Monthly Archives: June 2010

THE GLIMPSE OF CARE

by

Chetan aka Chin chin choo ;) is my friend from school, who recently moved to Egypt on a year long assignment. This is an account abt his first friend in the land of Pharoahs and Mummies. Chetan loves reading, exploring new places, making new friends and of late writing. Wishing him all the best for his ventures and wishing his friend all the happiness in the world. And Happy Reading to you guys

Neither it was a Love at first sight, Nor It was a friendship for a long time,

It was just the “GLIMPSE OF CARE” she showered upon me, which will be remembered in her sweet memories for my entire lifetime.
“yanee yanee (In her soft tone)”, these were the first words i heard from her.Short, young, chubby, smiling lady.
Her words had a magic in them which were so pleasant to hear. In a city where it is so difficult to get something done due to the language barrier, she was always there for me.

CAIRO, 25th May,2010.

Having reached the city a day before, my excitement knew no bounds, as,it was my first abroad assignment. New City,New People, New Language, New Culture, New Currency. Many things were new for a man coming from Mumbai, the commercial capital of India.
The Cars population nearly equalled the humans, petrol being cheaper than water. The city infrastructure was built so good that there was rare traffic jam but the parking problem existed. The city,known for its GREAT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION, the pyramids,the pharaohic culture,the sphinx statue are the attractions of Cairo and the city has the largest Citadel.
Coming from Mumbai, where i used to stay with my friends, here i had to stay alone in the company’s flat for the next one year.One side of the coin was offereing me so much, on the other side, the loneliness was disturbing.

I was told that i need to prepare my own food, Having took the training from my mom, now the time had come for successful execution.The lazy man was put to some serious work. I was ready for the new experience.
Day 1, having spent in one of the best hotels of Cairo, today i had to shift to my new flat. Many thoughts passed
by mind about the flat, in which i was to spend my next one year.
Finally, i reached the flat with my two collegues from India, who were in Cairo from the past 8 months who also worked in the same client’s office where i was deputed. We were 15 minutes late.
Old Lady, Mrs. Salah, the owner, and her assistant Soffie had already reached the flat. The owner knew only arabic and we were layman to arabic language.My Collegues looked at each other clueless as it was very difficult to communicate to the owner.
Soffie, the native from Italy, aged between 26-28 had come to Cairo 6 years back and was employed under Mrs.Salah.
Soffie knew both arabic and english.It was a huge sigh of relief for me as it was easier to communicate to owner through her.

The owner had smiles on her face seeing us,as,the egyptian people love Indians. “Welcome”, she said. I smiled. “Amitabh Bachachan”, this was the next word from Mrs. Salah,she turned to Soffie and said something in arabic. Soffie explained us as “YANEE.. YANEE.. how much love the egypian people have for Mr.Amitabh Bachchan”.Her voice was was very soft and sweet, Whenever Soffie spoke she used to start with “YANEE.. YANEE..” ,Her words had some magic which were so pleasant to hear.
“Ur name?”, She asked me in her slow tone, after we had begin the conversation.”Chetan”, I smiled. She was getting this word so difficult to pronounce, she started to call me “Chin Chin Choo”, and started kidding with me,she felt happy kidding with me.Her smile was so attractive, I just kept seeing her smiling face and her chubby cheeks,this reminded me a saying from one my teacher during my school days “A Thing Of beauty is a Joy forever”. Soffie helped me to get few formalities concerned to the flat completed.

In just half an hour i had found my first new egyptian friend. She called me twice a day for the next two days and inquired about my well-being. I felt so much happy that some unknown person is so much kind and helpful to me. In a city where it is so difficult to get something done due to language barrier, she was always there for me.I got adjusted to a new place.

Days passed by, and day by day i was excelling in my work and and i had become a good cook. I had become a specialist biryani maker,the only concern was about the round chapati. A month passed by, there was a minor repairing problem related to the flat for which i had to call my owner. I decided to call Soffie, I tried calling her 2-3 times on the same day there was no response from her end. On the same day around 10.30 P.M. i got a call from her.Her voice looked bit depressed, she could not speak much and after inquiring about the problem she disconnected the phone.
I could not stop thinking about her, as, she was the one who had helped in an unknown city. There was no response from the owner, neither,she called me up in the next two days. After 3 days i got a call from her and the flat problem got rectified. This time her voice had no more magic. She sounded like she might be passing through a problematic phase of her life.She could not speak much.

The Glimpse of care she showered upon me could not stop me thinking about her. I pray to almighty that my new friend, if passing through a bad phase, get enough strength to overcome the problems in her life.
Neither it was a Love at first sight, Nor It was a friendship for a long time,
It was just the “GLIMPSE OF CARE” she showered upon me,
which will be remembered in her honour for my entire lifetime.

