Category: Me

Dubai – Hyderabad – Dubai

I think I have thrown in a little something about my stay in Hyderabad in one of my previous posts and like I said then, that deserved a write up in itself about how; for loves sake did I reach Hyderabad of all places?! Well, I don’t have a clue to date because leaving Dubai was never meant to be. These are not my words but my sisters curse. Sneha kept telling me that I was going to get back to Dubai sooner than I thought and I always laughed off her childish thoughts about how she and I are meant to be close by or so says the lame ass palmist from Kerala, some shit. I know, I know; thanks a lot for all  your good luck Shruti! You’re the reason I’m here *winks*

So, news from this part of town is about me getting my ass back here. I was away for around 10 months I think and I got called back by the desert that reaps money. I can vouch for that one – the money part that is. Tax-free money is something that every Indian wants to brag about but here is where I really feel the pinch missing, you know? The pinch that pains bad – TAXES! Yikes, I get the shizzles by its mere thought. A little birdie told me that my manager thought that I was worth the trouble and did his best to get me hired on a full time basis. No more contracts babey!! Now that is something to be real proud of; having a full time job in a semi government organization in Dubai. Its w00t.

Can’t stop thinking of the time between the end of 2010 up to around first quarter of 2011 when everything in my life was unstable as hell. I was on a contractual job if I haven’t mentioned before. Not the kind of a contract where you know when you’ll be without a job. This is the kind of contract that keeps you hanging – you never know! I never knew when the contract would end and when I’d be body shopped out of my organization onto the contractors bench and thereby fired duly over a period of time and over months of unrest which would have surely originated from my side. The restless person that I am – I won’t let you live till you give me an answer and once you give me a negative one I’ll haunt you every now and then. Lol, no. Seriously, I’m a stupid fool who’d accept anything with that dumb look on your face, you know? The one that says, “Hey! I deserve this, but its fine if you don’t give it to me” Fucktard.

Finally, somewhere around March 2011 they decided to let us go and in stepped TCS who offered to take me into its ample bosom and feed me with all the laziness it had to offer. I can swear that it is the organization for anyone who wants to lead a live-eat-die life. Its that awesome. You get in and you retire in lets say 30 years sometimes without knowing about what the fuck just happened. You absolutely don’t need to know anything about anything and you don’t need to give a rats ass in order to survive there. I don’t say it just for the heck of it – its heavenly safe once you get in and if you are really someone who has decided to stay there is nothing that will stop you from growing. Highly recommended for the content masses, you know? So, I worked from TCS, Hyderabad for around 10 months for the very same project in pretty much the same role but with a better designation. I really don’t know where those days went and I really don’t want to talk about the filth that I got myself into as far as living in Hyderabad is concerned.

As far as Hyderabad is concerned – it’s a good city so to say in regards with the crowds on the road, the mobs who want to know what’s happening with you and of course the policemen who want to loot you for everything they see but what went wrong with me was the place or the area that I chose to stay. I knew nothing and I made a big big mistake. I took up a house in a place called Miyapur which I learnt later was the scum of the city. It sucked so bad that we literally had to keep the glasses of our car up as we drove by into our apartment. Why? The entire road that lead to our apartment turned into a big open sewage transit passageway within 3 months of us moving in. Now that’s the kind of shit that you need when you’re really talking about shit! Blah, it was disgusting. I was scared of contracting a bad disease over the time but luckily I survived and my ex-current boss decided to call me back! Phew, some escape.

I landed in Dubai on the 26th of Feb 2012 much to the delight of Sneha who is vacationing in India as we speak. Yo, good for you girl! I miss India already. Man, am I going to change or what? You know the thing about me? It’s the thing there I am never quite content. Now sometimes I think of it as a positive attitude; its like a drive in you to keep wanting more just so that you grow in life and keeping demanding more from life. In my case however, I run after what I don’t have and forget to enjoy what I have which I’m sure is a lot better than what I could have ever imagined it to be. I try my best but I always find the grass greener on the other side and I try my best to get to that side only to want to go to another side the moment I reach there. Annoying!

