Adios Senor

Senor (Oriol Benasco) left on the 6th for his beloved Barcelona. Dhar, Vaze and I went to drop him. Gonna miss the 'Spanian'. Had a blast of a time with him. Took us all some time to get to really know him. But what fun we had with him. Man, all the times we did the MKTR assignments, or the Creativity Proj.. lol.. or watching Snatch, getting drunk on numerous occasions, listening to his comments about cricket, watching FC Barcelona's matches on ESPN, learning Spanian abuses and teaching him hindi ones. It was a rocking ride all the way. Senor was truly a Spanish gentleman.

Thanks to him, I am gonna be a lifelong FC Barcelona fan. And like I told him, the only time I wont cheer for them is when they are playing Bayern Munich. Lol.. He understood my sentiments though. Good old Senor.

Gonna miss him. No one to go around saying 'teek hain', 'vamos', ' Viruuuus Focuuus on the Campuuus' or shake his head from side to side, as we Indians are supposed to do'. Lol.. Maybe we'll all go visit him in Spain someday.

Till then. Adios Senor...

Dogs...

Spent new years at home. The folks had gone for some official party which I had no intention of attending. So I chose to stay at home and watch TV. Ended up seeing 'Revenge of the Sith' with Goran and Beagle. Honestly, I wouldnt have welcomed the new year with anyone else. Dogs truly are man's best friend. They are probably the only beings who will give you unconditional love. You can have the worst possible day, but when you come home your dog will still welcome you like you have conquered the world. Truly amazing! They give so much affection and ask for so little in return. I sometimes wonder what I've done to deserve them.

Goran, my labrador, is a wicked darling. He is intelligent, demanding and very very affectionate. He knows what he can and cannot do. And is very naughty. Especially when he wants to go for a walk or wants to eat something. The snap above is of him protesting about not being taken out. But he listens, which is something that Beagle simply refuses to do.

Not that Beagle doesnt understand what you say. It's just that he couldnt care two hoots. Independent minded, thats what he is. Loves to roam and is always looking for a chance to run out of the house. The best thing about Beagle is that no matter what time you come home, and regardless of your condition, he will faithfully come and greet you. Goran, on the other hand will probably just raise his eyelids and twitch his tail.

Dogs, they're certainly better company than most people. This Xmas and New Year I wondered which of my 'friends' would take the trouble of wishing me. Something told me that A would not call. Initially, I thought that I might feel let down but suprisingly it didnt matter to me at all. It was almost like I had a bet with myself and when I 'won' the bet I was liberated. How things have changed in the last couple of months. I still am very fond of her, but I no longer expect anything in return. Are my emotions getting 'doggified'? Lol... Maybe I have become more mature, but it no longer bothers me when I dont hear from her. After I got back to ISB, I learnt that she had left her cell behind and hence couldnt call me. Sounded plausible. And while I believe her. it really didnt matter either way. I would rather speak to Family Man (who called me from the Arctic Sea during a storm). Does this mean her funda of 'diminishing returns' is kicking in? Am not sure. Friends dont need to be in constant touch with each other and our relationship is bigger than wishing each other on these occasions. Who knows what the reasons are. The bottomline is that I am happier. And thats what matters to me. Am not sure what the future will hold for A and I. I am hopeful, but it no longer is all that important. I have come to realize that no one is indispensable to me. While life without A is not something I look forward to, there are plenty of other (interested) fish in the sea. So lets see. :-)

Orissa.. The Wild Wild East

I went home on the 30th. Flew in to Bhubaneshwar by Kingfisher (great food and even nicer airhostesses). I remember looking out of the window as the plane descended and initially I saw a small hill and lots of trees. After a little while I saw paddy fields and a few huts. As the plane came closer and closer to the ground, I saw a few buildings, more paddy fields, and thats all. All of a sudden the airfield came into view and other than the runway there was nothing in sight. Upon disembarking I got a shock when I saw the condition of the terminal. Thought I had landed in one of the Biggles novels. Literally.

The countryside was green, looked fertile and yet was extremely deserted. I have never seen an Indian countryside so devoid of people or development. The road we were using to get to Chilka is part of the Golden Quadrilateral, but it has been 'localized'. The dividers have been destroyed in places so that people can cross and it is not rare to see vehicles (autos and even cars) travelling on the wrong side of the road! I dont mean to sound like some gora, but I was astounded by the lack of road sense. People just didnt seem to care what was going around them. I saw a youth saunter across the road and narrowly miss being run down by a lorry. He didnt seem the least bit concerned. It was almost as if he had some tacit understanding with the lorry drivers that he would be spared.

Chilka lake is HUGE (1100 square kilometers) and obviously what I saw was a tiny part of it. The naval base is extremely well laid out and since there was an annual inspection due, it looked clean and well maintained. But outside the base, there is NOTHING. Just a dhaba called 'Chilka Dhaba', which incidentally serves the most amazing crabs and prawns, but the tiny township called Balugaon is very very underdeveloped. I wondered if it had changed since the 1950s. What worried me the most was that this part of Orissa was supposed to be the more 'developed' area. Imagine what it is like in the interiors!

To be fair, there were lots of signs of heavy construction going on. And one did see many trucks loaded with machinery. I just hope that the people of Orissa get to enjoy the benefits of all this investment.

Here is a good example of Govt. - Private Enterprise Partnership...