The Devil has a lot of power over me and I am not kidding. Nah that is not the title of some B grade Hollywood movie nor is it the name of my next book (ummm when did i write my first one anyway?). This is the harsh reality of life we are familiar with and ignorant of at the same time. We go about our lives trying to be good human beings, praying on time, doing good deeds, being charitable to others, etc. Then we end up ruining it for ourselves by backstabbing others, mocking people, lying, stealing and deceiving others. It is so easy for us to claim that we are good human beings when we don’t stop to realise that we can be horrible human beings as well. No one can claim to be perfect coz face it that is not possible (maybe only in bizzaro world or if you are the brady family).

I am sure the Devil or Lucifer or Beezlebub or whatever they call him must be laughing each time we do something good coz he knows that we will succumb to his temptations soon. People who claim to be holier than though are his favorite victims (that’s why I don’t trust bearded holy men who moonlight as builders. you can go and ask my friend alvin and he will tell you why). My dad was right when he said that he can’t trust all these people as they are the worst of the lot (thank you devil).

There are times when I feel I am so good coz i pray on time, read the Quran, am charitable to otehrs, etc. It all comes to an end when I end up doing stupid stuff. Poof all that hard work goes down the drain and I am back at square one. There have been two instances last week when I went to the mosque to pray and all I could do was to criticise people by mentally making notes and making fun of them in my mind.  Fine I did not agree with the fiery speaker who delivered a long and boring speech about something  really boring (yeah i can’t believe i was thinking like that while in a holy place). At the same time i kept wondering why I was thinking like that and why I wasn’t struck down by a bolt of lightning. I felt like as if the devil was at my side and guiding me to think like that. Then I felt that the devil was not to blame as I was responsible for my own thoughts. Why is it that we blame everything on the devil when we know that whatever we do is because of our free will? Am i contradicting myself here or am I trying to find a reason to absolve the Devil of everything? How do I even know that the devil wants me to write this so that he can look really good? Am I merely a vessel for him to portray him in a good light or am I simply just a dumb fool who just wants to glorify the devil in writing?

I just feel that if your faith is strong you can avoid the devil most of the time. If you let your guard down it’s an all access pass for the devil and he shall make hay while the sun shines.

Wimbledon is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments of the world.  (yeah we covered that in the last post.) The thing is that no British Male or Female has won Wimbledon in a long, long time. (well not so long for women coz Virginia Wade was the last British Woman to win in 1977). The thing is that the British only love Wimbledon as far as I know. Most of the other tennis tournaments are virtually ignored in the media. They are really crazy about Wimbledon as it takes place in their own backyard. This is the time of the year when they get to dress up in posh clothes, wear shades and outdo each other in the style stakes. The older they get the more dressy they get. The british used to pin their hopes on Tim Henman to win Wimbledon (just for the honor) but then sadly he burned out and retired. That was when Andy Murray burst on to the scene to make a great impact. The British public have always supported Andy Murray because he is young, full of life and the biggest British Tennis Superstar (even if he scottish and not english). For some reason they are overly optimistic that he will win Wimbledon someday and i applaud them for that. However it doesn’t seem so likely in the near future because of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The british always seem to think that there is a slim glimmer of hope that Murray might reach the finals and win. I just think that they are a bit too optimistic for their own good. Murray lost against Nadal yesterday and i wasn’t surprised at all. Despite the british crowd backing their home boy there was no chance in hell he could win. The thing i have noted about the british public is that they always back the underdog and they never seem to go for the good players. It’s nice of them to back the underdog but i believe that it’s a bit unfair as they should applaud both the players and not just one. The crowd at the show courts is always nice and are decent enough to applaud for the winner but then if there is anything i have learnt it’s that you can see what people really feel on sports forums. A number of racist btards had only mean things to say about the Williams sisters. I don’t understand why people are so jealous of them and hate them. I have noted that some british people tend to be quite jealous of rich and successful people. Note that this post is not an attack against British people. Why can’t they be happy for them and get on with it? Why do they have to be so bitter about it? If they hate it so much and want to make some money, then they’d better get off their lazy arses, stop claiming benefits and start working. It’s funny how Wimbledon is the only tennis event which gets some importance though it’s not the sort of sport which will stop all activities and get people to gather around at sports bars to watch (well to be fair the semis and quarter finals are at a time when people are at work). I remember really well what happened on sunday (incidentally the Euro 2008 Final). It was eeriely quiet at the time the final was being played. I was travelling on the train and most of the carriages were empty. I thought i was in a ghost town. There were hardly any people anywhere, not even at the station and not even at Clapham Junction. The only people i saw were at waterloo and barely a few on the underground. It was surprising for me because I didn’t expect the british public to be so glued to the tv screens to watch football. Now it wasn’t as if England was playing in the tournament that gave them the reason to watch. It proves that Football shall always rule the roost and Tennis will only play second fiddle till Andy Murray does the unthinkable and actually wins.

