Sympathy? Empathy??

What difference role does money play in the formation and maintenance of sibling relationships?
How different and shocking is life of a gulf returnee? (Without his dinars and riyals? Eh?? )

A warm and windy day, no different from the previous day, after morning chores I decided to do some writing work, I was walking to my room to fetch my books and paper, tring tring there goes our phone, I was supposed to pick it up as nobody else was near the phone, I jumped down a flight of steps, picked up the phone, tried to mutter a faint hello as I was gasping for air and was feeling short of breath. On the other side was one person whom i didnt recognize. As he demanded to speak to my dad, I passed the phone to my dad and walked away as he sat there talking to the person. I dint stay to ask who it was. Later it turned out be one of dad's acquintance's son (uncle). He was to visit us in the evening.


I asked my mother about him who he was and where had he been all these years. He was normal guy, born into a family with 4 sisters (Elder) and a brother (younger). Because of financial difficulties he couldnt study. He had passed his Tenth (SSLC) and studied no further. He learnt some basic skills, and was sent off to Dubai (a.k.a gulf) where he was engaged to do odd menial jobs and was paid handsomely, considering the exchange rates, also he made it a point to send a large amount at he end of three months to his family. He was their sole bread winner for a while and all the matters rested on his shoulders and I guess he did a nice job of it. All his sisters were married off and "settled" but he waited till they were independent.

All the while he took care of his aged parents and their needs. He came visiting only once in every 5 years.

Then came his chance , he too got married but unfortunately it ended in an accident with his wife dying in a freak accident. After much contemplation he married again and was just about to start his life afresh, he was struck down with Diabetes ( Sugar in local parlance), and High BP and some Heart ailments too.

His condition was soo bad that he had to stop working and planned to pack his bags and return after staying in Dubai, for more than 25 years where he spent his youthful years to make a living and to fulfill the needs of those back home.

As news spread that he was planning to comeback and get homself traeted for his ailments, his sisters and others distanced themselves and are not in talking terms anymore.

As he visited us he mentioned that he is getting admitted this week to get himself operated and hopes to eke out a living by putting up a small shop.

He is on some 13 types of medicines and has a weekly dose of scans and tests.

Well... he has been admitted for a 4 days now and he is trying for loans and other local finances ("chitties").

Hope he gets better.

Wishing u all a HAPPY NEW YEAR

The year that was ...

It could be expessed in 4 events...

Graduation
Shifting back
Leaving friends
Some bad experiences


Suddenly in January I am in trouble with some health problems, its was damn cold on Jan 18th, I wont forget that day ever in my whole life, then a week later I was thinking about the weather getting better and a lil bit sunny but no the big one was yet to come Jan 23-27 were the coldest days in my memory and the rains, it would rain in the afternoon making m y bus journey a messy affair. And Brrr... the chilly winds. February wasnt great either was running around with assignments and record and practicals, the month was about to end and I still had'nt finished my practicals, tensed up and constantly calling up (or rather giving her missed calls and she would promptly call me back, thats my sweet buddy TT) my best buddy TT to enquire abt her progress with the practicals.

By the second week of March I managed to finish it somehow. I used to stay up till 4 in the morning trying to finish those and missed calls at exact intervals used to keep me awake. And not to forget the radio, the chattering of Rj's helped me drive away my sleep . Got all of them corrected and got them signed, ufff... was a hard job..
We had our Farewell party in March was nice and memorable event.

April was spent giving stupid exams and cramming, cramming and more cramming, and sleep was subsituted almost effectively by small naps thanks to my habit of having coffee. Mom's presence helped a lot to ease tensions and food probs.

May was too hot and unbearable, we neither had an AC or a cooler which meant the days were too hot and nights sweaty. Boohoo...
June was ok ok minus the heat sweat and the dust storms in Delhi. All was fine till the third week of June, I was down with a common cold which got worse and 2 days into the cold I was sufering from a rather bad bout of sinusitis... and some more complex problems with my eyes and nose. 2 days of tests and 17 days of medication gave me some respite and was feeling better.

