Qatar

 I arrived in Mumbai from Qatar last night, and not a day too soon. As Middle-Eastern petrostate absolute monarchies go, Qatar is possibly is benign. It is not a stifling religious fundamentalist state like Saudi Arabia, neither does it have a sordid history of trying to engineer regime-change through aerial bombing (that I know of) like the UAE and (also Saudi Arabia.  It has also given the world A-Jazeera, and punches far above its weight in global diplomatic circles. One has to only compare its profile to Kuwait, which is of similar size and wealth, to appreciate how well its done.That doesn't make it a nice place to visit or live. I did not educate myself about the history of Qatar because the place did not inspire me to do so. I am not saying young countries are destined to be cultural wastelands. But, young countries which are also dicatorships are. When all or most forms of cultural expression need sanction from the authorities who have pots of money to give to artists they approve of, you end up with an arts scene like Qatar's--showy but so sanitized that the only pleasure that it can give you is aesthetic. As this post shows, I am not a culutral critic, and I am sure many people have said what I am saying in far more insightful and eloquent ways. If shopping malls and over-the-top entertainment options like indoor ski slopes are not your thing, chances are you won't enjoy Qatar.

Airport blog Boston Dec 2024

This is going to be a short one because the last one was just a week ago, and I also don’t have much time before my flight boards.  I did have some low-key drama getting to the airport. Getting ubers in my college town of Amherst can be tricky, so I was monitoring waiting times to order an Uber to the coach stop. As luck would have it, the waiting time went from 5 minutes a few minutes before I ordered my Uber to nearly 20 minutes when I did. I waited for a few minutes but no Uber driver would accept my ride. Luckily, a bus was leaving at around that time so I cancelled my Uber and I shuffled towards my Uber with my luggage. However, just as I was reaching the bus stop, I realised that I had forgotten my wallet at home. So I had to dump my luggage (luckily, Amherst is safe and small so no one would think an abandoned suitcase is a bomb) and run home. I got back just in time to see the bus pull away. I had resigned myself to getting an Uber all the way to the airport, which is a 2-hour drive when I decided to check the app again. In another twist of fate, an Uber driver accepted my ride, and I reached the stop well before time as my coach was late. Then, on the coach, my stove anxiety kicked in. When I leave the house for a trip I often start feeling anxious about whether I turned the stove off. Actually, this time it started with anxiety about whether I had turned off. I realise its completely irrational as I remember hearing the lick of the thermostat as I was putting my shoes on and pulling the plug out of the socket. But, then I remember hearing another click and also remember thinking “Why is it still clicking if its off?”. And doing nothing about it. Then, I also started to wonder whether I had turned the stove off. I have enough experience of anxiety to know that feeding it, fuels it. I also knew that the anxiety would die down automatically in a few days, even if I got short stabs of it during my long trip. On a previous short trip when I lived in England, I had a similar stove-anxiety attack, but that time I could do nothing about it because I lived alone. This time, all I had to do was mail or call the building management, so I did that, even though I realised that I couldn’t do this every time. So, I will have to make provisions to alleviate my stove anxiety like setting a phone reminder or leaving post-it notes to check the stove before I leave. I have enough of experience of anxiety to know that it has to be managed, not fought all the time.

This has turned into a blog about anxiety, because I don’t have much to say. I am looking forward to my time in Qatar and India, and I have already written about my trepidation about the year ahead.

Airport Blog Greenville December 2024

 I am waiting for my flight back after visiting two of my closest friends in South Carolina over the Thanksgiving break. I had seen both of them on my US visit two years ago after a gap of five years and seven years. However, as life stuff got in the way, I could only see one of them for half an hour next to a fountain in the town center. It was a great trip, and it was nice to see both of them thriving after challenging periods in their lives. In the case of one of them, I only learned of their recent challenges on this trip.  There are friends you don't talk to in ages, but you pick up where you left off when you see them without any awkwardness. However, I talk to these two at least once every few months. Like with my Mumbai trip earlier this year, my heart is full. With this trip, I have visited all the people closest to me who live in the US within four months of moving here, which is an achievement. Now, i have to prepare for the mountain of work waiting for me before my next trip exactly a week from now.