London to Dubai & Dubai to Chennai

Its been three weeks since i blogged & lots have happened in the last three weeks.

Just about three weeks ago , I had the opportunity of meeting and spending time with my old friend and mentor Suresh Iyer. We spent one evening having dinner, nothing fancy as Suresh just could not bear the cold , so we settled for a near by Mcdonalds. 

Braving the freezing temperature, we also went shopping.

Then it was time for some hectic work in office as i was busy preparing for my ten day break and travel to India and there was some residual work to be completed before i left.

Thursday a week before last , i left to Dubai where i was to stay with my sister and my brother in law. It was a great escape for me as my flight took off just before the snow started , i was mighty relieved.

I touched down in Dubai , i had pre-arranged my visa's online so it was easy to pass through customs and immigration. Once i was out both my sister and brother in law was there to pick me up. It was an amazing two and half days in their home , as we went to different places. The highlight was south indian food in " Vazha Ellai" and the desert safari . Not to forget my niece Sriya , she was just amazing.

After two and half joyful days , i left for Chennai . It was another Emirates flight and another upgrade to business class :)

As such i did not greatly enjoy the flight , did not eat anything , just had a glass of water . Flight was smooth and touched down on time.

I was coming to Chennai to participate in my dad's " Sasthiapthaboorthi" function . For those who do not know what that is , " Sasthiapthaboorthi" is a function to celebrate 60th birthday.

Prior to the function i had lot of work to do . I had to specifically open a bank account and also a trading account . The latter was specifically an advice from Suresh who did insist that i start looking at investments .

The days in Chennai flew by . I also had the rare opportunity of buying gold for the first ever time. Appetite for gold never dies . I had presented my mom and dad with gold during the function . I had it as my goal for several years and was pleased that it was fulfilled at the right time . 

The Sasthiapthaboorthi function was well attended , the function was held in our local temple with food being served at my home . As with every other function in my family , this was also done as per our custom and tradition and was attended by everyone from our whole family.

I also had to attend One reception and one bethrothal function in the mean time and also had to meet relatives of my better half.

I now have couple more days in Chennai and then am back to London.

Its been a hectic seven days here but i have thoroughly enjoyed it .

YENGA INGA ANNACHI KADAI YEDHUVUM ILLAYA ?

This one is going to be very short & i expect you will smile at the end of this, i really do.

To start with , Annachi Kadai in my local language (Tamil) means a small shop sometimes it can also mean  tea shop. Normally the owner of the shop is fondly called "Annachi" as a form of respect.

The reason i write this blog is actually funny , having moved out of country one tends to forget what all he/she misses . Top of the list comes that one misses is family , friends, food etc . Having said that there are other subtleties one tends to miss during certain times or occasion/s.

This post is just another reminder of one such thing.

The occasion for me was last Thursday evening.

These days thursday evenings are packed , its a day which is extremely long for me . Normally Thursdays tend to be busier as its closing in on the much anticipated day of the week i.e. Friday . With so many people want to get everything done and closed out by Thursday so Friday becomes less hectic , means Thursday's are always hectic , its not different for me and apart from it i have also packed my thursday with linguistic class i.e. my Mandarin class in evening, which makes it a day that i least look forward to.

Last Thursday was a particularly busy one , lots of meetings and massive amount of work to do. Compounded by the fact that there were other issues in office which took up considerable effort . There was a nagging issue which was causing lot of stress , hey ho it comes with part of my job . Can't complain much but the day was busy and i was very tired.

Just as my work day was coming to close , it dawned to me that its not over yet and i had to get to my class.

I dutifully packed my things, just had a quick face wash and left to take public transport to my class. While i was walking across the road to get to my class , i just realized that i completely forgot to do my homework to be discussed right at the beginning of the class.

I was tired and this homework thing got me even more irritated . As you can imagine  i signed upto the class to ensure that i gain maximum advantage of the time i spend and also ensure that i gain maximum advantage . Naturally feeling dejected , i was angry on myself.

For reasons unknown when one is tired & angry, hunger isn't far enough . I was hungry by now. The bitter cold was not helping either . I wanted to have something quick to eat . I walked in search of a shop where i could eat something sitting comfortably knowing that in this country prices vary if you are to "Eat In" or "Eat Out" . I just couldn't find anything. All i could see were up market coffee shops or pubs . I felt irritated , finally went into a shop and bought a bottle of water and started walking to class .

While i was walking to my class, i replayed the situation and thought what if this same situation i.e." someone hungry and wanted to have quick bite" were to happen back in my hometown . Suddenly it dawned to me that the outcome would have been drastically different . How & Why ?

The answer is very simple " Annachi Kadai aka Tea Stall aka Chai Shop in another avatar called Bakery "  for every 100 or so meters i would have found them and where i could have savored on local delicacies such as -

" Onion Bajji or Vazahakai Bajji or Masala Vada ... oh big daddy Samosa  for that matter puffs or something along with a hot or cold drink not only that i could have actually savored all of these sitting comfortably " 

The above list of delicacies isn't exhaustive but just a sample .... the list is just endless.

As i replayed the situation in my mind , lots of emotions flowed i my mind . I just smiled and said to myself sometimes we do not consider such subtle situations when we decide to work overseas .

On that high note , its time to say good bye. Hope you enjoyed this post.

Have a cracking week ahead!