Another "life is short" reminder

From Gadling: "Dave Freeman, the co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss unexpectedly died on August 17. He fell and hit his head in his own house. He was only 47."

Crap. So sad.

You can read the full post here.

Live. NOW.

Two days ago, a Spanair flight from Madrid to the Canary Islands swerved off the runway, caught fire, and blew up. 153 of the 173 people on board died. I've covered most of the factual details on Gadling and PlanetEye.

I'm quite shaken from the news of this accident. I could have been on that flight, just as much as everyone else I know in the city. It puts back into perspective your life and how you're living it. And the wrenching thought that when it's your time to die, there is nothing you can do about it.

As I wrote on PlanetEye: One minute you are boarding a plane to go on vacation, the next minute your body is found burnt, bleeding and dead. Makes you think about your life and how you are living it. When people quote me "life is short", as much as I agree, the optimist that I am, I like to believe that life is long too...but perhaps I'm wrong.

Conclusion: The only thing we have is Now. Now. Now. NOW.

So guys, live and love. NOW.Don't wait till tomorrow. You might not have it.

12-hours with Timothy Ferriss

The September issue of the The Men's Journal runs a feature story on Timothy Ferriss, one of the most inspiring men I've come to know about lately. A must read when you have some time.

I've read his book "4-Hour Work Week", and was blown away. As I wrote on Vagablogging: "For those not familiar with the book: it inspires you to be part of the “new rich” who work 4-hours a week, are independent of location, and earn enough money to do whatever they want to, e.g. travel the world, speak Chinese, etc. It shatters the notion of the conventional rich, who slog their whole life to earn mountains of money, only to retire old and unfit to do anything they wanted to. A BMW is bought with their hard-earned money, the rest of which stays in the bank as the owner wiles away his retirement vegetating and getting fat on some beach, on the road to ultimate boredom."

A quote from the article in the Journal: "Nothing bothers me more than sloth. The objective is to fix mistakes of ambition and not make mistakes of sloth. I work my ass off." Read it!

Back. Kinda.

I've been off here for a while, but only because lots has been happening. Between going to Dubai for a month, coming back to Madrid, friends visiting, and still blogging for the other blogs I'm financially committed to, my blog has taken a back step. But I want to fix that, I miss ranting on here!

A lot happened in Dubai. Lots of things shook on a personal as well as professional level. I think I'm still digesting it all, hopefully I'll be done with that stage soon, and it will all come out. (Ok, not the best metaphor but you know what I mean).

Although I'm still a bit homesick, it's great to be back in Madrid. This city just rocks. Now it's hot and everyones happy (yes, and frisky ;) that it's summer.

My next immediate goal is to get my professional life back on track. I see a few legal obstacles, but I'm working around them.

I've started Pilates. OH.MY.GOD. It's the best thing I've done since Salsa. Back to gym and tennis too -- so all this after 5 weeks of being a complete couch potato, my body is currently broken. But all good.

Oh, and I've joined the Twitterati! (aaaaaaaaaahhh SUCKED-IN!). I'm having issues writing sense in lots of 140 characters, but I guess I'll get there.

So that's a quick update on me.

I need to go get my dose of chocolate for the day.

He's given birth!

Talk about confusion at an unprecedented level: this man was born female, had a sex change, got married to a woman, then decided to impregnate himself, and has just had a normal baby girl.

Holy gonzoly.

Why do people do this to themselves!? Ok, yeah, I know, to get onto Oprah! LIKE DUH!

Varying Perspectives

Sarina: Hey, Abha! How was your birthday? What did you do?

Me: You know me, not a birthday person. Was quiet and nice, Chinese food with boyfriend, nothing special. How was your birthday? What did you do?

Sarina: Ah nothing much either. Quiet and nice, I went to the Maldives with boyfriend, nothing special.

Me: Right.

Oh universal energy that surrounds me, don't ever let me be so inappreciatively blah about things.

One of those days!

Today has been one of those days where you wake up bright and early, motivated, ready to seize the day and all that rubbish, make a constructive list of things to do, and land up doing everything BUT what's on that list. ARGH.

Not to say that what I did wasn't productive...ummm...well actually, it wasn't productive at all. But it's Saturday! That's what I'm telling myself. But when you work for yourself, everyday can be Saturday and that realization takes no time to ruin your evening as you are left full of guilt for not having accomplished much.

See, my time spent = money earned. I.e. no productivity, no money. Great way of living you'd say, but it's tougher than you realize. To be self-disciplined is one thing and to be motivated at the same time -- all the time(!!!) -- is another thing. To the extent, that today I almost envied people with a proper job, as they can afford to mess around some days, waffle and be completely unproductive -- it's not going to affect their paycheck.

Sigh. Oh well. There's my little rant for the day. I'm not going to try to be productive anymore and am going to cook instead. Tomorrow is another day.

Unhappy in your relationship?