PS. Serena and Venus are through to the Finals. Yay.

Friends are an important part of our lives because we simply can’t live with them or without them. Those people who don’t believe in friends are major losers or have some problem in their upper compartments hehe. This is a reason why sitcoms like “Friends” and “How I met your mother” got to be  popular. One can share all sorts of secrets with a trusted friend, call them up at times of need (3 am friends), beg for a handout or loan or reliable for a quick make out session (only valid for desparados who can’t keep their pants up). Note that friends can be either male or female as it doesn’t make a difference. People who think that men and women can’t be friends live in the dark ages (yup that has to be the most cliched line ever).

Anyway there are some friends who gel so well together that they become best of buddies. Now one might think it’s all right and not such a big deal. However it can be a big deal for three out of ten people who tend to become a bit too possessive of their best friends. Let’s just say that it’s more like a scene out of “Single White Female” except for all the crazy stuff. They seem to hate it when other people are getting too friendly with their best buds as they were angling to be the only ones in their lives. The only thoughts running through their head are “get lost you bitch/whore/whatever(note that this applies for both men and women) he/she is my friend”. They fear losing out their close bond and want to rip their rivals to shreds. In some cases some people aren’t bothered as the presence of new people in the circle won’t endanger their chances as there is plenty of space for everyone. Then there are some situations where the third party knows that person A is best friends with person B and tries everything in his/her power to encroach that territory. That is when insecure person A finds out and refuses to give up without a fight. This is followed by a lot of awkward situations where they try to bring each other down in order to be closer to person B who either has a lot of pheremones, is really popular or in some cases wealthy and cool to hang out with. Only the clever wolves manage to get through situations like that through shrewd manipulation and sabotage. Note that spiking his/her drink (non-alcoholic of course) will not reap any rewards. It won’t help to trip him/her while walking, embarrassing him/her in front of everyone or to give them the wrong message.

I have had a couple of situations where my best friend and i would hang out after uni. We used to have a lot of fun until the third wheel dropped in (who later became my friend but then now we are back to not talking to each other). I was fine as I am generally not such a jealous or possessive person. Anyway he used every trick in the book to try and spend more time with him which left me  holding the short end of the stick. I was not insecure as I knew that we were still good friends. However it really bugged me that the third wheel or let’s just call him A.hole was trying to cut me out from everything. Anyway I just smiled through it all coz i am not the one who wastes his energy on stuff which doesnt matter. The only time i got really pissed off was when A.hole, BB (Best Bud) and i had gone out somewhere. A.hole’s dad was visiting from Mauritius and had come along for part of the journey. We had to drop him at a point where he was to be picked up the rest of the family. Anyway it pissed A.hole to a great extent that i was riding shotgun in BB’s car, he actually got his dad to make me vacate the seat. I was so shocked that someone would actually go to that extent all for an ego. I used the opportunity to berate him for the rest of the journey and made sure that i got to ride shotgun after we stopped off for lunch.

