Of Resigning

The last two days have been particularly emotional - they have contained both unparalleled elation and a weird sad feeling as well. I received my first admit on Tuesday night, it was from McGill University, Canada. How did it feel? Suffice to say I simply to leapt from my chair on reading the email :D :D It took me two minutes to figure out where my chappal had fallen :P

The admit was particularly sweet as it had come on a day that epitomised the bad parts of my office life - lack of job satisfaction and my anger at some people. The day had made me contemplate resigning and the admit seemed to be sign from God that This is it. So, despite parental advise to the contrary I went ahead and resigned yesterday - suiting up for the process :)

My admit and consequential resignation made it quite a joyful day in the morning - I received bear hugs (PS, RN, AM & HS), delighted side-hugs (AK & GO), the broadest smiles ever (AK & PS), the happy grins (GO, NB & SR) and a pair of thumping High Tens (NB) :D (Missed AS though, who was on leave :( ) But what gave it a weird feeling was the tears my exit brought to SG. It felt great that I had touched someone´s life so deeply that they were sad to see me go but I was really sad that she was crying :(

The weird feeling was accentuated in the afternoon when NB came to talk after she had received her last date. She seemed to be overcome by the emotion of leaving and gazed longingly at the office. It set me thinking too and made me realise what I would be missing in a little while. It made me do something I have wanted to do for seemingly ages - I hope it happens. AM saw the sadness mid-day and wondered what was wrong. I couldnt tell him. I have been waiting for an admit and my resignation for nearly 8 months and now it was here and I was struggling to be happy. By the end of the day, the happiness was still not back and the weirdness had set in.

I was speaking to DJ in the cab and the discussion steered towards superpowers at her attempts to blow up the traffic in front of us with her non-existent laser eyesight :P I said I would like the superpower to be happy all the time - that was only the second time I gave a thoughtful  answer to any such thing - something is seriously wrong with me :P (My two answers have been inspired by AK & GO)

As I write this it is early morning on Thursday, beginning of four days off from work, the weirdness is still there and it is expected to give way to sadness in the coming days and anxiety thereafter... Let´s see how it goes :) 

Of an eventful weekend

The weekend gone by proved to be one of surprises - some good and some really sad. The earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Japan were undoubtedly the sad ones. But there was some good news as well. I became an uncle for only the second time as NP became a proud Papa of a lovely little girl :D

Surili - 8 days after she was born

Iva - 8  hours after she was born

While Surili was born on 16 hours into second Saturday of February 2010, 'Iva' (or Chawani as her Grandma calls her :)) was born 11 hours into the second Saturday of March 2011 ,i.e., almost exactly 1 year and 1 month later. But the two were born in Gurgaon and Utah, respectively, so one of them will not have Saturday as day of birth :-P

Other than that it was a pretty sad weekend. I also read that Radhika Tanwar was shot dead near Satya Niketan overbridge. It was a kind of scary as I have been at that exact place almost countless times :(

The sad weekend continued into Monday where a terrible interview has me tethering on the brink of a reject from Oxford :( I am praying for a miracle now as that's the only thing that will get me an admit there :(

Japan continues to simmer though and I really hope that they come out of it alive and kicking. #PrayForJapan

PS> It was a reject :(

Shell-shocked by the Japanese Earthquake :(

Really sad to see the images of the devastation caused by the earthquake. It is at times like these that being a human being seems all too small :(

Japan is one of the places I want to visit at least once, just to see first hand how such a small nation could do things 15 years before anyone else did, despite being devastated by atomic bombs. Here's hoping they whip up some more more of that spirit and come out of it even stronger.

Football in the February Rain

On Feb 20, Dilli witnessed torrential rainfall for about 3 hours on Sunday evening, and I spent the whole of it playing football, around water puddles :D . I wouldnt say it was the greatest game ever played, but it sure was a lot of fun. Nimble footed star players falling for no apparent reason, other than the water on the ground :D. No old aunties/uncles to stop us from playing in the park. People falling when about to shoot. And not a single person getting out of the game without falling at least once. Suffice to say, it was a magnificent game of football :)

And how can I forget, the goal scoring celebrations. The slide-on-the-water was obviously the common way of expressing joy but the most amazing celebration was the ¨Dhobi Ghat¨, wherein the goalscorer would take off his training vest and put it in the water puddle and pretend to wash it like a Dhobi :). And oh yes, nichod it afterwards to complete the ablution :D

It was a memorable game of football and one that I am unlikely to forget in a hurry. Truly wonderful.