Since it’s new year’s eve, I can talk about myself.. 
Time doesn’t stop, right?. I vividly remember welcoming 2008 in a pub in Israel paying $10 cover and welcoming 2007 serving food at a party in Toronto earning $15 an hour. But the best things in life cannot be bought or sold. This year I am going to spend time with my family, at home. Aai made traditional Puran Polis and ours is probably the only family having this delightful food on a ‘western’ new year’s eve.. hehehh… 
The Thatte’s. LtoR: Shrikant, Prachi, Manju, Priyank. At Chamundi Hills, Mysore, December 2008.
So What did you do in 2008? Most bloggers will blog about this, and I will too. For me, this was a very educative and travel-filled year. I visited 7 countries: Israel, Canada, USA, Peru, Russia, India and Bhutan (in that order) and I was never so close to my target of traveling to 11 countries by 2011. I also studied, worked, played Sitar, biked and did the usual interesting stuff.
You might know that I was officially homeless for past 4 months (although I lived in so many homes), so I am excited to go back and resume everything in Toronto. There is going to be lots of snow around and I am itching to skate on ice and wear layers of jackets that make me look like a young Sumo fighter.
Going out on 31st December is difficult, noisy, expensive and mostly frustrating. Also, it’s just another day in the calendar, no? I say this as I deal with a bunch of emails and text messages sent in an impersonal style.
I depart tomorrow, Mumbai to Toronto stopping en-route at Moscow. Do visit my Travel Blog since all travel stuff will be written there.
Happy 2009 to whoever is reading this. And may all your wishes come true.
cheers,
Priyank
Much of the blog-world in my proximity is getting pollinated by butterflies and how could I get missed?
For 4 consecutive days by 4 different bloggers, my website got awarded an “Award” each, which is really cool! The last time I remember getting awards was back in 2001-02 when I had a static website and there was no trace of blogs or other interactive web elements we see today (oh I almost sound like a grandfather.)
So a big jar of honey to my following blogmates: Gopinath (Butterfly award), Mavin (Proximity award), Odzer (Butterfly award) and Kiran (Friendship bracelet.)
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I am so lazy these days! In other funny story, last night I had a fantastic dream in which I was working as a double agent in one of those terrorist groups. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and the leader of that group suspected that there was something strange going on in his group. I swore to sacrifice my life and destroy India and pledged my allegiance to the group’s cause. Then he sent me to fight a ‘big’ enemy and I was alone in that skirmish. I couldn’t understand who my opponent was but as the enemy came closer, I discovered that it was a giant mosquito. I pointed my weapon towards the monster sized mosquito and felt a very sharp pain on my leg.
Then I woke up and swatted (swot?) the mosquito who had just bitten my leg. 
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Didyouknow didyouknow didyouknow? This is post # 250 on this blog!
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Finally, an unrelated image:
Toronto downtown from Gardiner Expressway on a cloudy day. In the center is the CN Tower.
The view of the window from that night is printed in my memory…
This incident goes back to December 18, 2003 at 03:15. The picture above shows the windows of my room (my parents place in Mumbai.)
My bed is about 3 meters away from the window. I left windows open at night but there was a window grill that kept us safe (or so we thought.) I’m a light sleeper, and wake up even if a needle drops! That night, some strange sounds ruffled my sleep. There are many sounds at night and I dismissed this disturbance too. But my eyes opened for a split second, and I glanced at the window.
The sight gave me the shock of my life.
The metal grill on the window had disappeared! The window looked like a big hole in the wall.
[Now let me explain. The windows are fitted with metal grills that have 3 screws fastened into the wooden frame on two holding sides. It is easy to unscrew them, remove the grill and enter the house. I've done this myself once when I forgot the keys. And now someone had done just that!]
So, I heard some noises, woke up in the middle of the night, saw my window opened and found a stranger next to my bed. What the heck was going on?
The intruder peered over my mosquito curtain (मच्छरदाणी) to see if I was awake. I froze. I shut my eyes so hard that they almost came out from the other side of my head. Have you heard the phrase “..was so scared, could hear his heart beat” or “…was so shocked that he couldn’t speak”? Ha! I experienced it! The intruder then scanned my desk, but found only thick volumes of Coulson & Richardson’s Chemical Engineering, which were probably the most expensive items in our house, but he didn’t know. He then went to the bedroom, where mom was asleep, via living room. I heard a familiar noise of the cupboard being opened.
After I told my heart to stop pounding and stop getting scared over an intruder, I started thinking (still lying in bed.) I had seen a wooden stick lying around and I got up and grabbed it. Probably useless since I couldn’t physically challenge that guy who was armed with god knows what. …He peered over the mosquito curtain to see if I was awake. I froze. I shut my eyes so hard that they almost came out from the other side of my hea…I went to the living room and opened the door of our apartment. It’s noiseless, and I can be quiet as a cat. I rang the neighbors’ doorbell. The lady (काकू) yelled from inside – “Who the hell is at the door at this hour?” (अीतक्या रात्री-अपरात्री कोण अालंय?) If I spoke, the thief would hear. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t get help. So I said, “its Priyank.”
thudd… thump… I heard noises from the bedroom, the thief probably heard me. Now I knew he would emerge from my parent’s bedroom, enter the living room, go to my room and escape from the window. Armed with a stick, I came back into the living room too. I saw him. Something mysterious got over me then. I screamed and hit him. With a force I never experienced ever, I hit his forearm.
The stick broke into two, the thief let out a frightening painful cry, but still somehow escaped, empty handed.
By now, mom woke up, the neighbors arrived, and then the usual stuff…
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Last night I casually glanced at the window and this whole incident flashed in front of my eyes. Pretty interesting, huh!
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