Chasing the Monsoons

Met up with a couple of old friends, and by old I mean all the way from kindergarten. Just had an ice cream with them and then came on home.

Dad's health is much much better, at last physically. The doctor said yesterday that the infection was out 90%, and would take another week to go out completely. After that the perforation in the ear will take another week or so to heal, but there seems to be no problem at all.

Came to dubai on Friday as dad wasn't doing too well. It stayed that way and got worse after I got here, so I decided to postpone my stay till the coming friday.

He is doing well now, thanks to the medication as well as the care. Thank you for all your wishes. Will try to keep you posted via the blog, but I don't log on much since it's a dial-up connection and too slow, as well as dad doesn't like me spending too much time on the computer while here.

Met a couple of school friends too, during the afternoon when dad sleeps. It's freaking hot out here in Dubai. :)

I wrote this on the 28th of May while onboard my flight from Dubai to London:

Today I saw a little baby girl of 9 months take her first steps.. It was a beautiful sight.. She was this really cute chubby thing, just learnt how to walk, taking her daddy's hands and walking all over the airport.. The poor dad was having a bad back day taking her around bent over double..

To add to that, she was lebanese and hence inherently cute. She was smiling so hard she must have had a smile-ache. The first time I saw her, I walked right past her smiling and amazed at such a beautiful sight.. Her dad saw me and smiled back..

Met some friends from school today, and am in a nostalgic mood for the first time since leaving IIT about an year ago. Meeting with friends from school (one from KG till the 10th standard - Sandeep Adnani - and the other from the 5th till the 12th standard - IVS Sudhir) was utterly butterly fantastic!

Reminisced about the fun at school, psychos such as the "mad scientist" (a fellow classmate who would come to school with "inventions" such as a torch made from a bulb, some tape and a few batteries, an fm radio made (stolen) from a broken radio set), teachers in various standards, classmates who had been there for a long time (um forever), pranks played, teachers betrayed to, yada yada yada...

Home sweet home! Back in Dubai after an year or so. The only comment fit for this minute is the one I heard from Gino (played by Don Ameche): "Things Change".

Gone are the days of yore, when innocence played strife and kids used to wait for the rains to run down into the streets with an umbrella and a paper boat and see it off on a voyage into the unknown gutters through flowing water channels at the side of the roads. Gone are the days when kids could walk the streets in the afternoon on a Friday, and see friendly faces of labourers coming into the city from camps after a hard weeks work. All they would see today are women lurking in the corners of the old city, hoping to pick up customers and shooing them (the kids) away, lest they scare away any potentials.