I'm Back!!

Let me apologize for my lengthy hiatus from the blogosphere, but I was told many times “if you do not have something nice to say, do not say anything at all.” Those of you that know me well, know it is not usually a philosophy to which I adhere rigidly, but in this case I calculated that it may impact my job longevity and personal security, so I opted to follow it – if not just this once.

It is not like things have not been happening and I have not had comments. Actually, Olga and I have been monstrously busy. We went to Singapore in February, Udaipur in March, and Shanghai in April. Outside of that, I have been to Dhaka, Bangladesh and Istanbul, Turkey twice, as well as Jakarta, Indonesia, Shenzhen China and Hong Kong. This is all over the last 6 months. Each time transiting through the Delhi Airport which I now refer to as my own personal hell!

Within Delhi, there has been much transpiring. After a year and half, the chaos here becomes predictable which means your tolerance is greatly reduced. Before, it was a surprise when something stupid happened – now it is just a predictable conclusion.

Through all of this, I have made notes and reminders of the good, the bad and the truly Indian. I have also many times put hand to keyboard, but in the end decided that the stories were simply drowning in negativity and were more personal venting than entertaining blogging.

Let’s be honest, it is not like I have ever been a beacon of optimism and sunshine, but this was a whole different level. My glass half empty philosophy had digressed into a true loathing of my surroundings and more importantly, of the 1.4 billion people that contributed to the majority of my misery. Some of the perspective stories made Edgar Allen Poe’s works look upbeat and cheerful.

Realizing that all this stress was taking a toll not only on my mental & physical health, but on the person about whom I care the most, I tendered my resignation with my current employer to escape the madness. This was last Friday and, to be honest, I feel a tad more positive. So positive, in fact, that I will go back and pull out the highlights of the last 7 months and put them in words.

So welcome to the retrospective journey that led to my decision to quit my job!