I am, just like any other Indian, following closely the tragic and horrendous events unfolding in Mumbai. Though I am thousands of miles away from India, I am still feeling the pain that reverberating through the events in the Indian financial capital.

Track the Mumbai blasts here

Also you can see the first hand pics on Flickr here ,some more here and here

The Twitter is buzzing with the latest updates from ground zero.

I hope everyone of the hostages are rescued safely from the maniacs who have held them as the hostages. Pray for the innocent people who have lost their lives and for the brave soldiers who laid their lives fighting the criminals.

You can view the live coverage on CNN iBN here

You can view the live coverage on Times Now here

A first experience by a person who was at Oberoi when all this happened.

This is a rare video from sky news which shows the Indian Police capturing the only alive terrorist

I listen to different genre of songs everyday. Sometimes, somehow, I get stuck on a particular song and keep listening  to that until my roommate or a colleague make me realise how much I am in fact listening to that.

So, this week my stuck up song is: Guzarish from Gazini. A.R.Rehman did the magic again. A melodious and soothing song.

Listen to the song:

Saw scattered flurries for the first time today. It started while I was coming from office. Getting the glimpse of the winter that’s coming it’s way. Goteborg doesn’t get it’s due of snow like the remaining parts of Sweden, coz of the sea. The sea keeps it a bit warm, but at the same time there’s hell lot of rain here…

Anywaz the first glimpse of snow was quite exciting. While everyone was running for cover, I was standing in the open enjoying the flurries.

It’s 1:48 in the morning(or late night) and here I am thinking of a very important decision to make which will decide my life for coming time…gr8 decisions of a company are made in board rooms and in my case..they are made in my bed room :-)

Hope what ever decision I take today will be a rational one…

We always ask God to give what is important to us, not what is best for us. I have learnt very recently that whatever he gives u, is the best for you.Though you may not like that initially, you will realise that it was the best thing to happen to you. Well, there’s always an other side of the coin. If you don’t know if what you got is the best for you, how can you acknowledge that? OR is it that we make ourselves force to think that it was the best to happen to us coz we already got that and there’s no way turning back, so saying something something like this that might comfort you.

Is it the time or my state of mind making rattle all this stuff…I don’t know, but come to think of it, I think I am really on the hot seat ;-)

Last year, this time I just preparing to apply for Carnegie Mellon’s Masters in Information Systems Management(MISM) course for which I had to take my GRE, TOEFL again. I gave them for the second time, the first time it was in my under graduation.

I say that once every hour on every Friday!!

I was not a Friday lover before, I used to get many such forward mails when I was in India, but didn’t care much coz I was having fun all the week along. Be it office or at home or hanging around with friends…

But after coming to Sweden, life has changed. Work takes a toll and the pressure of work at office and at HOME are too boring and monotonous to carry on. I don’t know how moms just do the same stuff all their life for us…I wonder…

But, Friday’s different..it marks the starting of a wonderful weekend and culmination of a stressful work week…

Here whats I do on a friday evening:

• Read Naruto and Bleach Manga
• Go out for dinner..
• Go out to a pub or watch a good flick at home
• watch Naruto and Bleach Anime

I will do couple of other things which I can’t write but the above ones are the a definite subset of them.

4th November 2008, it’s been exactly six months for my stay in Göteborg, Sweden and the journey till now is almost amazing. I have learnt so many new things – both professionally and personally. The leaning curve is very steep..so steep that I was afraid of tumbling down.. :)

Among the many things that I have discovered about myself, the thing which amazed even me is that I am very good at cooking. I hardly went to kitchen back in India and here I am cooking all sorts of dishes..which even my sister can’t  ;-)

Professionally, I got to learn bounds of new things: I met wonderful people who are way different than us,Indians, both at personal and professional level. I got an opportunity to work on the latest technology that my field has to offer, which in turn helped me a lot and the scope of learning was vast. I interact with people who came from different psychological, cultural and geographical backgrounds. The amalgam of experiences which I experience interacting with them is great.

Travelling out of the country for the first time, I experienced almost everything a usual first timer would experience. That includes Culture shock, Home Sickness, Jet Lag, weather change etc,. I came here in May and it was truly unbelievable to see sun shining bright even at night 10 as I come from a place where there are night and day times are constant round the year.

Personally, I can say that I have learnt the most. I had the total control over my life – what I do, when, where, how – everything. I also realized how difficult is to run a house consistently day in and day out. I understood how mothers struggle to complete their daily chores and at the same time keep family members happy. You are great MOM!!!

The only thing I repent when I look back the six months is that I did not utilize the time effectively to see new places. In India, you can go around at almost anytime of the year. But in a country like Sweden where the temperatures are so low, we can hardly do anything in winter. I just lazed off the entire Summer and it was too late for me by the time I realized my mistake. The only places I went were the Archipelago and Botaniska. But better late than never I have started seeing around the places and hopefully cover as many as possible. My next big tour is for Christmas where if everything goes well, I may get a stretch of 9 holidays. I am planning a lot for that vacation. touch wood!

One thing I really miss and being with my nephew Cherry, who was born on July 1st, 2008, a couple of months after I came here. He is already 4 months and I miss being with him dearly.. :-( But I think I will make up to it when I go back.