Time Flies...

Try to catch It. Try harder But you cant.

It seems yesterday I lost my Father, But Its 4.5 years

It seems Yesterday that I completed my Engineering and got a Job and now its already 3 years into the Industry.

It seems yesterday I came to Q8 and its almost 6 months already


Time Just Flies as I try to hold it.
The Harder I try, the faster it flies

Turning Pages of the calendar
Seems like a daily blunder

Ramzan Will come Will Come Will Come
Its gone as If it was just a Day

Soo Be Ready for your DeathBed
As Steady are the Malaika to get U...

Ramadan @ Kuwait

1. Mubarak Alaikum Shahr On the first day of Ramadan, all were wishing each other with this greeting. And the respondent would say: Alaina wa Alaikum Insha Allah

With little bit of Arabic I know it means: "May this Month be blessed for u". And the respose: "For me and for you God Willing"

So I really liked the first day people were wishing each other every1 they met the first time, it was a nice atmosphere.

2. Work Timings: 6 hours only (So Kool) I remember working 12 hours in Ramadan last year when I was with CyberTech

3. Girgiyan- Thats Toffees -But Not for me :( Well here Kids go to homes of locals and they get Toffess called as Girgiyan

4. For me, its Suhoor and After and Taraweeh Alhamdulillah same as Mumbai, wats different.

There is a difference, In Mumbai I could go n hang around with friends, could go to Muhammad Ali road and enjoy the delicacies, feast there the whole Night!

I remember I used to plan it with my college friends and I used to be at Muhammadali Road atleast once in Ramadan wit them and N no. of times with my local friends, and they used to enjoy the food sooo much.

But nothing of that sort here. Atleast in the locality I stay In, but majority here is Expats! I am not sure, if Kuwaiti localities have any special feasts like in MUMBAI. Although I heard some1 say Kuwaitis eat the whole year in Hotels but in Ramadan they eat at home, Home cooked food. Well not sure about it. As I have just heard it from some Expat.

Yes U dont get to see the Malpua of Suleman Usman, Nor the Flavored Firni of Noorani, Nor the Bheja Fry and Turkey and Chicken dishes of Muhammadali Road, Nor the Baara Handi of Bori Mohalla, Nor the Nalli Nihari of Noor Mohammadi. Nor the Soup of Bade Miyan. This are just to name a few.

Well for those for whom the above Para is Greek, it is names of dishes and the related restaurant which is famous for it.

Well Gotta End this here!!!

Missing India .....

Yes, How much ever I try to pretend, but the fact remains, I Miss India Soooooooooooooo Muchhhhhhhhh. That only I know how much I missssssss it.
The saying remains True, "Go East or West, India is the Best!" Love U India.!!!!

Well, I skipped US and took up Middle-East thinking I might like it, but now I am sure both r the same for an Indian. he can be happy only in India.

I wrote a big List of things i miss than deleted it. Bcos Its part of life, I guess!! Faith in Destiny comes here.

Old Habits Die Hard

Heard of that before.

Well people who know Awwab working in India, know that He used to have more compensatory Offs than official leaves in India. Becos I used to not only work 10-14 hours a day but also work on weekends whenever required and for weekends get a compensatory off. And can you make a wild guess how many times I had travelled by the last train in the night. I dont remember the count. But I used to remember the time- table for the last train well. And it was scary to sit in the First Class past midnite all alone. But got used to it, As I used to avoid sitting by sleeping on the whole seat. and I had internal alarm in my body that would wake me up just before my station arrived. Ohh those lovely days. I miss the Train!!

So due to Comp-Offs I also had leave in abundance available.

This is my first weekend in office in Q8. Well not really work pressure, but had to rearrange some of my servers which required me to be present in office. But the sad part, I wont get a Comp-Off :(

Anyways, its fine better than sleeping at home! And now I will remember the date as I blogged on it, the same day.

Reading your own self

Well, One more reason, I like blogs, I am reading my own blog. And trying to read what I meant when I blogged earlier. Its soo kool, its like turning pages back of some book and I can re-read what state of mind I was in than.

But if I would not have blogged my thoughts than. I would never ever recollect, the actual things may be.