Tennis has always been my favorite sport and no other sport can take it’s place. I can remember the first time i ever watched tennis on TV and getting hooked to the glamour of the game. It was way back in 1988 when I watched the Wimbledon Ladies finals on tv during a beautiful rainy day in Karachi (wow i cant believe it’s been 20 years). That was when i fell in love with the new champion Steffi Graf who defeated  Martina Navratilova in a three set thriller (5-7, 6-2, 6-1). That was the moment I knew that Tennis would be the only sport I would follow.  I respect people who religiously follow Cricket (a lot of fans in the sub-continent) and Football (most of the world and the English). I can’t pretend to love these sports as they are not my cup of tea. I have to admit though that I only watch the Ladies playing as it’s a lot more fun than watching Men play. They say that the Gentleman game is loads more fun than the Ladies Singles. I don’t see any fun in watching men hit the ball and try and finish the game by clinching 3 sets to win the match. It is a lot  more fun to watch women play in a competitive manner and to seal the deal. Anyway once again I have drifted away from the main post which was to discuss Wimbledon 2008. Wimbledon is one of the most prestigious Grand Slams as it is very “posh”. There was a time when i would only watch the tournament because I loved watching Steffi Graf win. It was sad when she played her last Tournament in 1999 when she lost to Davenport. That was when I decided to back a new player. Venus Williams was a young upcoming player at that time and she was one person to watch out for. That was when I decided she was the one for me and she would be my favorite player till her retirement. Serena Williams joined the list a couple of months later when she won the US Open.

Wimbledon is no fun without the Williams sisters. I remember the thrill I got when I found out that Venus won Wimbledon for the third time in 2005. I was totally gutted when I found out she had lost to Jelena Jankovic in 2006. That put me down big time and I refused to read the sports pages both on line and offline. It was a big thrill for me once again when Venus won Wimbledon for the fourth time in 2007. She was very elated and was on top of the world. I felt like i was a part of her victory as I prayed a lot for her victory. People laugh at me when I tell them that i love Venus and Serena. They are all like “they look like men”,”classless gals”, etc. I don’t care as i am a loyal fan and I believe in them full time. They are true sports superstars in their own right who haven’t burned out because they only play when they know they can compete. Venus and Serena have truly been dominant at Wimbledon throughout the last eight years except for the losses to Sharapova and Mauresmo. I don’t seem to understand why all these commentators always have no good word for them and are always backing the underdog.

Wimbledon 2008 has been quite exciting for me so far. I have been following the tournament both online (on the BBC website where i can view streaming video) as well as the normal BBC channels. I was so stressed about the matches that I kept dreaming about Venus and Serena playing. So far I am very happy as most of the seeds have crashed out. Venus and Serena did not play so well during the first 3 rounds. However they are playing really well now and have even trashed the so called giant killers. Serena was really powerful in her match against the Polish player Radwanka or whatever her name is and won in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. She was so dominant in the second set that i thought the Polish player was gonna break down and cry. It proves that Serena has the potential to make it to the final and win. Venus had a good match against the Thai player Tamasurin who played really well. However she wasn’t powerful enough for Venus’s serve and eventually lost. Dementeiva had a tough match against Petrova as both of them played erratically and seemed to crumble under the pressure. I am so glad I did not watch them play as they aren’t my favorite players. The big surprise of the tournament is the Chinese Wild card who has made it all the way to the semis after defeating Vaisodova and is no gonna play Serena. I hope Serena plays as well as she did in the quarter finals. I really want the sisters to play against each other in the final on Saturday provided the heavy rain forecast doesn’t ruin the day for them.

I really think that the tournament officials are biased as they made the Ladies play on court 2 on Monday. Court 2 is known as the Graveyard of Champions as a lot of people have lost playing over there. I guess it’s all psychological and that’s what brings them down. Fortunately Venus and Serena managed to win all three of their matches on Monday despite the awful reputation of Court 2 (Singles and Doubles). It is rather unfortunate that they were made to play there despite being former Champions. They would never subject the men to such treatment. It took the Tournament Officials forever to give the women equal prize money. It proves that Men always give preferential treatment to their own kind (for shame you chauvinist jerks). I know some of my words sound like as if  i am quoting what the players said but then it’s true.

I just hope that the sisters win against their opponents on Thursday and reach the Final. It doesn’t matter who wins as one of them will have a major title in her name once again. Good luck to you girls. Wish you all the best.

Most of my fans know that i have spent part of the last three years of my life in London. London can be either a very exciting city or a very shitty place to live in (it all depends on which area you reside). It is a great place for people who have full time jobs,   living on doleouts from daddy dearest (students from foreign countries), or if you are the property of some cougar (older woman with a toy boy).