Its been smooth riding thus far in Dubai. I managed to get Shruti over and we have since then gone on to get a cozy little flat and fill it up with stuff. We splurged a ton of dirhams which I did not really have but that’s ok cause I hope it ties me down for a while. I suddenly feel this urge to relocate to Bangalore. Guess I won’t cause I’m sure that somebody gonna get a hurt real bad if somebody moves once again leaving behind all of someone else’s belongings to no one, heh! There’s a lot more to talk about but I guess I’d shut up for today. More in next… now since I am pretty sure that the audience should have gone down considerably!

-Anup

Alive and kicking.

I’ve been idling at my blog for the past three to four hours roughly thinking about where I need to start from. If you’ll noticed; I recently changed the blog’s theme and it was hated upon vociferously by Shruti. I still kept it for a while to see if I’d grow into it but nope, it just did not do it for me the way ADSimple does. The current theme that is. Its simple, nice and most importantly – red. I like the way it looks and feels and how it is easy to everyone’s eye. I’m not sure about what the masses feel about it but I felt much better the moment I changed it back to what it was.

As to why I’ve been invisible.. uhm, from what I have understood of myself it seems as though I need to feed upon pain and sorrow to come up with text that make a mark. Else, all that gargles out of me is nothing but bullshit! And I mean it – I just can’t seem to come up with the “happy stuff” you know? In fact, the moment I start sounding happy; by content or even if I type with a smile, the text just seems to bore themselves away and I end up staring at a blank notepad or sometimes my own self in the mirror. Wawwww!! I’m not kidding. Sometimes, I’m just a bore snore. I don’t quite want to say this in an open forum, but whatever is fine. Guess I need to get it out in order to attain some clarity about myself, you know?

What do I mean by a Happy blog? Check this out – http://sayesha.blogspot.com. Now here is a person who can really write happy stuff. Things that make her happy and words that make everyone who read it happy. Every post on her blog brings a smile to my face (Meh, me grumpy me) and I can’t stop wondering about how someone gets to be the way she is! I have been a silent follower of her blog for a couple of years now I think and there hasn’t been a single entry which put me down or made me feel sad or thoughtful. Every post is so light, happy and easy to relate to. Her story telling capabilities are without doubt exceptional and I hope she writes a fun book or something or maybe get her blog converted into a book. I’ve known of someone who has done that and it was pretty good. Not a chart buster but good nevertheless. Smikh introduced me to Sayesha’s and I just had to throw in a shout out to tell her that she’s one of the most inspiring people I know on the web. Cheers.

That being said – I hope for this entry to help get back to where I actually belong – words, texts, sentences and everything to do with narration and story telling. Hehe, yes, I always think of my life to be full of stories.

-Anup

…at home; at peace.

I haven’t felt like this in a while; I haven’t been feeling the need to write, sometimes I’d try and fail and some other times words would just pause. On most ocassions, however, I’d just be busy playing Uncharted 2 or fighting with Shruti about me wanting to play more! Its not like she wanted to watch the TV but then she’d just throw a tantrum to get me out of the transfixed state that I was in whilst playing that game. I haven’t ever spoken about my most recent addiction and thats how stuck I was with it.

Uncharted 2 multiplayer was a world in its own and Anup Menon alias RyukDG was a skin running around with an AK-47, a 9.2 FS pistol and an MK-NDI grenade. It threw me (once again) into a virtual world where I was surrounded by gun nuts and random screamy kids addicted to the power boost that an online game provides. I hope this justifies my absence from the blogospere. Sadly, as far as I have noticed a lot of regular bloggers have given up and moved on with life and more. I just hope that they all come back and I make time for following up on my blogroll.