A friend emailed me asking, Do u like Q8 or u want to move to some other gulf country or US? That puts me to thought, and I also had a discussion about this with a new colleague who is born, brought up Kuwait and was discussing about how I find Kuwait. And got to hear a real picture of kuwait. And Yes, if I can save some money and have a good life its a good place. I think I just need some friends and than I would be rocking in Kuwait. not the literal meaning of Rocking.

Well Baba has joined Microsoft as a Program Manager for its Games section www.zone.com So kool. He was always so Microsoft savvy. he has Bill gates in his MSN Messenger list, sounds so cool. I am so happy for him. I wanted to do some community work out here on Microsoft technologies, but not much of developer community out here. SO not sure if there will be an opportunity. Lets c. Well enuf for now.

Accept People the Way they are and Act Wisely...

Well, In old days when i was workin wit Cybertech, where a friend had joined some Art of Living classes. and he used to always say this. And I remembered this statement from him. And since than I always try and observe how much it is True.

Have u ever tried changing a person?
Tried changing the way he thinks?
If Yes, how much have u succeeded. Or have u found the above statement True.

I find the above statement so True, to the best of my experience. and especially it is True for those people who have the feeling that they know everything, they dont need any1 to tell them nething. But how good or bad is being stubborn in this way. have u ever felt the same thing. Yes sometime or the other in something or the other, even we act in the same unchangeable mode of operation.

I guess it would be only wise who have control over themselves, can put themselves in the changeable mode, and grasp things that some1 says and is gonna benefit them and accept the changes and implement them in the way they are.

I m getting into Philosophy i guess, although I dont know the definition of Philosophy. Some can help me wit that. But Yes, I am observing people closely and learning lot of things, which I haven't learned over the years. Although I thought I had learnt lots from the experiences in life. But now it seems there is lot more to handle and learn.

I havent been able to blog since some time. Due to this thinking going on. Maybe will blog more about my thoughts on this and would love if someone can drop comments to educate me more on this in this matter.

Kuwaitis.. Friendly or Rude

Every1 might have a different view about them based on their personal experiences. And no1 can draw a complete picture of them and I dont know who can judge a brand of people based on some of their experiences. Well the people I have come across in this 3 months who r real Kuwaitis. I haven't found them to be rude to me. I have found most to be friendly and supportive.

There were those who spoke to me about you have come here new, than they spoke about the weather conditions and how to save myself in this by taking a lot of liquid intake (Laban & Water)
There were those who adviced me to make a driving license and keep myself busy driving around and keeping myself busy.
There were those who told I could go to the nice Seaside and spend some time there and keep myself away from boredom.
There were those who helped me with the legal processes till I procured the Civil ID.
There were those to guide me to the available banks and mobile services etc.

So In general I find them to be nice. Atleast they are nice to me. I have some who regularly visit me and give friendly advice and make sure I m not so homesick to run back home.
Yes, I have friends who came to me with chocolates. I dont remember any Indian friend giving me a choclate unless demanded. ;)

Thanks for your support friends. Or should I SAY MY KUWAITI friends.

I have met some kuwaitis when I opened a bank account and maybe in the cab and their behavior was friendly too. I in fact could talk and joke with them. So can u listen people who state Kuwaitis r rude.

I dont knw if this kind of behavior is only to me or to selected few. Well I guess its the same principle to any brand of people in this world. Give respect and Get respect. Speak nicely and u will be spoken back to nicely.

So its all in the way, U look at them, the way U observe. And the way u appear to them. Only people who try to be rude to them will be treated rudely. And this principle holds true for any brand of people across the globe.

So Smile and u will get back a smile..... :)

Late Nite outing

This was a weekend like Mumbai. Wat i mean is. I reached back home at 1:45 a.m. in the nite for the first time in Kuwait. Went for a program in the evening and after that to the shopping center. And the shopping centre( City Center) is open till 1 a.m. The rush was as if it was 6 p.m. in some Mumbai mall at 1 a.m. While driving back, so many cars man. U cant think its late nite.

I guess bcos of the sun, people start their day after sunset maybe. And saw a dangerous accident, didnt have the camera to shoot it. Two cars upside down on a hill kind of slope, seems they had fallen from the road above it. And it might have occurred couple of hours before. May God save all, Accidents here are dangerous.

