Mid Summer 2009:Its been a while,Recession,Swine Flu

Its been a while since I had typed my last blog entry,6 months I think,might be even more. People say I have softened, and my old blogs have the “angry single hopeless man” sharp edge to it which they enjoyed. I think I had not written anything in a while, partly cos I have few things to complain about and also because I really havent had the time to sit down and type a long entry. So its july now when I am probably making the first entry of the year.

I was always afraid I would become one of “those” guys in a relationship. Indian guys in a relationship lose their hair faster than a person receiving chemotherapy and start developing a tyre around their waist which is filled with anything but love. I was afraid to be one of those unhappy guys standing with the “please lord,lift me up now” face next to their girlfriends at a sale where their significant others keep goin through identical shoes. I was afraid to adopt teddy bears and chocolates as the currency of love where real emotions have been forgotten for a long time.

Well none of these have happened. Im doin so well that after 7 months, I finally get time to update the blog.I have managed to keep myself the same as I was before, exercise and work even more just out of the scare that relationship might change me a bit.

2004, Thomas Friedman had talked about in my university about his book ,”World is Flat” and the wonders of a globalized world where optical fibers have created a revolution shrinking the world. Now when we are feeling the brunt of the Globalized world where a recession caused by actions of a greedy “Haves” are kicking the rice bowls of “Have nots” around the world and where a disease like H1N1 cannot be contained because of millions of people fly to and from locations around the globe.

I am not too scared about swine flu. My immunity is pretty good and I usually dont hang around in public places full of sneezy strangers anyway. Its good that the panic initially created had died out and people have accepted that fact that its not the most dangerous of all diseases and things have to handled calmly. Although the name, “Swine Flu” might be a misnomer, it would have not been such a big deal in a non globalized setting. A pig handler in mexico would have roamed around in a radius of a 100 miles maximum infecting people in it. But with globalization some of these people in the 100 mile radius are boarding flights to europe and asia spreading the disease. Basically instead of running around freaking out that Armageddon is here, we should just accept it as a con of globalization.

Are you a guy/gal who holds a job which you feel is too good to be true? Do you think (due to some of your good karma) the pay you get is way more than you deserve and more than you work? Is your “job” actually the time you spend between the two coffee breaks and lunches? Turns out this miracle which happened to you was a consequence of your bumbling boss who just hired you, not because they needed you but maybe cos they needed to have certain amount of people in the team so that they can bill more. Turns out the first person who is goin to be retrenched first is you. Dont blame that the world is unfair because you lost your “job”,it was unfair when you got job.

 

Year 2009:Flying Crabs, Beaches and Movies

2009 feels different. Landing in Singapore did not feel dreadful as usual, I did not feel like a sleep deprived zombie ready to be plunged into a cauldron of pain and boredom aka experimental physics. I felt lighter having completed all my coursework, all my qualifying exams and having a good project to work on. I had a gf who pretty much makes my life a million times better. I actually for the first time embraced 2009.

Having a gf in the same city as you are is a whole different ball game. If your choice has been good, the quality of life improves several fold. No more watching movies alone, no more sundays in Bras Basah looking at guitars, no more hang outing with K so much that we felt like a gay couple. Watching movies alone is fine, but watching chick flick alone sucks because when the lights come on after the movie you don’t want to be spotted as the lonely hopeless romantic, so you kinda predict that the movie is ending and u duck before anyone sees you. I tried that for “27 dresses” but ended up missing half an hour from the last part.

Initially its a challenge to balance the gf and the movie and takes time to get used to it. Like when I was first dating Niki (thats my gf’s name…to avoid confusion she is indian…rajput) and we went to watch “Yes Man”, I ended up watching nothing and cant remember anything from the  movie. But lately I have practiced hard to focus on the movie, inspite of having an incredibly attractive gf beside me and succeeded in appreciating “Underworld 3″. I did fall asleep during “The Incredibly Boring Case of Benjamin Buttons” but got awakened to a Filipino lady crying beside me towards the end of the movie because supposedly it was sad.

Niki is apparently a descendant of a warrior class called the Rajputs….which is the brunt of most of my jokes.  The hot headed warring Rajput blood has been diluted over generations to give us gentle Niki, who has to sleep every night with the stuffed Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. Surely that would have scared the Mugals, a stuffed toy yielding female at the battle field. Rajputs have been portrayed in history books to be sword yielding fierce warriors, but never shooting arrows. It was no surprise when  me and Niki went to this archery place in Suntec  city that a matchstick armed fish eating bengali like me did better than her. I sure if there was a sword fight she would win. Also the Rajputs originating from Rajasthan didnt have much experience with Sea food because when on 14th feb we decided to have a 1 kg crab for dinner, Niki pulled at one of its leg with such inexperienced force that it went flying across the restaurant hitting another patron in the eye.

These last few months with Niki has been great. There has been dancing, singing, drinking breezers while standing in the sea and a lot , lot of messaging and eating. Its cool to hang out with her on the beach during weekends or catch a movie or dinner with her.

Being with her I have ended up with nothing to complain about, thus hardly any blog entries the last few months. I am struggling to find things to complain about so to have stuff to write about.

 

The 13 minute blog entry

Doing a PhD is tough, there I said it. No more bravado, hiding the pain and acting like the tough guy saying,”Its not that hard.”  Hit hard with possible a accelerated case of comatose tiredness and the  scary  thought that my organs are failing,  I just cant get enough rest to  rejuvenate myself.

Its another of those tuesday nights when I feel, “Is it only tuesday ?”.  Anyway  there are tons of things inspite of this tiredness that cheer me up all the time. Like the new phd student, a girl who wore those tiny tiny shorts in the lab and was soldering and then a blob of solder fell on her leg and burnt her. Ok I know it sounds mean but it is also funny, she could have just worn long pants like I always told her to.

Im gonna 24 soon, its like almost 1/3 of your life is over, (75 because im an hypochondriac), and I look back, I kinda got everything I wanted in life .(now I am talking like a person about to die). Every little wish I had, I got it now. When I was in high school fighting over one piece of meat (sound like a dog) during lunch break, I would go back to the class imagining me eating a juicy steak.  Now I can eat that all the time, how many times I want. I wanted a car with automatic gear shift, I have it now. I have 2 desktops at work one at home and a laptop. I have an MP3 player, a blackberry,  a nikon d80, an xbox, LCD tv. I was in relationship with the best girl I ever thought existed.  I have everything I ever want and I ll but the iphone 3g next week.

Anyway 13 minutes is up, the time I allocated for this blog.