The point is that one needs to be earning to enjoy the good life in London. There was a time when i wanted to make a good amount of money so i could live a good life while studying. That was one reason why I applied for a job as a charity fund raiser. It was a beautiful rainy  day in August 2005 when I decided to go out for a walk in Wimbledon (not Wimbledon Village). I met this sweet anxious little fund raiser who wanted me to give my direct debit details so that she could reach her target for the day. My curiousity got the better of me and i asked her for the name of her company so i could also apply for a job. Little did i know that i would get a call back from them soon after i registered. They invited me over for an interview which required a bit of roleplay and a final interview. I was chuffed when i found out that i had made the cut. The company invited me for a training session at Oxford. I am sure i must have mentioned this bit in my blog earlier. Anyway the training session went well as the trainers were a lot of fun. They were all gung ho about fund raising and how easy it was for them to raise money. I guess they were quite charming coz we actually believed everything they said. I wanted to believe them and yet my  gut instinct was that it was not as easy as it sounded. They taught us a lot of techniques on how to get people to donate. I thought it would be a piece of cake and decided to go to work two days after my training session. That was the start of my nightmare job which i wish i had never taken.  I should have listened to my friend when he told me that i was not gonna find it easy. The locations were at random places around London and not all of them were a pretty sight. we got to go to Brixton, carnaby street, QM Uni and some other place i cant remember. That was when i stopped smelling the roses and realised that it wasn’t that easy. I am not a groaner/moaner (well i can be at times if the going gets tough) but then it was too much for me to handle. My “kind handlers” suddenly turned into these greedy vultures who wanted us to break our backs to reach our target for the day. I wanted to cry out in pain because my feet hurt like hell and I couldn’t stand. It is not an easy task asking people to fork over their direct debit details. i tried every trick in the book to get some potential victims and yet I failed every time. I did manage to get some kind people to donate but I guess it was only because they felt sorry for me. I had to pretend to be all cheery and at the same time i used to wish that the earth would open up and swallow me. It was a lot of fun having people avoid me, curse me, call me names, etc and yet i stayed brave and endured it. The funny thing was that my handlers were critical and not at all supportive  as they pushed us to be more ruthless in our pursuit of victims. Well let’s just say that I finally lost the job or let’s just say i quit the job after they started reprimanding me for no reason. I was gonna be fired anyway coz i hadn’t met my targets and turned up 2 minutes late once. Anyway i am glad i quit coz my second term had just started and i was able to achieve my academic goals.

My fund raiser experience was horrifying and scarred me for a very long time. It made me avoid them with a vengeance. The only problem is that it’s tough to avoid them as they are everywhere. I see them like nearly every other day and it’s quite tough to avoid them. I do feel sorry for them as they don’t know what they are in for. I do stop for the ones i feel sorry for and share some words of wisdom “run for the hills and don’t look back. this job will ruin your life”. They always tend to look at me in a funny way whenever i give them advice.The funny thing is that the fund raisers use the same tried and tested methods which they taught us at chugger school.

I nearly got sucked into a job which would have required me to go door to door trying to persuade people into buying Sky subscriptions. I had no idea what i had gotten into when i was randomly posting cvs on jobsites looking for a job. I got this call from a company in slough for an interview. They told me it was a marketing job but then i had no idea what it entailed as there was no job description. I made it through the first interview and was summoned for the second day after that. I don’t know why i kept getting the feeling that there was something wrong. Everything looked all right on the surface but then i could still feel that there was something wrong. Anyway they told me that the second interview was all about observing them at work and that was when i realised i had been duped as it was not a marketing job but a sales job. They took me out on the field to test me and that was when i smelled the roses (using the phrase yet again) and realised that i was gonna be wasting my time. I was supposed to report back to the office for the qa session after my field training was over. The sucky bit was that my ride had already left without me and there was no way for me to go back. I had to walk all the way to the station so i could go back to Slough. I realised there and then that there was no way i was gonna go back and i used my return ticket to go back to London.

I am glad I learned from my charity fundraiser lesson and did not go for that crappy job. So when i spotted some Npower reps at the station i ran for my life. So whenever you see some commission greedy sales rep just run for the hills and dont look back.

