Unlike other years that passed by, 2011 has been a year worth looking back at. If 2007 was one of the years of my life which saw changes coming drastically in me from being a student to a professional, then 2011 was one which brought me back from a completely professional life to a balanced life which had certain things to keep for lifetime.
1. From childhood to adulthood, never felt like I have grown up until I was engaged. I realized. We have all grown up and now its time to take responsibility of our own life. I got married to the man who means world to me on 7th Feb 2011.I feel blessed to have him for lifetime. A BIG Thank to him, you give reason to live life for a lifetime. So this date and this year will always be special for me. The new chapter of life began, I came Dubai. I resigned my job in Pune.
2. Not sooner than expected, I was recruited to a good position in a world's one of the leading bank mid year. It boosted my confidence indeed.It was due to Swapnil's belief in me which made me stretch my limits.
3. 2011 took me one step ahead in my career. However my association with TechM over the last three and half years have been eventful and happening. I would for sure miss my first organization which gave me the platform for what I am today. Thanks to all the people whom I met, I worked with. Time spent at Tech Mahindra would always be fresh in my mind and would be there as a happy memory
4. Realization of the fact that no matter how I felt about Dubai initially, now I feel like home when in Dubai. Not a bad place to live in. I found it next to impossible to move away from Pune, a place where I have lived my precious four years. Its not the place but the experience out here that has pulled me back. Having struggled hard with Swapnil to get settled and get a life here was the most difficult thing over the years and I truly believe I need to preserve what I have achieved being at Dubai. Looking forward to continue it the way it has been so far.
5. I have got some good friends in Dubai with whom I can connect and who have added value to my life. Also, I am in touch with most of friends in back home .
These were few of the best things that 2011 had to offer. There have been many such things which are beyond my capability to express. There have been bad moments as well but I would prefer forgetting them and collect them as part of my tryst with Life
It’s been eight months we are living in Dubai. At times I feel like going back to india and visit my parents. but this is not the right time to take break out of the job(As it’s just four months I have joined my new job). I was really bored of humid and hot climate of Dubai. It was then we boarded a van for dibba. Dibba is a coastal region at the northeastern tip of the United Arab Emirates(UAE)/Oman peninsula on the Gulf of Oman. To get there one has to cross the border of UAE and step in the Sultanate of Oman(yes this is how it was written on Dibba information board). No visa is required to go for a full day tour at Musandam Dibba(this applies if one has UAE Visa). The beautiful Dibba in Musandam peninsula unfolds a full day of sheer fun and relaxation. Winters had just started in the middle east when we visited Dibba. It was 6AM in the morning, the climate was foggy when we started our journey from Dubai to Dibba. All the sky kissing buildings were glittering in silver shades(the tallest Burj Khalifa was the most beautiful ). From window of our van it looked like a beautiful portrait. The windy road led us from range of white mountains to another range of completely black mountain, followed by a range of yellow, red hills. As if nature has painted these mountains in its own colors. It was simply awesome. All the hills with no trees, yet they looked amazingly beautiful. Here, cement factories were also located. Huge mechanical factories indeed.
Then we entered the Dibba- Al- Fujerah province. Anyone could figure out that this is very well designed and managed city. The day being the 40th national day of UAE, all the buildings were decorated with national flag of UAE. The flowers were beautifully arranged on both the sides of the road. The roundabouts were very stunning, making mark of Emirati heritage We reached dibba by 10 AM. Then a wooden cruise(such type of cruises are called as Dhow cruise in UAE) took us in the blue and beautiful Arabic ocean. The breeze was very cold. When the morning sunlight touched the surface of ocean. It looked like thousands of diamonds are shining. The sky was blue and so was water. Water was too clear to see the reflection of the sky.
After being on the cruise for 1 hr we reached a place where cruise was stopped in the water in the middle of the ocean. Then started the real fun of water games.
