Back to mah space!

I have not felt like blogging for a long long time now. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But I can take some guesses. Maybe its because too many things were happening in my life. Maybe its because I didn’t know where to start writing about all those things. I have been feeling guilty about it. It is not healthy. For me it is an indicator that my life has spun out of my control. It makes me feel that my life is running me rather than me running my life. There are things I love doing, blogging, reading, playing volleyball, spending idle time doing nothing (lol) and when weeks pass by without me doing these things, I get worried! But as long as this doesnt happen too frequently I am ok with it. Its ok for life to spin out of control as long as one can get it back to normalcy. In fact sometimes the excitement of the uncontrollable skid and spin helps it from becoming boring. Hence I shall not crib. The day is good and bright (yes it is bright and sunny even at 8pm.. this is Sweden in June!), and so is my mood.

There are 5 major things that have happened in my life in a very short span of time (Yes my life IS moving too fast, I was not exaggerating about the spin). 4 of these are good things, one is not. I shall not write about the “not-so-good” thing, it is already making me morose enough, I don’t want to stress its importance more by blogging about it. And I prefer pretending to be an optimist and paying more attention to the good things in my life. Although all the 4 good things deserve a separate blog entry, I have not had the time for that, but would still like to share a brief account of it, in chronological order.

1. Switzerland Trip: The best trip I have had till now. Also the most beautiful country, amongst the 12 countries I have visited till now. It is amazing, awe inspiring, breath taking, spectacular, It was a 5 day trip and I visited Zurich, Interlaken, Jungfrau, Luzrene, and Mt. Titlis. I don’t think I can find words to describe the beauty. I have heard about it, and seen our Bollywood heroes and heroines prance around doing silly but cute dances at those scenic locations in Switzerland. But the actual experience of being there is a hundred times better. Just like no words can justify it, similarly no amount of good photography can justify it. Even with the best cameras and the best cameramen. But I have tried capturing some of the beauty. You can check out the pics at my Blog album http://www.flickr.com/photos/merlins-world/sets/72157619731703206/detail/ . Some of my favorite pics are at the end of this post, I just couldn’t resist!!

2. My parents and my uncle and aunt came over to Stockholm. They accompanied us to Switzerland, then went on to go to Paris and Rome and then returned to Stockholm. One of the things on my “Things-to-do-before-I-die” was to have my mom visit Europe (dad has already been here a number of times), and I am very happy I could do it. It was also an amazing experience to have them over at my place, even though I have a small apartment and everyone had to accommodate. It reminded me of old times when a lot of us… uncle aunts and cousins would go for a family outing and everyone would have to accommodate. I played the host as best as I could, and took them around Stockholm as much as their stamina allowed (they were just back after a hectic 10 days, 5 cities trip) I also loved that I could show my parents what my life is like in Stockholm. And, the best part was of course that I got to have “maa ke haath ka khana” all the stuff my mom knows I love :).

3. This might seem really really weird, but I came third in the national championships of a game that I had earlier not heard about! It’s a game called Pétanque, sometimes also called Boule. If you are an Indian reading this, in all probability you haven’t heard of it. Pétanque (pronounced [pe.tɑ̃ːk] in French) is a French game where the goal is, while standing with the feet together in a small circle, to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (jack). I participated in a corporate event a few months back where they played this and I won the match, and they gave my team (consisting of 3 people) a wildcard entry into the national championships. We were sure we would go there and make a fool of ourselves, there were 98 teams from all over Sweden. But we kept on winning the elimination rounds. Finally made it to the quarter finals and then the semi finals, and finally lost to some really professional guys. Phew.. it was an eerie experience. I was playing the game for the second time in my life, the other two had played it a few times. But as a team we rocked. And we got our share of the limelight though :)!

4. I got nominated for a job role in my company which is 4 levels above my current level. Of course I wont ever make it, but just the fact that I got nominated makes me feel honored! I have a mentor who is at the partner level, and he really believes in me, sometimes more than I believe in myself. And of course I humored myself by following all the formalities that come with the nominations, giving my acceptance, and time slots for the interview etc. It was fun. At least someone at my firm believes in me!

So now you know what I have been upto these past few days. Or at least most of it. I will keep away from travel for a very long time; I guess I have had enough of it. I have travelled to around 5 cities in 3 countries in May... It has been a travelling month. I have been completely overburdened with work, because work does not stop when I am gone, and a part of it accumulates when I go on vacations.

Now that I am more in control of my life I shall be more regular with my posts.. You will see a lot more of me on this space :)! Thanks to all of you who encourage me to write.

And now for some pictures of Switzerland.. :). Disclaimer: I swear none of these are postcards, they are all from my moronic amateur camera!! :).