Good Morning to all my friends and enemies...
It is a week now.. out of Doha and into India. Mixed feelings.. mostly not so pleasant ones. Had been to the fish market.. ugh.. i was wondering wat was Doha municipality doing.. they should been here.. the whole fish market would have been closed down and a sticker stuck at the entrance... horrible... but good fish.. not so cheap cos of the monsoons. We still bought four big Mackarels at fifty rupees.. I think it is a bargain, but people here feel it is a rip off.. so i am waiting for the monsoons to be over.. to reduce my monthly budget by fifty percent.
I have tried for a week to get a seperate mobile connection for Audrey, and failed. The point was we needed the connection which was the cheapest and the best.. but unfortunately it was BSNL, which is the government thingy.. so we stood in lines.. reached the end of it... just to be told that it was the wrong line or that we needed to get some proof of residence or something. Finally I gave up and walked out of the office swearing "$%^*(^^!$£$^&..... It was the same with the internet connection.. walked out of BSNL after nearly four days of hitting walls, walked into Airtel.. was told that some one would contact me at home. Came home.. someone called me up.. and in the next fifteen minute the guy was at home... getting the forms filled.. a couple of signatures, and he was gone with a promise that I would be up and connected in 24 hours.. i did not believe him. in the next 21 hours I was actually connected to the whole world wide web... things work in India.
It has been raining intermittently..but the roads are really bad... Sandhya.. you said Mangalore has changed.. where is it. YOU TOLD ME A LIE. It is like sailing on choppy waters. Hope you come here when the rains are still around, so you can also see what your Mangalore loooks like. Rinku was OK, for she told me the truth always.. Safia/Yousuf dont pounce on her please. Remind her to see the tailor regularly.
I havent started using the camera.. I will soon, and I promise to upload some pictures. Been to the Niligiris supermarket.. The first thing that struck me was I was looking at the price tag of everything before it went into the trolley.. In Doha.. we just dumped anything and everything into the trolley, till it got full, and then walked to the cash counter... just remembering the pin number of the ATM card.. and most of the time Mehraj or Saeed got a call from me asking for the pin number. they used my card more than me. Suddenly I feel things are expensive. In Doha we always picked up the double bottle pack when it came to buying cooking oil., Here in Mangalore., I picked up the small bottle. There were things that Audrey wanted, for which I said no. In Doha it was the other way.., I would always force her to buy things that she did not want.
Guys remember.. when you decide to return you need to be prepared psychologically to face the world back home, without the security of a ATM card,,,, limited funds, which can depleted if you are not careful.. boredom.. lack of friends.. it is not easy to make friends overnight. not that I miss you guys 
How is everything there.. I must make a special mention of a particular family in Doha who have been a source of fine social support in the desert. They are Aldrin, Manisha and their lovely son Neil. We could always go to them when we needed a mature shoulder for comfort, or just to spend the evening as a family. They are one good family. I wish them all success in their lives, and all the best in their future endeavours.
How is Jithin.. has he started losing his hair yet ???
Love to all - John
