Updates Soon

This space has remained unattended for a while now as I was travelling quite a bit. I hope to start updating in a few days. There are a number of things that need to be shared guys so keep looking.......

Cheers

Apologies Tendered

I had put Abhijit's name as Abhijeet in my last blog and it was a typo error. Stands corrected. Happy now...Jit

Activities- Extended Eid Vacation

This time we decided to give the beach barbeque a miss ( although I really wanted to go) and concentrate on something different. Thanks to Rajeeb and his excel sheet planning, we managed to go for power parachuting and a movie on Saturday. We had to drive to Ras al Khaimah(actually Um al Quain) to reach Jazerah flying club which was organising Power Parachuting and microlight flights. It seemed quite fun watching people glide over the sea. After seeing a few flights Amit felt that a micro light flight would be more fun and he and Nitika put theri names for that. Shelly had wanted to have that experience long time back when we were thinking of taking that at Um al Qwain flying club and I thought it is a great idea and so she too went for a 15 minute flight over the mountains and the sea. Except from being left a little wobbly in the head, she thought it was nice and the sight was amazing from over. The beach, the reclaimed land ( they are creating an island in the shape of a falcon) and the whole sight was great; plus the thrill.

I went for the power parachute as it seemed like a harmless metal thing with a lot of ropes holding the parachute. But it really takes off like Rons's father's car in Harry potter...believe me I felt it was like that in movie. The scene was just amazing...it was about sunset and the horizon over the sea was just beautiful. You could see the sea life from above..flying at about 300-400 ft and it was a great experience. On top of it, the spins which my "pilot" did added to the thrill....over the baren desert.

We are planning to go for more of these activities now. Everyone is welcome to join.....:)

EID CELEBRATIONS

Guys!! Finally Ramadan came to an almost successful end (I dropped out on a few fasts) and Eid was celebrated on friday. We had been wishing it to happen on Saturday as that would be more holidays and better planning because we were out watching a free movie ( courtsey Amit and HSBC) at 11pm on thursday when this announcement came as a bolt in the blue. All of a sudden we realised that we had nothing ( I mean actually nothing except for tomatoes and potatoes) in the house for our Eid meal which we were committed to. At 1 pm after having watched " Laga Chunri me Daag" we saved our " Laaj" and avoided a "daag" on our record and found some mercy at Carrefour shelves which still had some food left after it was vandalised by many other people like us who had to run for last minute purchases.

By the time we reached home post my midnight brawl with the iranian mattress guy whos was supposed to deliver our arabic type low seating for the living room, it was already 4:00 am and we were dead tired. Silver lining was that Amit and Nitika came with us to stay and help. I managed to catch an hour's sleep before going out for the Eid prayers and then managed to catch a few winks. The food was prepared; this time mostly by Shelly who made some great kashmiri delicacies- "nadru" kababs, Chicken Daniwal Korma and all vegetarian stuff- Rajma, Alu paneer. Of course Nitika and Amit made it possible. I added my bit to the Mutton curry and ofcourse a taste to all the dishes by being around. Rajeeb and Nisha, along with Roney and Sona joined us for lunch and it was a great time...Food, Shishas, Cigars....( It is all in the pictures). Aditiya was aso there..He had come down from Oman for Eid vacation.

I still miss our Eid meals back home in Kashmir and also in Delhi when I used to cook for all at my Bachelor flat in Shalimar bagh. Abhijit, ruksh, jasmeet and everyone...We miss you guys....

I hope you like the pictures

I am not the only one

Well this is a story I have been dying to tell. I have always been accused and charged with showing lack of responsibility when it comes to taking my flights on time. I agree I am not so particular about meeting the airline times for various useful and useless activities at the airport but I have only managed to mess it up due to unavoidable and external circumstances which have been quite unrelated to my sense of timing.

Yesterday Shelly had to travel to Oman on morning 8:25 flight and with her insistance, I dropped her off at the airport at about 6:50 am ( too early for my standards, specially when you are travelling business). At about 7:10 we spoke and she told me that she had checked in and she will relax in the lounge and I left it at that. But at 10:20 I get a message from her saying " I am boarding now". I thought may be the flight was delayed but found it very funny since she hadnt called me to inform ( she was too ashamed with what she had done to herself!!!!!!!). Anyways she called me from Oman and told me that she had missed the flight. Naturally anyone would say...how the hell!!! I dropped her well in time and confimed that she checked in. But the fact is that..Madame didnt simply get on the plane and kept relaxing a bit too much ( not even sleeping). she kept thinking it is only 7:30 when it was well past 8:30 and the plane had left UAE territory already. I dont understand what she was doing sitting there......probably learning how to compress an hour into 15 minutes.