Traveling in London can be quite tiring because of the poor quality of service. I tend to use the train and underground to go about everywhere because they are faster and more reliable than buses. I had a terrible experience on the bus around 2 weeks back when some asshole picked my pocket and nicked my mp3 player. I ranted and fumed for around 2 days till i realised I was never going to see my beloved Mp3 player again. Anyway let’s get back to my story about travelling in London. I loathe travelling on the underground because it can be too taxing. For starters the heat gets to you and makes you wanna get out of the train really fast. I thank my lucky stars whenever i complete my journey on time and don’t have to endure severe delays. Grabbing a seat on the underground during peak hours is like a game of musical chairs. The best way to get a seat is to go through the door where people aren’t exiting as one can cover ground really fast and find a seat. I have had to curse my luck for standing at the wrong spot on a number of occasions which resulted in me standing during most of the journey (which can be a pain if you are in sandals). Travelling on the underground is boring as people act like as if they are super miserable and are on their way to death row. It’s rare to see anyone smiling or even looking at anyone. I guess I should bring a canister of laughing gas with me next time i am travelling on the tube. At least i can get to see some smiles and i wont have to bother with the negativity in the air. It tends to be a downer and brings everyone down coz it’s so infectious. It also bothers me when people start picking their nose, applying makeup, playing music really loud on their cellular phones (haven’t they heard of headphones) which tends to be really annoying and gives me a bad headache, or doing some random stupid thing. People who read books, newspapers, play games on their DS-Lite and PSP aren’t being anti-social if they are travelling on their own as they want to kill time. Couples who find time to make out in slow motion during journeys can be super annoying as one tries hard not to stare at them. It is impossible as they are either in front of you or sitting in a way that you can’t avoid them. I haven’t gotten of staring away from kissing couples as my neck hurts a lot. I don’t know how much longer I have to keep up with it. Then there are people who end up staring at each other but are too afraid to make the next move. Some brave fools try to break the ice but then the other one always gets cold feet later. This is one reason why London Newspapers have this section where these lovefools (or lust fools) post their missed encounters. The ad is usually like “saw u at blah blah line at blah blah time. you were the hot blah blah whatever and i was the one in blah blah whatever. Fancy a drink.” Geez most of these ads are more cliched than an Indian or English rom-com.

I hate changing between trains because i simply hate the decor and the fact that the walking distance from one line to another is like a walk from home to china. My walk down the corridors is ruined coz people don’t know how to walk and end up blocking the way. They need to be taken to some school where they should be taught how to talk.

I have seen something positive on the underground lately. A lot of people travelling on the underground have had no respite from beggars who would beg their way while on the underground.  I guess the authorities have cracked down on them as I haven’t seen any beggars in a long time. I am also glad that they decided to ban alcohol from all public transport. It was a bit annoying coming home late at night and watching people walk about in drunken stupor. I can’t stop people from drinking outside but at least they don’t have to drink on the underground and endanger the lives of others by doing something stupid.

The authorities have also started scanning people randomly at certain stations to prevent knife crimes. This makes me feel safer. They should have done this a long time back. They have also started cracking down on fare evaders and imposing heavy fines on them. I believe that this is a good move on their part as people will take them more seriously now and pay the full fare. I watched this fare evader being stopped by an officer at Tottenham court station earlier in the day.

Oh well here’s an end to yet another boring post. Hope you enjoyed it.

PS.

Books i am reading on the underground :Wicked, Yes Man

Music I am listening to on the underground :Alanis Morissette Discography, Shpongle

The past week was quite tough for me mentally as my chachi passed away last Sunday night. It was very tough for me when I found out as it was not news I was expecting to hear. I had been very happy that weekend and had some great times watching “SATC”, going out with friends, etc. The news shook me really bad on Monday Morning. A part of me felt that it was the last time i saw her before i left for London. She was my favorite chachi who did a lot for us all. I can never forget all the times she took care of me, ordered special meals for me when i stayed at their place, all those presents and most important all those duas. She endured so much in her lifetime (terrible inlaws, loss of two brothers and her daughter’s tragic death last year) as well as various ailments). It should be noted that she passed away exactly a year after my cousin’s tragic death. I was quite miserable for two days because i had no way of expressing my grief. It sucks when one is away from home as you have to grieve all alone and there is no way for you to express yourself. There is a feeling of hopelessness and you wish you were back home to be with your loved ones to comfort them. The only thing I hate is when people use those cliched lines “she is in a better place”, “pray for her”. Fine they may be right as there is nothing we can do except pray but cant they come up with something better or not say anything at all. There have been so many deaths in my family that i am shaken to the core. Each time i call home i have to ask about everyone because i am scared they might have passed away without me being in the loop. I always pray for my family and my pets as well so that they have nice long healthy lives. It is sad cause i lost my mumani (maternal uncle’s wife) in mid April and now i have lost yet another relative. We were all very close and it feels strange to loose someone else. At times i think these deaths are making us all numb and preparing us for the future. I just feel scared as there are more ailing relatives out there. I talked to my cousins earlier today. It wasn’t an easy time for me as they were quite distraught and it took me all my strength not to cry over the phone. I wish i could do something for them but alas i couldn’t.