Speed Kills.
Expats drive @ 120-130
Locals drive @ 140-200+

And dont dare overtake a local and look at him while doing tht, because if he gets instigated he will block u. That means he will overtake u and drive very slowly to get you on your nerves. learning lots man....

So I m really scared to take the driving seat.

Bizi in Being bizi

wow... When I came to Q8. I used to go to office and than after office I had nothing to do. But now I am so busy that I hardly find any time. I call up home as my friday comes to an end and its late night back home. What Am I busy with. Let me try to know what all I do now:
1. Some cooking(Literally Just Monitoring some1 cook)
2. Yes, I do make Tea
3. I have reached Lesson 7 in my Arabic Tutor text Book (Thanks to Sharafuddin & sons.)
4. Go out to the Daboos mosque, as I m more fond of it than the local mosque
5. Go to the Sultan Centre(buying household stuff)
6. Go for drives to city, Shuwaikh etc.
7. Listen to something or read on the Laptop

Orkuting

yeah I know It has been long since i blogged last. two reasons:
1. I spend more time on Orkut, orkuting wit my bunch of College friends and some communities of youngsters.
2. At home, I m too busy now wit my bro-in-law, always going out and doing something or the other that i dont find time to blog.

Been to Sultan Center couple of times shopping...... more later.. And in 2 hours my weekend starts again....

Life is a theatre..Invite Your Audience Carefully

Well this was a forward, but has got a good lesson in it. We dont think about these things. Whether we have the right people around us. Check it:

LIFE IS A THEATER

Invite Your Audience Carefully

Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives.There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a DISTANCE.It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of, or at least minimize your time with, draining, negative, incompatible,not-going-anywhere relationships/friendships.Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention.Which ones lift and which ones lean?Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse?Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know or appreciate you? The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of Your Life."If you cannot change the people around you, CHANGE the people you are around."Remember that the people we hang with will have an impact on both our lives and our income. And so we must be careful to choose the people we hang out with, as well as the information with which we feed our minds. We should not share our dreams with negative people, Nor feed our dreams with negative thoughts.It's your choice and your life..... It's up to you who and what you let in it......

Badminton in Q8

Well yesterday I went to meet my friends in Mangaf during Magrib. And as it was not windy and hot after a week now. We decided to play Badminton. So from Magrib to Ishaa we showed are talent with the Racket and the shuttle. It was fun. I remembered my CyberTech days where I used to spend hours after office playing Badminton. So maybe I can get into this habit here too.....And now as I type this I realise why my hand is paining........the badminton after a long break..............

Custom Poll on Sharepoint

Well this is a technical blog item after a long break, I like to blog personal stuff more.

I had a requirement to get a Poll webpart on the portal Main page like you usually see on websites.

• A question, 3 options as a radio button list and a submit button.


• A user should be allowed to vote only once


• If user has voted show him the response

Out of your mind, U think of Survey on Sharepoint but it wont work like this, the way polls work on websites. SO I searched online and found some poll web part for $199. Big money. If the client buys it shame on me. Y not make my own Poll webpart. So folded my sleeves up started a web part project using C# made my Poll webpart soon. Tested and delivered upto satisfaction. Well now lets get to the technicality, what magic did my code do. Its pretty simple. U just need to take a pen n paper , think of all permutations, combinations possible and than make a good design and than start coding. usually people just fold their sleeves and start coding. Avoid it.


Solution:

1. Create a Custom list to save the Questions, with following fields Question, Answer1, Answer2, Answer3, Expiry Date


2. Create a Custom list to save the votes, with fields Question, Answer.
   It will by default have the created by Field indicating the Author
3. Create your webpart project.
   

Khallas means Thats It. u r done.

What does the webpart code to do:

1. Override the Createchildcontrols method.


2. Query the Questions List to check if any questions exist with expiry date greater than or equal to today. U will need CAML query


3. If No, create a label control stating "No Polls currently available"


4. If Yes, query the Votes list with the current User name and current question, if an record exists means User has voted else Not Voted.


5. If Voted, Query the Votes List get all the responses for the current Question and Response1, Question and response2, Question and Response3 . So the 3 queries count value gives u the number of votes for each option. make a Table to represent this information.


