Star Singh

Hi all ,

I want to tell you all about star singh today. Star singh, ofcourse is not his name and i am using a pseudo name coz afterall this is an anon blog. I see him everyday. He works as a labourer where i work .Everyday i see him exactly at 05.30 am all dressed and good to go waiting for his transport to pick him up, i might as well set my watch on him. I can see him working all day, from my window at my office. He talks very little, works as hard and as sincerely as anybody else on the shopfloor. Star singh's two sons are in the indian navy and are well settled and he married off his only daughter ages ago. I wondered why he is staying on in oman for and i assumed that he is the kind of man who likes to hardwork till the day he dies.

One of those sleepless nights i wass tossing around in bed and my mind craved for a cigarette. I was out smoking in the parking lot when i got sight of star singh walking in through the camp gates lugging a huge sack on his back. What is starsingh doing with a large sack on his back in the dead of the night ?. I asked the same question to another guy at the office. Oh boy ! if i say i was shocked it would be an understatement. The crazy truth is that star singh is a sucker for bar girls. He visits them as often as he can. what ever salary he earns he spends on them and he stopped sending money home long ago. He has borrowed heavily from his provident fund. He collects empty cans all night. Yes thats right, after doing 10 hour duty star singh picks up empty coke cans all night and sells those to scrap buyers to pay off his debt.

ONAM : GULF EDITION

This weekend i had a chance to literally taste the gulf onam . for those who dont know what onam is ...It is the single most important important festival celebrated by all malayalis aka malabaris irrespective of religion and geographical location ( the word goes that neil arm strong met a malayali on the moon selling tea....meaning malabaris will migrate anywhere and do anything to survive )The actual onam is ten days with the most important day being the " thiruvonam "which marks the begining of the harvest. Please visit this page to read more about onam and how it is celibrated traditionally http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam

My muscat onam was actually celebrated over three days commencing with a party i threw at our office for all those who were not fasting. It actually helped that a traditional onam meal with 26 dishes and 3 payasams /puddings can be bought from ruwi malabari hotels for r.o 3 /- complete with the plantain leaf . The actual tiruvonam i spent with my relatives in alkhuwair (bcoz the rest of my family is in kerala enjoying onam ... i cudnt get away due to technical reasons) doing floral arragements enjoying the singing and besides stuffing myself. The day after that we had a celebration at the company staff quarters with more meals and what not . so this onam was thrice onamatic. The photo at the begining of the post is slightly out of focus and not sharp thats what happens when you try to eat and click at the same time .

shambhu

Hi , This post is inspired by a similar post by angry in oman.

It was the last day of the academic year . I was in my second year at college and my seniors at our shared apartment who were in their final year were packing up all their stuff. The air was thick with emotion. They were distributing their used textbooks, notes, xerox copies assignments and what not. Me, I was rummaging through their lab records so that i could cut and paste most of the diagrams needed in my lab records and substitute their lab readings for the sessions i would definitely miss in the coming semesters taking in to my account my extracurricular activities

;-) . Strangely i came across a name again and again "Vinod.Das" on the lab records . Around 16 guys stayed in that 6 bedroom house and everybody knew everybody else and i was puzzled. I ran up to where all were everyone was lounging some were smoking some were busy on the computer and others were packing i singled out my favourite senior and drew him aside his name was " shambhu" . (He and me slept in the same room for 2 years, got drunk togother a hundred times ,shared cigarettes a thousand times and had so much fun togother ) and i showed him the record book and asked him " who is Vinod D?". All hell broke loose,I will take the look on his face to my grave i guess . It turned out that his name was actually Vinod Das and because he had this habit of chewing on loose tobacco always people called him by that tobacco brands name

"shambhu"

Any ways it lightened the mood which would have been very sad otherwise.

Ghosts of girlfriends past - Spoiler

I dont want my blog to be a stereotype and i like to post what ever i want so hear goes .........

