Travel Diaries - The Insanity

After spending about an hour trying to sum up the insanity of my first week back home, I decided to just write abrupt, random sentences to do the job since I’ve entered my second week and way too much has happened for me to do a detailed story telling post. For which I don’t have the words either.

It was pure and utter insanity from the minute I stepped out of the airport. That first day back I barely stuck at home for 30 minutes at a stretch because I asked mum to get over with all the relatives I had to go meet since this was my first trip back after my wedding. So we got done with that, then when I went to meet my Nani (grand-mother) I found out she was just leaving to spend two days at her sister’s. So without thinking I hop into the car that’s going to drop her so that I’d get to spend some time with her. After all the mad hopping from one relatives house to the next, we reached home around midnight where everyone abandoned me and promptly went to sleep. I was left wandering around the house, reacquainting myself with it till 4 am.

For the next 5 days I was going out everyday to get the preparation rolling for the wedding. Friends got tired of calling home only to find I was always out and I would shut the phone after a few minutes on my cell phone as I was almost always busy with something or in the car which is too public for girl jokes.

On the 6th day it got the point where I was dozing off any chance i got. Which meant falling asleep after breakfast on the sofa in the lounge where everyone was having their second cup of tea (yeah, I belong to a family of chai charsees). Don’t remember when mum woke me up and told me to go sleep on the bed. All I rem is being woken up at 11 and told to get ready since it was time to head out. I showered, got ready and we drove off to my skin specialist…where I promptly fell asleep in the car. Dozed during the wait for my turn at the doctor’s, managed to stay awake on my way to the bazaar but fell asleep again on my way back home. Got home, had lunch and …yes you guessed it. I was dead to the world again. Got up in the evening and headed out to meet some in-laws, came back and the rest as they say is history.

Travel Diaries - The impatience

Traveling alone for the first time was exactly how I thought it would be. Hassle free with no need to make small talk and I was free to make whatever gaffe’s I wanted. And I made a few. Like giving in to my watering mouth at the sight of chocolate chip cookies and buying two not realizing that food at airports is not tasty. The brownies were so bad I couldn’t finish one half of it!

We hosted a dinner the night before for the family, which turned out to be loads of fun and everyone left at around 1 am. Finalizing my packing, locking up my suitcases, putting my phone to charge, packing up my travelling bag that would be with me, going through the list - checking and rechecking everything took a further 2 hours. When I finally did get to go to bed I couldn’t fall asleep. Which didn’t bother me as much as the fact that the time did not seem to be moving! I couldn’t wait for the clock to strike 6 so I could get up, take a shower, have nashta and head to the airport. Of course knowing that sleeping was the best way to fast forward the time did not help. Finally dozed off at around 4 am.

Spending the time at the airport was a breeze. There’s a lot to be said for pouring over a magazine while sipping coffee in the waiting lounge.The flight itself however was excruciating. All I did was stare out the window. Thank god I was able to exchange seats because sitting in the isle seat sucks big time. I need to be able to see out the window. And marvel at the clouds and think of Enid Blyton if I’m traveling during the day. And if I’m traveling at night, then I need to be able to see the blackness of the night and my own face staring back at me in the window.

Changed my phone Sim the second the plane landed. And predictably the phone started ringing. First it was abbo, then older sis, and finally mum. Everyone having their own cell phones and driving in 2 cars translates into lots of calls for status updates. My sister insisted on knowing where I was when she called, told her to ask ammi since I had just talked to her, but of course she persisted - finally had to tell her I was in the loo and would be out when I was done and if she would shut the phone now so I could wash my hands.

Fun started when I couldn’t lift my suitcase from the conveyor belt. Ha-ha. That was funny. There I was, trying to drag my suitcase off the belt and all the while its moving away from me and there were way too many people crowding around for me to have much room. Luckily, someone took pity on me and lifted it for me (thank you Mr fellow traveler) and off I was towards the doors that would lead me to my family.

