Friday, October 21, 2011

Finally...

    
  Finally, finally, finally I have my life back! 
   
   So here is what happened in the last one month:   

  • I had a good trip to Kashmir. A very fruitful work trip. I also met some really warm, wonderful people and made new friends. And managed to do a bit of sightseeing. Kashmir, and its people, are totally enchanting, and I’m going to be back soon.


  • I also went to Dehradun for two days on work. I spent most of those two days in the airport but it was a good trip work-wise.


  • I finally managed to get started on one of the personal projects I was ranting about in the previous posts. It’s just a start, but it’s a good start, and it’s given me some confidence that I can do it. There is more work on that project coming up in November but now I have the confidence to handle it.


  • I gave the GRE, and did pretty well, considering I had absolutely no preparation. Since it’s the new format the results won’t be out till mid-November, but at the end of the test the computer told me that the equivalent score according to the old format was in the 1500-1600 range. I understand that’s a very good score, so I am quite pleased with my performance.


  • I also sat for an exam for one module of my distance learning course, and I didn’t do as badly as I expected. I think I stand a good chance of passing. So that’s over and done with. And I am not taking up the next module till January so I get some breathing time.


·         After all these trips and exams came Nike’s brothers wedding. The wedding was in Delhi but there were a lot of pre and post wedding events that kept us busy. It was a lot of fun, with people coming down from across the country to celebrate, and there were so many people and so many festivities it made me quite dizzy. But lots of fun was had, everything went off very smoothly, and the happy couple is now in Europe on their honeymoon while we continue to be disoriented and tired and suffer from the empty house syndrome.

I’m back to work, and I’m still a little disoriented from l that’s been happening, but I’m slowly getting back into the groove, and looking forward to a more relaxed life where I go to office, do my work, and relax in the evenings. Day before, after work, I met up with Srinu (who’s here from the US) for a brief while and then hung out at Gloria Jeans at Inorbit with Samee.

Yesterday, Nike and I went to a random Telugu movie – it’s called Pilla Zamindar, and while I’m loathe to call it a bad movie given its interesting concept, it’s a badly made movie with awful production values, so it’s probably much kinder to think of it as a tele-serial. We then went out for dinner; ArmyMan was supposed to join us but he ditched in the last minute (and today he calls to ask if I want to meet for lunch on a day when I’m swamped at work!!!). And after dinner, we came home and watched an episode of Dexter and I even read for a while (‘The Wish Maker’ by Ali Sethi).

It’s been so long since I’ve had such normal, relaxed days that I am truly relishing this time. Sometimes, I feel guilty about wasting my time when I should be studying/ working on my personal projects/working to meet some deadline – and then I catch myself and tell myself that I don’t have to feel guilty any longer, my time is finally mine. Life is good!

Tonight Nike and I leave for Pondicherry – I’ve been wanting to go there forever, and we’ve finally found the time and opportunity to make a quick trip. From Pondicherry to Chennai for BJ and Maggu’s wedding – I’ve been telling them how happy I am that Maggu is finally make an honest man of BJ, and that they mustn’t forget the key role I played in bringing them together, and I’d love to tell you guys the story but it isn’t fit for family forums like this, really. I will be meeting the rest of the gang in Chennai too and it’s been so long since I met them so I’m really looking forward to this.

From Chennai I am going to Bhubaneswar for two days on work. AND from Bhubaneswar I am going to Vizag for just one day, but that one day is Deepavali, and for now, I can live with that. I didn’t think I would get to go home for Deepavali, what with the festival falling bang in the middle of the week, and the travel to Chennai and all, but things somehow came together and I’m going to be in Vizag for just that day and I’m happy. It’s not that we celebrate with a lot of dhoom-dhamaka - Samee is scared of fireworks and crackers and while I really enjoy them, I’ve given up on them for the past couple of years – but I haven’t been home for a single festival this year so I am happy I am finally making it to the last but one festival.

Oh! And my poor, neglected blog turned seven this month. SEVEN years, y’all!