The year that was 2008

Before any of you think it’s an entry recounting the events that happened across the globe in the past year, it would serve you well to remember I am as self obsessed as the next man. So this is a quick post to reminisce MY past year which had some wonderful memories and some not so wonderful ones. At the risk of sounding clichéd, 2008 was a mixed year. I can’t really say what my biggest take away from this year was.

I can’t remember another year which I was so looking forward to- personally, professionally and academically. Maybe the problem was lofty expectations, unrealistic dreams and a lot of greed. January did not disappoint- I will not lie like many others – I did not have too many dreams/ ambitions when I was a kid-at least I don’t remember the ones that I had.( I did have one stupid dream of playing cricket for the Australian team - I was such a big idiot). I was a happy kid who did not care about anything as long as Patti gave me food 6 times a day and no one asked me to study. I do distinctly remember one such dream -My mom had always wanted to go and see the Alps (Long story- Sivaji Ganesan-die hard fan- sivanthu mann). As fate would have it – my mama, mami and their 2 adorable daughters live in Geneva and were kind enough to put up with my parents for 2 months. So I had arranged for them to have their vacation in Switzerland moving away from our 3000 year old family tradition of going to Delhi/Hyderabad on my dad’s LFC – (I am not complaining- I have had some fantastic times on those LFCs- Nimbu Paanis for 25np, Appu Ghar, Cup-o-Noodles on the train-Getting down in all the stations-Pure Bliss)

February, was one of those mixed months- I was delighted that VAK/S were getting married but disappointed to have missed his wedding. K&S were also getting married and I was generally happy for K – (I didn’t know S before the wedding). Just when I get a little cocky about how wonderful my life is, god plays one of his cruel jokes that he seems to reserve for me- he tempts me with my big dream job in the big apple-picture this it is exactly like that smelly rat going for the masala vada in your kitchen- you guessed it- there is a trap- I get mighty close and US state department decide now is not a good time for me to be in the US- you know with all the great depression round the corner et all.

2 months of trying to work around the system basically meant that my focus was not on my exams- thankfully work was kind to me and I had enough time to catch up. My beloved united were playing some stunning football and help me take my mind of all that is happening around. We are on our way to 10th league title and just one less than the scum and hopefully we will do it May 2009. To make things better we reached our holy grail in Moscow and for the 2nd time in my life time we were European champions. The rejection was now a distant memory and I was pretty darn confident about cracking my exams- After all this was supposed to be my year

I did do my exams wonderfully well and despite the fact the M was leaving us in June there was plenty to look forward too- Orlando trip/more job interviews lined up/didn’t have much to do at work. I got the feeling maybe 2008 was my year. We had a fantastic time at Orlando and I conquered some of bat-shit crazy fears.

The next 3 months are some of the craziest times I have endured- a colleague of mine decides to quit and I am entrusted with more responsibilities at work-I get rejected by a couple of big employers- cause they suddenly had a hiring freeze/I was too young (yet rightly qualified)- I flunk my exams by the thinnest of margins. To top it all I miss one of closest friends wedding in Chennai because I was thinking my big break was round the corner. After all this was my big year. The economy worsens and there was not a chance in hell that I could get my next big break. I was feeling totally worthless and went into a cocoon of sorts.

I went home in November- caught up with lots of friends-enjoyed the extra attention Pattamal street was showering on me-went to banglore- traveled by train after 5 years-went to B&Ls house-met R&J-basically did everything I intended to do. There is something about going home when you live overseas- you basically get up to prospect of doing absolutely nothing bust still get treated like a king- Ah Good times.
The 18 days basically made me realize- Maybe 2008 was not a bad year at all.

Here I am on the last Sunday of this year-looking back at a rather eventful year and thinking 2009 is round the corner- Maybe just maybe it will be MY YEAR

Here is wishing you and yours a happy prosperous and blessed new year

Cheers
S


PS: I am not big on New Year resolutions but these are some of the things I want to do in 2009

a) Watch a game at the theatre of dreams
b) Travel around the world
c) Mostly importantly realize its not important to be RIGHT all the time

This could have been US

Al-Zeidi may have also been motivated by what a colleague described as a boastful, showoff personality."He tried to raise topics to show that nobody is as smart as he is," said Zanko Ahmed, a Kurdish journalist who attended a journalism training course with al-Zeidi in Lebanon.Ahmed recalled that al-Zeidi spoke glowingly of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose followers organized protests on Monday to demand his release."Regrettably, he didn't learn anything from the course in Lebanon, where we were taught ethics of journalism and how to be detached and neutral," Ahmed said.

I have absolutely no intentions of justifying what Mr Al-Zeidi did to the American president. Mr. Bush to his credit (and rather surprisingly) handled the situation very well with a rather cheeky retort. But let’s for a second step back and think about the incident. Forget the fact the he was an well educated journalist- He was just a passionate man who wanted to live in his own country with peace and quiet and not have any external interferences.

This could have happened to any of us- After the Mumbai incident every indian was seething with rage and were generally frustrated that none of saner heads in India could come up with a proper solution to tame the ever increasing menace of people who kill in the name of god. Every Ram, Rahim and Robert could clearly see that the BJP and Congress were blaming the religion they hate to be responsible. We couldn’t give a flying fu*k. All of us have wanted to throw shoes at Idiots standing in front of camera and blaming a particular religion for the terror attacks.

I sincerely pray to god that this situation will never arise in India (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) where educated people throw shoes at idiots because they are not allowed to live in peace in their own country.

Cheers
S