Life is going good

The last few days have been a real roller-coaster for me. Have been braving the hot sun and the excessively humid atmosphere, working long and hard at office and finally rediscovering some love for engg in the process and still trying to get out of the awe that I am engulfed in - the sheer magnamity of this place.

I have been visiting the shopping malls, departmental stores and Indian restaurants which are aplenty here, checking out prices and comparing them to decide places to buy from. Also next month is going to be kadki for me since money going for rent, buying preliminary sustainable items and also to pay for my airline ticket back to India. Office has been going good and I am now assigned to work on an oil and gas project to simulate and study the adequacy of a water network system !!!!!!! Now that is some real engg.....

Also I have been lucky enough to find some nice seniors and colleagues in my department who are very helpful. After office, I, Shraddha and Vikas have a nice time walking down the really huge streets here - be it to search for a new place to stay or for having a quick meal or simply just like that..

Back home, I have learnt how difficult it is to be a room-maker - forget being a homemaker. Having to wash clothes, keep all things in place, being disciplined, punctual, neat and regular are things which I casually put to rest while being at time. Now, I realised how difficult it is be M-O-T-H-E-R !!!!!!

I am also learning to manage finances - something which my father and CA brother were in complete control of when I was at home. This is something new and I feel I am managing it well. Ofcourse, I started calculating how the expenses are going, how much is left, what are the necessities to be fulfilled etc. etc.

I am also trying to find a special place for all the special gifts given to me before I came here - the nice pen-stand and glass showpiece by Namrata G and Prajakta, the beautifully written greeting card by Namrata S, the absolutely wonderful Notebook and pencil box gifted by Akshat, Sachin and other TS friends and lastly but not the least, the wonderful songs ka CD from Pady which I hope to listen as soon as I buy my MP3 player. These are really special gifts which make life really nice and I hope to make my room a better place to live in :)

Still exploring the place, plan to visit Dubai soon and hope to get my residence visa in a months' time after which I can directly fly to Abu Dhabi, can have an official net connection and most importantly, can fly my parents on their first ever flight and first trip to a foreign country...Things slowly but surely are coming true.

First days on foreign soil......

I can still remember the emotional moment when I saw my parents and dear friends at the Bombay airport waving at me. As soon as I lost sight of them, I realised that a whole new world awaits where there are not people behind to help or support you if you fall. Quite automatically, I felt more responsible. The joy of flying by plane was somewhat lost in the sadness of leaving the most important people in my life.
Even as IA 681 took off from Bombay at 12:05 am, I saw the chain of streets and hoarding lights disappear into darkness and soon there was only the black Arabian sea to give me company.

I read some Technip info and a WC 2006 magazine and had my dinner on the flight. Soon, after some 2 hrs, lights reappeared again in the background. These were my first live glimpses of a foreign land - something which I had only heard of and seen only on TV or books. As we touched down at Sharjah, I could clearly see the small sand dunes and before I could realise, I was amidst a host of Malaylis, Americans, French, Iranians and ofcourse Arab people. Soon, after completing formalities, I found myself in one of the most comfortable AC vehicles sent by the company to pick me up and it roared down the WIDE highways at 130 KMPH !!!!!!!!! As we roared, I could see a stadium with lights and for all practical purposes, regarded it to be the stadium where the GOD demolished the Aussies some 8 yrs ago !!!!!!

I slept in the car and reached our hotel - a 10 star one (for me) at 4 in the morning. Soon, without any sleep, I made my way to the office at 8 in the morning. First day was spent mainly completing the formalities. The office people were nice with me and my fresher colleagues, Vikas and Shraddha are really nice ppl to hv as friends.

Abu Dhabi is characterized by TALL buldings and WIDE roads - u will hv to walk vertically, not horizontally. All the posh cars going around and u will hv utter confusion since u will tend to look left when u hv to look right while crossing the road since vehicles are left-hand drive here. This place is hot but ACs are everywhere. I met an Indian and Bangladeshi working in the hotel and they were so happy to see an Indian here !!!!!

I got an accomodation with a southie family at reasonable price close to office. Here, most things are cheap including food, cyber, cell, travel and most things except for acco. There are lots of malls and restaurants and I am proud to be working on the 21st flr of the tallest building in Abu Dhabi !!!!!!!!!!

This place is still a concrete jungle - worth working in some of poshest offices which are hard to find even in Nariman Point in Bombay!!!!!! The buildings from inside look very ordinary and it is not worth to live here as socialising is difficult. My pre-medical check-up was done by French lady doctor and it was really quite an amusing experience. Ofcourse, anything Indian - be it the food or the movies or the people looks doubly nice from this place. Today I happened to watch Lakhshya on TV and literally cried at some of the scenes. As they say, when u live away from India while being Indian at heart, you realise the power of India.

Will write more soon..

First Job

Finally, after a lot of pushing and prodding from friends and my own self, I hv started to write my blog. Also realised that this was going to be needed so that I could keep my mind free from a lot of thoughts. And what a time to start writing this as I am about to join my first job in the gulf.

This has been a really sweet gift for me in some sense - a childhood dream (of flying by plane) come true. I feel proud of having achieved things on my own and literally from sratch !!!!! Coming from a middle class background, travelling by plane or even AC or 1st class compartment was out of question and still is - though relatively less as compared to an year ago. My air ticket and visa are sponsored by the company. Last year too, I got an internship in Asian Paints on merit and they sponsored my tickets by 3rd class AC. I know all this sounds too childish but I realise the pride that I have for such small things in life which most upper classes might take for granted.

The job itself is daunting - involving hard core engineering skills and I am looking forward with great eagerness to it. Right from school days, I failed to understand why people studied something and worked somewhere else only !!!!!!! I must consider myself lucky that I am getting an opportunity to work as a process engineer in a multinational company which is into engineering consultancy mainly in the oil and gas sector else even I might have wasted all the chemical engg I learnt by working as a data analyst. I really wish that my love for engg is rediscovered during my job which was somewhere lost at IIT due to too much of theory and lack of application in any way.

I wish that I manage to maintain good relations with all my colleagues and most importantly, enjoy the job that I do. As long as you are happy, nothing can prevent you from working and I wish I tread that path to success. From a career point of view as well, this will provide me with a good platform to take up certain decision in future. I may plan to do an MBA or do a complete U-turn and study something like astronomy purely out of interest and now with any intention to make money out of it. Ofcourse, all these would be subject to how well I am able to take care of myself and my parents financially.

I hope to nurture my love for travel with all the money made from the job and wish to meet so many friends that I have made all over the world now courtesy various forums and discussion groups. A good chunk of my relatives are in the US and with so many friends also heading off to the US for further studies, the US of A surely beckons as a place to be visited. Personally, I would love to visit Australia and Europe - really want to visit the Alps, the Black Forest, Madame Tussads, boat on River Thames, climb onto the bridge at the Sydney harbour, go to Melbourne Zoo (one of my ultimate favs) and ofcourse, kiss the pitch at the Adelaide Cricket Ground for very very special reasons.

All and all, life has really opened up new horizons for me and I am geared up to take up the challenges as they come by with great enthusiasm and excitement.