Operation - EVOLUTION

The last day of this Calendar year marks an important personal milestone – that of having completed 200 days since I landed back in India. It may sound theatrical for others, but I have always felt that this period would be as spicy as some of the famous Indian curries and not less melodramatic than any of the Oscar nominated movies.



Each day here in my country brings a daily test to me. To begin with was acclimatising myself to the pollution levels. The list then followed itself with Politics, Obsession, Jealousy and the great Indian taxes. One thing there is no dearth is the competition. Irrespective of it being healthy or Unhealthy (mind you, I still can’t differentiate these two); it always is a contrivance to keep yours truly on the toes.

It feels that I was back only yesterday; but so much seems to have happened. I have a new member inducted into our core family. Before you get any weird ideas, well, just happy to share that it is my wife. Today marks the completion of 61 days of our marriage, but we are fortunate to have seen all four seasons within this short duration. Our ongoing journey seems to have had all the mood swings – Comedy, Romance, Drama, Thriller, Suspense and Adventure. It’s a journey I guess that shall require progressive embellishment of my patience, adjustments, understanding, thinking and balancing between personal and professional requirements. This is where a turnaround occurs or rather occurred. All these days, I had a feeling I am a misfit into my job; a consequence of my negative mindset towards the Consultancy role. However, a sudden enlightenment has towed me in accepting the realities and the reason for me to have set foot in to this role. I have understood this is a natural evolution for me to utilise the prior experiences and enhance my value in the market. Of course, the odd appreciation does act as a catalyst in empowering positive thoughts on my career. Am slowly beginning to love my role and be passionate about my job.


All in all, it has been an exhilarating experience; aided by the ongoing operation of reinventing myself and working towards achieving my dreams. My Dream list looks bad – not in terms of content, but in the sense of achieving it. Most of them in the list seem distant, yet I continue believing in hope. Of all the things said and done, my bank balance has remained constant. So constant, that it fails to impress upon other numbers and is in love with the only number invented by my fellow country man. In fact, the truth is that being over flowed by warmth and love; it negates all other deposits :)


I now feel familiar again in dealing with the functionality (or non functionality?) of the Indian bureaucracy. I decided I have to stop being judgemental and critical and start enjoying the wonderful things that are on offer. I have re-ignited my admiration to the people here, for whom everyday is a survival and appreciate people’s determination to survive and thrive despite various adversities. Well, with this, I now feel, since I have survived in India; I can survive elsewhere as well.



I am now in a land, where indeed anything is possible!! It has made me realise and wake up; it has made me realise my capabilities; made me experience the tranquilities and above all, made me realise the importance of evolving myself. While I evolve, I revolved and found the purpose of life and that’s the enchantment that keeps me going…Going Places :-)

Changing Times...

120 days since I retured to India..Life has been swinging 360 degrees. Getting hitched in few days time and what a time it is..uff....All at once :)

Professionally, joined a consultancy firm..What a difference it is in working styles...Anyhow I liked my profile and journey of being associated with the contractor firms...I guess that is where I belong...Anyhow, will ahve to continue untill I find time and an offer tomove back to the contractors, as that is where the action is...Am I happy with my current job? Well, no answers..Very difficult to answer.Not much actually.....Well then Is anyone listening this? :)

As the title of this post goes, Changing Times Indeed.....

GET..SET...GO!!!!!

All set to go….

30 months after having set foot in the Middle East, time has now come to bid adieu to the place which has given me a decent amount of returns financially. In fact, to put it on a positive note, 30 months here has given me something which I can call as “Home”, back in my country – India. And the count stands as – 100 hours to go…

Ain’t you feeling sad to leave? Your parents must be really happy that you are moving back to be with them?  These are some of the questions which I have been forced to answer ever since I had put forth my papers or more importantly revealed it in my Facebook page. Boy…I never knew that me going back would be liked by many J

Life is full of surprises – some great man said. And yeah, I guess I can’t disagree. What I can only add in relation to my personal experience is the mere part destiny plays. That story I guess will leave it for now.

Now; Am I sad? Or happy?  Well, in a way both, but then I would peg my ratio favoring happiness at 51:49. For sure, I would miss being independent and running my life my way. I would be missing driving my JEEP in one of the smoothest roads in this world. I would be missing my weekend specials of waking up at 11am and what else? I guess, friends are an important part which I cannot forget to mention. But then in an era of digitalization and wireless connectivity, shouldn’t be much deal. In fact, writing down this list of what really I miss, purely has once again supported my decision to move back. I haven’t gained much personally, apart from a few genuine friends I have made. Irrespective of these, I would not be missing my “HOME”. I would be delighted to put my life back on track in the right way.