The first thing my sisters noticed were the shoes I was traveling in. And once the hugs were done with, the teasing started. The story of the shoes being that I got them when I went to Malaysia earlier this year but there was no room for them when I was packing so I decided to wear them. New shoes while traveling are torture. But I was willing to take the torture in order for those shoes to arrive home safe and in perfect condition. It took everything I had to not limp out the airport but I did it (Go me!) This should give a fair idea of how highly I value the shoes I love. Had blisters for weeks! Since I was out of packing space this time too, I decided to wear them again. This time though they did not hurt a bit! Thankfully! But certainly made for a lot of ribbing.

That’s all I have for now folks. The next installment of my Travel Diaries will come soon. I bid you adieu before the electricity here bids me the same.

Up, up and away!

I’ll be flying home in a few hours!

Yipeeee! Okay that sounded way too hippie, so I’m gonna revert to my old trademark exclamation.

Yaaaayyyy!!!

Creepy?

Image via Wikipedia

You know what somewhat freaks me out? 99 hits and 5 comments. The comments do not freak me out. Nor do the hits. It’s the ratio between the website hits and comments that does the job.

99 people visited my blog today. On a wild guess I’d say a decent number of them even read the blog. And I’m not being presumptuous because I have stats that show quite a number of people going through my entire blog. Like ALL of it. And no, I’m not getting traffic through search engines because my blog is not listed to show up in search engines.

It’s a good thing I haven’t imported posts from my old blogs. For those of you who have just started following my (self-obsessed) blog, I’ve been blogging since 2004. Wow, almost four years of blogging about myself. Now that’s dedication I tell you!

So the point of this post is to politely ask the majority of the silent readers to leave a comment. I mean really 99 is a big number! I’m flattered at all the traffic I’m getting. It’s really nice to know.

On a separate note, how come I see the “related links” on some wordpress blogs and not on others? And I also didn’t know one could add a plug-in sort thing to firefox and it will implement itself in wordpress. Like this app called “Zemanta”. Every 300 characters it gives me pictures and links which it thinks relates to whatever I’m writing about. Kind of like an intelligent reference book. I just added that picture from the reference gallery. All I had to was point my cursor and click on the picture I wanted to add.

Me likes!

What’s in a name?

[Listening to: Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine]

Absolutely nothing. Just could not come up with a post title.

For the past few posts I’ve been using Windows Live Writer. Read about it in Lifehacker and since it had such good reviews I downloaded it. And it works like a charm! I can easily insert pictures, tables, videos, maps etc. Even add plug-ins, of which I just added the Polaroid Picture plug-in.

Not quite the effect I was hoping for but still pretty cool. I wonder if I can make these pictures overlap a bit. Btw, the pictures are from the first phase of packing. I started out really neat (pic 1)…putting everything on the bed or hanging them till I folded and put them in suitcases. Pretty soon I just dumped everything on the floor (pic 2)…then felt guilty and neatly set some of them on the bed (pic 3).

I just downloaded a music related plug-in but can’t see it in Live Writer, let’s see if it shows up in the published post. Had a major luggage issue today. Since my sister is getting married, and I’m a newly married myself, I’ve been instructed to load all my wedding clothes…half of which I haven’t had the chance to wear yet and make good use of them in all the functions/dholkis/dawats that will happening. Of course I was more than happy to do that since I’m completely in love with my clothes. And I should be too! Considering the grief I put my poor mother through because of my choosiness. To be honest though, mum was just as choosy. Hehe, She enjoyed the entire clothes making process more than me.

This time, both of us will be having tons and tons of fun at my sister’s expense. Don’t you just love desi weddings? Or maybe I’m just overly excited. But every aspect of planning my sister’s wedding holds a thrill for me. And we’re the sort who have simple weddings. Nothing too elaborate. No mehndi functions etc. Just a simple manyon if the bride or the family wishes it. I didn’t want one in my wedding, but gave in because everyone wanted there to be one. So we compromised. There were no rasams but I wore a yellow dress to make them happy. And when your phopo makes you an absolutely beautiful dress that she block-printed herself, you can’t help but be glad that you gave in and compromised.

