Coincidences …………does make you wonder of unseen forces

Life is full of coincidences , some very minor and occasionally extraordinary and some unbelievable. I have had my share of coincidences during y life till date and I have shared partly with you in a note Jinxed June sometime last year.

The most extraordinary coincidence in my life is the birth of my daughters and this is the story behind this. My marriage took place in 1983 and both me and my wife planned to start family in about 3-4 years time. We then tried to have a child but then nothing seems to work out in spite of both of us being normal and healthy human beings. There has been lots of peer pressure from both our families to start a family which is quite common in India and this led to tensions and stress in both our lives and this went on till 1995. One day in the month of August 1995 we get a call from my brother in law saying that his wife is carrying their second child and they wanted to terminate the pregnancy as it was not possible for them to increase their family by another member. It was then we decided that we would adopt the baby and we requested my wife’s sister in law to continue with her pregnancy and we would take the child once it was born. The only condition was that she would have to be admitted for delivery in my wife’s name (I was working in UAE then and the adoption procedures would be so immense that my family would not be able to come back) and the same was accepted. The delivery was scheduled to be in the month of March 1996 and both me and my wife went to India during the first week of March on annual vacations. My elder daughter Sanjana was born on the 15^th of March 1996 at Chennai and as we had promised she flew back to Dubai after 2 months along with my wife. My elder daughter brought lots of joy to our family and within couple of months of my wife joining me back she became pregnant and the doctors in Dubai advised complete bed rest as the child was a precious child as termed by her ( being pregnant after 13 years of marriage) . During the early pregnancy of my wife a colleague’s wife staying in the same building and on the same floor helped my wife and the elder daughter and also took care of the lunch for both our families. This went on for some time and then my friend was relocated to Delhi and while they were leaving back for India I sent my wife back too along with them since she would not be able to handle a growing child and the house.

We were informed that the probable date of delivery would be in March and things were going on normal and finally during the due date in first week of March 1997 my wife went to hospital as she did not get any labor pains but the doctor said though it is few days late they want to wait for a normal delivery instead of a cesarean section … the wait went on till the 15^th of March and finally my second daughter Yamini was born on the same date as her sister… the only difference being that elder one was born in the morning and the second one in the evening !!!.

Both of them have been a great joy and fun to both me and my wife and I am amazed by their attachment to one another for they grew up together almost similar to twins but just a year apart.

 A coincidence which can never be forgotten throughout my life time and it makes me wonder that if there is some unseen powers that make such things happen in one’s life.

The most current coincidence is that My flat number is 413 and I took up this flat when I relocated to Muscat from Salalah in January 2011 to take up a new project assignment being booked by our company. Once the project is booked the systems in the company would allocate a running job number and to my utter surprise the computer spat out the number 413 to the very project I am handling now !!!

 I leave these two experiences to your own imagination !!!

Relationships....good, bad and the ugly !!!!!

I know I am writing crap but then it’s my crap and I am writing this down to release the tensions of my mind prevailing at this point of time. This is not about lovers or mistresses but the normal relationship one has in and around him or her !!!!

You try to do something good for someone and if that does not work out why is that person blaming me for the failure. Well I think this is very common world over and the person who has tried to help feels hurt. This has happened to me in my life many times over but then I do not wish to list out each one of them since it would take quite a few days to write down all such incidents in life. By the reactions I have been getting to my actions I have decided that I would not take a step to help out relatives and friends for it leads to misunderstanding and possible strain on relationships. The negative feeling have been implanted in me by the actions of others..yet I try to be nice so that I avoid souring of the relationship. I am penning down some of the main factors that does affect a relationship and I hope each one of you would have different thoughts on this issue.

Money is one of the main issues which rip apart relationships and this is very true in real life.. no so in reel (movies) life where everything is shown rosy !!! So one of my dictum's is to avoid any issues in relationship coming up between relatives and friends and hopefully to this date there is been no major issues except for few grumblings here and there !!! Yah I am managing it well !!!!
Ego in a person does spoil the relationships within the team or life and you generally encounter these in work premises. Most places where you are employed operates on team work and if you have one person who has an alter ego the whole team can be demoralized and not operate efficiently. I do tread very softly on this issue because some feel that the ego in the person is for demographic reasons or that he is over qualified…  well the only way to avoid any confrontation is to defuse the situation and to carry on as nothing has happened…………… but then this may not succeed if the person is consistently egoist and only way is to get disassociated from that person !!!!!

Adding this paragraph today based on input by a friend on comments...ahhh yes expectations are also a cause of heartburn's and pain in a relationship be it whatsoever... friends,love, mistress ,partner or an organization. If the other persons expectations are very high and if not met leads to a situation of discomfort and hurt. It is always better not to set a very high expectation from a person for it is sure going to fail...in other words if things happen with out any expectation then the pleasure derived is even greater !!!I have seen the impact an expectation can do to ones life in the close family circle and also in an organization and i tell the amount of pain it creates to a person is so immense that the relationship turns sours and mistrust set in !!!! what says you????

We can elect to spend time with friends, romantic partners, relatives, and/or pets who love us. It is important to not only initiate these relationships, but maintain them with attention, care, and thoughtfulness. While we can't change the wrongdoings from our families and friend but we can make things better by tending to our relationships in the present. And in doing so, we may be surprised by the flowers that blossom. But then if we are in confrontation mode at all times we could see a withered flower instead !!!

