The Backpacker - uae

Another trip looms

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Hmmmmm, another backpacking episode is about to commence...to think that I havent even finished writing about my last trip to Thailand except in bits and pieces...oh well....

The countdown has begun...and as always I have no clue as to what Iam going to be doing in a country i have never been to...but as i always say...the trick is to be surprised...

Pictures from here and there

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:50:00 +0000

Hi all!

Its been a really long since I dabbled in any kind of writing! Well, life is indeed strange...you sometimes have to give up the only thing you like the most...in this case, writing!

Here are a few pictures...some from UAE, some from Thailand....

Looking for some action on the sands? Try this..., its awsome :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOudtCaeCn0

Long time

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:26:55 +0000

Hi all....

Its been a really long time...I just couldnt acess the site for a while! Thaks all, for the lovely comments....

Cheese sandwich

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:00:00 +0000

There is a saying in Hindi which translated means that on every grain is written the name of that person who will ultimately eat it or something to that effect. I have wondered if it was only grains they were referring to or has the meaning been upgraded to include sandwiches, KFC, McDonalds, Subways and pizzas. Oddly, I know the saying is true. Or how can anyone explain this situation I found myself in?

I live next to the Food Street in my city and anyone living here cannot complain the lack of choice of food. Forget the choice of Asian cuisine, here is the worlds platter for your picking. But yesterday someone gave me a cheese sandwich for breakfast. That was how it began.

I like cheese. I like cheese sandwich too. Easy to make and is very easy to be eaten when driving. Sticks to the bread and there are no crumbs to mess up the seats. So I reached work with a cheese sandwich inside me and still hungry. A while later a friend dropped by to say hi, carrying with him a box of food. Cheese sandwich. He readily offered me ‘home made cheese sandwich’ and who can no to it?

Thus arrived my second sandwich of the day. By then I was slightly heavy with cheese and was hoping to eat a proper meal of curry when I was called to attend a press conference.

Now, press conferences at 11.30 spell trouble. They neither have a decent breakfast nor a decent lunch. Instead they have ten varieties of miniscule sandwiches with cheese and other odds and ends. The sight of the ghastly food was nauseating and I was ready to throw up when a fellow journo handed me one and said, “The cheese is still warm.” Warm cheese is irresistible and it was only a small one so I sampled it. Just one.

When I returned, it was past lunch time. No curry for me. By tea time I was ravenous. But tea-time is the wrong time to crave for curry. Also there is no parking space available at the neighborhood cafeteria between 1 pm and 4 pm anywhere leaving the gas station as the only option. As luck would have it, there were plenty of sandwiches and NO pies or doughnuts and with hunger gnawing, I grabbed a sandwich. Why do people always ‘grab’ sandwiches and why not ‘help themselves’ to one? I haven’t figured that out yet, but when I do, I am going to keep off sandwiches for a whole month. But for yesterday I know there were about five sandwiches in the world with my name written on them. And I had them all!

Now I want to know how many pizzas, KFCs, and Subways have my name on them!

Fever

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:36:57 +0000

Everyone has had fever. But fevers are fashionable too, depending upon when they make an appearance. It’s ok to have a fever when the temperature is extremely cold, during the rains, during the seasonal outburst of fever, change of temperature or even while sharing it with the rest of the world. No one would mind very much if you had fever during one of the categories, in fact you could even expect to get a little sympathy and leave from work.

But what of a fever that comes up by itself when the rest of the world is hale and hearty. One such fever made an appearance and I was the unfortunate recipient of the virus. It is not a very ‘becoming’ to have the fever when the temperature outside is about 50 degree centigrade. I mean can any self respecting virus survive the heat? Apparently this one did. It affected my head, my throat, my nose and whatever was left of the body. But, but, mind, this virus was a strange one. It did not allow for a ‘full-blown’ fever that comes with its own malady, but remained somewhere, hesitant to make a complete appearance, appearing at odd intervals. How can you keep track of a virus that does not follow a pattern? How do you know that whatever ailment you are experiencing is the result of that virus on a meandering path?

And to boot, if someone came and touched my forehead in a burst of sympathy, it wasnt even lukewarm, forget the deliciously burning hot forehead that never failed to evoke passionate and positive responses! It is also embarrassing to admit to having a fever that is not even make your forehead warm! But while it did not allow the luxury of a burning forehead, it did, however, give me all the symptoms. Headaches, nose blocks, lethargy, loss of appetite (this I must protest), and sore throat.

I do hate these fever-imposters.

Fear of heights

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:12:05 +0000

I am afraid of heights, but that is exactly why I jump from heights, so as to convince myself that height is not my foe. And going by that same principle I want to scale Mt Everest. And why not? After Mt Everest, I guess I will never have to fear 40 ft drops into the ocean, right?