Connor Mead is our hero. He is a photographer/womanizer/heart breaker and he is home for his silent unassuming (his only living relative) brother Paul's wedding to a somewhat hot headed doctor. He openly ridicules marriage chases after the bridesmaid and manages to rub his childhood friend Jenny Perotti the wrong way. The night before the wedding he is visited by the ghost of his uncle who was in his time an ace womaniser and whom connor calls " the prophet" he is also visited by 3 ghosts from his past present and future . From the past it is the girl with whom he had sex for the first time she shows him how as a kid he was gifted his first camera by jennifer and how he was really hurt when jennifer danced with another boy while he was waiting. The ghost makes him remember how he felt at that time and why he chose to start womanizing with his uncles blessing . The second ghost from his present is his own Indian assistant who hates him and plots against him with his dumped girlfriends he shows him what a crappy life he is running and she makes him discover that he still have feelings for jennifer . The third ghost from the future is super sexy hmm she make him feel the pain of watching jennifer getting married to another guy and she also shows ihim his funeral in which only his brother attends . The rest of the film deals with how he keeps all the bad stuff from happening and getting back with jennifer .

Phewww !!! that was my first movie spoiler ... i dont want to review or critisize a movie. Its just fine the way it is made. The fear of being rejected by some one we love makes us do different things ...some of us become womanizers/heart breakers, some of us become chronic bachelors and some of us become suspicious maniacs. How hard is it for someone to love again after being rejected/cheated ? I guess its pretty damn hard

Abled

All my life i have been aware of them..... people like me, yet different in the sense that they had a disability or a special ability. I dont know about you but i always have tried not to stare,not to show any sympathy on my face when i saw a disabled person. I always wondered which was more sad, being born with a disability or acquiring one in the course of life. I have thanked god silently countless times for making me the way i am whenever i pass such a person on the road. I am never putoff when people comment about my receeding hairline or lack of fitness etc because deep down i realized long ago that i am very much blessed to be the way i am. I also practice safety like a religion.

This morning as I was coming into my office from our fabrication shop,our cleaner guy who is dump and deaf was working away furiously on my carpet with the vaccum cleaner. Oddly enough the vaccum cleaner was not on as he had streched the wire a little bit too far . It suddenly dawned on me that he couldnt realize it was off because of his disability and i felt very very bad. I walked up behind him and plugged it again and he didnt know a thing. When he finished my office i squeezed his shoulders and he must have wondered why. He is a cool guy tho he video calls and uses sign language on phone, he drives every day to work, he has his own home and is married with two kids and he is my age 24. Thanks to him now i know sign lang also. I am happy to say that oman is a disabled friendly country

Discovery

Hi,

Went out to sohar this weekend with my brother, after dropping my dad at the airport .

I love sohar very much because once i got a chance to spend an entire month in sohar wandering aimlessly in the souq, fish market, stables,farms and beaches.There was no movie thatre back then. For those who didnt know Sohar is " sindbad the sailor" home town .

I spent some time practising drums this thursday and i discovered the side mirrors. Really i learned to drive in india at a very young age and inspite of thousands of kilometers both on road and off road in india, i never really learned the use of mirrors.Wen ever the need occured i just looked over my Shoulders and my cars mirrors were always pushed close so as not to lose them in the bumber to bumber, door to door traffic in my home town. I never even bothered to fix a rear view mirror on my bike for years. So it was like learning to drive first time again, this time with the mirrors .....really frustrating because with out the mirrors i can come out of the drums in less than 10 seconds.

Friday we spend the time getting ready for the ramadhan stocking the fridge and making arrangements for the food and being the last day of partying my brother and his friends went to the sohar beach swiss hotel for a round of drinks. I chose to watch the movie " the ghosts of past girlfriends " at the city centre sohar, being not the partying kind of guy . It was a very nice movie.

This morning we woke up early and reached the rop office at sohar just in time for my drum and slope test . I managed to do the first half of the test with out the mirror, but they warned me to use the mirror and i complied . With some difficulty i managed to get out with out hitting any drums and i passed slope quite easily. Then i caught a taxi back to muscat and i am back at my office.

Really " The objects in the mirror are closer than they appear"



RAMADHAN MUBARAK ALL

Heart Break

Hi , I came across these lines in another blog this is pretty much i want to say to " her"
The link to the original blog post is http://soulofawoman-rane.blogspot.com/2009/08/to-love-is-to-understand.html

In the name of love,

I have broken hearts

I have left scars,

I have settled scores,and I have left open pores,

I have manipulated thoughts,tears I have shed,

wounds I have had,

but I have taken revenge,

I have asked questions,

I have seeked answers,

done a lot of tit for tat,````all in the name of love.

But with you my darling,all this feels like,so not me.

You will never come across,the immature kid,that I could be.