First time I had banana boat ride. It was amazing. As I don’t know swimming I was allowed to go for banana boat ride on Swapnil’s risk(Swapnil is a real good swimmer). Sometimes while turning th in the sea the banana boat gets twisted and all boarded passengers fall straight in the water. Thankfully our boat ridded safely but other boat twisted in the ocean in front of me. My heart came in my mouth.
After that followed a speed boat ride. It was fun. The driver of the boat was very enthusiastic. He took us deep in the sea with hooping speed and took a drastic turn as boat made a 70 degree angle with the surface of the water. It was terrible yet exciting. After this romance with water, boat took us back to the cruise. I was surprised when some young boys were jumping from the top of the cruise in the ocean.
Swapnil also wanted to jump. He just expressed his desire and guessed the depth from the roof of cruise then looked at me. I was sure, though he is a good swimmer he won’t be courageous enough to jump in the ocean from 12 meters, at least not when there are no safety measures around.
But he made his mind (I think he wanted to impress me). And jumped from the top of the cruise. He was so happy as if he had discovered his childhood. After some swimming in the salty Arabic ocean we boarded our cruise. I must mention here that water was very clean and clear. After all this fun we had a very good lunch on the cruise and headed back to the port. Now I was feeling as if I am in heaven after hard work in water, had a nice lunch then I was laying on the roof of the cruise and cold breeze touching like a soft feather. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
स्वप्निल नाविन hair cut केल्या पासुन जरा जास्तच खुश असतो. एवढच नाहि तर त्याने "Dabang" च्या (आणि मला आवडणार्या) सलमान पासुन inspire होउन मिशि देखिल ठेवण्यास सुरवात केलिय. खर तर सलमान मला त्याच्या विनोदी अभिनय शैलीमुले आवडतो. पण मला तो त्याच्या पिलदार शरिरयष्टी आणि six pack abs मुले आवडतो असा स्वाप्निलचा गैरसमज आहे (नवरा आहे ना). परवा तो office साठी तयार होताना अगदी आरस्या समोर शिटी वाजवत त्याचा नविन look enjoy करत होता. मि उगाचच चिडवल, "क्या बात है! जनाब का रन्ग बदला बदला नजर आ रहा है| कुणी सुन्दर colleague join झाली का?" (बायको आहे ना). आणी तो (नेहमिसारखाच) मोठ्याने हासत म्हणाला, अग बर्याच दिवसाऩी hair cut केला आणि जवल जवल ५ वर्षान्नी मिशी ठेवलिय. I am really enjoying, as if I have renewed myself.
खरच किती गरजेच आहे स्वाता:ला reinvent करण. लहाणपणा पासुन आपण मानसीक, शारिरीक रित्या वाढत असतो. रोज काहितरि नविन शिकत असतो. पण आपण मोठे होतो. आपल्या कामात खुपच busy होतो. अस वाटत आता काय शिकायच. हे काय वय आहे. आणि वेल पण नाही. मग आपले कामच आपली ओलख बनुन जाते. "नमस्कार, मि शरद Infosys मध्ये manager आहे". मग असे लोक retired झाल्यावर बर्याचदा नैराश्येच्या गर्तेत जातात. पण जर मि माझ्या ओलखिने समाधानी असेल तर...तर असा विचार करुन तुम्हि स्वत:च्या सुप्त गुणाची वाट अडवत तर नाही ना? कामाच्या व्यापात मागे राहिलेला एखादा छन्द परत जोपासा. तुम्ही दुसर्या शहरात गेल्यामुले, सध्या contact मधे नसलेल्या एखाद्या मित्राला फोन करा.
या renewal साठी फार काही करण्याची गरज नाही. अगदीच साधे म्हणजे तुमची dressing style बदलून बघा. तेच तेच फिके रन्ग वापरुन विट आला असेल तर थोडे भडक shades try करा. Jeans आणि पन्जाबी dress घालुन थकल्या असाल तर छानसा skirt किन्वा साडी परिधान करा.