–Chets.

Google

by

Finally Google is going the Bing way.  It has started including images in the background :)

Alternatively you could also choose your own image or photo to appear as the background to your Google homepage. You can choose an image from your Picasa Web photos, your computer or a Google public gallery.

Happy Searching!!!

Worth a Read

by

 ”Today, India proved once again that it doesn’t care for its poor. Today, it was proved all over again that those who do politics in the name of poor in this country, always rule for the rich”, said the article and rightly so.

I was really moved by the article, it is worth a read

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Main-Street/entry/shame-india-sold-its-dead

Getting Dreamy

by

Prateek aka Patty is my friend from Blogosphere. It is really sweet of him to have taken out time for writing a review for my blog’s first anniversary. A very prolific writer himself, he finds time to read and comment on all the blogs he follows. He is always there for his friends. Apart from this he is a nature lover and also a animal lover. You can find out more abt him on http://unpredictableblog.wordpress.com/ Here is the review

It is a year now since Sapna started dreaming online. What can I say about this blog? One of the best in the World Wide Web if you ask me. Agreed that we have to sometimes wait for the update, but each new post is worth the wait.

Her initial posts were dedicated to computers and IT. Ya, ya….that is what you expect when an IT professional starts blogging. But later on she added different styles and wrote on a variety of topics. What makes this blog interesting is the fact that the author knows what she is talking about and weaves the words in ways that catches your attention.

From latest technical knowledge to social issues, the blog has something for everyone. Sappy has even written a love story once. Personally my favourite posts on her blog have been the ones in which she talks about her experiences eg The Ghostly Affair, which are not only a good read but also have a touch of comedy.

Her posts that analyse things are also worth reading. Be it posts on 24×7 news channels, reality shows, controversial topics, social issues or the latest one on diets. She knows what she is talking about and after reading her posts you know you are not dealing with an average person, but one with a very high intellectual level.

A very charming lady, whom I hope to meet this month for the first time, during my visit to Bangalore. A very happy anniversary, Sappy. Keep blogging, we have been and will always wait for your posts.

Cheers!!!

If Only

by

It is the second anniversary of Mayur’s blog. Mayur is an exceptional writer and needless to say, has a great fan following. He had invited for guest posts on his blog and I was too happy to oblige. This is my post for the same. Do join in the celebartions at http://maxmayur.wordpress.com

I want to go back to the time
when “getting high” meant “on a swing”
when drinking meant “apple juice”
when “Dad” was the only hero
when “love” was “Mom’s hug”
When Dads shoulder was the highest place on earth
when your “worst enemies “were “your siblings”
when the only thing that could hurt were “skinned knees”
when the only thing “broken” were your toys
and “Goodbyes” meant only till tomorrow.

Wow!!! what a way to recollect those good ol’ childhood days.

Every time I walk down the memory lane, I revisit these days. Esp, around this time coz this was our summer vacation time, the most carefree days, free from even our biggest worries then “Home work and Exams”  Just wish I could go back in time.

That was the time when summer vacations meant visiting grand parent’s place. Meeting friends, cousins and all relatives. No classes, trainings and summer camps were planned ahead of time. Yes we did attend some of them coz our parents felt they could spend some moments of peace at home by keeping us engaged for some time. We played the whole day long inspite of the scorching heat. yes we played outside. (For the sake of gen Y) There was no Internet then, and single channel on TV i.e Doordarshan ( BTW, it still exists  ). Video games weren’t very common either. Our entertainers were Famous Fives, the Mickey Mouse and Mowgli from the Jungle Book. I wasn’t a big fan of comics.

All the mangoes and chigli( a tangy mixture made of tamarind,salt and jeera) and loads of other seasonal fruits that we ate had a different flavor. Summers also meant falling sick. There has not even been one summer during my school days that I have not visited a doc.

That was time when we wrote letters to keep in touch and few phone calls as well. Good hand writing was a virtue and we were expected to write in those cursive writing books to improve it( Is it still a part of school curiculum. I don’t know). And inspite of having 2 months of vacations they always used to get extended by a day or two. To discourage this trend most schools (including mine) had a fine for being absent first couple of days. All the nights we slept on terraces to avoid getting baked by the heat inside the room, stories shared, informal chats, card games played(with actual cards, not solitaire), days without water, electricity brought more joys than even best of the days now. And then schools started with the onset of rains with a note of excitement ( Unlike the monday morning blues) and the joy of meeting your school friends again.

I cannot go back in time but surely whenever I feel like it, I relive those moments, rejuvenate myself and get ready for the battles of everyday life. But still somewhere in the corner of my mind I hear a voice and I realise my heart is hoping “If only life were as simple as i seemed then…..”