Unnecessary arguments,broken heart,countless tears,unending questions,

baseless expectations,Wont let any of that,happen between us.

Because I love you,a lot more than all of that,

(more than momentary solace,of settlement, argument and quarrels)

Sweetheart,it's with you,

I have known what love is.

It's you I want to love,in its purest form.

H1N1

Hi Folks here comes A QUICK POSTS ABOUT H1N1 bcoz today morning my driver was wearing a mask and the other passengers started to panic .

1)It is actually around since 1987

2)The infective Stage of the flue is around 5 days , 1day before and 4 days after the onset of symptoms

3)Masks are of Limited Value

4)Avoid recirculated air ( you know which malls to avoid )

5)Isolate yourself at home if you catch it

6)Humans are going to develop immunity to this virus , You cannot stop it is already in the air and dont panic

She is 62

"If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India!"

62 is not a unique number in itself . But lo and behold every one . She is 62

She is mother to billions of us . She derived her name from the river Indus on whose banks dwelled the first civilizations. It was in her lap that our kind first learned to count and to play chess . She lets her sons rule themselves . She was the richest country in the world till the white thieves leeched on her for 200 years . Yet she is coming out strong and her new avatar is 62 .

She is Ladies and Gentlemen INDIA .

"What makes a nation, is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past "

We have a glorious past , now come .............lets make a glorious future

Proud to be Indian !
Jai Hind !

AL-DUQM

Hi ! Iwent out to duqm Yesterday . Its a 5 hour drive from rusayl via sinaab . We had to stop the car for a lot of camels . There are shell pumps on the way at regular intervals . The best part about the route we took was that there were no radars so it was a free way . There were many toyota pickups loaded with people and day to day things, on the road . They were heading to the interior deserts. Some of the drivers of the pickups were veiled women and i tell you " They can drive really fast and well " . About duqum there is a ship repair facility comin up

( daewoo engineering ) and the land filling for the airport is also going on . The rental scene in Duqm is now extremely hot with rent for a villa going up to a 1000

(come on its really out in the middle of nowhere) .

I would like to give a link to an article about al-duqm i found on the net .

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20070807123219/Al%20Duqm%20Breathtaking%20Development

CREDIT

LEGEND BM: BANK MUSCAT SP : SCARLET PIMPERNEL

SP: I am here for my for credit card (You were supposed to call me).
BM : Yes we have reviewd your application, We have some issues.. Why is your salary account almost empty every month end?
SP: Bcoz I Live off my salary.
BM: Why do you need the credit card for ?
SP: Bcoz I cant make online purchases using your debit card.
BM: Why was your salary not credited in full last month ?
SP: Bcoz i took a salary advance
BM: Why did you take a salary advance.
SP: I went home to India for a weekend.
BM: And the month before that ?
SP: I went home to India for another weekend.
BM: Sorry ! But we need you to wait until there is there is 3 100% salary transfer.
SP: WHAT ? then why did you make me submit a salary assignement letter from my company clearly explaining my salary and its commitment to your bank
BM: Sorry ! Just wait for three months SP: Thank you very much

HEY BANK MUSCAT I AM JUST A HOMESICK DUDE WHO WANTS TO BUY SOME BOOKS ONLINE

THE HEAT

The sun is already up at 05.30 am . Opening the door is like opening a car bonet . You turn the showerknob only to bath in the scalding hot water (No the heater is not on). I tell Myself

WELCOME TO THE DESERT

AN IRREGULAR ODE TO IPOD

Dear Ipod ,

Now that we have covered so many miles togother, I guess its time i wrote an ode to you.

You sing to me when ever i ask you to, i can very well take you for granted, cant i ? You gave me company in deserted bus stands at 03.00 am in the morning, lulled to me in those sleepless nites, helped me through others tantrums, flew with me over the oceans , walked with me in the desert and the dark forests. I still remember the day you flew in from across the oceans four years ago to see me in that small green little box . Four years is a long time buddy incase you dont realize it. Hang on to me coz' i am used to you now more than you may ever realize.

DOING LONG DISTANCE

Well it was hard enough when we were living ten minutes apart. The depression,

feeling of abandonment & frustration is already in place and eating away slowly.

TEN THOUSAND WORDS

Oman is where i live, I feel almost at home now . Its very different from where i come from but as the saying goes i am begining to "celebreate the differences" . I have tried here to emphasize it with pictures, as they say " every picture is worth a thousand words"