At least i have all those good memories with me which i shall cherish forever. She may be gone but we shall remember her and join her soon someday. Dido was right when she said our life is on rent. We don’t own these bodies forever. Our lease will expire someday and we will be back to the earth we were created from.

I had to scrap my earlier post as it was too long and boring. I knew it was boring while i was writing it so i decided to start from scratch. I had a great time this weekend when i went over to Alton Towers with my friends. Let’s just say that the road trip was loads of fun. I couldn’t wait to reach the hotel as it had been a long time since i stayed at any. Fortunately i was supposed to be sharing the room with one of marty’s friends so i didnt have to pay the full rate. I got a pretty good rate for 2 nights. The hotel took time checking us in (like forever) and then they had to make us change rooms. It pissed me off big time so i stormed off to give  the manager a big lecture. We headed off to the water park (ground level of the hotel) in our flip flops and shorts. The guys went in the water while their spouses stayed near the pool area keeping an eye  out on their hubbies and kids. It wasn’t easy for us guys to go off and have our bit of fun. We managed to get an opportunity to try out some of the rides when the kids were with their mums. We tried the ride where we got to sit on rafts and go down a slide at full speed. That was a lot of fun as we screeched down the dark slide and landed in the pool (one at a time though). We decided to give it another try while marty and sherry waited in line for the other water raft slide thingie which went around the park (it wasn’t actually a raft. It’s easier to call it a raft to save time)it as more like an over sized inflated ring which u sit on with ur legs sticking out. The other ride took me by surprise. It was very fast and was virtually unstoppable. There was a point where i thought i would fall over when the raft changed direction. I nearly chaffed my ass coz it wasn’t at mid point. I was relieved when i reached the landing point. We left to change after a couple of hours in the park. There was a surprise waiting for me when i reached the room. There were four tubs of candy in the room along with several balloons. So i took three of the tubs and distributed them amongst the three couples along with the balloons.  I am glad I took time out to complain to the manager. Then I took a nice long bubble bath (the hotel was kind enough to provide us with imperial lather shower gel, bubble bath, mint tea shampoo) so that i could feel better. We decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant as we had no other options available. We were really hungry at that point as none of us had had any lunch. The buffet cost us around 16 quid each and it took us an hour to get our table. It’s a good thing they had some stuff which we could eat. I only helped himself to the vegetarian and fish stuff lying around. I also helped myself to loads of salad and chips. I was so hungry that i piled up a lot of food on my plate. I didn’t care what the others thought as i wanted to get my money’s worth. It wasn’t surprising when i finished that in 5 minutes. I went over for 2 more helpings (i filled up my plate yet again. yeah i am a greedy bastard). It’s a pity i was too stuffed to have any soup. The best part was that there we got to have ice cream for dessert. I had four scoops of ice cream topped with marshmallows, strawberries and some sprinkles. It wasn’t a surprise when i could barely walk or burp later. The guys decided to sneak out for some quality bonding time later when the women and children slept. We had a round of virgin pina coladas and J2Os (non alcoholic) till the hotel bar closed down. I had a great time making potshots at Marty and vice versa. I mean we had no bad intentions and it was all for fun anyway. We had to wake up early the following morning so we could go to the theme park. I had to rush towards the breakfast area as they finished serving after 10 am. I am glad i got 40 minutes to have my breakfast. I felt nauseous at the sight of food (gee i wonder why?) so i helped myself to cereal and a croissant along with some water juice.

