After three long weeks

- The last three weeks have been hard, very hard in fact. You must know what I mean if I said this is my first holiday in the last 21 days. Yes, thats true. Work has really been hectic over the last couple of weeks and hopefully if everything goes right, I might be rewarded with a long vacation over Christmas and New Year. Some vindication there!

- From a blogging perspective, I missed quite a few things. A few even asked me why I did no post on the Mumbai attack. There are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly, I had no time to write. Secondly, the attacks had made me go numb. The news itself came as a shock to me, considering that it came right after India’s win in Cuttack. That night I sat up to 2 in the morning watching the horror unfold on TV. With absolutely no sleep, I went to office next morning only to watch NDTV and CNN-IBN’s online streaming all day. Thats what everyone else in office did that day. I dont know how amusing you will find this, but I have to tell you that I was scared. I was scared to stand in the bus stop, I was scared to commute in crowded buses and I suddenly felt very vulnerable. Those few days, life’s only delights came from the delicious afternoon lunches and the games of TT that we played.

- During those days of terror I developed a fetish of reading American, British and Israeli newspapers every hour just to get a feeling of what people from that part of the world thought of what was happening in Mumbai. Everyday that was the first thing I did in office. I wanted to know what the likes of Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd were saying about this. I wanted to know what the BBC was telling. So I used to listen to BBC World’s online radio broadcast all day. Other than the news, I got to know a few very interesting things from the guys at BBC. For instance- Did you know that the stories of Arabian Nights in its original form had an infinite amount of sex in them and when they were adapted into English to be thought in the British schools, all love scenes were transformed into handshakes? Can you imagine how funny that must have been? 

- When you hear stories of acts of bravery, stories of people dying for the country, its really difficult to concentrate on your job. I used to ask myself- What the hell am I doing clicking away here in my cubicle, filling the coffers of a company whose roots are in another country? I was faced with questions like- What should a man bother about the most? His work? His country?  Or his family? I still havent found answers for them. When such questions begin to haunt you, motivation to do your job seems hard to come by. 

- As I said earlier, Table Tennis is something I have developed a love for recently. Or should I use the word ‘addicted’? It is something that I have been using to relax. I still have lots to learn. I am very bad with my backhand and my smashes. But on my day, I manage to call myself the ‘new legend of the game’! 

- I just watched Mamma Mia. The movie would have been crappy had it not been for ABBA. It had been a long time since I had jumped up and down while watching a movie. Being a staunch fan of ABBA, I almost danced during Dancing queen and Lay all your love on me- what amazing songs! I had one brilliant sunday afternoon! 

- I cant stop waiting for Christmas. People began Christmas decorations at office a week ago and it has been nothing less than tempting. And I hope my blog will not take such long breaks again in the near future. This post has already broken the ice.