Is everything okay?????

This evening after couple of beers i switched on Sony mix channel and the song that was playing on the screen really caught the essence of my mood at this point of time,the song sung by Jagjit  Singh for the movie Aarth is quite emotional and it really touches each on at the  bottom of the heart. A quote by Eric Hoffer comes to my mind  " It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs". Hahahahaha

A person who laughs the most is either lonely or are hiding their pains behind the facade of a happy face....so true as in my case for i do state that i am feeling lonely and i do laugh a lot among my colleagues....:(( 

It is not because i am staying alone in the gulf and working my A** off trying to earn for the family but then i  sense that i am emotionally empty . There are so many issues in day to day life that seems to drown you but then the facade i put up is totally untrue and the reason for that is to keep the family in good spirits. Now the critics out there on blog sphere would tell me that what i do is not correct and i need to share my feelings with my wife but then if i do that i think i would slide down even further instead of being comforted. Life is such for me and it need not be the same for the readers...it is my opinion. 

Random Click 10 - Al Nakal Fort, Oman and the colours in it !!

Nakhal Fort is one of the most prominent historical monuments in the Sultanate. It derives its name from the Wilayat itself. The fort lies amidst palm orchards in Wilayt Nakhal in Al Batinah South Governorate. It is an entrenched building that rises above a rocky hill at the base of Mount Nakhal in the northeast of   Al Jabal Al Akhdar ( Green Mountains).

The fort, also called Husn Al Heem, lies 120 kilometres from the capital Muscat and is located at the entrance of Wilayt Nakhal in Wadi Ar Raqeem..This fort’s architecture does not follow a particular pattern, as it was designed around an irregularly shaped rock. You'll find that some rock parts become part of the building. This can be observed in some towers, particularly on the fort’s western side.
The construction of the castle dates back to the pre-Islamic era.

Colorful cushions in women's Majalis in one of the rooms in the fort

Some of the colorful ceramic plates and cups placed in one of the rooms of the fort preserved from the last inhabitants

Random Click -09

Setting sun at Wahiba Sands...a desert in Oman

Dragon Face

Last year at Salalah took a photograph of the mountain side which looked like a dragon bending down

Don't you agree that it does look like a dragon !!!!

Milestone Achieved

Phew…at last crossed the hundredth blog mark which is a huge milestone for me for I never expected to do so for at least next one year. But then this year did post few photographs that did the trick on the count but then personally I still feel my posts just about mediocre and I am bit surprised with the kind of hit I have got for few of the posts. Like for instance of a post titled “ Howzzz That” about the ban of DSLR cameras by Kuwaiti Government some time last year  has the maximum hits of all my blogs –2338 hits as of yesterday, similarly a post “ Rain god’s Kolevery” had 1148 hit and the reason I feel was due to fact I had used the word Kolevery in the title and at that point of the Dhanush’s song why this Kolevery D was making waves around India and the world and I am sure people who googled  “Kolevery” would have landed on to this post…hahaha. The post that I wrote from my heart was Work life Balance and this also had over 1000 hits and it did please me though I have been stating all along and even now that I am just writing for myself and not for an audience …hypocrite aren’t I one !!! Others in region of over 500 hits are generally about Salalah and the Khareef season here.

Thanks everyone once again and hope to be around and post better blogs/photographs.

Servant Maid problems at Metros

Few days back I get a frantic call from my wife saying that the house maid working in our house has refused to work henceforth and wanted to know if I had the number of the agency we had dealt with earlier for getting a new servant maid since it is next to impossible to get a maid within the locality in a day or two. Advent of IT companies nearby has taken a toll on the house owners with respect to getting a reliable and a good maid with a reasonable salary. Thereby most house owners have to bow down to the unreasonable demands of these servant maids in the event they work at your place. This incident took place at my home in Chennai few months back and I was surprised with the kind of demands and conditions being put forth by the maid who had come for the job. Some of the demands were never heard off in earlier days such as, the moment she comes home she should be provided with a glass of milk and during the lunch time she would have the same food being eaten by us …not the leftover of the earlier meal and so forth. In the present times of raising cost each family tries to curtail additional expenses but just imagine the amount being spent on the servant in addition to her salary which is not cheap. On an average for a two bedroom house a servant these days charge over Rs 3000 for doing all the work such as dusting for name sake, sweeping, mopping, cleaning utensil and washing clothes and adding to the milk and food it easily drains Rs 4000 per month. This does not end here for they require a bonus during the festival such as Diwali or Pongal and when you question them why then they immediately tell you that I get a bonus from the company I work for and similarly they need to also get paid.