Choice is ours !! Have a great relationship and revel in the that and am sure you would be a better human being !!!

Wadi Shab... an awesome experience !!!!!

WADI SHAB FRESH WATER POOLS

Arguably one of the best places to go in Oman for its clear fresh water pools. Wadi in Arabic means valley or a dry river bed, but then when there are rains you would see water flowing down towards the sea in these wadi’s.  There has been instances of flash floods sweeping away the people and vehicle to their doom.

Wadi Tiwi Bridge

Water bird... Crane !!!

 

Wadi Shab is located about 165 Kms from Muscat on the way to Sur and is about 30 Kms from Qurayyat and if you take the exit mentioning Wadi Shab on the highway you would come to a dead end… instead go 7 Kms further and take Tiwi exit and go along the beach in a dirt track and around the solitary house and then along the back waters of Wadi Tiwi till such time you see a track across the back waters parallel to the high bridge on the highway as shown on the picture beside this note. While we were going along side the back waters we saw a grey crane in the water and my friend took a picture of the same... marvelous.  Take this route and get on to the asphalt road going right through the village there…..narrow roads take you to a mosque and a school.

Keep going till you get a right turn which goes down steeply to Wadi Shab entrance. Park your vehicle beneath the bridge across the back waters of Wadi Shab and then from here on you need to be on foot.

Wadi Shab bridge

Wading through the back waters

We reached there in the morning at about and being low tide then we were able to wade through the backwaters to reach the opposite side from the place we parked our car. 

Into Wadi Shab

Then keep following the foot trail for over 45 minutes and then you get the glimpse of the first fresh water pool which is quite deep and people who know to swim could really have fun…but then me and couple of others in our group don’t swim so we trekked along this pool and reached the second pool where there is a shallow spot just about 4 feet deep and non swimmers can splash around.

View of first pool

Well since we had been told that there is a pool which is connected to a cave and if you could go through the opening beside the pool underwater it open out to a cave with a waterfall and also sunlight streaking in through the openings in the ceiling of the cave creating a beautiful scene. So we trekked ahead only to find our way becoming increasingly difficult to walk over boulders and navigate around larger rock falls and we kept on going for over half a hour and yet we did not reach that particular pool. Half way through one of the gang climbed on to a huge fall of rock to see if he could find the way to the pool but only found huge boulders strewn with difficult path around to reach the Date palms in the far end of the valley.By this time all the group members were tired and wanted to turn back to the second pool and have a dip in inviting blue water. So we turned back without going to the pool with the cave.

 

Second pool

Another view of Second Pool

 Once back at the second pool we immediately changed our dresses and jumped into the fresh water pool and my it was so refreshing that we never wanted to be out of the water. Four of us were splashing in the shallow part and others were swimming the entire length of the pool and also diving off the 7 feet rock beside the pool. While we having a dip an elderly Omani man came down the side of the mountain and came into the pool for his dip prior to the Friday afternoon prayer. On querying the man we were told that the pool with the cave is about hour and half from the present pool and only persons who know swimming can enter that pool…. Well a blessing in disguise because even if we had been to the pool we would not have been able to reach the cave and experience the splendor mentioned by many people and on Google.

Well after a refreshing swim we had poori and bhajji and then started our walk back to the car. When we returned back to the point we had crossed over we found that the tide was in and the water level quite high to wade back to the car. So we had to take a boat ride back and the boatman charges 200 baizas per person. In all a great trip in long time and we thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.

Wadi Tiwi and the Tiwi beach...Oman

Each time I sit down to write I think I have a great story to tell but then when I start to type out my thoughts my mind goes totally blank and I am at loss of words. I know age is catching up with me but fortunately there is no memory lapse. I promise myself that I would jot down few points from each days experience and I always break my promise since the priorities are to cook food the moment I come back home each day. At times I feel that it would be better for me to step down from the current assignment since it is taking a toll of my physical and mental conditions (quite hectic and nerve racking at times) unlike few years back.

30^th June was a declared holiday and we planned to visit Tiwi beach as few friends stated that it is a lovely beach with white sand. So me and three other friends from our project decided to go there and it was an adventure. I did not know the way and quite a few times I went off course and had to back paddle to reach the correct road. Then going by the signs we reached almost near the place called Tiwi but took an exit which stated Wadi Shab and found ourselves at dead end with no roads leading anywhere except for a dirt track. So decided to take the mud track and the moment I got off the tarmac my tire got flat due to a puncher …. Poor guys who were my juniors toiled to fix the spare tire from the boot and that too at 12 noon with sun beating down directly on us….no shade anywhere in sight.

 

After the change of tire we proceeded to Tiwi and reached the beach not before going along a dirt track across the Wadi Tiwi. The beach we went had pebbles strewn around but no crowd to emphasize that this beach is a tourist spot and we had come to a wrong part of the beach. Anyway we found that there is a trekkers trail in Wadi Tiwi and you need to below the bridge up into the mountains and in this summer it is not worth going on a trek… may be some other time!! On the way out we found a asphalt road reaching to Tiwi beach and some crowd there but then we decided to go back to Muscat without taking that road.

Reached Muscat around 3 pm and all hotels had closed down for the afternoon… so lunch at home for me and my friends had sandwiches’ from Subway & MacDonald’s. We also came to know that Wadi Shab is a much better sightseeing spot than Wadi Tiwi and has so many crystal clear pools where one can have a relaxing swim. So it is Wadi Shab the next time !!!!!