Achilles' heel

There comes a time in life where change in inevitable and change often means saying goodbye to a lot of things. For me the first time was when I stepped out of school for the last time as a student. The next time was when I finished college. Weird that the major changes are marked by phases of education. Now I see change in a different light. A major portion of my life and most importantly my childhood has been in foreign soil, a place where every thing feels so different that its pretty hard to believe . The day after tomorrow, I must say goodbye to this land, probably for the last time. What lies ahead? Only time will tell.

Cricket has always been a passion for me… and the passion turns into an infatuation during exams. Unfortunately, cricket and exams always seem to go hand in hand for me. It all began with the ‘96 world cup, probably the first time I saw live cricket and it was also the first time that I saw the little maestro.  The ‘03 world cup was so wonderfully scheduled that I had four out of my five exams the day after a match with India playing. Surprisingly I did quite well in the exams despite the fact that I had watched almost all the matches. School turned to college and the routine continued. India’s first tour of Pakistan in ‘04 was exactly during the mid semesters and again I did pretty well there too. Third year didn’t  turn out to be any different.  A friend of mine and I always had something in common, we get carried away with our emotions on the pitch. On one particular day we lost in the so called quarter final of an intra hostel tournament. For the first time we weren ...

This year I have gone to church only twice… the first was on January 1, mostly because I was at home and my parents wouldn ’t have it any other way. What happened on that day was that I saw someone I didn ’t want to, after a very long time. Life has this funny way of changing things at any moment. Then I decided this is the way to go… god himself was giving me the detour.  After I left home for college, I stopped going to church for a while. It seems human nature causes a person in his most vulnerable state to turn to god when he sees no other way out, well that is the case every time I write an exam, for that matter probably anyone. So during the exams I made a promise to myself that I would try my level best to make the church going thing a weekly business. I usually never meet any of the targets I keep for myself, but I promised myself to try and keep this one, I even made a spot for it in my personal routine. So the first Sunday after my exams, like a good Samaritan I went to c...

Its past 3 in the morning, another sleepless night. Staying at home all day has drastically affected my sleep cycle. As I look out the window I hear the sounds of the city, the sound of a thousand air conditioners happily working their asses off to provide comfort for all those happily in their beds. Kudos to them! It's a miracle how people existed in this god forsaken country before they were invented. You would think that people are sleeping, but in Saudi Arabia things are a bit different . You don't have to be someone special or pulling off an all nighter to be awake at this hour. For thousands, it is the beginning of just another ordinary day. It's not that people don't sleep in this country, its just this is the normal time they' wake up to go for their daily prayer, the first of four every day. Such is the power of faith. No wonder I can't get out of bed before noon.

Do you sleep till past noon everyday? Do you lie on your couch and watch television all night? Do you check your mail twice a day even when your not expecting anything in particular? These are all classic symptoms of what I like to call NTD syndrome aka Nothing To Do syndrome. During my last semester I had to study a subject called Principles of Management. I learned a valuable lesson from that subject. It taught me McGregor's Theory X of Management, which states that "Humans are inherently lazy". It is this inherent laziness that causes NTD syndrome. But it is this NTD syndrome that has made both the acronym and my blogging possible.