Olympics, here we come..err..kinda!

Yep I know! Cynic, pessimist..call me all that you want, but the fact remains that a country with such a humongous population finally won "one" gold! I am not undermining the efforts of our man Abhinav Bhindra, pardon me if you got it all wrong. I am just speculating why a country of a solid billion and some has consistently been emerging a dud when it comes to sports other than, hmm, cricket...maybe? Reasons??? Lets count the ways! India never as a rule encouraged any sport apart from cricket which is one of the foremost reasons behind our less than average performance. No encouragement, no recognition, and a distinct apathy towards other sports spells anathema to even the most motivated. And then, there is always the situation with our politicians and their "more for me" attitude. Desi netas never quit..from their pillaging. I think they just cant help it, poor things. If there is any money channelized towards sports (if there is, that is), most go into their pockets. My least favorite reason being our general lack of pride in our country. We will crib at every lost opportunity at that moment, forget it, get on with our everyday mundanities of life until the next lost opportunity, and so on. For example, look at me. I am cribbing, I feel hurt, but lo and behold, two days from now, I am off with my life leaving all this behind!
Still call me a cynic? More a pragmatist, I would like to believe :).

License holder...me???!

Whoopsieee! After all the struggles, it finally paid off! Got my driver's license last week. After being in this country for almost 8years, this is not exactly one would call a big achievement ,though. In fact, quite a few of you must be snickering right this moment. But do I care? No, siree! I dont! It is my moment to shine, bai-bay :).
I got my license the second attempt around. The first time, I would have passed, except for the critical error: "examiner's intervention". So, technically, it was an instant fail, though the examiner made me take the whole test keeping me under the illusion that I might still make it through. When we finally reached the DMV office, she made me park and started assessing my situation. My heart thumping so hard and my stomach feeling like it might come off my butt any minute, I waited with bated breath to hear those golden words..."You pass". But nope. That was not to be. She gave me a long look and started off with my minor mistakes ( I basically made just 9 mistakes out of the allowed 15, goddamit!). I was kinda spacing out by now. Cant help it. The spacing out bit runs in the family. Anyways, the verdict was, I have to retake the test, euphemistically speaking. My two cents on the critical examiner intervention: highly debatable. From the examiner's point of view, it looked like I was driving too close for comfort to the parked cars on the side, but I could bet a hand and a leg (ok, make that just one hand), I was in full control...err....hmm....kinda.
Whatever. My second test went smoothly except that my examiner felt my steering wheel control was not very impressive. Big deal! And I slowed down bit too much at certain places but then that was to avoid another examiner's intervention. Hell! Anything to pass!
All's well that ends well. I just have one complaint though. My picture on the id. I look like a guy with gender complex :(. Ah well, sometimes, you just cant have the cake and eat it too...

Life..A Salutation!!!

OK! It is official! Am a blogger too! After years of consciously and deliberately avoiding it, here I am, tentatively entering the world that is so new to me but is as old as the old-fold mountains to many others :). But right now, I am at a loss of words. Though i have bravely ventured into the realms of blogging, I do not have the vaguest clue where to begin. For someone who is fairly articulate for the most part, this feels almost alien. But then I am not used to speaking my mind in the form of words AND for the whole world to read! Hmmm...lets see. I am a PhD in Computational Biochemistry who graduated last december with a certain degree of arrogance that inherently comes with holding a doctoral degree, thinking that the world is going to be my oyster. That I was most certain to get any job I want with only the vaguest possible doubt in my mind. Though I am not cocky by nature, there are certain things that definitely make me think I am a cut, even if marginal, above the rest. All that illusion came tumbling down around me when I started my job hunt. Though it definitely lowered my self-esteem, I refuse to let it be broken. Everyday I wake up with a sinking feeling in my heart, but when I sit back and re-assess my life I feel there are so many things that I need to be thankful and feel lucky about. Ahaa! Now I know what the title of this blog is going to be! This blog is my salutation to all those things that, even during my darkest hours, I can look back and feel great about.
1) I lead a very healthy life, barring the yearly (Ok, in my case, it is more of a tri-yearly thing) colds and coughs.
2)I consider myself an above average intelligent person or even goddamn smart (when my confidence blinds me) and thank Him for good genes :)
3) I landed a great guy, got married to him and couldn't wish for anyone better. He is one guy who knows how to handle my quirks and irrationalities, and I love him to death.
4) Great parents ,who, like any other, used to press me to do my best in everything during my growing years, but are my pillar of strength and support.
5) Great friends, but of course. I am not able to be as much in touch with them as I would like, but know they have my back!

So, here is kudos to life! It keeps throwing one curve ball after the other, but only to teach how to tackle them and show there are better things awaiting at the other end of what one presumes to be a raw deal!