Sometimes, it feels nostalgic to go back and stay with your parents after this long gap. I am pretty sure, I would be pampered by my MOM with her food contributing to my ever growing waist line. I presume I would be added on to the list of people who crib for being taxed on their hard earned money; complain about the excessive pollution and the traffic jams...Well, the list goes on..But then, these have been part of us since we have realized the world around us. So, what big deal?  In fact, it’s because of these encountered circumstances that we have been able to move up the ladder in our lives. Who doesn’t cherish those days when we would be going to our college in crowded buses and hanging outside, trying impress every damn beautiful girl in the road (or even inside the bus)? Having seen a bit of life in this part of world, I guess nothing can replace those memories. Fast cars will only be an addition to our memories, but can never replace those existing ones.

Moving on, I would like to say a big thank you to all those whom I have shared a word or more in this fascinating journey of my life. This being a small world, I need not say good bye.Because, I know we would meet for sure, once again and yet again.

And will I replicate Arnold's famous lines...".I'll be back"? Well, I guess not really. But then, who knows...Life may bring up surprises, again and again......

Country through an Expat

In an era of globalization, it is evident that people cross across the boundaries intending to have more than their livelihood. Mind you, it’s not only the so called poor and the middle class who have been venturing out of their geographical boundaries, but also the super rich. I have no answers as to why they move about for; but am pretty sure there are valid reasons for it.

Having been brought up in India, for me, a foreigner still reflects a visual of a European or an American roaming around in shorts in my country. But I tasted a reality of being called a foreigner when I first ventured out and landed in Muscat, Oman on the 10^th of January 2010. An encounter which initiated a series of changes – Internally and externally and helped me learn more in life. From the time I have set foot in this mountainous country, life has indeed been a great teacher. Language is an issue for any new comer. However, the traces of India’s roots reflects when you hear locals speaking to you in Hindi and making your life a bit comfortable than expected.

There is always a different perception and focus on dilute events / objects for an expat in comparision to a local. What may seem natural and not of any importance would be an important attention seeker for an expat. One of the things that I started after having left the shores of my country was to follow certain blogs written by expats about my country – India. Well, as expected, I started learning about my culture more than I ever did while I stayed amidst my countrymen. The attention to detail by an expat is indeed more a revelation of their thoughts on what we would normal associate as – Normal. As accepted universally, sometimes, normal does sound abnormalJ. It’s indeed with great pride I reveal that I have found how my country sounds through the eyes of foreigners. And actually, it is not bad as I thought it would.

Having said all these, I would bring upon an interesting fact. Well before I arrived into the Middle East, blame it on our education system or the lack of complete knowledge over this region, a pre-conceived notion of being an Islamic country added to my woes of having to deal delicately with the local women and stay away from even glancing them. But, having worked with the local ladies here, I was surprised in a way they dealt with expats like me. Contrary to my beliefs, I found the local ladies to be more interactive and not to forget a jovial lot to deal with. In fact, I would not be afraid to convey that their openness and curious looks combined with their humour only left me shell shocked most of the times. Back home, during my school, I had never imagined that a day would arise when they would not mind sharing food with us and mingling amongst their office colleagues. But one thing I admit envy is their fascination towards White men….Well, unfortunately I wasn’t one among those, so just smiled myself from only having to write about it from a third party perspective.

All said and done, life moves on for every expat, having made the cycle from a comfortable zone to an uncomfortable zone and then convert this uncomfortable zone into our zone of comfort. There is plenty I would like to write about, but somehow couldn’t find an inspiration to continue. Is someone listening to this?

Realization - A late one though!!!

Pavan – We want you to study hard, score good marks and get yourself a nice job so that you settle down in life. This is what I have heard of, more often from my parents until I actually got one after completing my education. Well, I have no idea about how it runs in other countries, but for sure, in India, we all would have been used to these words uttered by our parents quite often.

It has been five years since I have had a job and I do feel happy to notice my parents being happy and satisfied. But far from these, classified as – happened – I nowadays feel, what I do now, was more out of having no choice. Simply put that as – was having no exposure to the outside world, the choices it offered and the means to attain the same. Blame it on having to see your favourite person on every working day or on the routine stuffs we have to carry about, I do feel that we would have had done something different so that we don’t have to be working till we retire, for having to wait for the peanuts, to satisfy our needs. I do believe nowadays, that, job, is a temporary solution to our financial needs.

Why is that, I could not think something different in life? Different than the usual marathon of life I right now carry about – a reality of which I feel embarrassed to be pursuing for the next thirty years from now? I have no idea if this realization I incurred, of driving beyond the routine stuuf is a late one. But at least I am glad I have it now. Glad because I still believe I can do something different and venture into segments which I had not previously. It’s time now for me...to look up because….There is no end…It’s only the beginning!!