A New Learning Experience

I returned to Dubai on 17th Feb '10 from Milton Keynes, UK determined to find a job within a month in UAE. It was a great feeling to get back home since I had been away for 9 months. However, I had left behind some very special people in my life that I met during my study in Cranfield University, UK.

Cranfield is a village 80 miles from London towards north and trust me - it is in the middle of nowhere!!! Owning a car or knowing people who would drive you around is essential , otherwise you are literally stuck and my friend, that isnt very pleasant. But there is always the other side of a coin. Experiencing a multicultural environment was a huge bonus! Education in Cranfield was worth every penny which included an interesting course, knowledgeable professors, intelligent colleagues and finally a comfortable stay. The persons I met and became friends with was no doubt, the icing on the cake.


Each one of them is very special in his or her own way. They were there for me not only to share my happy moments but also during tough times. To quote an example, I was down with a severe back pain and could not even get out of bed. Nicolas, Jeremie, Martin, Yannick and Josh came to my rescue, took me to the doc, bought me medicines and gave me moral support! When I was going through this problem again the following year, Ben and Peter were there by my side! I was fortunate to have friends who were very helpful, understanding, fun to talk to, smart, crazy and made my experience in Cranfield very memorable.




During my stay in UK, I travelled to a few places in England and Ireland. When Priya had visited me in June '09 for 2 weeks, we travelled to Lake District, London, Newcastle, Warwick and Milton Keynes. Apart from that, I visited Swindon, Birmingham, Surrey, Portsmouth and Hitchin in England with my friends from Uni. I attended a Chilli Fest in Belfast (NI), visited Dublin and Cork in Ireland. Clare and John were/are wonderful hosts. They gave me a very warm welcome, made me feel at home, took good care of me and last but not the least, cooked such delicious food that I can never forget! On the other hand, Peter chauffeured me, in addition to being my tour guide, a dear friend and an awesome host himself! Through him, I got to know a few more Irish people who are now good friends of mine. Overall, it was a good craic.

Another very memorable trip was to Deepak's in Swindon. We did various things like salsa, bowling, watching movies and taking loads of pictures! I became friends with Raju while I was there. Deepak is one of my close friends and still remains one.


Studying in Cranfield was very taxing. I should admit that I found the syllabus very tough. I had to put in hours of hardwork every day. To be honest, I wouldn't have studied as much as I did in Cranfield, in the four years of my engineering! But, that did not stop me from taking some time off work. Leisure time included playing squash (i did kick some ppl's arses :P), bowling, watching movies & eating popcorn, ice skating, cooking dinner & having ppl over, kitchen parties, pool, chats over SOM hot chocolate, flying the remote-controlled airplane, shopping at tesco, going for walks, rock climbing, etc. Some of the people I loved to hang out with were/are Peter, Deepak, Martin, Johan, Nicolas, Jeff, Anirudh, Chandra, Cedric, Edwin, Jeremie, Yannick, Sue, Carol, Arjun, Charlotte, Alex, Vini, Ahad, Marc, Okan, Arnaud, Jeremie, Mike, Adrian, Karl, Dan, Ioannis, Simon, Paula, Carmen, Deumeax, Ben, Joel, Bipin, Joshua and many more.

I thoroughly loved my stay in Cranfield & Milton Keynes and I miss those days very much. I look forward to meeting you all again very soon.

Thank you for reading my post.

I know what you did last weekend!

This is my first ever blog and i request the readers to be patient and keep reading however boring it may turn out to be!!

I know what i did this weekend, but do u ? ? ? I dont think so.... so , continue reading!!!

In Dubai, weekends are on Friday and Saturday. I dont get enough sleep in the weekends only coz I stay up watching tv shows like 24, House MD, HIMYM, Family Guy , Southpark to name a few.. Whatever time I hit the sack , I need to be up by 5:30am on Friday mornings to watch the sunrise and head off for the Kriya follow up ( Art of living yogic breathing techniques) session. It is one of the most beautiful ways to start a day! We finished that at 8:30am and then headed off with 10 other friends to an Indian restuarant for breakfast which was alot of fun. My mom was away in India, hence dad was looking after my sister (Priya) and I. He cooked delicious tomato rasam and asparagus, potato, carrots and beans curry. However, Priya & I fought for a bit over something that was so trivial!! The bonding with Priya is so special and unique to me. She probably doesnt realise how much I love her and crave for her attention & cuddles. She brings so much joy and happiness to me. The fact is that I love to fight with her as well. I wish every relationship was this way where you are in love all the time, smiling and happy most of the time with spells of arguements once in a while. Usually, when 2 people fight, they hold on to mistakes/ grudges or watever one may call it. This is usually common in boy/girl friends , husband/wife and people you are not very close to. Eventually, they distance themselves from each other and fight more and become unhappy. This was a thought that came to my mind.

After this, we got ready for a gathering at Niru's place followed by satsang (devotional singing session). Sangeetha and I dressed up in silk sari. We got loads of compliments that expanded our ego! The time spent at Niru's wasnt long enough prior to satsang hence headed back to their cozy home. Enjoyed talking and drinking tea! By the time I reached home, it was 1 am and tucked myself into bed.

The next day , i was up bright and early. I was incharge of cleaning the house and cooking lunch for Priya and Appa. We were eagerly awaiting Amma's arrival from India. Surprisingly, Shankar and Sangeetha joined us for lunch and spent the rest of the day watching videos and talking! It was fun. Shankar decided to take a nap while the rest of us went to the airport to collect mom. The rest of the evening was filled with stories about India and relatives. We had a wonderful dinner at Urban Tadka followed by shopping at Karama Centre and watching tv shows at home!

So, I had a great weekend with family and friends. :)

For all those who actually read through this first entry, I thank you for your patience!!

Until the next blog, have fun , keep smiling , be happy! :)