Terra Firma

Originally published December 2006·Last updated April 2026

Have always been a little apprehensive and pensive about life. I remember a post by Kray a few months ago, about how in a year he had seen a lot of transient acquaintances. It’s unnerving to know that at this point in life — all your long term friendships fade out and the only people you meet are the ones know you will be bidding farewell to soon enough.

Misser

Was in Egypt until a few days ago. I met a bunch of people. Amazing folk. Wether I continue my work in the company or otherwise — these people show the promise of being really nice people to know and bump into around the world. Got the best farewell of my life. People to see me at the door. Hugs all around. Promises of meeting up again. Some of them flew half way with me to Dubai, where we parted ways. It wasn’t emotional. But I guess, they just knew me for about 11 weeks. If they’d known me longer — I would probably have turned back and seen nobody!

Need to go to Lebanon, Romania, Mexico, Colombia. And back again to Egypt sometime as well.

I am going to India on the 20th. Will get to meet a ton of people. At PAN-IIT and Mood-I. But more than anything, all the people who are coming back from the States. Can’t wait. Wish some others could also have made it. Wish some others would try. But all in all. It promises to be a nice trip. Have to find some way of being in Bombay on New Year’s Eve!

Asean

Back in Doha. It’s raining like it wasn’t a desert. Some people are comparing it to Bombay. That coupled with the usual winds in these parts is making the place cold. The Asian Games are a sell out. And India won a few golds. But China is running away with title of the new Asian powerhouse, and not just in sport. Makes me very jealous. Tried to watch some Sepaktakraw, which is arguably the world’s most athletic sport. Also tried to get to a beach volleyball game. But when I finally got tickets, I had to go offshore! Am not going to make it back in time to catch the closing ceremony even.

But all is not lost. Doha is a better place for all of this. I can now get a Taxi quite easily. In part because I live in another place. Most of the roads and the airport are no longer under construction and hence very nice. The roads in Doha are amazing, not in the least because I get to see every damned car you dreamt of, except Astons. I even got to see a McLaren-Mercedes SLR — on the road! Another guy I know has 2005 911 Turbo. I am seriously considering buying an old Beamer or Porsche (from somewhere in the early 90s — my favorites). Keeping fingers crossed. I hear there is as an Enzo in town. And I expect that Salvatore will drive me there in his 360, so that we don’t feel all that low. And then get a few nice pictures with my new camera.

Sharp Shooter

Missing the games wouldn’t be so sad if I hadn’t just bought a brand new Canon 400 D. It’s the world’s most amazing camera at the moment. With automatic sensor cleaning and the works. I finally have a camera, that I wanted to buy.

My first camera was a Kodak “disk” camera. The medium is a disc (much like a sunflower) from the 70s. Am not even sure I got the shots. I was just so fascinated by the thing. By the way, the camera was as thin and compact as some of the modern “slim” point and shoot digital ones.

My next camera was a Hotshot 110, that came with our new Nippon “rice cooker”. For a reason. 110 film was tough to find. Now, I guess it is pretty much impossible. But for a 10 year old, shooting an oblique picture looking up a spiral staircase and waiting a couple of weeks before I could see the results, was pretty exciting. That was after I had hunted down a compatible flash gun. Took me eight months and a significant part of my father’s patience. After all of this, my parents were very angry that I would exhaust rolls of film, on family trips with pictures that did not have them in the frame! Apart from the fact that it would be easier to find a vet for a dinosaur, than to find a place that deals with 110s — the biggest problem is that the thing switches on quite easily, and hence takes a shocking number of pictures of the inside of the pouch.

After this came a Pentax automatic. Not really exciting, since it wasn’t what I wanted. But my parents refused (very understandably) the expense of owning a camera that was tougher to use. Hence an automatic that I could play around with a bit. And it actually had a LED display. As usual I devoured the manual and tried all the tricks I could. Until the motor burnt out and we realised that either nobody buys Pentaxes in India, or they don’t have problems with it, or both. Never got the thing fixed. I cannot believe that I haven’t had a new or better camera between then (I was 14) and a few days ago. In the meanwhile, I have shot extensively on FM-8s, FM-10s, S2ISs, A75s, A95s and almost every popular camera on the market, digital or otherwise. But nothing feels like looking through the eyepiece of your own little darling and hearing the mirror move up as the shutter opens. Sheer joy.

Communique

Have done a decent job of staying in touch with people I think. Some I still can’t get enough of. I thought that I should try and get busy so that I do not pester people with repeated and long mails. But that’s a flop. Anyway, conversations over the phone are the only reasonable form of communication that I am comfortable with. And it looks like I have found a decent working solution that does not fray my pocket too much and gives me a nice number that I can use without having to change it every now and then. Only problem is that I cannot seem to find a place that sells the Nokia N80ie. Getting SIPPhone to work with any of the E-Series phones looks like a challenge right now. So do not want to risk that. Have to figure this business out before Christmas.

In general, taking the cue from Priyanka, I have realised that my plan in life has to involve the following steps:

Staying single for almost the rest of my life.
Adopting a baby girl and raising her well.
Earning money and realising that world is all about pressure. And almost all of it is ignorable.
Friends will become inaccessible. Hence make friends with their kids!

In a poignant moment, a newly acquired friend had this to say:
Memories are things you want to remember.
He was talking about someone’s smelly shoes. But whatever.