Year 2009 - The year gone by

An eventful year is finally ending, and I am not sure if I am happy about it or not. Ups and downs encountered through out the year '09 are worth another look back; such is the learning the period presented. Personally, the year shall always be remembered, for the job switch, for moving out of India, last but not the least; for twitter and related activities.

For rest of the world, there was no dearth of headlines this year.

World lost 'The Michael Jackson'
Tiger Woods - A Crippled Statue
Team India, Numero Uno in Test Cricket
Google Wave - Off Target
Oscar Comes to India - Jai Ho ARR!
Revival of Test Cricket
Liberhan Report Tamasha
Copenhagen Drama
Ajmal Kasab - The Actor
David Headley, an American spy?
Shashi Tharoor and Twittergate
Dubai Sinking
New dimensions in AfPak relationship
Congress Sweeps General Elections '09. Gen Y politicians fuel new hope to the youngistan.
Lanka out of Tiger Claws with Prabhakaran shot to death
Pakistan - hunter is being hunted #terrorism
H1N1 - a face-to-face with mask of death
BJP disapproved Jaswant Singh's Jinnah connection
Rehman Malik - Joker of the year becomes a joke himself
YSR Departs; Andhra Congress Orphaned
Zardari Vs CJ, goes on..
Obama gets a piece of Nobel Prize for Peace
Telengana, a stateless state
It can go on and on...



Indian politics continued to be a joke, thanks to "leaders" like Madu Khoda, Kishenji and KRC. Oh shit, I almost missed gunda RAJ... Globally, Obama's Amrika continue its strong hold despite the economic fall, how we wish the obsequiousness of sycophants to end. Obama said that Tibet is China's integral part and want China to be a watch over Indo-Pak. I wonder if our PM had any dialogue regarding the same, when he celebrated 26/11 at Uncle Sam's.

Over all a good sporting year, records crumbled, new heroes born, and few heroes fallen:-Inconsistent Team India finished the year as Numero Uno Test Team in Cricket; Umar Akmal and Mohammed Amer emerges as Saviors of Pak Cricket; Gauti - India's new wall; Freddie hangs his test boots; West Indies showing signs of getting back at competitive cricket; Aussies put to shame by the English at Ashes; Chelsea closely chased by Red devils at EPL table battle; Federer continues to rewrite history; Tiger Woods put golf world to shame; T20 WC goes to Pakistan; Usain Bolt at lightning speed; Saina - India's New Hope... More to come...

The ghost of recession from Year 2008 sunk the miraculous Dubai, which alone gives an idea about where the economy stands.

The year was a decent one for movies and music, not a lot of hits, but a few memorable ones.
Movies:- Avtar 3D, Paranormal Activity, Inglorious Bastards, Wake up Sid, 3 Idiots, Luck by chance etc
Music:- Luck by chance, Delhi 6, Wake up sid, Luck by chance, APKK etc

But the award winning script of the year should go to "Ajmal Kasab, The Actor". Its shameful and irritating to watch the guy mocking our Judicial system, and am not saying anything about the guest actor David Headley (Read it here). And with in our country, my home district Kannur seems to be the new Azamgarh; the arrest of T Nazeer is unfolding more dramatic events. However the Sham of "Love Jihad" is as unfortunate and atrocious, as Mr. Muthalik's (Pink Chaddi fame) war against cultural liberty.

My Year '09 can be split into 3 phases - Precipitate, Stagnate and Resurrect with a parallel dimension of twitterspace.

Phase Precipitate

The year didn’t start as well as I would have wanted it to, previous year-end distractions got better of me and made first few weeks unbearably tough. Personal commitments forced me to go on an uncertain vacation, which was later extended to an immature resignation from work and the work place I loved (Someday am gonna be back there). It was a tough call, but at that given point I was short of options, and had to leave Nalanda Family for my first family. My 3-yr stint with that co., team, bosses and colleagues gave me immeasurable learning, guidance, confidence and much more. I am indebted to each and every one at PSL for making me what I am today, I am indebted to PSL, and am committed to make it up to AJ and co, someday...

Phase Stagnate

The phase of desperation was one of the toughest in my life; it also was a stage of more learning. Though the period often drove me towards hibernation (a total mental cut-off from rest of the world), constant reflection and contemplation helped me through, and the result was a much needed stronger self-realization. The term also taught me the value of 'channelizing emotions', all thanks to one man: Dr. A R - one of the best teachers I ever had, Love you always, Sir.

Almighty knew when to pull the plug, he did so at the right time, and alhamdulillah, peace & sanity prevailed.

Phase Resurrect

Peace restored and life took a pleasant ascent, slow and steady. It was time to walk towards the realizations that I embraced during previous phases, and work towards excellence. I am going with the flow now... Insha Allah, a turn is around the corner.

Dimension Virtual: Twitterverse

Since July '09 twitter became my new home, away from home; and its awesome - Great friends, cool gangs, online social activities, insightful thoughts and meaningful talks. The virtual world is indeed more sensible and purposeful than the wildly ignorant real world.

The world has been shrinking with growth of social media, and twitter has pushed it to the limit. How else would a commoner like me get a chance to interact with prominent public figures - Shashi Tharoor, Pritish Nandy, Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, Rajdeep Sardesai etc, and celebs - Celina Jaitly, Gul Panag, Abhishek Bachan etc... (its a very long list). Twitter is fast becoming a powerful news source; refer to Shashi Tharoor's "Cattle Class & Holy Cows" & "Comments on Visa regulations", and Chetan Bhagat's "chetan blocks".

Twitter is the place for you if you are a knowledge junkie, a news junkie, sports buff, social activist, social networker, communicator, blah blah blah...

But beware its not all clean out there, twitterverse is NOT spared of snobby & shady black sheeps. Have witnessed tweeps getting in to trouble, and had my own share of bad experiences, nonetheless wonderful tweeps around me ensured 'all izz well :D'. I am thankful to @twitter for letting me know all those amazing people, whom I would ve never met otherwise.. Thanks to my tweeties for being there :)

My twitter talks are incomplete without mention of the awesome gangs we formed - desidilwales, #nishkus and #DD. I am proud to be associated with mighty causes such as hoperuns & #deepwish, and all other causes anchored by streetanchor. And that is the strongest element about twitter, at least for me some true gems I have found there

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That’s it at a high-level, and I bet u don’t want me to get into more details. :D

2009 gave me some nice time with family, friends, couple of tweet-ups, brilliant Birthday, witnessed an international friendly football match (England Vs Brazil), quite a few travels - Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin, Doha, & UAE, and some new possessions including MacBook & Blackberry curve. After all year wasn’t as bad as I thought it was :)

Before I stow the lappy,

“May each day of the coming year be vibrant and colorful,
bringing along many reasons for celebrations.
Wish you a very happy new year”