115. 27*

Turning 27 has been an eye-opener of sorts. At 26, still had a few lingering doubts about my perception of life, the purpose of existence blah blah(essentially Epicurean philosophy). Sadly, many of those doubts still remain. However, all this tumult and confusion has given rise to a new black-box approach to living. An approach guided by the principle - I don't know what I want. I only partially know what I don't want (as quoted by +sanjeev dhavala). An approach where you stop questioning and start living. Take the partial outputs, envision a future and work towards it. 

Looking back at the year that has passed, there have been very many fundamental shifts in my way of life. Some serious, some absurd. Thinking has given way to doing. The famous UG Krishnamurthy catch-phrase "Where is the action?" has driven the decision making process to quite a large extent.The very fact that I am writing this post a month after my birthday is indicative of the fact that I've been doing more and thinking less(and hence writing lesser).

Attended quite a few live events. A Play, a rock concert, a Lucky Ali disaster, a cricket match,  a cock fight(that dint happen finally), a ghazal performance come to mind now(must be a few more). Apart from the ones mentioned, must have attended at least 10-15 weddings of near and dear.

Have been able to shed some of the extra pounds accumulated over the years(13 pounds to precise). However, this is a baby step in comparison to the mountain that has to be conquered. But I am confident that   a few more baby steps one after the other can kill this devil in due course of time. Expecting a miracle overnight would be foolish.

Been another good year professionally. Been rated top performer(this news will be made official next week or so). For someone in search of professional stability(sticking to one job), this year has been very important as I've learnt how to work and how much to work. May not be an important finding for most but 'working under a management' has been an exploratory phase for me and I am slowly but surely unraveling the mysteries of corporate existence. Its been a fun ride thus far.

No accidents this year (touch wood). Begun the last year with a stupefying self-nade fall from the vehicle. This year has been safe vehicle-wise(apart from paying a few fines here and there).

This post would be only half-done if I do not mention how the M word (Marriage) has plagued my existence this year. So much so that its driven me to write not one, not two but FOUR blog posts! I would urge you to read each one of them - each a treasure trove in its own right. 2012 would always be remembered as the year when I lost most of my friends to the M word.

One activity which I need to focus on is catching up with everyone once in a while. Work has kept me terribly busy and I've not been able to take time out to stay in touch with kith and kin. Maybe this can be the new year resolution for 2013. Confession - I secretly wanted the Mayan prediction to come true. Would have saved me the trouble of coming up with new resolutions :)

114. Dial 'M' for Marriage (Part 4) - The first 'arranged' call

As a participant observer to several steps of this process(the 'arranged marriage' process), I've been privileged enough to witness/experience this ritual called the first 'arranged' call.

Background

Now what is an 'arranged' call you may ask. Well, its pretty much like a 'before the blind date' call, only with an extra dash of religion and astrology to it. Since technology has leapfrogged ahead with religion left gasping to come to terms with it, we're seeing new rituals being incorporated as a part of the entire 'arranged' process. This 'arranged' call is one such ritual which has come into being(created by the elders to this generation) where the elders find it within religious and spiritual limits to let the prospects(prospective guy and girl) talk to each other over the phone before the final 'go-ahead' decision is to-be taken by both the parties.

But before letting technology bridge the compatibility gap between the two prospects(prospective guy and girl, to reiterate), the elders use far more superior techniques to conclusively determine compatibility between the prospects. They seek guidance from the stars, the planets, the gods in heaven and the astrologer/pujari/yogi/shaman living across the street to understand the prospective future of the prospects living together. Only after the stars, the planets, the neighborhood temple priest and the local cop give their approval, can technology be introduced to find out if at all there is any compatibility. Pretty much like the 'License Raj' system during colonial times.

Before the call - The preparation(or the lack of it)

Once all the approvals from the heavens and the god-men are in place, the guy is given the go ahead to call the girl (Why is it that the guy has to take the initiative always? Is this not a generation which believes that men and women are equal ? Anyways....) The guy is clueless(as usual). Probably the first time that he has been asked to call a stranger where the stranger also knows that he would be calling her up. He calls up his friends who are either engaged or married for some tips on how to negotiate the first few minutes of conversation. The guys who got 'love married' prove to be of no use(since they never had to do this) while the ones who got 'arranged married' spoke very little or did not get a chance to speak at all(only smile from a distance).

