Lonely Start

Its been a very lonely beginning to this year, after Deepu left for Hyderabad soon after the New Year celebrations ended. Offcourse it was an emergency , but even before we could talk about our US experiences or plan out the year ahead, she had to leave. Nevertheless, by all probability, shes gonna be back in a couple of days.

It was still a busy fortnight for me. The power plant protests picking up momentum, we had to do a lot of preparations to handle the 90 km National Highway Rastha Roko they had planned on the 13th of Jan, But it all fizzled out with the Chief Minister intervening and things are now back to normalcy for some time atleast.

All alone i've been contemplating on that exposure that i recently had.... and it somehow seems to have set the cat among the pigeons. A sudden exposure to a lot of things new has made me rethink on my present job disposition. The urge for more variety and technicality in job has increased and now i've started eagerly looking forward for opportunities to explore. Options like the private sector which i thought were as good as closed when i joined the civil services... now seem so much possible and inviting. Though i know this is not the right time , especially when i m holding an important position in the district..... itz been forcing me to make preparations for such lateral movement when time is ripe. The question that stares at me now is.. am i atleast prepared ? for that lateral movement. At the outset i m now planning to make an early entry into a deputation to the Govt of India. The next step would be to take to my Sabbatical for a management degree at any of the IIM's or institutions abroad and make sure i am prepared. A lot of churning is still going on. I will keep writing on this subject in the posts to come. As of now the very fact that, mind has accomodated a whole new line of thinking ... is giving me a lot of pleasure. In the days to come Deepu will also get busy with her career and it would be fun exploring my options too at that time. Till then.. i'd better concentrate on the district... for which i got into the Services.

The pic above is before the US Capitol in Washington DC. It was only two of us and nobody to take a picture of us together.

Great year gone

It was a great year gone. It was the year we started the blog and carried it for twelve months. We tried bringing the best and worst alive through words and pictures. We just hope to continue blogging this year too in the same spirit. Instead of just sticking to happennings and places visited we feel we should be blogging more on issues. Regularity was another problem... sometimes it was just one blog for a month. We'll try to set that right too. 2007 is going to be a very important year for us. Deepu is gonna get into her DNB, i'll have to get more busy and serious into my job... more be'coz deepu would be busy herself, many important decisions to be taken. So itz going to be a year to remember too. We'll try to bring that alive on the blog.

The highlights of the last year were offcourse the promotion and our shifting from Puttur to Coorg and again that quick transfer to Udupi... and next our memorable two month trip to the US.

December, deepu and me got back together. After her reaching Hyderabad after that long journey from Washington, she stayed there for abt a week and joined me in Bangalore. I was incidentally in Bangalore for the "Senior Police Officer's Annual Conference". We drove back from Bangalore and spent the last two weeks in Udupi trying to set the home back to shape and visiting the beaches sometime when bored.

The new year night we decided to spend it our own way.. so we decided to go out for dinner and after that just spent about 10 minutes at a party in a hotel coz those hotelwalaahs were insisting and then, when it was quarter to 12 midnight we drove to the beach from where we had a great view of the fire works at Paradise Island beach resort. We wished each other and made calls to everyone (despite the jammed mobile networks) and wished them all a great new year 2007. We spent about an hour at the beach and got back home coz the real party was yet to come. Actually the new year is celebrated in the police by all the junior officers coming to the senior's house.. where they exchange wishes and a small breakfast is arranged. So the morning of 1st jan 2007 was a busy one. We had to get done with all the arrangements to recieve about 200 guests. Guests started pouring in from 8 AM onwards and by 11 AM we were thro' with all the guests and it was a great way to welcome the new year.