Over the last few weeks or so, I have been privy to many, MANY conversations about relationship problems (when girls get together, 90% of the time, this is, unfortunately, what we talk about).

The crux of it all has been that people are in relationships that make them unhappy. Boyfriends are dicks and make their girlfriends unhappy; girlfriends are distraught and not living their life because they are too affected by their boyfriends, who are being dicks.

There is just one thing I want to say about this:

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN HAPPINESS.

Yes, people you love have an effect, we are influenced by them. Their animo often becomes ours, and we have good days and bad days. Ups and downs are normal in relationships, people aren't perfect, everyone has issues. But having downs doesn't mean you are an unhappy person. Your temporary mood with a person is distinct (perhaps not exclusive) from whether overall you are happy or not.

Aside from this, if you find yourself unhappy for an extended period of time, honestly, it has NOTHING to do with anyone but yourself. It's YOUR FAULT that you are unhappy, not your boyfriend's. People may treat you badly, or unfairly, but you have the power to fix that, and it may be easier than you realize. You cannot depend on somebody else to make you happy.

So guys, stop blaming others for your misery, get a life, and find a solution so that you can make yourself happy. Life is too short to not be happy.

What if...?

What if all of a sudden you had no money, no house, no nothing and you were on the street. What would you do to earn a living?

This thought often comes to my mind when I see that guitarist in the metro singing La Bamba, or jugglers jumping onto the roads in front of traffic lights, or the old man sitting on the sidewalk trying to sell some poems he has written.

I fell into a moment of neurotic panic when I could think of NOTHING I am capable of doing to earn a buck for bread, should I ever be in that position.

See, I can do many things, but none well-enough that I would get a dime for it if I did it on the road. And, in case you were wondering, although it would probably be my best bet, I would never, ever, get into prostitution.

After tossing and turning over what I could possibly do to not die of hunger, I came up with two sad, but possible options -- 1) I would dress as an esoteric gypsy and read peoples hands, stars and tarot cards. (I'm Indian, this wouldn't be hard to pull off) 2) I did a massage course YEARS ago, and actually got certified. I remember bits and pieces of how to give a good body massage, I could start with offering neck and foot rubs in the parks, like they do in Thailand.

What would you do?

Adios 2007

Another year has gone fleeting by. Wow. I remember vividly the uproar for the millennium -- 8 years ago! Doesn't it scare you how time flies? It petrifies me.

Anyway, bottom line is that there is nothing we can do about that but realize it and make sure we are making the most of our time.

2007 has been a very eventful year for me:
- I moved to Madrid
- I got my TEFL certification
- I taught English
- I passed the intermediate DELE (official Spanish language exam)
- I blogged and vlogged
- I started writing for Vagablogging, Gadling, Written Road, European Vibe and Map Magazine
- My blogging contract for Gridskipper ended
- I presented a video for a Jon Spencer concert
- I went to Galicia (Northern Spain), Barcelona, Valencia, Granada,Paris (twice!), Malmo (Sweden), Copenhagen, and Rome.
- I joined a writer's group and a Vipassana (meditation) group -- both I made a point of staying in contact with
- I worked on the European Radio Awards in Barcelona
- I did some web consultancy for an online marketing strategy firm
- I was interviewed on Write-to-Travel blog
- I was featured in a travel e-book
- I salsa'd A LOT and started to (well, tried to) learn Tango
- I went through 4 pairs of dancing shoes
- I got mugged of 20 Euros
- My parents visited, and so did 3 of my close friends
- I dated a Spanish boy, and started dating an American one
- I watched the Rocky Horror Show
- I learnt how to make curry! (Yeeeeeeeeehaa!)
- I pierced my nose (TODAY!)
- I became an aunt
- My brother moved to Texas
- My grandmother died of lung cancer
- My grandfather's second wife died of a heart attack

What does this all mean? How do I feel? How have I changed? What is in store for 2008? Bugs Bunny knows.

Resolutions for 2008? I'm still letting 2007 sink in for the moment.

Thank you and cheers to all those people who have been reading my blog. I hope you stick around in 2008!

Happy New Year.

Saying goodbye and moving on

Some thoughts that have been looming in my mind lately -- subject of my latest post on Vagablogging.

Parents Check In Madrid

Every time I swear that I need to blog here at least once a day, something happens and I land up not blogging for days.

Normally, I don't have a good excuse: tired, not inspired, too much blogging other places, hungover...but this time I have a very valid excuse: my parents were here!

Yes, they came to see what on earth I am doing with my life here in Spain. We spent 5 action-packed days in Madrid, together at all waking hours and we didn't want to tear out each others eyes. :)

I don't think I have spent so much time with my parents in the whole 5 years I lived at home in Dubai. It was superb.

Although their million dollar question of where will what I'm doing right now take me later wasn't answered, they appreciated the way I live and understand why I don't want to change my life yet.

Was sad to see them leave, only because I don't know when I will see them again.