and FinAlly !!!!

“Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get”
when I first saw this movie .. trust me .. this line just passed off like any other dialogue as I waited for the movie to get over so I could probably get into my next activity ..
I watched this movie again three nights back and it kinda hit me back ….

I was going through my personal diary.. and things have changed so much .. like I really don’t know how to describe it .. last year december 2005.. sitting at home preparing for two weddings in the family and december 2006 in a different phase of life all together .. … some priceless lessons, realisations and people that I believe shaped this year for me..

This year has been special cos of the people I met this year .. I remember sept 2005 taking an exercise of listing down all my close friends who I thought would last a life time… came up with a list of thirty … one memorable evening the ground below my feet shook and two weeks later I cut the zero.

I got my first job, lecturing on leadership and mgmt… there was so much apprehension .. I was questioning myself.. people smirked .. I had doubts .. I didn’t want to get into that class… but I had a guiding light .. he pumped me up … he blew in air and I sailed ..
6 months later … I didn’t want to leave ..

when I boarded the flight.. I knew that from that day life was going to be very different...
dubai was hell, it was very hard.. I hated it when I came here .. I spent every night for the first four months with questions… I could see “WHY” written all over dubai. Just about everything was a question mark.. I just couldn’t come to terms with the fact that I was out of my comfort zone.. new faces .. new personalities... it wasn’t like the rosy dream that I’d painted in my head .. it wasn’t even close to it… Felt like calling it quits a thousand times. I even booked my tickets once but somehow just managed to keep going… I took strenght in the fact that I wasn’t the only one … there are so many people here going through so much of shit without even complaining about it .. they inspired me .. every now and then I still meet people who’d just stun me by their stories … I even saw a lot of quitters .. but when I saw them I knew exactly where I don’t want to go and what I don’t want to be…
I realised that the good ol days of dad paying my bills were over… and earning money wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be…
Trust me when I say… I never had any responsibilities when I was in baroda.. dad took care of everything .. we just had to make reasonable demands and make it sound like the most logical thing .. that’s it ..

Personally this has been an amazing year… met some very special people .. and they’ve shaped the way I think.. found myself in some amazing situations.. I realised that I no longer needed people around me to have fun… fell in love.. realised that it wasn’t .. fell in love again and realised that I’d never learn … laughed so loud that I cried .. cried so hard that I laughed at myself ..




Some moments :

one of the worst days …on valentine’s i burnt my shirt … fought with my parents and hurt them… my bike broke down .. cycled to work on a hot summer day .. lost all my saving to pay the mechanic … went broke… my valentine ditched me for her friends .. but that day I got my first ever paycheck and boy was I happy … I went on a date alrite… me and my cheque .. I think I’m in love ever since :)

I got arrested and whacked by the police for covering the riots without a valid pass, almost got beaten up at the hospital where I tried to record some statements… but I got lucky the same night, met barkha dutt and watched her go live from mandvi :)

sting operations .. spent nights policing the police and caught more than a dozen dozing on the camera, some ran home in their boxers, some left their guns behind.. some pleaded guilty.. one or two even tried to beat us up … but the powerful feeling that u get when policemen run at the sight of u is just something I cant put in words :)


my first date…she took me out and boy oh boy … I loved every moment J .. she’s got the most beautiful eyes I’ve looked into…

did some real crazy stuff on my birthday all alone .. just walked into a place.. got a bunch of blond women to sing me happy birthday.. they threw in a lot of freebies… it got a little out of hand when the women asked for returns… no guesses … I rushed out :)

my first cheque in the UAE… I know I’d sound like a fool.. but the first thing I did is calculate in indian rupees and then kept laughing, smiling and giggling the whole day .. just like that :)

2007 … sounds so exciting … come over boss I’m waiting