6. If Not Voted, Create a Label control for question. create 3 radio buttons for three responses, with radiobutton groupname same. So that they act as a Radio button list


7. Create a submit button and also a Onclick event for the button.


8. In the Onclick event you simply get the question and selected Radio button value and insert a new record in the Votes list and than repeat step 5 and hide the controls for submitting vote and also add a label "You voted successfully"


9. Refactoring comes here, create a separate function for step 5 accept a boolean value indicating whether it is step 5 or step 8 and accordingly to show or not to show the "Voted Successfully message"
   

Thats it so zimble, I meant simple. Leave a comment if u lost anywhere in between

Y water buy petrol instead!!

Well there is common sentence petrol is cheaper here than water.

I dont know the price of petrol yet. But yes water costs me Dinar for 12 bottles of 1.5 litres each when i buy a carton. N every1 drinks mineral water or soft drinks. The municipal water is desalined water, so I have not tried how it tastes.

All the wars in this world are going for nothing else but Oil. And here I am in a country with abundance of Oil but dont know the price. Maybe after I buy a car. You see lot of brands of cars here and only sports bikes that too only late evenings. bcos in the heat u cannot ride a bike ur Brain will become Bheja (brain) fried.

I was thinking of buying a car soon. But my Civil ID processing will atleast take 1-2 months more. Without civil ID/Residency I cant do anything not even subscribe for a mobile phone forget driving licence. So may not be for the next six months, lets c whats the situation than will decide maybe wait for a year and than buy a good car provided I stay more than that. Insha Allah, just wait n watch. No hurry. N I m not disclosing my long term plans here.

KD Metrics

R u aware of the KD Metrics. KD stands for Kuwaiti Dinar. When I came here it was 155 INR but thanks to my presence it has gone up to 158-160 INR. ;) And today I heard that the Emir of Kuwait is on a visit to India meeting our prime minister and president to discuss how blessed my visit to Kuwait was that it increased the currency value. Just kidding !!!

Well u should know the following KD Metrics:
Firstly 1 KD = 1000 Fils and not 100.

The biggest currency note available is of the denomination 20KD.

Dinar = 1 KD = 160 INR
Ruba Dinar = 250 Fils = 40 INR
Nus dinar = 500 Fils = 80 INR
Sabamiya Khamsin = 750 Fils = 120 INR
Khamsin = 50 fils = 8 INR


Telecommunication is very costly. Mobiles incoming is also charged.
International incoming = 40 Fils per minute
International SMS = 50 Fils per message
International Calling centres are available, some use Internet based phoned and are cheap.
Call US: 60 Fils per minute
Call India: 80 Fils per minute
Call UK: 100 Fils per minute

There r people who earn 2000 KD also and there r people who earn 30-40 KD a month also.

Encounter wit the Baladiya..

Well this was some time last week. I came to Q8, nothing more to do in the evenings but to roam in the market. I befriended a guy wit a shop there who was an Indian, specifically a Bori. and he thought I was a Bori from looks. So Arabs think I m arab. Boris think I Bori. I dunno who else I simulate???

So i used to spend some time in his shop. Trying to learn abt Q8 as he is here for around 2.5 years. So evenings i cud sit for an hour there. This fine day after Magrib I was sitting there. A arab came in showed his card, he was from Baladiya(Municpality) and asked this guy for his residency as he opened the wallet. he said give ur licence and took his driving licence and asked him for the Ijaazah that means the shop licence and this guy looked tense. I was sitting there wondering am I in a problem too. But I dont knw if the Baladiya saw me or not bcos he didnt converse wit me at all. I feel I was invisible to him although I was right there.

and than this guy took the Baladiya to the next shop to show the Ijaaza and I dont knw what happened next. Bcos as they moved out. i went to the restaurant bang opposite and sat there to drink something to chilll myself down.

back home if the Municipality wud come, I can tell them couple of names from the Municipality office and boast, but it was scary that i was in a foreign country.....So India is the best. :)

w.bloggar v4.00

Thanks to Baba (Vinil Menon) if you have not read about him earlier. My second blog post was about him. Check it out.
Baba had mentioned to me about this tool called w.bloggar which can be used to blog offline. And I made sure I downloaded it sometime last week and installed it on my laptop. and now I can blog sitting at my apartment over the weekend. And thats wat I m doing right now. Blogging on w.bloggar and will publish all the posts once I am online.

