Been a while since I posted an update..I guess I owe it to my blog space to at least bless it with a few bytes of garbled gibberish/ so called thoughts, information whatever..
For now I am seated at a logistics office in Johannesburg (South Africa) amidst the wilderness trying to probably take an account of where I am. The last year has kind of gotten me disoriented in terms of belonging. Was in Noida for a while and traveled to Kolkata,Pune,Hyderabad,Chennai, Indore, Bhopal for work and personal stuff. Finally got on a plane and landed here. The place at the outset came as a surprise - Beautiful landscape (not very rich with vegetation though), Clean, Very competitive infrastructure, but at the same time poverty and crime which you see and hear about kind of makes one restrained. Connectivity is probably the biggest handicap of this country. Cells phone lines drop like apples did in Newtons time, Internet connection is as difficult to own as easy it is to probably hit upon gold out here. Call rates are explosively high and people probably love just being on their own with the wild life and humongous number of places which can keep you busy all weekends.
Life out here is not particularly easy since I commute a distance of 50 kms everyday one way to work. Would ideally take me 15 minutes..but the traffic jams are almost a regular scene and so..an hour on the road is most common. Of course I have the honour and privilege of listening to this radio channel called - Lotus FM which kind of connects you back home. Most of the time it plays bhajans or gives you telgu lessons. Yesterday we had this dude teaching Urdu and he translated iftafaq as : Union:) But yeah that keeps me entertained on the way back and forth office.
The news headlines and the stories you hear kind of scare you but I have met most wonderful people all over the country so far. Its just when you are driving and someone stops and implores you for some money, you are filled with ambivalent feelings. Should I stop and help or will he just harm me if I pull down my window?? This is the most sad part. None of my experiences so far have gotten me to believe that the place is unsafe. But then again you do read and hear of things happening around which keep you guarded.
The weekends have a couple of safaris, adventure sports lined up. I hope time does sail and a sense of belonging does sink in. I hope to also find sometime to post a few updates. Till then Adios.