I am not going to talk much about my addiction to the Playstation 3 because its a pointless discussion which may or may not interest the masses and for those who really want to discuss games and the console; feel free to email in – I’d love to talk about it *winks* I’m sure Shruti would be reading this sometime and the PS3 is the last thing that she’d want to read about. So, I’ll move on to greener pastures and may eventually discuss the happenings in my life over the past couple of years.

As I read up on my posts between 2009 and 2010; I realized that most of the posts were just not me. I wrote, sometimes out of sheer boredom and sometimes since I had people breathing down my neck to write a few lines. Forcing myself to write has never worked in my favour and never will. I am more of a heart guy and all that I notate needs to flow. Thinking while I write never helps and those posts (between the dates I mentioned) are astoundingly pathetic. This was the phase in my life where I had just landed in Dubai and had just met the girl I’d marry. I was busy with too many things and writing never seemed to come to me. Thus, a lot of pushy posts. I am hoping to start fresh; probably try to re-design the whole blog and archive all the posts before this date. I still haven’t planned on how to do it because its been a few months since I tweaked wordpress and I really don’t like messing up this place. It does have a lot of fond memories and I hate losing data – be it good or bad.

So why now? Well, I have ended my 2 year stint at Dubai and have come back to my motherland. I was a patriot from the time I remember but never have I missed my country so much. The fragrances, the stench, the pollution, the numerous languages, the fighting adults and the crying kids, all the chirping birds and the barking dogs; all of it is still sinking in to me it feels like I am floating. There is around 2 years worth information that has gone by and I will re-post with a rundown on the dreamy little year that I have shared with my patient better half, thus far. “Which year?” she’ll probably ask. Time has flown by and the both of us find it hard to believe that we have already been together for a year. I will follow up with more on that;  but for now, a big Hi! to all those who grace by this place and I hope that you’ll are doing well. I’m sorry for not being around and I am hoping that I’d be seen more in the years to come.

I’ll end with this – In an utopian world I am the happiest man alive!

-Anup

The lull

“Don’t let the lull fool you!” Its deceptive and its like the calm before a tsunami. This has been proven to be true in my case time and again. There are days like today where work flows like a rivulet and you think about engaging in activities like reading off of a few blogs, reading the newspaper online (yes, I do that sometimes), reading reviews on the new games that have been released and everything else that you can find online APART from work! Define rivulet: a small stream. But like I said, you have been deceived by the lull. Its just breathing space and nothing more. Its just like a tiny oasis amongst long stretches of barren lifeless deserts (like it is here, in Dubai!) It gets over before you know it and you’re out there again; fighting against problems, tackling roadblocks, being roadblocks, arguing with people who are much below your level of likeliness, yelling, going completely against your demeanor, scratching your head, googling, staring into nothingness while you carelessly dig your nose thinking about “stuff” amongst all the other things you’d probably be doing at work. Define raging river: a crazy violent river. Its all in a days work and no, digging your nose is perfectly alright. Just don’t eat it! There are people and there is youtube.

Rants apart, I caught myself in that moment of lull and I thought I’d write a few lines. Its not always when I feel like doing this. Not anymore at least. I assure all my avid readers and fans that its not that I don’t want to write. Its just that I’ve been busy off late and by the time I get home, all I want to do is fall on the XXL sized bean bag and think about nothing. Its another thing that I don’t get a lot of opportunity to do that *winks* Work never seems to end for me and Hamid always comes up with new things that I might want to do or could possibly include into my already hectic and never-ending schedule. Now, its another thing that there is a part of me who enjoys every bit of the work he does but there is also a part of me who’d want to return to his days in HP where he had very little to do, had to hardly go to work (work from home with a good pay was an option then) and is hardly responsible for anything that happens. Ahhh! Those were the days where I earned without so much as twitching my nose. Things are different now. I am responsible for tasks and activities which can be done by no one but me. I work with someone who is worth all the respect. The learning curve that I have here seems like a very long one. The hyperbola does not seem to end and its annoying me now! I’d like some peace, you know? I really want to sit down and have enough time on me to note down things on my mind and I need to do it at least once a week. But then, its been a roller coaster ride for me thus far and time has moved very quickly from the time I’ve reached Dubai. I sometimes can’t believe that I’ve completed 13 months here. For me, everything seems like it happened yesterday. XYZ company called, interview was done, they offered me a job, I turned into a fool and came here! See the pun there? No? Uhm, well, I’m a bit grungy and I promise to get better.

