Onam Reunion and other developments.

A lot has happened since my last post here.

I’ve lost 2kgs..woo hoo ! All the hours I’ve been putting in at the gym has finally started working. But I still have a looong way to go. I don’t know how I’m going to manage to put in all the gym time from next week onwards !

I met a childhood friend after 9 years for Onam. A little awkwardness and a lot of catching up. It was almost like the good old days. And I also realised I’m not the only one with braces at this age! The aforementioned friend has braces and I also bumped into another school friend who’s got them too !

Anddd I’m not going back to India, atleast not for a while. I will be doing my Masters here. So, Oman’s gonna see a lot of me from now onwards!

Anybody been missing me?

I guess not.

 

In my last post I’d mentioned that I’d be going to Kerala. Well, yeah, that happened. Didn’t get to do much there. Thanks to the monsoons. Came face-to-face with one of my biggest fears (More about that in another post).

Got back from Kerala and now… I’m in Oman. Was a little apprehensive about coming here, apprehensive about seeing what had become of this country. I must say, life has gone back to normal for most of the people, especially for those who weren’t affected to that great an extent. I heard that besides all the infrastructure damage, which was mentioned by the main stream media, not much has been said about all the lives lost. I remember one of the news channels mentioning a 20+ figure but here they say it is definitely in the thousands. I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad (here I’m not talking about the fact that lives were lost…but the fact that the full extent of the damage done was not explicitly stated anywhere).

Work is on full swing to restore all the damage done. There are only very few parts within the city where you will actually see any remnants of what had happened. Its still quite depressing to see the Qurum area. Shops are slowly re-opening now. Things are getting back to normal.

The Muscat Municipality and other concerned authorities have been working their butts off! Doing this kind of work in this kind of heat!! Hats off to them.

Well, besides that… our phone line’s gone kaput, which means no internet! It was only last night that I figured out that I could use my cell phone connection to access the internet. Woo hoo!

You’ll be seeing more of me now! 🙂

Oh Man !

The Cyclone has passed. But the damage its done is unfathomable. The mainstream media has not justice to this episode at all. I was watching the evening news in one of the Indian channels here and it said everything’s back to normal. BACK TO NORMAL????? If only.

Like Amjad said in his latest post, It took 37 years to build Oman to what it was and its all gone. This is a video (which is on Amjad’s blog too) posted by HemiOman. A heart-wrenching video of what has become of Oman.

My source of regular updates on the real story was from Ali’s and Amjad’s blogs. I take this opportunity to thank them. If it weren’t for them it would have been really hard to make it through the past couple of days. Communicating with my family back in Muscat was not easy. Their regular updates atleast gave me some idea as to what exactly was happening there. The mainstream media was of no help what-so-ever !

Daddy update : He finally got to go check on our apartment. The area surrounding it is still completely under water. They hadto take help from the Omanis there to get to our house. Not much damage to our flat except the little amount of water that seeped in. All the people living in our apartment have moved out. Its still not in a live-able condition.

On a personal note, I think…Oman didn’t deserve to have to go through this. A country that has been so kind to its people and also to all the expatriates. It is going to take a couple of months atleast to recover from what has happened. 

I hope and pray Oman receives all the support and strength it requires to get back on its feet. 

…

Updates Below….

Cyclone Gonu

Its not very often you see a place like Oman in the news. And now it’s on for all the wrong reasons.

Oman, the place that I call home. The mountains, the beaches, things you see all over the place. Something that I’ve found a lot of comfort in, usually. The thought that these very things might aid nature’s mysterious act is not a very comforting thought.

Its only when things strike home ground that it really effects you. Like it has, now.

I know too many people there. I grew up there. Major parts of my immediate family is there. My dad is still there.

I hope and pray the cyclone passes away without doing any damage.

Update 1 :

• The strength the cyclone has been reducing. From category 5 to almost category 1 now.

• The eye of the cyclone has still not passed Oman. 

• People staying close to the coast line have been asked to evacuate and move to the interiors/higher grounds.

• There is no electricity is most parts (Or all, I’m not sure) for hours together

• Chances of phone lines being cut.

• Flights have been cancelled. Airport closed for the day.

• Been raining heavily and intense winds all over the place

Well here’s daddy update. Last night I spoke to him, he was still staying at our apartment which is just a couple of meters away from one of the beaches there ! He called up today morning, said part of our flat had got wet thanks to all the rain water seeping in. But besides that things were ok ( That’s the sugar coated version I get from my dad !!!! That’s why I needed to keep myself updated from other sources. The newspapers here didn’t mention a word about any of this ! )

Dad called up again an hour back. Said he was moving out and going to my Aunt’s place. Finally ! There’s no power and phones might go dead. Which means no way to communicate 😦  A very scary thought. I’m not much of an optimist and that’s not really helping now.

Update 2 :

• The cyclone’s moving towards Iran and UAE now.

• It continues to rain in Oman.

• There is still no power in most parts

• Problems with phone lines during the evening.

• Things should settle down by tomorrow

• Airport remains closed. All flights cancelled

But that’s just about the cyclone part. Major parts of the city is under water. Floods and wadis all over the place. Rescue work has been to the minimal as roads have been washed away. Some have been blocked due to mudslides and helicopters can’t be used as its still quite windy. The wadis are the biggest problem as of now.

Daddy’s all safe. Good thing he moved out. The entire ground floor of our apartment is under water ! There has been no electricity the entire day. Land phones not working and cellphones, well just hope the batteries don’t run out !

Things are looking better now. Its just a matter of time until everything settles down and gets back to normal. And hopefully within the next week he’ll be here with us !

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Update 3 :

Thank god for Bloggers in Oman. Sleepless In Muscat has been my one source of regular updates on what is really happening there. Found this picture (and some more) on another blogger’s(Amjad) blog.