May 30, 2004

Memories of Khobar

I heard on the news last night that some crazy maniacs shot and killed a few people in Al-Khobar Saudi Arabia. Having spent almost a deacde in Khobar, the first ten actually, my mind went back to the days of growing up in Khobar. Needless to say, I felt sad and sickened that something like this should happen in a peaceful, beautiful place like Khobar. This morning I saw the pictures of the helicopter lowering the soldiers on the roof of this building to rescue the hostages and it seemed almost unreal.

For the past 13 years, I've hardly heard any new of the place. Saudi Arabia is a very very closed country and what goes on in the Kingdom stays in the kingdom. My mind has always wondered what must have become of our old building, the Al Najran building in Khobar, who'd be living now at Flat 501? Have all the shops in the area where I cycled around for hours as a kid still there? Are the many shopkeeper friend there still?? What about our old school? So many questions and so few answers.

Over the years, thanks to the internet, I've contacted a few people who've eitherlived or continue to live in Al-Khobar today. I've always wondered to myself if I would ever consider going to Khobar to work, just like my dad did almost 30 years ago? Ofcourse, with every passing day that dream fades away. I've heard from people who were there till recently that there seems to be a rise in fundamentalism there and ofcourse now we have the killing etc. it seems like a lesser and lesser likely destination for the future. Ofcourse, I would so love to visit, it's pretty disheartening to think that I might not ever be able to visit the place where I grew up for the first 10 years of my life, Saudi Arabia is just not like that. Maybe thats why I seem to understand the pain of people who fled their homes from Pakistan during partition and vice versa, even they have a chance of visiting their childhood homes etc. now!

I still hope someday, by some miracle I will be able to visit Khobar. Deep within I hope it hasn't changed much from the time I was there but I know 13 years is a long time and things must have changed. My memories of Khobar are of it being a beautiful coastal city, with a gorgeous corniche with date palms laced alongside it. Long, wide empty roads, lots of shopping malls and places which used to be visited a lot by American expats on the weekends, you'd find many nationalities working and living in Khobar, Indians, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians, Bangladeshis, Philipinos, Americans, English and everyone getting along just fine.

I honestly could not have asked for a better place to have grown up, there were plenty of public parks with green green grass and slides n swings, amusement parks, malls, shopping centres with loads of candy and sodas, stationary stores with a zillion kinds of school supplies, & all the latest American sitcoms on TV! What more COULD a kid ask for?


Posted by me on Sunday, May 30, 2004

May 26, 2004

Changing Times

Yesterday I got an e-mail from a person who read through this blog and apparently enjoyed it! It's the first time anyone has ever bothered writing in to me so it actually felt very nice. It might have just inspired me to blog more often. I was chatting with a fellow Blogger a few days ago I talked about how I've fallen out of love with blogging and that I never started blogging to make any friends. Way back in 2000 when I did start I actually wrote an introductory piece saying I'd like to look back at my entries many years down the line and see how my life has changed, how I might have changed as a person.

Well, things have changed for sure. I suppose growing from 19 to 23 you do expect to change as a person, and that is a good thing but my life has changed too. I remember reading a e-mail forward a few years ago and it said you know you're a net addict if you have more friends online than in the real world. Well, all my real life friends have become online friends so I don't know if I'm an addict or anything but I do know that it is no fun. I never thought 4 years ago the very people I used to hang out with and do stuff would become just a MSN or a Yahoo! ID, even my very own brother is one of them!

Anyways, the past 4 years have been one hell of a emotional roller coaster ride, I've gathered bits and pieces of my personality and I'm gonna have to put them together now to be a meaningful, complete person and to do that I gotta get my ass out there and do something revolutionary, for myself that is.


Posted by me on Wednesday, May 26, 2004

May 18, 2004

It wasn't meant to be

It's about midnight here right now and it's official that Sonia Gandhi will not be the Prime Minister of India now. I had mixed feeling when I heard the news. I'm actualluy very happy that Manmohan Singh could be PM now, he definately makes a better choice for PM than Sonia, though the country knows very little of his people skills etc. all that will be important in leading a coalition.

It was a very weird day today. I stayed glued to the TV for a good part of the day. India witnessed a day long drama today, and it's really still not over. I've always been able to step back and look at India, almost from a 3rd person point of view, to understand this very very complex country of ours. I've said this many times and I'll say it again, India never fails to amaze me, just when you think you've seen it all, India will spring a surprise. I learnt something new about my country today. We Indians love drama, we're suckers for theatrics, we love to see people beating their chests and crying and weeping for a cause. That these very rarely bear any fruit is another matter. We're also exceptionally tolerant people, we tolerant a lot of nonsense that many countries wouldn't. However, that is India. India is huge, complex, contradictory, it's mind boggling. I see how people can fall in love with this country now, it's like having this ugly, smelly, illiterate friend who'll come up with amazing wisdom and will teach you a thing or two about life and you can't get enough of his company because he's infinite in his wisdom and oh so mysterious. India is this big, smelly, illiterate friend.

It's been a very weird day. A weird week even. I think at the end of the day, Sonia Gandhi did both herself and India a huge favour by stepping down. I really think her life could be in danger if she became the prime minister, also deep within if she felt she wasn't up for the job and that there were more qualified candidates for it and that was factored in her decision too, this could be the most selfless act we have ever seen in Indian politics and damn straight she's earned more respect today by what she's done, showing the power hungry netas of our country she's not a power whore.

There are great things in store for this country, I hope whoever the next prime minister is can lead us there quicker.


Posted by me on Tuesday, May 18, 2004

May 06, 2004

www.shantidatta.com

Worked my ass off the past few days to revamp my dads website and put in Google adsense ads on it.

http://www.shantidatta.com

I'm proud of myself! I can't wait for it to start earning some real dough soon! hehehe

So much to blog about. I should get around to doing so soon!


Posted by me on Thursday, May 06, 2004