Well my wife was desperate for a maid as she was feeling the strain of doing the entire house work and especially with ground floor and first floor to be cleaned each day hence she agreed to most of the terms put forth by the maid and also a salary of Rs 5500 because of a larger house. All seemed well for few days and then starts the bickering for more salary as the work load is high and so forth and to force the issue take few days off from work till the housewife is at end of her wits and agree for a raise of minimum Rs 250. Few days later similar story occurs just prior to the day of the salary but when my wife refused then servant maid stated that she is not willing to work from the next day and she wants her settlement.

The process of looking out for a reliable servant again starts and after considerable time she get one servant who now demands Rs 6000 as starting salary….and she get its as my wife is unable to manage on her own. The demand for a reliable servant is immense but then you are hardly able to find one since most of these servants have taken up jobs in housekeeping companies because of easy work, good salary and other perks there and are usual assigned to work in the IT industry that has bloomed in last few years in the vicinity.

This phenomenon is quite common in most Metros these days and it is very difficult to get a good and an honest servant maid. I remember of the times when servant maids used to come home twice a day, never demand for any additional drinks or food and would be happy to take the leftover food to their home and also work in the same house hold for ages but then such maid are few in these times and their number is dwindling fast. 

Do you all face similar issues??

Cruel hands of fate

A quote by the former Beatles singer John Lennon “There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be” does proves that we cannot escape the fate destined to each one of us. It is quite ironic that he had to travel from India the previous day and the very next day morning he is a victim of the gas explosion.

He smelled cooking gas as he entered his flat in an upscale apartment block on his return back from India after his leaving his family there for an extended vacation. Immediately called up the maintenance team from his office to check the central gas piping and the cooking range within his flat and found no leaks within the flat. He then complained to the building maintenance team and was informed that the smell of gas has been noticed by other tenants for past few days and technicians would be coming next day morning to check for the leak and rectify the same.

Next day morning, the first day of the week in gulf he was getting ready to leave for the office and he was delayed as it was past 8 am the normally he reaches office each day. Suddenly a huge blast tore through the apartment block shattering the walls and floors of few flats and his flat took the brunt of the gas explosion and in the process sustained severe burn injuries. His office came to hear of the blast through the wife of another employee staying in next block and immediately sent few persons to check the whereabouts of him and they found him on a stretcher with over 50% burns but conscious. He then asked his colleague to call his family back in India and he spoke to his father stating about the accident and that he is being taken to hospital with burn injuries and he urged he father to inform his wife and also come back immediately. 

He was immediately taken to the local government hospital and was admitted in the burn unit ICU. He was hooked up to the ventilator, covered with soothing gel and heavily sedated and was termed critical and only after 72 hours the doctors can confirm his conditions and further course of treatment started. His family and parents reached back here the next day including his elder brother who works in the Far East and they kept a constant vigil at the hospital hoping and praying for the almighty for an early recovery from the injuries he had sustained. After 6 days the doctors stated he is stable and not on the danger list but yet heavily sedated and still on ventilator and this news was welcomed by the family members and all his colleagues. On the 9^th day (on the day of Eid) late evening his body started deteriorating and around midnight he breathed his last leaving behind wife,14 year old son ,8 year old daughter, aged parents , elder brother in deep shock and sorrow. 

May the Almighty give strength and courage to his family members to bear with this immense loss. Rest in peace dear colleague

Nervous Nineties

Image Courtesy Google Images

It is almost three years since I started this blog and as of this month I have upload 97 posts on varied subjects such as travel experience, personal memoirs, photographs, email forwards and so forth. I have been quite infrequent / intermittent in posting blogs last few months  and  a complete standstill for last few days somewhat similar to that of Tendulkar slowing down the scoring in recent times  after reaching a score of nineties while playing cricket and then on a very slow progress to reach 100. But then today I decided that I need to do something similar to Sewag..that is to upload 4 posts in matter of minutes so as to cross  the century mark…an achievement nevertheless. My journey in last 3 years on the BlogSpot has been quite interesting and I happen to follow quite a few bloggers since their narration and the choice of subjects has been quite catchy and interesting. I actually started writing posts much before I became a member in BlogSpot but then some of my earlier works has been lost with time and it is my endeavor to write it again when time permits or my grey cells remember those incidents. Most of my blogs has generally been based on my personal experiences over a period of five decades or the photographs taken in last few years and I am quite thrilled despite not being a good writer have achieved the milestone of 100 blogs with over 21,300 visits to my page.

I have been fortunate to have few blogger friends who follow me on the BlogSpot and Indian Blogger and my message to you all is “Thank you for putting up with me for so long “ , for I know what I write is pure crap when compared to all you wonderful people…Most of the blogger I follow have quite powerful narration, dictation and imagination which is an important trait of a good writer. Whereas in my case I write just to vent out my frustrated feelings most times.