I am just wondering what would she have told the airline staff....Sorry yeh!!! but I didnt realise that it was 8:30.....Ha Ha Ha!!. I wish I was there to see. Anyways she took another flight and lost the business class seats plus a great deal of time.

In my defence, I missed my flight last time and was upgraded to business on the next one. Guess good things only happen to good ones!!!!!!!!!!!( right shelly). She is going to kill me for this but wanted to share it while I am alive.

Alone...

Well Well!!! It has happened finally. Shelly has got a break from Dubai and is in India travelling trying o relax (so to say!). She left for a few days which got extended into a full week now. I happy not only because she is getting to meet folks but also because I am not the only one who always changes and alters travel plans.....Now she has joined the league.

Anyways the thing is that I watched most of the cricket alone (I do that even when shelly is around..although with a lot of distraction) without distraction which I surely missed. Days have been wearier than before and I am looking forward to the weekend when she is back.

Dubai Jinx

I have actually been thinking whether Dubai is astrnomically( my spelling is as staggery as my belief in it!!!) good for me. I mean I have been down sick with something or the other with consistency for the last 6-8 months. Something keeps adding up to the medical history every now and then. For goodness sake! Is this the only place where I have to make a record. Why couldnt I run the fastest in olympics (Huh!!! with the extra pounds). Anyways getting back to ailments- I am now having a bad throat infection. Have been taking antibiotics regularly for the first time but it doesnt seem to work. Guess order is not my cup of tea (Shelly would agree to that and bet on it!). By the way it is real bad and I am even doing the salt gargles besides the 7 day antibiotics course. I cant even shout anymore....even at myself. On top of it...Ramadan is on and it becomes difficult managing the fasts. I just hope I am able to pull through.

Ponte Vecchio in Kashmir

I came across this photograph on the net which is similar (in make only!) to the famous PonteVecchio of Florence. Coincidently I happen to have a photograph of me and Shelly on the bridge. There is a striking similarity between both in terms of the basic structure. The kashmiri version is an old bridge called "Saraf Kadal"-Kadal meaning a bridge in kashmiri.

Time flies

The week turned around very slowly but the weekend was quick. friday was spent on Shelly's office work and I wasted Saturday on mine....Nevertheless it was a nice weekend and Dhamaal- the movie turned out to be surprisingly refreshing. A plain, effortless movie made even the 2nd and 3rd row watching painless.

I think I need a day to cover up for my sleep before I get insomnia ( I think I am getting closer)....Help me lord!!!

I just hope the coming week is good with some surprises.....we have a long Ramadan month approaching. It sounds like an event...I am looking forward to it...Some how Dubai gets exciting around this time.

Thank you note for Jit

There are going tobe some additions in the page some old pictures from 2005 ( correct me jit if I am wrong). All thanks to Abhijit for letting me have those. I lost mine to an unfortunate Hard disk crash last year.

I am still waiting for Ruksh to send me some and I know he sure is sitting on a pile. Multiple requests have already gone to him. Anyways...Cheers Abhijit!!!!!.....

Lazy weekend

Well Well! The weekend is finally over. A lazy weekend spent mostly at home singing songs and playin dunb charade with Amit and Nitika. It was Nitika's birthday by the way but Amit was down with fever...so things were cool. Lot of late night chats but no work on mind (so says Shelly). We did manage to catch a movie- "No Reservations" about a Chef and her balance in life. That did bring up lot of proposals for me opening up a restaurant as I happen to have a passison for cooking.

Anyways....we also managed to squeeze a dinner out on kababs with Rajiv and Nisha which was good. For the coming week, the resolve is to keep outside food on back burner and ty and eat healthy. Lets see how we honour that resolve.....

Shelly's Birthday Bash

We had a little birthday party for Shelly on 23rd night at home. Just a few balloons, a new weird cake (Vanilla Mousse with apples and chocolate) and a lot of glow stars on the table (I picked them...never had such a thing for myself). The best thing was the candles which burnt like the diwali "anar" and it was a sight to see. For all you guys with kids--they are safe. I think I am trying to relive my childhood with all this....

Anyways we had this surprise and woke up Shelly at 1:00 (She was deep in slumber and didnt know where she was being taken) and with hlf opened eyes she was startled to find Amit and Nitika waiting....... The party was good as was the cake and Shelly was a winner with two beautiful long awaited plants and an iPod.

So what do you guys say!!!!!