you read this, I know that you'll feel that this news is outdated.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.

A pictorial post

The lonely traveller. On my way to Hyderabad from Visakhapatnam.


A dead jelly fish. Felt bad that it had to die a lonely death. Who knows how our death may come?


A view of a rainy morning through a car window.


The third lady from left is a Raman Megasis award winner. OMG, she's so humble, so adorable. Her name is Mrs Shanta Sinha. She is an anti-child labour activist



I know that some of you like this picture.


Villagio shopping mall in Doha, Qatar. Image courtesy Zenoed. The blue sky you see on top is actually a poster which's pasted throught the mall giving it a street llok.

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

"Temper"ary

Folks, days are too hectic for me these days. That was the reason why am not updating any nonsense in my blog. However, one good news is that I'm taking a small break this week and going to Qatar to meet my cousins. I hope this provides me with the necessary energy re-fueling.

Coming to the tile of this post, I hope some of you caught the reason behind it. Yes mates, these days I'm too angry on every little thing. In short, I am seeing myself in short temper most of the days. If I see something I don't like, then am simply shouting at others, be it at work or outside. I don't know the real reason for this sudden change in my behavior but I suspect that my hectic work is making me feel so.

About a couple of weeks back, I was going to TKS with my friends. We saw that our car was blocking another car in the narrow lane. First, we couldn't understand whether the person driving the other car wants to go front or back as there was no signal from that car. So we decided to go back and give the other car way to come out. Me and another friend of mine got down and started crossing the lane on foot while my other friends wait for us in the car.

Suddenly, the two ladies who are in the front car started abusing us(in Arabic) and that too, as if we're going to rape them. On any other day, I would've just laughed in myself and moved away from that place. But, that day, I stopped on my track and yelled at them to shut up and mind their business(but never abused them). I know that it's some mad rage in me that made me talk like that. Prior to this incident, I can't recall even a single incident in which I shouted at females.

This is one of those silly incidents in which I'm losing my cool and the HULK in me comes out. I hope to get rid of this alter-ego of mine and be my usual self soon.

BTW, I am getting a new Internet connection at my flat next week which gives me more access to Bloggerville and hence, I'll be back to my usual Blogger life. Till then, take care and have a wonderful week.

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