The theme park was a lot of fun as there was a lot to do. I chose to sit out most of the rides and helped with the kids. We had a great meal at Eastern Express. Marty was wise enough to ask a girl working over there for directions to the nearest Indian Restaurant in the area so that we could have something for dinner. I know i havent written about the day in details. There isn’t much to write about over here. I mean i am so chicken that i sat out most of the thrilling rides. I had loads of slush puppies on the way (slush as we call it in Pak). We got to ride on the cable car all the way to the other side of the park. I was freaking out cause i have a fear of heights and they were talking about the car dropping. Unfortunately we were unable to go back across the park coz the cable car stopped operating after a certain time. We had to take shortcut to the hotel so that we could relax. The walk was around 1 km long and we were knackered by the time we reached a gate which was a buffer between the hotel and park. The gate was locked and we nearly freaked out coz the intercom wasn’t working earlier. Fortunately my roommate (marty’s friend anj) managed to get them to respond. They sent some guy over to let us out. I was so tired that i took yet another bubble bath. We got ready on time so that we could go for dinner at the place the girl had told us about.It was a bit tough but we found the place. We were totally surprised when we found “Thornbury Hall Rasoi” as it was something we hadn’t expected. It was a nice elegant place with a beautiful backdrop. The owners of the restaurant were British Pakistani and the girl we met earlier in the day was the daughter of the proprietors. Marty joked about the girl inviting us for a free meal a couple of times. The hosts were quite nice and gracious to us. The decor was in good taste and the food was excellent. It was cooked really well and was not greasy at all. We topped up the food with dessert which was in a class by itself. I have never had ice cream like that in my life ever. I felt like going for another helping but then i was really full by that time. We had a nice drive back to the hotel later.

The following day was quite sad as we had to go back home. We made the most of the day by going back to the water park. We decided to have some lunch at Leicester on the way. However we didn’t anticipate the time it would take us to reach there. We finally managed to get some stuff to eat at Kebabish. Lunch was followed by some last minute shopping (women will be women after all). I got a bit sick on the way thanks to the weather. I managed to jump out at hanger’s lane and catch the train home. The train service was a bit slow that night and i reached home at 11.30 pm.

Anyway we all had a superb time and it was one of my best trips ever. I was hardly stressed out and i got to spend time with my friends. The highlights of the trips were all those comments we passed and all those jokes we cracked. The running gag throughout the whole trip was me sharing the room with anj. Apparently we were supposed to be more than roomies and a dozen jokes were made on our behalf.

one of the best parts of the trip was when Marty managed to nick a key chain with the words”i am totally addicted to blokes” on it and stealthy attached it to sherry’s jacket. It was really tough trying not to crack up over that sight.

Ah those were good times and i shall always treasure those memories.

I feel like a new person and it’s all thanks to a person who has been helping me change myself. Hmmm part of me feels like Alanis Morissette (her transition from “jagged little pill” to “Formerly infatuated information junkie”).It is always good to be positive as one can achieve a lot in his life. There have been times when i have been very bitter, sardonic (or sarcastic), cynical and that has not been good for me. Heck why should i hide the fact that it was my friend Mo who has been a good role model for me. He has taken a lot of time from his life to help me a lot of stuff. There is a lot of stuff i have to work on but at least i know what lies ahead for me. I know it may sound cliched but it is the truth. Resenting everything and living in the past is not such a great idea. It doesn’t help a person move on. It is not healthy for a person to have resentment or obsess over non-trivial issues. I just realized that a lot of time is wasted when a person keeps bringing up the past. It wont resolve anything and one looses precious time which he could have used to do something practical. Mo has taught me a lot and i am quite grateful to him. He was right when he said that one shouldn’t make excuses for anything. Excuses in my theory are more like barriers we put up so that we can shift the blame onto others. We can easily get around these barriers if we are determined to do something. External factors such as people may get you down but then you are not living life for them. You are living life for yourself. Now i feel that i should look at the positive side of everything. I did not get the job i applied for but that doesn’t mean I lost all hope. Heck i got some positive feedback from those people and that makes me feel good. Ego is a factor which can stop a person from doing a lot. Hence i have to sacrifice all that and put a positive spin to it. I feel that if something doesnt go right one can always look at it in a positive way. That’s how life should be like. Take it one step at a time. Mo was right when he said live in the Now. That is how everything should be like. I am positive because i am spiritually attuned and praying everyday MashAllah se. Allah loves those people who pray to Him regularly. Those people who loved them selves and think positively have a lot to look forward to. I hope this positivity buzz never wears out. I feel so motivated and so charged that i feel like going on doing a ton of good positive stuff out there. I know there will be times when i will feel down but then i shall remind myself of all the good things out there in the world and remember what Mo told me.