So the guy now back at square one, thinks of ways to get through the first few minutes trying not to be a complete jackass. Says to himself - This is like answering the 'Tell me about yourself' question which you had prepared for during your MBA placements. Only need to change the last sentence. Replace 'Which is why I feel I can be a valuable asset to your company' with 'Which is why I feel I can be a dependable life-partner'. 

Since he's very confident that he'll go blank right after saying 'Hi', he writes down a list of things to talk about.

1. Weather in all the major cities

2. The India-England Test match series

3. Pani Puri

4.  Bats hiding behind the Air Conditioner in the gym

Before making the call, he ensures that there's no one eavesdropping on the conversation(except the wall lizard on the right corner).

The call

The call itself is like a cryptic telephonic interview where both sides are interviewing each other for the same job position(that of a life-partner). It starts of with a 'Hello' instead of a 'Hi' as the guy imagined it to be. 

Guy - Hi...

Girl - Hello...

Guy - Hello...

Girl  - Hi...

<<Awkward Pause>>

Guy - How are things at your end ?

Girl  - Fine. How are things at your end ?

Guy - Fine.

<<Awkward Pause>>

<<Awkward Pause>>

Guy - So, I hear its pleasant weather in Bangalore now.

Girl - Yaa, it is. Soporific weather.

Guy - Oh great!

<<Awkward Pause>>

<<Awkward Pause>>

<<Awkward Pause>>

       |

       |

       |

<<Continues>>

After the call

Once the call is over, the guy is supposed to report back to his elders with either a confirmation or the rejection. He asks for time and for a few more phone calls but all his requests fall to deaf ears. And so, due to reasonable doubt, he answers with a rejection. To add fuel to fire, the elders later get to know from the girl's parents that the girl has also rejected this guy.

After 10 years

While playing with his brother's kids, he recalls the rejection and of all the brilliant vibrant topics he could have thought of during that one potentially-life-altering phone call. And then one of the kids playfully kicks him in the nuts. He screams.

113. Simply Dial M for Marriage

I bring to you the third part of the 'Dial M for Marriage' continuum. 
Part 1 - Dial M for Marriage
Part 2 - Dial M for Marriage 2 - Direct Attack

In the previous post (Dial M for Marriage 2), I made a brief mention of how peer pressure can play havoc with our minds. This post is an attempt to capture the craziness arising out of all the ways in which a friend can confuse your perceptions about arranged marriage.

The good friend
This guy has it all and has done it all. And now he's getting married. Now when a facebook kinda friend gets married,you do not fret or break a sweat. But when a real-world friend, whom with you have shared some quality time in the past announces his marriage, that does kind of bring a million questions in your head. 

Is it time already ? 

Do I want to 'settle' ? (oh that term 'settle' sounds so early-man-ish...hunters and settlers...my ass!)

Oh wait, I don't know what I want. Or do I ?

Questions galore, no one around to give sane enough answers to them.

The dork friend
You made fun of this guy all through high school. He dint do too well at his job either. And then suddenly, the guy has a trophy wife he shows off at every opportune occasion. 
You start screaming(mentally) - What's he got that I aint got! (fading away tune) - akin to the VIP brief advertisement of the 90s. 

The unlucky friend
This guy has it all. Great education, greater job, greatest pay. Humble demeanor, brilliant credentials. But when it comes to searching for a bride, he's been luck-less. Makes you wonder if the gods up there are playing a wicked joke to have some fun at his expense. What you also realize is that this is not a game where credentials necessarily work. Its a game of demand and supply where the better networked people get ahead of the better qualified(if 'getting married' is equivalent to 'getting ahead' ie). 

The douche friend
This guy was your friend a long time ago. You don't even remember why you were friends in the first place. You do know that he's a total douchebag now. What's even worse. He's married his high-school sweetheart. Not that its a gr8 choice made, for either of the two, but still, you (mentally) crib - Why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di? 

The girl who's a friend (yes, a girl can be a friend, not the girlfriend necessarily)
This friend is totally bindaas about the M issue. She doesn't give two hoots about it. She says that she'll find a guy when the time is right. She's positive that it'll all work out. Although the arranged marriage spouse selection process gives women more options than men, its still a risky predicament to play with that equation by waiting it out. You wonder as to how she can be so positive about finding Mr.Right from among this huge pool of un-marry-able prospects(read: suspects) out there in the market.

