Well, even though I have been busy for the past two months, I did keep on tweeting at (ir)regular intervals to let you know that I am still interested in communicating with all of you.

So, before I can bore you with a lengthy description of how I spent the last day of 2009, I wish all of you a great and prosperous new year 2010.

Having said so, today didn’t start well for me. I woke up to find my washing machine’s dryer not working. Then I tried to take a short nap in the afternoon and couldn’t complete it as my brother and sister-in-law had plan for all of us to go to the beach. So, I went to the beach and we spent a great evening by the sea. It was windy at the beach and chilly too. But we had our fun with a game of UNO. No one cheated today, though, and that reduced the fun a little bit.

We did wrap up by the night though and ordered large pizzas to sign-off 2009 in style. So, here I am getting ready to hit the bed after spending a rocky day!

All this not withstanding, I would like to say that year 2009 was not really as good as I wanted it to be.

I had plans for holding my wedding but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

I had hopes my salary would rise but that didn’t happen too. Instead there was a downturn all around the globe.

I had my vacation lined up around Eid-Ul-Adha (Bakrid) and that was postponed due to a new project.

So, with all these things that happened I only hope that 2009 closes with hopes of a good year in 2010. I hope that like President Barack Obama we can say aloud, “Yes, We Can!”.

Let’s hope and pray the new year will turn out one of the best years for all of us around the world!

I do hope that I have lotsa girl friends this year before I finally settle down with marriage. Just a hope. So, over and out as I prepare to sleep. See you later ppl.

Independence at midnight after years of struggle. Violence, attacked by non-violence and regular demonstrations. That, my friends, is what our forefathers had to go through to attain self-determination for the people of India.

Today, as ignorant as we are, we don’t realize what is the importance of this extremely precious possession of a nation. Simply, because it was handed down to us by our ancestors. Those were days when petty politics hadn’t ruined the ideals of politics. Leaders never regarded what was different between them. They had high regards for what was the most common trait amongst them (and us these days): the spirit of India.

Today, the situation has changed. The people of our country are so used to the independence that it simply passes off as just another holiday for them. I don’t want them to think in any other way. I just want them to think like how our forefathers thought then. This will be a step towards attaining the goal they had set out to achieve at the night of 15th August, 1947.

Let us pledge today, to work for the progress of our great nation. To protect it’s integrity, it’s pride and to work for the betterment of this motherland.

With these words, I would like to wish everyone a very happy independence day. 15th August, 2009. Just don’t pass it off like another holiday in your calendar.

Frankly when I returned to the very city where I grew up, and where I went to high school, I never expected to find friends whom I had left behind when I had to move back to India for further education. Never was I pained so much before.

To leave all that you know behind: those streets, those shortcuts, those hangouts, those dear friends (who are there when you need them) and more so the school where you spent the best years of your life. It is very painful and disturbing. Think of  starting from scratch all over again. Even though the city I went back to was my hometown, I never felt like I was at home. Felt homesick. No Jeddah, no home.

Even so, no friends to look out after you. All you got is your parents and siblings. That’s it.

Cut to 2003, when I returned to Jeddah, KSA. This time to work. Life has moved on. Most of the people I knew were gone. Those who did remain were busy with their own goings on. I was a loner again. Eventually I did find a couple of good friends. But then my search for my old friends has continued ever since. I did find a lot of them (you know the rage of the social networks these days!). Some were still to be found. Finally, today I did find a couple of them. I sent them messages too. Now, the big Q is this: Do they remember me? I don’t know for sure. Many have changed and evolved into great personalities. I like that. They make me wonder: Are they still the same at heart? Are they the very persons I spent my time at high school with? Ha! That is one thing.

Will I be able to connect with them? Only time will tell. But yes, old friends they may have been. New they have become for me now. For me, it is to start all over once again.

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  #michaeljackson in reply to babygirlparis #
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For someone like me who literally grew up on Micheal Jackson’s music ever since I first started listening to English songs in my junior high school, I was totally devastated when I heard about the sad & untimely passing away of MJ this morning.

For me it was like a bolt from the blue. I mean here was one star who truly belonged to the whole world. He was for me the ultimate music factory. His numbers are evergreen and playable at all times. I have his songs with me. They are always going to be with me. A world legend in the true sense of the word, he was unfairly hounded and dogged all this life by people who wanted to make a quick buck and the media as well.

America should realize that they should stop putting the celebrities under the microscope lest they loose all of them in this manner.

Nobody can ever come close to this man. He was and will always be the true “King Of Pop”. Let people think whatever they might want, but to a true fan like me, I will remember him as a man who gave the world some of the most cherished songs/albums ever to have been made.

Rest In Peace, Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009).

My heart and soul and all my thoughts are with all the family, friends, fans and well-wishers of yours. God bless you.

Here’s a tribute to Jackson: The Life and Times of Michael Jackson