We decided to call it quits at the big and inhospitable metro city of delhi, left for Kerala in the last week of June. I had graduated and was thinking on what next...
I had to leave my some close friends who had helped and stood by me at the most needful moments during my short stay at Delhi, (u -TT, MMM, debu, Dhshka and others)


July was not so event ful. July was spent in thinking planning, introspection, calculations and some decision making.
August was time for packing up, was back in delhi packed up and sent stuff home down south and couried things, and met up with TT at the Nirulas at DU had a nice long conversaton and parted promising each other meet at the station and yes she did come to see me off...
Sept , Oct, Nov was busy reading up and going to some Library's and spent visiting relatives...
and most importantly catching up wih old friends.

December... Iam still thinking.... oh yes busy with assignments......

Happy Christmas !

Updates !

The marriage function was great.

So was my friend.

Something which caught my attention on a recent visit to Trivandrum was the felling of huge (really huge trees) which must atleast couple of years old. All this in the name of development and to eliminate traffic jams.

And another thing that I saw was the Thampanoor bus station. It was one sight I will not forget for a long time. The place is not maintained at all no sewage/road separation, potholed and in dire need of attention.

I was tagging along a rather old lady.Suddenly she turned around, and asked me where the Alapuzha buses were I pointed my finger to the direction where a couple of buses were parked, thanking me she asked me another question, "Koche samayam ethere aayi?" ( What is the time?) I looked at my watch and said "oru mani"( 1 O'clock).


Later I lost sight of the lady. I looked around and found my bus and waited for it to stop. The passesngers from the earlier trip were alighting and I waited rather patiently.

I boarded the bus, got my tickets and was looking around for a seat, fortunately found a window seat. As I settled down with my bags in my lap, I saw a group of people running towards a bus which had just come in, and then I saw the old lady being pushed and shoved around. I kept looking at her and suddenly thump she went.She was lying flat on the ground, she had collapsed. All the bags and their contents were lying strewn around her. She was carrying some rice and some spices.

People were trying to get on to the bus. People around her tried to help, she was given first aid and she was being asked numerous questions .

The lady in a black saree in a rather rude voice asked "Ammachide naadu evide aa??"
Another by stander with a his huge baritone asked another one " Phone number orma undo?"
The help that came through was a result of by stander intervention so to speak in psycho lingo.

I dont know what happened to her, wanted to get out of the bus I was sitting in but cudnt because of the weekend rush. The bus was jam packed.
Hope she is okay...
The bus stand is in a pathetic condition. Serious repairs are needed to make it safe enough for elderly and the not so agile others.

I hate colds. I have one. A real bad one at that. Running nose, mild fever and a sore throat.
Sniff sniff...

Home Alone

Yesterday my folks decided to visit a family friend.
Well, I had been asked to stay put at my place, nevermind, I called in 3 of my cousins and another one was supposed to be visiting me.
All was well till the time it started to rain and it was raining badly. I was supposed to go and fetch one of my cousins. She called me up 12 times to say where exactly she was and by the time I could find her I was dripping wet and shivering.

And we finally meet up and walk back home (Not an nice thing to do when its raining), gossips and other important news items were being reeled out through out the walk. While approaching the gates I notice a man standing there as if he was waiting for something or someone, as we come closer to the man near our gate, he declares himself as the man from the electricity dept waiting to take the meter reading, I ask him to wait so that I can lock my pets (not one but 2 of them) and let the guy come in. He explains to me things written on the small pinkish paper and I nod to express that I have understood all that he had just said.

He leaves and I breathe a sigh of relief, but no another comes around, this time its the local councillor he wants all us to register and get our I -cards.
All out door activities done, I decided to make some tea and snacks, for them(cousins) as well as myself.
After tea and snacks it was time for some for some friendly gossip. All that done it was noon time and had cook up something to eat. Thankfully mom had made some, and some were in their final stages waiting to be cooked.
The end result turned out to be lip smacking dishes. Ummm.. I know Iam able to cook for survival, not an expert though.. need refinement...

My room badly needed a change and was thinking seriously about it. I was planning on changing the settings and giving a new look to my room, and it was made possible thanks to my 2 cousins aged 11 and 13 who managed to dislocate everything that I was planning to move. Half the work done, I decided to do the rest of it the very next day.
Iam happy that I managed to do it myself the next day, it looks new and good a few weeks later it might change again.. I am thinking if I should call for out my cousins and help me do it...

All done and settled my folks came back in the evening.