The sane friend
Now here is the guy who has always echoed your thoughts about this M issue for a long time. You've always been in agreement with his views on how it has become necessary to get married and the social obligation it has been turned into.
And boom! He tells you that he is gonna take the plunge. Pulls the rug from under your feet. You take some time to come to your senses before you start humming - Munni Badnaam hui, darling tere liye...(well, you're so distraught that you just hum any tune that comes to mind) 

The hyper friend
Now we all have this one friend who is obsessed with the idea of marriage and its the only topic that's on his mind at all times (ever since puberty). For the sake of anonymity, lets call our protagonist 'Simply'(a la 'Soapy' from the short-story 'The Cop and the Anthem'). 

The thing about Simply is that he over-thinks about the M word. He over-thinks so much that he puts over-thinking to shame. Below are some of his thoughts.

If you don't get married now, you will not get married until you are 33-34 years.

That girl rejected me. She must be having an affair with someone for sure.

I have rejected so many girls even before they got a chance to reject me. 

I liked that girl but because my mother did not like her, I rejected her.

Generally, people marry when they are 26 years old...I mean in India...I mean in Hyderabad...I mean in our caste...I mean in my gender...Oh I don't know what I mean.

When a good friend recently announced that he was going to get married in December, Simply simply lost it. He's gone been on over-drive ever since. He wants to go one-up on his friend by marrying in November itself(if possible, in October itself) 

Well, that sums up this part. Shall come up with another one pretty soon. Until then, please comment on this one :)

112. Dial 'M' for Marriage 2 - Direct attack

Well, its been more than a year since I wrote my first take on the M word 'Marriage' - Dial M for Marriage

Its been more than a year but the situation still remains the same. The awkward situations that this M word generates is manifold. In the previous post (Dial M for Marriage), the emphasis was on the awkward situations which one may endure as an observer or a participatory third party in any phase of the 'arranged marriage' process.

In this post, I'll list down some of the direct attacks/confrontations which a gonna-be-groom-bachelor experiences during this pre-arranged marriage process.

The unsolicited advice 

Anyone who has ever been married starts giving you advice at really awkward times. It can be a good friend or a nosy neighbor or a totally random stranger who is in the middle of a quarrel with his wife on the phone(halts to give you advice and then goes back to quarreling).

Peer pressure

Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. This could not be truer when it comes to the 'getting married' and 'having a baby' actions. Its turned into a race of who will complete these actions first. And such actions cause a subliminal influence, a damaging one safe-to-say.

The internet matrimony profiles

You are asked to take a look at your mom's third degree cousin's family friend's second degree cousin's daughter's matrimony profile...and many other such profiles gathered from sources far and near - I like to call this network 'the pakkathu veetu maami' network(the aunt-next-door peer group). 

The thing with these matrimony profiles is that they are generally not written by the person whose profile it is. (unlike other social networking sites where the person himself/herself creates his/her own profile) It could be the girl's mom/dad/uncle/elder-brother/grandmother or even her boy-best-friend(the one with the ulterior motives).

And boy! The demands made in the 'Partner Preferences' section in these profiles range from weird to downright absurd. They demand all qualities that would combine to create a hypothetical Indian alpha-male. You know, the 'Tall-Fair-Handsome(T.F.H) IIT-MIT-Silicon Valley-Tech guru' variety or the 'T.F.H AIIMS-Post Doc-Plastic Surgeon for Aishwariya Rai' variety or the 'T.F.H NDA-Fighter pilot turned commercial pilot for Virgin airlines' variety.

With such steep requirements(irrespective of whether they're worth it or not), you wonder if any of these women will ever find their knight in shining armor. 

The road-show

You're paraded around in all public gatherings, be it a wedding or reception or a 'Gruha pravesham' or a 'Poonal'(thread ceremony) or a random distant relative's kid's first birthday. You get to hear many funny one-liners from elders at all these gatherings. 