Wrong. I will still have to fear 40 ft drops into the ocean if am not wearing a life jacket but that would not keep from jumping into the ocean if I have set my mind to, fear or no fear, life jacket or not! Because as I look down into the water from high above it is not just the fear that dominates the mind, it is compounded by something deeper, a feeling of exaltation that is achieved in the one second my feet leave the ground and before I hit water. Again that feeling is quickly replaced when the whole of the body is deep under, going further down before reaching the dead end where reverse force takes effect and the process of surfacing begins...then, more than fear of the water it is the fear of the lack of oxygen that takes over....and when I have finally broken surface, another fear takes over...probably I cant last till I reach the shore? What if?

I am fascinated with the process. Because this entire episode takes less than two minutes and falls largely under one word: Diving. But essentially diving is divided and sub-divided into smaller time frames, each with distinct characters, here being the reaction and feeling, at different stages of one act. Can I get through another frame without going through the first? No. although I did try to rush through the second act but to no avail. Every act is a perfectly coordinated move, following its own rules, its own rhythm and nothing can prepare you for the ultimate joy of having survived turbulent seas.

Diving is a lot like living. If I don’t wake up in the morning, how would I enjoy my breakfast? Only the time to eat is too far apart! Diving is a lot faster. I am afraid of heights, that’s why I like to dive...it sort of bridges the big difference in heights and I get closer to the ground.

My answer

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:46:13 +0000

In a very interesting turn of events, I was asked a question...one among the many others. Would I ever get married to another man?

Another man? I asked. You see my imaginations do not strecth very far.

Yes, of course. Would you ever get married?

Why do people ask so many questions? Ridiculous, I say.

I replied.

Find me a man who is willing to share the space in my heart with another who already exists there!

I know the person who asked me this is gonna be very hurt, but hey buddy, its a fact. There is a board outside my heart which reads "No vacancy"

Its take...N!

One Year

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:10:00 +0000

Time can never end...sang my favourite man. And, damn, he was right! Of course people have spoken of Healing with time' 'Away from sight...' and many such time-related philosophisies have done the rounds...all perhaps right or wrong in its own way of interpreatation and experiences.

I add my own. Time strengthens.

One year today. Time never changed what I felt about him. Everyday of the 365 days have been the same.

Every morning I have woken up and every night I went to bed (and the time in between), I have uttered his name, along with the name of the almighty. Never mind the order. Never have I felt that I was carrying the burden, never have I felt I was wrong, that I must stop.

That is the power of love. I am glad I have proved to myself that I was right, that my feelings were true...truth always wins...love always wins...I dont know what winning in love means, but I know I was not wrong.

If I were to leave this world today, I will be glad to know that I have loved, like love should be. If I live many years, I will still feel the same. I survived days of pain, tears, joys, smiles....time changed many things, brought many changes, but time can never change what I feel about him. About N. He is a prayer, oh, he is the very world...my world.

He knows not, yet am not afraid. Because I have loved... like nothing before and nothing after...

I wonder if time will play another game with me? I intend to win everytime.

Anger

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:10:00 +0000

Angry? Of course I am angry. I am angry not at him, but at myself for reacting the way I did. I guess, under the circumstance it was justified. What would any of you feel if you were to know that the person you love is shaking your hands and wishing you luck and showing you how happy he/she is over your "supposed" relationship?

I dont know who is reading this, but if you are reading this, I defnitely want to tell you that it hurts a hell lot when you decide that since I have been miserable because I loved you. But I love being miserable, I love loving you and no J's of the world are changing that.

I dont blame you at all, no, why should I? I guess I have a right to feel the way I do...even if you made your stand clear. Allow me the misery as you say, because I chose that misery over the joy in a strangers arms...but am angry, yes, because you misread in one story what you could not read in a thousand truth I wrote about you...thats why am angry...and am sorry that I am, because I love you.

Correction

noreply@blogspirit.com (Backpacker) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 04:50:00 +0000

Hey.....hold it people! Vibin/Dunebasher and the rest of you guys....let me thank you for dropping by on the blog etc....but please, please do not run your conclusions on anything. And Mr Dunebasher, thanks a tonne for your wishes, thanks for 'J' as you so rightly say, am sure you would like to know that J is a happily married man and I am not waiting for him!

Do you remember what you once told me? "You are only a journalist, for you everything is a story" and you were right. J, K, L, M are all stories, figment of my colourful imaginations. So while thanking you for your wishes, I should like to add this. There is only one truth here and you know what it is and please dont insult me by running your conclusions about J, K, L, M.

And Vibin, dont mistake 'safari drivers.' They read, they feel, they react like any of us...but sometimes, yes, they dont understand. They are simply happy not to see....what they never understand is that the Anjalys of the world are not eager to 'fall in love' at the drop of a hat. J, for Gods sake. I live through my imagination, my friend.

(...,.and if do find the time, please do read every bit of my contribution on MSN.)