Future trajectory: An update on where I am and where I plan to go from here on

As I had said at the beginning of my tenure in Saudi Arabia, my intention was to stay here for three years, and no more. However, some circumstances have forced me to continue my work here, albeit not for long. One of the main reasons was that although I had applied to the MRCPCH exams due in September 2014, I was not accepted at that time, so I had to stay on over here till I would be. I am happy to say that now I have been accepted for the January exams in India.

The second reason is that money requirements went up tremendously! Our Mumbai house has undergone recent renovation, and the estimates have got exceeded by nearly 100% because an unexpected situation arose while removing old furniture from the kids' room. The third reason is that both my children, as also myself, have invested money in better training  and education in our respective fields. Thus, while Inas recently completed a Make-up course, I have started a Ph. D. in Healthcare Management from an Online American University. Hannah is nursing ambitions of travelling to the U.S.A. to pursue higher management studies. 

The third reason is that I have no place to practice in Mumbai even if I were to return to India and resume my practice! As my well-wishers are aware, my better half and I used to work in the same place, and after I came to Saudi Arabia and sort of settled down, Nishrin decided to break-down the place and create a complete salon in lieu of a fractured clinic-cum-parlour.

The final reason is a little borne of introspection of where I was going with my practice before I left for Saudi Arabia. It is a fact that my practice had sort of levelled out, and there were no challenges and growth. Returning to the same environment and practising at a new location will mean starting from scratch. This is something that I dread to do. 

Hence I am looking at moving to the UAE. I have already passed their qualifying exam and received an eligibility letter from the Dubai Health Authority. Now, it is a wait for a great opportunity that will soon materialise - at least I hope so!

A week later: Purchases, MRCPCH and third anniversary in KSA

The last week has been largely uneventful. Other than the usual duties, there were two significant events that occurred. I received two items that I had purchased on an internet market-place in this part of the world (see this); these two items are a 2 TB external hard drive (Western Digital, for approximately INR 7500) and an Alba brand ladies' wrist watch (for INR 6800). The drive is great for storing the hundreds of movies and videos that have accumulated on my laptop. It replaces my earlier 500 GB WD drive that I forgot to bring back with me from India where I had taken it on my last vacation. 

The other thing that unnerved me is that the new music system that I had installed in my new car was stolen by persons unknown from inside on the night of Thursday last. The thief/thieves broke the small triangular glass at the rear, accessed the door lock to open it and then made good with the system. I have had to fix a small piece of laminate to close off the gap temporarily and will affix a new piece of glass when I next go to Taif.

By the way, I did go to Taif once for a single morning. It was on a Tuesday, and the purpose was to meet Mr. Ali Asmari, our liaison officer at the Taif Muderiya; I was to get my new contract, submit some papers of my colleague Dr. Afzal, who is still waiting for his iqama so that he can go back to Kashmir to help his family rehabilitate after the massive floods that have almost destroyed his home back in Srinagar. Ali, in his own turn, handed over several things to me to give to my colleagues (both doctors and nurses) back in Al Muwayh. The visit also allowed me to send my application to the UK for the MRCPCH exams in India in January 2015.

This means that if my application gets accepted this time, I should be appearing for the final installment of my MRCPCH certificate early next year! And if I clear those exams ... but well, let's leave that for another day.

On the 13th of October, it was also 20th of Dhulhajj, the last month of the Islamic calendar. The date is significant because it marks the completion of THREE YEARS of my stay and work in the Kingdom!

Thus, the fourth year has begun. My salary has gone up by a small amount of about a thousand Riyals. But, as my readers know, this date also marks the beginning of the end of my Saudi innings. I am likely to complete my MRCPCH, then look for a job in the UAE, and then resign from here. I request my readers to pray for me and help me reach my goals!

Thank you for reading this, and may Allah bring happiness and cheer in your lives as you move towards the Festive season.

Nine days in India ... so far.

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.

 

Day 7, Tuesday, 22nd November 2011

By the time it was ten a.m., I had started wondering if I should call up the mudeer at Muwayh or wait for his call. At about half past the hour, I received a call from the local Mudeer at Muwayh, a certain Dr. Shehab. He confirmed my identity and spoke to me in English. He told me he would inform the car/ambulance driver, who would call me in advance before coming to pick me up. 


I went about my normal activities through the morning, but by the time it was early evening, I was almost certain that the driver wasn't going to call me that day. A little worried but pragmatic, I decided to wait till the next morning before calling up Dr. Shehab again.


It was at that time  that my cousin Juzer Kagalwala called me up. He had been in touch with me earlier and wanted to know what had transpired with me at the Muderiya, as he was keen to come to Ta'if and take me to Jeddah to his place for a visit. I told him the facts as they were, and assured him that I would, as soon as possible, call him back and tell him how the visit could be arranged. I was thinking that maybe I could go to Muwayh the next day, and then seek the mudeer's permission to go to Jeddah on Thursday. This, however, seemed like a silly thing to do, as Muwayh is a further 200 km farther from Ta'if, and would therefore be over 400 km from Jeddah. Juzer also told me that he and his family were planning to do Umrah on Thursday, so if I could be made available, I could join in and complete the Umrah with him.


Thinking about all this emboldened me to call up Dr. Shehab and seek his permission to join on Saturday next instead of right away. I told him about my intention to visit my cousin in Jeddah as well as about my intention to do an Umrah if feasible. He agreed  readily, and I was thus freed from his schedule. I called up Juzer again and he suggested that I come directly to Jeddah in a taxi or a government bus if available. I began to make preparations to go to Jeddah, and as per Juzer's arrangements, also to perform the umrah.


By nightfall, my stuff was ready and packed in two bags for the next day's departure. Worries about whether my plans would come to fruition or be laid aside prevented me from getting sleep after I had gone to bed. However, sleep did come and with it, dreams of achieving my ambitions in the days to come.