मि तर मला reinvent केल आहे. तुम्ही recently अस काही केलय किन्वा करण्याचा plan आहे? मला जाणुन घ्यायला नक्कीच आवडेल. मला कलवा तुमाच्या self reinvention or self renewal बद्दल, मग मि देखिल माझ्यात काय reinvent केलय ते कलवेल.
इतिहास मल नेहमिच रोमान्चित करतो. इतिहसात डोकावुन पहिले कि आपल्यात असणारया कुतुहलाला नकलत उत्तरे मिलत जातात. आज दुबईला येउन तिन महिने झालेत. पण ह्या शहरात इतके भारतिय आहेत कि नविन ठिकणि(त्यातहि नविन देशात) आलो आहोत ह्याची जाणिव देखिल होत नाही. दुबईच मुख्य आकर्षण म्हणजे इथले अतिभव्य malls. ऐतिहसिक वास्तुन्चे commercialisation करुन तेथे होटेल्स वैगरे निर्माण करणे आपल्याकडे आता नविन नाहि. पण नविन वस्तुमधे जुने सन्दर्भ वपरुन आपल्या इतिहासचि ओलख सगल्या जगला करुन देणे आणि सोबतच आपला business पण वाढवने हे कसब दुबई वसियान्ना चान्गलच अवगत आहे. म्हणुनच तर त्यान्नी "इब्न बटुटा" या प्रवश्याच्या जिवनावर आणि प्रवसाच्या पार्श्वभूमिचा वापर करुन "इब्न बटुटा " हा अतिभव्य mall बान्धला.बाजुच्या photo मधुन आपल्याला "इब्न बटुटा" mall च अतिभव्य गेट पाहावयास मिलेल. इब्न बटुटा हा चौदव्या शतकातिल अरेबिक प्रवसि होउन गेला.
या mall मधे एकुन साहा दालने आहेत. हि साहा दालने इब्न बटुटा मुख्यतः ज्या सहा देशान्मधे फिरला त्या देशान्च्या नवाने ठेवलि गेलि आहेत. India, china, persia, egypt,tunisia,Andulasia हि ति साहा दालने आहेत म्हनजेच courts आहेत. प्रत्येक court हा इब्न बटुटा त्या देशात गेला त्यावेलि जि परिस्थिति आणि वैशिश्ठे होति त्यानुसर सजवला गेला आहे.बाजुच्या photo मधुन आपल्याला पेर्शिअन दालनचि झलक पहावयास मिलेल.
जेव्हा इब्न बटुटा भरतात आला तेव्हा मुघल सम्राज्य होत म्हनुन India court मधे सगला मुघल कालचा देखावा बघायला मिलतो. आणि एक एक दालन एवढ भव्य आणि अप्रतिम आहे कि आपण पहुन थक्क होउन जातो. आम्हि सलग पाच तास बघत होतो तरिहि फक्त चारच दालन बघितलित आणि बाकि बघायचि रहिलित. mall चि एकुन लाम्बि १.३ किमि. आहे. प्रतेक दलनाच छत हे खुपच सुन्दर आहे. शिवाय प्रतेक दलनच गेट आणि ईब्न बटुटा mall च गेट देखिल अतिभव्य आहे. ह्या mall मधे 21 Cinema Screens आणि ह्या परिसरातिल एकमेव IMAX theatre ( IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems) आहे. शिवाय शेकडो दुकने आणि restaurants आपल्या दिमतिला आहेतच.
Life can’t see you content. I and Naina met in college. Today we are happily married for 10 years. We become friends in first year, and then gradually we accepted each other as Life partners by the end of Second year of our college. We belonged to the different casts, so convincing parents was the toughest job. Before ten years, marrying guy from different cast was not a joke for a middle class Marathi girl. But Naina was truly committed to me. After convincing her parents for couple of years we got married. We were so Happy. I thought we are 100% happy and content. I don’t need anything else now. But as the days turned into months and months turned into years, we wanted to be parent. After 10 years we didnt have any issue. We, especially Naina feels strongly that we should get a chance to raise a child.
