How quickly time passes once you are with your people in your city ... I reached India on last Friday night, and the first eight days have gone by so quickly I can only step back for a little while and look back upon this period with awe. Let me retrace my journey for my dear readers.
As you know this is the fourth time I have come to India since I went to work in Saudi Arabia two years ago. I made three journeys last year; the first was in May 2012, the second was in October 2012 (when I came to India for just a week, and this was on the occasion of my father's passing away) and the last one was in March 2013. This year, I had decided to go for just one annual vacation, combine it with some optional and additional off-days and stay in India for a longer period. Well, that longer period is rapidly growing shorter.
In the past eight days, I spent two entire days in the house, supervising various repairs to my house. While the carpenters spent one whole day in my house, joining/fixing/repairing etc., the plumbers and painters took the next day, fixing a water tank above the toilet and painting some worn out portions of the "storage" area and so on. Between these two days, I also spent a lot of time righting the internet, which had conked out. Compared to the easy and fast access we have in KSA, internet in India is slow, unreliable and finicky. It was after repeated calls to the call centres that Hathway's internet service was restored. Thus, I was incommunicado for a few days.
I have also set in motion various tasks that I had set for myself before starting on my vacation. I have submitted my camera and the paraphernalia for cleaning and servicing. I have booked my tickets for a trip to Punjab to meet Nishrin's family members. I have started preparing for my birding trip to Goa next week. I have repeatedly apologised to my friends on the net for not being available for studies. I have planned mom's visit to a cardiologist next week. In this fashion, I have been busy, busy all day and half of all nights, doing this or that, planning that or this, and so on. On my extensive agenda are many other tasks, among which are a trip to Pune, at least another Nature outing, dinner parties with my doctor friends, spending quality time with my family, and planning on an international holiday with them, most likely South Africa, and many other things.
The BIG event that occurred during these days was the wedding of my cousin Fatema Moonim's daughter IBRIZ to ABBAS, s/o Dr. and Mrs. Hatim. The Mehendi function took place on Wednesday last, while the reception was on Saturday, i.e. yesterday.At both these functions, we had a great time. In particular, I had a great time meeting with so many old friends and acquaintances, as well as many internet friends for the first time.
As I write this on the night of Sunday, I have just returned from a dinner outing with my family. We went to Curry Club, a sea-food restaurant located bang opposite Regal Cinema at Museum Circle. We had two starters, one, a Bassa-fish dish, and the other, tandoori prawns, This was followed by a Lamb Xacuti with appams and a Dum Biryani (lamb). For accompaniments, we had a soup and/or juice-based mocktails. Enjoyed the dinner very much.
That's all for now ... thanks for reading. I have posted some pictures of my family and me on Facebook. I will try and post them here as well. Please bear with me in the meantime. Here is a sampling:
Thanks to all of you once again for your attention and kind wishes.
As you know this is the fourth time I have come to India since I went to work in Saudi Arabia two years ago. I made three journeys last year; the first was in May 2012, the second was in October 2012 (when I came to India for just a week, and this was on the occasion of my father's passing away) and the last one was in March 2013. This year, I had decided to go for just one annual vacation, combine it with some optional and additional off-days and stay in India for a longer period. Well, that longer period is rapidly growing shorter.
In the past eight days, I spent two entire days in the house, supervising various repairs to my house. While the carpenters spent one whole day in my house, joining/fixing/repairing etc., the plumbers and painters took the next day, fixing a water tank above the toilet and painting some worn out portions of the "storage" area and so on. Between these two days, I also spent a lot of time righting the internet, which had conked out. Compared to the easy and fast access we have in KSA, internet in India is slow, unreliable and finicky. It was after repeated calls to the call centres that Hathway's internet service was restored. Thus, I was incommunicado for a few days.
I have also set in motion various tasks that I had set for myself before starting on my vacation. I have submitted my camera and the paraphernalia for cleaning and servicing. I have booked my tickets for a trip to Punjab to meet Nishrin's family members. I have started preparing for my birding trip to Goa next week. I have repeatedly apologised to my friends on the net for not being available for studies. I have planned mom's visit to a cardiologist next week. In this fashion, I have been busy, busy all day and half of all nights, doing this or that, planning that or this, and so on. On my extensive agenda are many other tasks, among which are a trip to Pune, at least another Nature outing, dinner parties with my doctor friends, spending quality time with my family, and planning on an international holiday with them, most likely South Africa, and many other things.
The BIG event that occurred during these days was the wedding of my cousin Fatema Moonim's daughter IBRIZ to ABBAS, s/o Dr. and Mrs. Hatim. The Mehendi function took place on Wednesday last, while the reception was on Saturday, i.e. yesterday.At both these functions, we had a great time. In particular, I had a great time meeting with so many old friends and acquaintances, as well as many internet friends for the first time.
As I write this on the night of Sunday, I have just returned from a dinner outing with my family. We went to Curry Club, a sea-food restaurant located bang opposite Regal Cinema at Museum Circle. We had two starters, one, a Bassa-fish dish, and the other, tandoori prawns, This was followed by a Lamb Xacuti with appams and a Dum Biryani (lamb). For accompaniments, we had a soup and/or juice-based mocktails. Enjoyed the dinner very much.
That's all for now ... thanks for reading. I have posted some pictures of my family and me on Facebook. I will try and post them here as well. Please bear with me in the meantime. Here is a sampling:
Thanks to all of you once again for your attention and kind wishes.
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