Download this tool if u wanna blog offline.

This world is soooo small!!!

Isnt it?

I dont know where to start this blog. I was in India, I met a tour operator who is pretty close to me. I told him that this weekend I am going to Kuwait. he gave me a name, that this person is a nice man out there. I am good relations with him. If you need anything contact him. I saved his name and forgot about it. Bcos there was no way in this whole country I was going to search for an individual although he is a manager in one of the banks out here. I thought that was the end of it.

I was in office, met a guy in office, realised we were both from the same regional location in India. It was nice of him to drop me home on his was back for couple of days although he stayed in an different locality. So now i used to meet him in office. This weekend I was trying to delete contatcs from my cell phone as I was planning to sell it. But didnt sell it yet. I saw this name of the person I had got from in India and realised the family was same as the guy in my office. I went to office checked in my outlook for this friends details n wat a coincidence he is the son of the person whose name i was referred in india...Ohhh I was like the world is so small.

Yesterday evening, i went late for the night prayers. I saw a Fair, bearded guy sitting there. I said salaams after prayers I waited to make sure that i meet him bcos he looked so familiar. I asked him if he was from Mumbai. The answer was in affirmative. And than I asked him his name. And he had the same family name as a friend of mine in Bombay and he looked very much like him too. I asked him do you know him (my friend). and there comes the reply, Yes he is my younger brother.

So I got too shots in the same day. N I was like ohh the world is so small..

I logged in orkut bcos my friends were like the World is on Orkut where r u. N as i had some free time being new to it. I just have my college friends in my Orkut network. I was searching for people in Kuwait on Orkut. And the profiles that I liked ;) were connected with just 2 or 3 people between us. The world is sooo small.

Enjoying

This was a busy week. I had lot of work, lot of samples, analysis ideas. And the best was I had to make a custom web part. So I had to write code for it. My First web part in kuwait. I will preserve it. And knowing that I love coding so much. I spent my afternoons at home after office working on it. And Alhamdulillah its working today meeting the requirements that I had.

So, Insha Allah I should keep myself busy with such coding jobs to keep myself happy. This makes me realise how much I like coding and why I used to sit late in office back home in India. I miss those late nites in office, but its better to code on ur Laptop at home than on ur desk in office.

I remember that day when Amby was in US, some delivery. I was done but Amby wanted me to be there till he did a full cycle check of the workflow. And till morning I was sitting on my desk with the phone on Speaker mode answering him as he tested. I was tired tht day.

I think I should start working out here. So that I get my muscles in shape else i will turn out into an obese human being. Gaining weight here for no reason bcos I m eating much less than in India. but maybe I am not stressing myself as much. No local trains here naa and that Bus ride upto Saki naka from station looks liek a nightmare now.

I wonder wat would happen if some Arabs would have to shift to India and work like us travelling in public transport. They have so much thanks to Almighty...They must be so thankful

Well 1 more hour and I will be in the weekend.

Blog By the Bay

By the Seashore of the Gulf Ocean to be precise in Fahaheel, kuwait. I write this blog on my 9300. The water is swift and the air is windy. Families sitting around on the sand as children play in the sea water. Arabs seem to be brave. Back in Mumbai, kids r accompanied by extra cautious parents. Kids here is r tryin to play, swim, wit floats and witout them all in sea water.

Poor Expats - We are all sitting on the wall like Marine Drive watching the sea. But behind us are tables like an open air restaurant. And the waiters came and asked all to move from that wall saying it is Mamnoo(Prohibited). They said things in their regional languages n moved. I turned behind typing on my pet 9300 thinking I might have to move to. They guy who was asking ppl to move smiled, I smiled back sat there steadfast blogging. And I was sitting alone - so now U knw, how it helps to look like an Arab. No1 will mess wit U. So this reminds me of the expats back in Mumbai from other states. We do the same there.

Oh I lost track of the kids. They r still enjoying happily there. Some cute little gals with tubes around tring to face the sea bravely.

There is a walking track also for those who want to have the evening walk like in priyadarshni Park. but none in shorts - Good.

So tomorrow my 3rd week of work begins. Time goes so fast.