You've grown so much. You were so little when I last saw you. (you'd be called 'retarded' if you hadn't grown since)

It is your turn next, be prepared.  (They make it sound like an IIT-JEE exam)

You don't have any girlfriends rite. You're so smart, its hard to believe. (A lame attempt at humor)

Oh, you work for Outfosys! Even my sister's daughter works there. She sings very well. (everyone who's anyone knows someone in Outfosys. #facepalm)

A marriage within the family
When there is a marriage within the family(of a near and dear person), you just cannot hide from the proceedings can you. You're asked to chip in with all the marriage chores ranging from buying a pH balanced shampoo from a specific boutique store which is 15 kms away(for the groom), to searching for Kittu mama's grandson(whom you eventually find on the street, blissfully playing with stray dogs), to dropping Meena mami and her entourage at the railway station afterwards. While you're trying to keep a low profile and get all these things done, you are subject to those weird quirky one-liners mentioned in the above segment. Its like a non-stop barrage of these incessant comments all through the whole wedding event(which spans a couple of days at least, unfortunately).

I don't know if I should call this providence, but just stumbled upon this pic on FB which is so in tune to what I've been saying in this post. So flicking it off and pasting it here.

A newspaper ad -

Also adding a rage comic I'd worked on sometime back. Pretty relevant here.

Well, there's more parts of this post which I shall post soon. This M saga does not seem to end anytime soon. #sigh

111. A true fan

Who is a true fan ? What does it take for one to be a true fan ?

Well, based on what the media tells us, a true fan needs to dedicate one's entire life religiously to follow one's idol, and if need be, give up many other common real world joys/pleasures when in the pursuit of the same.

For instance, a true Iron Maiden fan is supposed to have listened to all of their albums, to have been present in all their concerts, know everything about their lifestyle and emulate their lifestyle as much as possible(the tattoos and the rock band lifestyle).

A true Manchester United fan is supposed to watch all their matches hoping they win and also watch the main rival team matches praying that their rivals lose. All this while, the fan is supposed to be as vociferous as possible on all social media platforms about the success of one's idol team(Man Utd in this case). The fan is also supposed to keep track of all the transfers made by the club and the fees they pay to each player and to the coach.

A true Shah Rukh Khan fan is supposed to have watched all his movies, know all about how he struggled to get to the top, know about his family and his smoking habit and should be ready with any new news regarding any new films that SRK signs.

Well, from the looks of it, being a true fan seems too much work. The media has made it that way. And peer pressure has added an unnecessary dimension to this as well. If you're not anyone's fan, then you're not taken seriously in discussions. You're forced to take sides even when you don't want to be on any of them. So you give in eventually. You sport an exorbitantly expensive football club jersey even though you would have preferred to have bought new sneakers with the same money.

I thought being a fan was all about enjoying someone's work to a 'more than average' extent. And since you do enjoy that person/club/band's work more than others in that sector/work-area. you tend to follow that person/club/band's work more religiously. Is that not the purpose of following someone? Getting more bang for your buck because you are sure that your senses would be pleased when embracing your idol's work.

My two cents. A true fan is one who truly enjoys his/her idol's work. Period! A true fan needn't know much about one's idol. A true fan needn't spend every frikkin hour of his/her day thinking about one's idol. A true fan will never change his/her stance about one's idol based on peer pressure. In fact, a true fan will never form a stance on one's idol based on peer pressure. And finally, a true fan stays a true fan for life. 

110. My hand at rage comics

Well, since I'm out of ideas to write something interesting, I figured I should share some of my attempts at creating rage comics. So here goes.

Learning German

The Job Interview

After the Job Appraisal

Thought-timings

The Lunch call at work

Over the weekend

Mr. OK

109. Fleeting glimpses

You know the feeling when you feel that time is rushing by and you are desperate to cling on to those moments of effervescence which you experience along the way. Well, this aint that. Quite the opposite actually. Literally opposite. I'm in the state where I want time to rush by faster than it already is. Have I gone nuts? Why would anyone be desperate to get old quicker? Isn't it against all the 'look\feel younger' ad campaigns which we are fed 24*7 on the idiot box?

This state of mind has been superbly captured in this one classic phrase from Mr.OK - 'Khatam karo saala, jaldi khatam karo sab'. It's the cry of impatience. Of the inability to cope with all the garbage that the world is dishing out at you. Of the transition from calling everyone uncle to being called uncle by everyone. Of the societal pressures to tie the knot, play the slot and have babies that glot. Of the innumerable number of expectations that you have to meet on both the personal and professional front. Of the inability to juggle between two modes of existence: One - being treated like a kid and Two - being expected to behave like an adult.