This post is dedicated to some marvelous art work by my partner-in-life, Shruti. she and I claim no rights to the below image because this is not a figment of her imagination. She managed to get all the emotions on his face right and she got the smudges to be just perfect. I hardly ever knew about this side of her. But like they say, marriage is a slow learning process and the slower it is, the better it is for you! I’m putting up a few of her sketches and I think they are all stake-sauce!

Shruti’s Gallery part 1:

I’ve added a ‘part 1’ to this because I’m sure that there’d be more to come from the pencil she’s wielding these days. Yes, wielding… you’re a show off, you know? Anyway, people who might appreciate work like this please drop a comment. I’ll be posting more later. Topics of discussion – my new PS3, my new PS3 and ahhh yes of course, my new PS3. Not to forget… my reviews on games like God of war 3 and Uncharted 2. Ohh man! You have to play Uncharted 2. If you’re somebody who likes gaming then this is THAT game for which you MUST buy a PS3. Its that awesome. Not only is its in-game storyline that is fantabulous but the online multiplayer version will knock your balls off! But then, like I said, more about that later. Finally, signing off with one of my picks of the week (music):

Hosanna – Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya; simply Rahman!

Peace out folks.

-Anup

Blank

That’s what and how I feel when I stare at my blog. I swear to god that I’ve been staring at my journal throughout the day today and I came up with uhm, Blank! Its not that I don’t have things happening in my life. That is so not right. In fact, I have had more things happen over the past year or so. It’s not that I did not want to write and it’s certainly not that I really wanted to give up but then I don’t quite know what to do. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a ‘writers block’ because I’ve realized off late that I’m not a ‘writer’ In fact, every now and then I feel that I’m pretty much – nothing. Every time I begin working on something; something else catches my attention and I run after it for a while and after some more time you’d find me doing the funky chicken dance! Wasting time and avoiding work has become passé’ and not a day goes by when I don’t hate myself for the utter lack of interest I show towards my life and hers!

We should be out taking a walk, you know? As promised before leaving work. We should have had a subway sandwich or a salad but instead, I get lazy and we order Chinese. It was so yum!! It’s not like I love Chinese but then there’s Delhi Darbar and there’s Indian Chinese. Tastes like Christmas in your mouth. So, yeah, I couldn’t help myself and there goes another lethargic evening. Most evenings are spent watching movies on YouTube or just about googling aimlessly. Sometimes, I try harder at writing and end up failing miserably. To be frank, I don’t quite remember the days when I could write effortlessly, the days where my fingers were in complete sync with my brains and with what I felt. I’m not sure about how I should feel – happy for not needing the world wide web to talk or disappointed for having given up on something I thought I did alright – write!

More than anything, I think its the changes that have come to my life over the past year. Love has come my way, opportunities have come in plenty and work has been as busy as can be. Garnish it with my lazy ass self and there you have my life as it is now ! Its a truck load of fun mind you. I do miss writing though and there are days where I wish I could write a line. “Just a line would do maybe?” I think to myself. This is the best that I could do. Thought I’d put in a little update to remind all of you’ll that I’m still around and I hope to linger more often!

Signing off with this – for now life is blissful in Dubai. I do have the occasional hiccups every now and then; work and wife included. Its a new thing – marital life that! But more on that later. My stay at Dubai might end abruptly if I get what I want. I need a break, a new opportunity. I need a crack at something more exciting and something which has a better brand value. I need to move. What I need now is stability, learning and better opportunities. Wish me luck.

-Anup