One fine evening, Naina came to me, rested her head on my shoulder. Few moments passed in silent. She said, Suresh “I want to be a mother”. I was not surprised to hear this as even I wanted to be a father. Naina, shall we go for medical check-up and find a way out of it. Naina looked to be in deep thought. I said again, “Are you listening me?, These days, medical science has solution for our problem. I’ll take doctor’s appointment today itself”. Listen Suresh, “I love you and you love me, we have accepted each other as we are. So what’s the point in going to doctor and finding if there is something lacking in you or me. Anyways your parents think something lacking in me and tease me. And my parents think it’s wrong with you. So, why make it an issue. Is it necessary that we should have our own child only? Can’t we adopt a child?” Now I constantly looked at her. She talked a sense. But I asked her for some time to think on it. I knew our both families will not agree on it as they wanted us to go doctor and get a medical solution to this problem.
After couple days, I told her that I like her idea of adopting a child. She was overjoyed and said, “Hey! Thank You! I have everything in my mind. We will adopt a girl child.” A girl child! I was ok with it. We both sat together and decided to adopt a girl child who is ugly. Yes! You read it right, We wanted to adopt an ugly child. An ugly child whom no one else would have adopted. Also we wanted child to be grown enough to know that we are not the biological parents of her. Next day only we both conveyed our decision to our respective families. In next couple of days we visited an orphanage. There, we like one girl. A six year old girl, she was black with no attractive features. The one no one will prefer to adopt. We decided to adopt her. Her name in Orphanage was “Gayatri”. We decided to accept her with her name.
Gayatri came to stay with us. Naina and I welcomed her with lots of gifts like clothes, toys, books,etc. Also, I admitted her to a school near to our place. Now, Naina was in dilemma, to retain the job or quite it. I advised her to keep her job for couple of months, see how our repot with Gayatri goes and then we can decide upon it. Gayatri was one of the most well behaved child I have ever seen. She used to pack her bags, Tiffin, water-bag herself. She used to clean her room herself. She looked somewhat introvert, she will hardly come out of her room and connect to us. But this is where it was not possible for Naina to get along with her. She used to call us Mummy and Papa. Naina wanted to be called as “Aai”. As I used to drop and pick up her to school she started to be friendly with me. But even after four months situation couldn’t change for Naina.
After Gayatri’s term ended, We decided to spend some time in Naina’s parents town. It was the tiny, beautiful village situated at the Satpuda hills in central India. We went there for 8 days. Away from city and pollution, it was very peaceful. This is the place where Naina was born and brought up. She has her special memories here. Coinsidently, there was a fair in a village nearby. Such a fair is called as Jatra. We decided to go for it. Naina couldn’t stop to remember the memories of her childhood related to Jatra. When we reached there the scene was awesome. A beautiful temple situated at river side. Thousands of people were bathing. Ladies were busy cooking food in huts. Other entertainment like joy rides were also available. There were lots of Feriwalas selling various toys and food items. As we were wondering through Jatra, a red watermelon stall captured Naina’s attention. She almost rushed to the stall and asked Bhaiya for one piece. Shortly Gayatri ran behind her ordered one for her as well. Naina and Gayatri both were excited to test sweet and red watermelons. Naina Started to tell Gayatri that when she she was of her age she used to eat dozens of watermelon pieces in this Jatra. And order one each for them . Now, Naina and Gayatri couldn’t notice when the watermelon juice stared rolled down from their fingers to arms and from mouth to neck. They were enjoying like both are 6 years old and were constantly teasing each other for the red mouth. After having 5-6 pieces each and when both were enough tired. Naina told “Come Gayatri, we will clean ourself in river”. Naina took her to the river. She cleaned her mouth and hands. But Gayatri was waiting outside. Gayatri said “I am afraid of water”. Naina hold her, took her inside and bowed down to clean Gayatri’s face. In a fraction os seconds, Gayatri kissed Naina with her red mouth and ran shouting “Aai, tuze pan gaal laal zale”. Even Naina was running behind her like a child to catch her. I was really content to see the bonding has stared and hear that Gayatri called Naina as “AAI”.