Naturally, escaping to a new environment is the only solution that one sees when one is subjected to such a multitude of conflicts. Or the alternative is to rationalize oneself into believing that a better time is yet to come. And it is in this scenario that one wants time to fly by for the better times to come by quicker. Well, having an irrational expectation like this without any action backing it is surely bound to bomb(as a wise guy once said - 'where is the action?'). However, letting the fleeting glimpses go past you at light speed seems the only elixir to come out alive(mentally) and so you take that route.

Note - This is just mental masturbation on paper. Don't try to read between the lines. The lines seem self-explanatory I suppose.

108. Nick names

One very innocuous yet effective way to form a connect with someone is by giving him/her a nick-name. Since there's invariably something unusual about them, nick names have an amazing recall power embedded in them. The nicks may be born out of a situation or out of a personality trait or just out of the wicked genius of an idle mind. Some nicks connect so well that the actual name takes a back seat in memory. The person is forever remembered by that nick.

Well, here's some of the nicks I've had in the past. Some mild, some funny and some downright weird. 

Chachi 420

Lets say that this was the first serious long-lasting nick that I was bestowed with. Dates way back to high school. This nick evolved from a very lame initial nick called Abdul. I was called Abdul based on the WWF wrestler Abdullah(coz I was very roly poly like him). Slowly, Abdul gave way to Abdul Chacha. And then along came Kamal Hasan with the Bollywood remake of Mrs.Doubtfire. And I've been called Chachi by my school folks ever since.

Bai babu

The credit for this one goes solely to Pope. Its brutal coz its a gult slang word for a 'boob'. Rhymed with my first name and that's all it took. What made it even worse was Pope's fascination with the word 'bai'. Of the few things that he did like during the 4 years in college, using the word 'bai' in every other sentence ranks right among the top things in the list. And so this name caught on like anything. Its only 'Annayya' who gave it a twist by calling me 'bhai', sort of like 'little brother' to the big brother(Annayya). A little brother who got everything in OC, right from his T-shirts to his toothpaste.

Sad face 

A lady at the workplace gave me this name. She'd say that I always had this perennially sad/knocked-out expression whenever she'd come over to talk about work. It took me some time and convincing to tell her that it was the work that made me sad and not her presence. I feel she never bought it #Facepalm

George Bussss

A classic case of a gaming name gone bad. George Bussss was so unusual a nick that it caught on like wildfire. It had this snake-hiss kinda sound to it. I was doomed the day it was coined.

aK

A gaming name that went well with every1 in the computer lab. aK was second only to '56' and 'CoL.Fr0D' (and 'Pasta' and 'Phoenix' and 'CMToTo' and 'Necksmasher'...but not 'Fakeshadow' :p). I miss CS. Those were fun times.

A.Raja

Got this name at the workplace last year. When expanded, has to be read as 'Anubhavinchu Raja'. Its based on this song from the 70s which urges you to experience life and live it to the fullest. Why I got this name was coz I was pretty much living the dream all day everyday last year.Nice phase it was. Here's the song link - Anubhavinchu Raja

Shaani munji

Translates to 'shit face' or 'dung face'. It so happened that when I was a really small kid, I'd called an uncle with the same name. Mom and dad were red-faced and were all set to gimme the blasting of my life. But the thoughtful uncle took it sportingly and made light weather out of it. However, since then, he started addressing me with the same nick. Small price to pay when compared to getting hammered at home for bad behavior.

Naarad Muni 

During my 2 b-skool years, had this notorious reputation of being the inter and intra-batch gossip library(I shared this reputation with another great 'man'). Had also been tagged as a 'gossip queen' in an fb pic(I think the tag still exists). And who better than 'Naarad Muni' to signify my word-of-mouth marketing prowess. I consider this as an achievement no second to being the class/batch topper :p

Shree Krishna ki Vijay

More of a slogan than a nick name. But this one was brutal coz it tried to link me to a girl in the batch. Wanna know how.Just say it aloud a couple of times. And if you still don't get it, call me and I'll tell you :)

Its been a bumpy yet funny ride until now. Am positive that there are many more colorful nick names yet to be created and added to this impressive list. Fingers crossed.

107. Summer in the 90s

Some trivia to begin with. The word 'summer' actually comes from combining the Latin terms 'sum' meaning total and 'mer' meaning light.