I think I was talking about my luggage issues when I got sidetracked by clothes. So turns out that instead of 50 kg’s as we originally thought, I’m only allowed 30 kg’s. Which basically means just one suitcase…which is sooooo not enough for me! That one suitcase got half filled with my gharara’s alone! So I very sadly, unpacked and set aside some clothes to leave behind and repacked. Only to find out a few hours later that a relative is going home in a couple of days and I can send one suitcase with him since he’s travelling light. Yayyyy! This of course means unpacking and repacking again but at least now all my clothes will get to fly home!

By now I have packed/unpacked/repacked 3 times. And tomorrow is gonna be for the fourth and hopefully final time.

Just 2 days left!

Happy news from a scratchy throat

A week ago, going home for a visit had not been possible and I was nursing hurt and disappointment to understanding and acceptance. Then Allah mian probably took pity on me. I am now going home for a visit! =D Long LONG visit.

Of course I’ll be preparing for, and attending a wedding…which makes it all the more exciting! I’ve already have several things to do list. The list that’s for me alone, includes a dholki at a friend’s place, trip to a hair stylist, dentist and dermatologist on the top.

I soooooooooo need to groom myself back to feeling beautiful. For that I need a quick insane dose of N’s bro’s dholki the first day I’m back. A trip to the dentist to get my teeth checked out post braces removal, hair styling (which is just step one of my hair pampering) for that inner good feeling taking care of my hair gives me. And finally a trip to the dermatologist for the acne that’s been spreading to my back. Totally eww. I swear, I miss feeling beautiful even on days when I was sporting major pimples as a result of drinking soft drinks a few hours ago.

I’m going to be sleeping in my own room! I’m going to be scolding/fighting with my sisters. I’ll be listening to mum and abo bicker lovingly. I’m gonna be taking sides alternatively in their mock fights. I’ll be watching tv while lying in my parents bed. I’ll be lying between my parents in their bed and talking about everything under the sun till I get thrown out of their room. I’ll be planning a wedding. I’ll be shopping. I’ll be meeting up with cousins and friends, I’ll be making chai for abo when he comes home in the evening. I’ll be having chai with my family in the evening and share three meals a day with them.

I’ll be living.

And maybe, just maybe, will be feeling whole again.

So all you lovely, limited, UAE-living readers of my blog, let me know if you want me to bring back something for you. I’ll be more than happy to do so.

Ah, I feel them calling me. The shoe shopping, the DVD shopping (adds all seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and Bones, to her list), the clothes designing/making, the dawats and the functions, the family get-togethers, the school OGA picnic, the friends, the phone calls. I feel them all calling me.

I’m coming. Insha’Allah, I’m coming in 5 days. With a scratchy throat and a deteriorating cough albeit.

Lesson learned

What do you do when those closest to you disappoint you? Make you feel the very emotions you would have swore your life upon they would never give reason to arise.

What do you do when you put too much stock in someone only to realize that you ignored your own golden rule? It’s pretty much a universal rule of dependency: those upon whom you depend, will disappoint.

Never again.

All and Sundry

There have been tons of things that have been on my mind lately. Wisps of thoughts and feelings that are not connected together - which are also none of my business, but I happen to have an opinion on them anyway.

Over the years I’ve had a habit that has helped me keep my cool. Whenever something irritates me and I cant express it, I mentally imagine slapping my object of irritation. These usually include people who just cannot mind their own business. I picture throwing people off the 3rd floor when they offend me by bad mouthing my friends, or someone I know is not how they are portraying them. Why the 3rd floor? Because it’s not high enough to kill, but just high enough to cause lots of pain and injury. For someone who cannot watch gory action movies, I seem to have a very violent streak in me.

Lately, the one thing that makes me (mentally) slap people is … dry feet and chipped nail colour. Dry to the point of being white, combine that with chipped nail polish and its pure torture to my sensibilities. And with that nauseous combination the female in question had the audacity to sit with one leg over the other in such a way that her UGLY feet was in the air for everyone to see!