That’s one reason why I want to be positive. Things may be shitty at times but I will bounce back. This goes out for the rest of you all as well. Good times and bad times go together. Just try and look at everything in a positive way and you shall feel good or simply stick with people who wont bring you down. Loyalty is an important factor here and that is what will make u go on.

It’s been a long time since I had a great time on the weekend. I enjoyed my first bank holiday of 2008 recently. Friday and saturday were boring days for me as i didn’t have much to do. Sunday wasn’t that bad as i had to go to my cousin’s place for some sort of sermon. I am glad I didn’t go earlier (mainly because i didn’t know where to go). The sermon was halfway through when we reached there. The funny thing was that the whole thing was in french-creole so i didn’t understand anything. I had to pinch myself to prevent myself from nodding off to sleep. I have never seen so many Mauritian enthusiasts. It’s a good thing that some people are really into religion but i found it a it startling at times when some guy kept saying “SubhaAllah” in a loud voice. I felt like a heathen at that time (this is surprising cause i pray as much as I can and try to follow the tenets of Islam) because i did not feel like i was part of the whole thing. My cousin’s hubby was taping the whole thing and there was a part where he was trying to find some free space on his dv-cam. He accidentally switched over to some song/dance routine taped on it and everyone started smirking coz the music was really loud. The best part of the evening was when my cousin’s father in law recited a naat. it was quite moving as i had never heard someone recite it with so much passion. It should be noted that Urdu isn’t their mother tongue and it was a really good effort on his part. We had a really heavy dinner after the sermon was over. I hung around a bit and watched some of my cousin in law’s cousins play pool in the game room. The night was nice and cold coz of the weather. It had rained all sunday so the weather was a bit damp.

Monday wasn’t that bad at all as i had to wake up early to make it to sherry’s place down south. It took me 1.5 hours to get there. I had an interesting journey on the Jubliee Line from Stratford. There was this old Black Lady who sat next to me during the journey. As soon as the train made it’s way from Stratford, she started delivering a sermon about Jesus and repenting our sins at the top of her voice. I think she had the whole carriage’s attention with her loud voice. Her efforts were sincere but i doubt anyone was interested. I didn’t mind what she had to say as we all have similar beliefs. Anyway it was just the fact that she was really loud which was annoying me. It’s a good thing i was listening to music on my mp3 player (though it wasn’t loud enough to drown her voice out). Fortunately she left after a couple of stops and there was peace in the carriage. As soon as she left everyone started either laughing or smirking as it was more like a freak show for them hehe.

Anyway I reached my destination on time. I had to reach there before 1 as we had planned to go for lunch at some place in Kingston Upon Thames. The weather was terrible on monday as it was raining heavily. Fortunately it let up a bit when we were on the road. It took us forever to find parking as everyone had gone out for the day. It was a good thing there was a parking slot near the church. Unfortunately it took us forever to walk to the venue. Sherry’s spouse gave me a cake to carry with me (it was sherry’s birthday the following day). It wasn’t tough to hide the cake from sherry. I sneaked off towards one of the busgirls and asked her to bring the cake after we had our meal. Marty and his son were there as expected. There were four other friends present at the lunch as well. The busgirl or let’s just call her waitress brought the cake after we had our meal. Then we went off to the bowling alley downstairs while the ladies went off to shop. After an hour and a half worth of waiting downstairs (with loud music blaring in the background) we decided to go out. There were no slots for bowling available so the kids were unable to go bowling. We then decided to go to tk-maxx as sherry wanted to get something. The women joined us there later as they also had to get some stuff. We had a great time over there as marty was full of tricks. He managed to switch labels on a few items in the store. I think i must have bugged him a lot as i had nothing better to do. He was a good target as he was wearing red shoes. They reminded me of dorothy’s shoes from “The Wizard of Oz”. I kept asking him if he wanted to go back to oz or stay in kansas. haha. I also asked him if he would like to go back home if he were to tap his shoes three times

Anyway i managed to get home really late coz i had an early dinner at sherry’s place.