Its actually been quite a while since I spent an entire summer in Hyderabad. I'd lived the first 16 years of my life in Hyd(school and Intermediate here only). Ever since, I've had a  vagabond-ish existence (over the last 8 to 9 years). Its been quite an experience living in so many different places. Now that I've moved back to Hyd (courtesy an amazing job change that was initially frowned upon by all and sundry), it almost feels like I've gone back in time. 


The last time I'd spent a summer in Hyderabad was in 2003. Cruel heat, cruel-er engineering college entrance examinations and relentless peer-pressure. Anyone who has prepared for IIT-JEE in AP knows what I am talking about. 


However, sans that particular summer, the ones prior to that one were totally memorable. Summer meant morning schools, exams, vacations, gully cricket, holiday homework, movies, swimming, Monopoly, tennis, and wearing total-ventilation-garments(the banian-chaddi existence) all day. Summer meant two months of carefree existence coupled with aeons of time to kill. 


The beginning of summer was always marked by the bright morning light right from 6 AM. Being a light-sleeper, I'd wake up with the first jolt of bright light. The morning air would feel different. The TV shows would change. The drinking water timings would change(filling water was my chore, coz i was pretty useless otherwise). Morning school would start off courtesy board examinations for class X.


Morning school was like the unofficial end of the year. We all knew it. We just had the exams in our way. In our way to two months of bliss. Exams also meant exam-pad cricket after an exam got over(if the next day was a holiday). 


It was that anticipation that made life interesting back then. The sign of good things to come. And the best part about the summer break was that it never disappointed. It always arrived on time. And always got along with it, loads of time to chill and while away. Summer camp, swimming classes, plastic-ball cricket, board games, WWF on TV, Video Games,Hollywood flicks, novels and relative visits - summarized a typical summer. 


Having a source of anticipation makes living easier. And although I don't have the summer break to look forward to, I'll have to figure out ways to enjoy the summer to come. Here's to another Hyderabadi summer that I shall conquer. Three cheers.

106. One handed on Valentine's eve

After having a great January, it was but natural that Feb would bring me back to the ground. Fell off my vehicle for the 1st time. No one's fault, it was just pure unadulterated shitty luck. My right side(right palm to right toe) is writhing in pain, my right palm has a red sun in it as I speak. Have been living one handed for the last couple of days now. This experience is teaching me to appreciate my erstwhile two handed life. With bruises on the right hand and a tetanus injection after-effect on the left, life's been amazing off late. Having a one handed bath dodging all the lacerated areas is like climbing the Everest upside down. Super tough and taxing :s

And all this happening on the eve of Valentine's. I couldn't have timed the fall better I feel.  Not that I had gr8 chances of getting a date this Valentine's(or on any Valentine's as a matter of fact). But I wish to believe that miracles can happen, even with me.

This is my first (and maybe only) one-handed post. Yea, typed all this with my left. Dedicating this to an old one-sided valentine who herself was/is a furious one-handed typer.

And to all my fellow readers(me, the mosquito on the monitor and the lizard near the fan), here's wishing you all a very happy Valentine's day in advance.

ps: Beware of Shiv Sainiks. Or better yet, dress up as one so that they don't trouble you :p

pps : Had written one post on Valentine's day back in 2006 (a bit amateurish must say). Here it is - http://abbchris.blogspot.in/2006/02/heart-shaped-wonders.html

105. The last week of Jan 2012

The last week of Jan 2012 has been one with a lot movement, both physically and professionally.

On the personal front, have finished 10k kilometers on my TVS Wego in the last 1 year(started driving it on Jan 1st 2011). For someone who dint know how to drive a vehicle, doing 10,000 kms in a year is kind of commendable(am doing self-dabba here :P)

I've lost 5 kilos in 1 month courtesy a change in diet and lots of exercise.

Professionally, 27th Jan marks my 1 year anniversary in the company I am currently working in. This is the first time that I've stayed in a firm for 1 whole year. The previous attempts were 6 and 8 months(not even close). So I am giving myself a pat on the back for this. Cracking interviews is one thing, staying put in the company is another.

Was given my first appraisal ever. Was given a gr8 job rating at my workplace(CRR 1), which was unexpected but I shall take it as a good sign for the things to look for in future.

Additionally, I've also been promoted. So now I have a new job title to boast about.

After weeks and months of relative inactivity, the last week of Jan has been a refreshing one with only positive happenings all over.

Am hoping that February follows suit. Fingers crossed.