I don’t care how shallow I’m coming off right now, but woman! you’re living in the UAE. Instead of tons of makeup that you’ve packed on your face, invest in a good body lotion (Creme 21 Body Lotion is perfect for heavy duty moisturizing. Healed my cracked heels in less than a week, when I got them immediately after coming here). Make it a point to rub some on your feet before slipping on shoes on your way out to a dinner. I know its too much to ask to use body lotion after a shower so that you don’t have to worry about moisturizing before heading out but pick up one habit! or wear shoes instead of sandals. And use that nail polish remover on your dresser and remove the offensively chipped nail colour! And if you can’t/won’t do either, then keep those feet on the ground!

Phew! Alright, I’m done being mean. I think. For now. Oh yeah. Done being mean.

Now I’m feeling sorry for myself. Because I missed the Bon Jovi concert for the most insanely stupid reasons of all time. Told Hemlock I won’t ever be saying the reason why because it was too embarrassing. But nothing makes you get over your embarrassment like facing the fact.

So the reason that I did not go to Bon Jovi’s concert, even though I was more than willing to dish out the moolah for the VIP stand, was because I did not have any friends to go with!

All of you stop with your “Aww’s” right now! It’s the curse of being new to a country where you have no family (except for a bachelor cousin who does not have the nice manners to get married and provide me with a ‘maika’, and who is also too busy with his work to meet up regularly which I don’t mind as much as his single status) or friends. Keeping myself busy with a few self appointed assignments is lonely. Even if its begun to keep me busy. But In the absence of friends, I am beyond glad for the assignment part because it keeps my brain engaged.

Also I can’t imagine why I didn’t use StumbleUpon before! Im absolutely in love with the stuff it’s showing me. I’m an idiot for ignoring all the requests and recommendations for installing it in my firefox. Oh if you’re still using Internet Explorer as your browser then shame on you!

I like FireFox 3. Prior to what I was warned about, It hasn’t crashed on me and is decidedly faster…even on Vista. Did I mention I hate Vista? I want XP!

Did I also mention I absolutely love pirated stuff? Books, softwares, movies, music. You name it. I’m a huge advocate of piracy. Of books atleast. Got into a debative argument with a professor every year of university atleast once. Everytime she would start how piracy was wrong it would rile me. I mean how do you expect students of Karachi University to buy books worth Rs 1800? Students who come from all walks of life and social status. Do you honestly think that the guy in our senior year who comes from someplace so far away that it takes him 2 hours to reach university in the morning and who goes to work after classes so that he can help support his family will be able to afford original, copy righted books? Was one of the very few, very animated discussions I took part in. It never failed to surprise my professors when they could solicit arguments out of me.

Another thing that irritates me is Sharjah bashing. Get in your heads you idiots, Sharjah is for families while Dubai is for single people. It’s as simple as that. Stop comparing the two emirates. Stop calling Sharjah a boring place because you can’t find booze or night clubs here. Alcohol was banned way back in 1985. Get over it. Ask me what families can do here, and ill tell you. Infact I’ll probably be doing posts about it in the future.

I just ran out of steam. Till further non related, retardedly random, opinionated notice, I bid this post adieu.

Pending…

I have 3 drafts and 2 writing Percs to attend to. And lots and lots of blog hopping. But before I can even think of going to them, I gotta meet a deadline. Really, all this effort to keep myself busy is great for me :D I finally have something to hold discussions with myself.

In other news, thanks to Dubai Guy’s post linking the The National, Ive finally found a newspaper I enjoy reading. Don’t know how long it’ll be before The National becomes jaded too…but seriously, Khaleej Times is a damper on ones spirit if there was ever one.

Oh, drinking warm milk therapy starts from tonight in order to “hopefully” cure my insomnia. I really really need to start sleeping and waking up on time.

It’s insane just how much stuff in every aspect of my life is pending and uncertain.

Okay, back to the deadline.

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