Bliss and beyond

This post was originally written on the 20th of February, weeks after I got married. Somehow, due to a combination of limited internet access and sheer laziness, it got delayed thus far.

“
Dear Diary,

It is currently my third week into my new life where all things seem great and wonderful – and it continues to amaze me.

I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I’m now married!!! And the past weeks have been the most beautiful days of my life.
These past weeks, me and Thayyuba have spent almost every moment of our waking hours together, talking, laughing, and whispering sweet nothings.
Actually the one thing that I keep wondering all the time now is how I lived without her in my life so far.

On a more lighter side to this whole episode (which almost everyone I know turns into a serious romantic issue), I realize there’s a whole new, different world that I haven’t known so far, and continue to learn by experience with each passing day:

1.
Marriage isn’t just about two people. Its about two families. And getting to know a whole new family right from scratch doesn’t really work the same way your weekly meet ups do.

2.
There are at least 4 types of combs and 5 different hair&face products, at least 3 of which are essential at all times.

3.
Apparently clothes are supposed to be neatly folded or ironed and stacked in rows in the wardrobe – something that my jeans and tees aren’t used to just yet.

4.
“I was just talking to this girl” is not a bright answer when asked what you were doing.
Ever.

5.
Flowers are pretty. Really.

6.
Apparently certain shoes go only with certain clothes. Again, something my pair of Adidas never realized so far.
”

Looking back at the above, I realize I haven’t really mentioned some of the more factual aspects of my adventure that happened even before my wedding.
To make a long story short, my flight blew an engine shortly before takeoff(!), got cancelled, the rebooked flight got delayed, some looney left an unattended bag leading to a bomb scare at Frankfurt Airport and I finally got to travel Business Class (and use the exclusive Dubai Business Lounge for the first time).

And yes, all of this happened within 24hrs of each other.

…And we’re back!

Yes, this blog is still alive.
And yes, I did get married. In fact, three days ago on 7th, it’s actually been TWO whole months since I tied the proverbial knot and started to share my otherwise bland life, with that one special person who adds joy and color to everything I do.
And it continues to amaze me with every passing day…

Firstly, I would like to thank you, the reader, every single person who kept coming back to The Square Circle months after it was, so to speak, down. And I’m sorry I didn’t keep up my promise of getting “back in the first week of March” (yes I did realize that thank you very much!) or even acknowledge comments. The thing is, I wanted to eagerly write a post just weeks into my marriage.
And then  the next one.
And another.

I don’t want to do the typical I-am-married-therefore-I-have-no-time thing every other guy I know does and blame my lack of blogability on my marriage or anything. I’ll admit it: I goofed up. I have no excuses.

Truth is, I have at least 6 unfinished drafts in my Open folder. I’ll get to them (and backlink them when I’m done) as soon as possible. In no particular order, they are approximately about:

~Wedding and on being married.
~My home town of Cuddalore.
~Why we love hot weather.
~Facebook.
~How to spot Indians in Frankfurt.
~Behind a bad video game.

…and other random topics of no particular interest.

I’ll get to them as soon as I can. I know its all been a long time in coming; but all I can do now is assure you:

The Square Circle is back in the game.
Play on.

Wedding Diaries :)

(Yes I know this post is a bit late in coming...pretty much like everything else I'm doing lately; but anyway here it is...)

In less than 2 weeks from now; I find myself in that special place where all things look wonderful, a dreamy time that really should come once in everyone's lives, when the greatest joy of all is that of sharing your life with a very special person.

And for me, that special time comes on the 7th of Febuary 2010, when Thayyuba and I take each other hand-in-hand, and mark the beginning of a new life together, in the most beautiful relationship life has to offer.

Yes, I am getting married :)

I'll be leaving from Frankfurt in about three days, and hope to reach Chennai in good spirits (I also upgraded to business class to take better advantage of my 8hr transit in Dubai – those miles have finally paid off!) and all I can say is:
I'm excited.
Really excited.

So excited in fact, that I really haven’t been able to concentrate on work for a while. Or anything else for that matter either, except the occasional song and humming that seems to find its way for no reason at all.
Those of you already married or in love probably know exactly what I’m talking about…but in case you’re one of those lonely souls who has not – I can only say that this is something no one can truly do justice to in words.

You just have to live it!

p.s.
I guess its fair game to state that The Square Circle will not be active for a while…at least not until I get back to work in the first week of March; so I just wanna thank you for being a part of my life, for relishing my blog and for commenting on it.

Please do join in our celebrations, and pray for us, for the day when two lives become one.
www.AbdulRahman-Thayyuba.com

Achievements ‘09

Yes I know this post quite late, at least a week overdue; and that I also have a load of catching up to do – comments to respond to; blogs to read; facebook to…well, look at; RSS feeds to read and so on – but I just thought I’d do this today since I’m snowed in this weekend (over 10cm of snow here and more storm warnings on the way)

I’d like to think of each year as a milestone gone by, to think back and look at all the things – right and wrong – done over the past year with a view to do things better in the future. So let’s get started:

First of, come 19th of Jan and it would be exactly a year since The Square Circle first got online (Click here for the pilot post). Before this, we were called “Random Thoughts” and looking back I think it really has come quite a way since that old blogger template.

Late winter and toward the start of spring, I saw a couple of new countries when I caught a trip to Rome, Italy and Brussels, Belgium (which I wrote about here and here).

This was also the time I became an uncle for the first time in my life when my cute little niece Nahla came into the world. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t exactly an ‘achievement’ on my part but then I realized how much more there is to life.

Spring was exceptionally good in purely physical terms as well, and that’s when I also started going out for runs and workouts (believe it or not, there’s actually a parallel bar in the middle of the woods near my place!)

Towards the start of summer, I timed-out for a two week trip to India – caught up with old friends, went to a wedding, realized divorces DO happen in real life, and came back to Frankfurt much wiser to the ways of a mature world.

In July, I landed myself my shiny new laptop, a whole bunch of games, new software (windows7 pre-ordered!) and other geek stuff that make me go wild.

August was when I finally realized how much time I was wasting on online forums after this incident, decided to quit and do something useful.
And I guess it did pay off, its surprising how much of Qur’an you can memorize in a short period of time.

Autumn was beautiful, and it was Ramadan, and it was a wonderful time – the only thing I missed was friends and family on Eid at the end of it; but then we can’t have everything every time can we?

And then coming to the start of this winter, the past couple of months have been quite busy – both at work (where we’ve had some major chaos) but more importantly, because of an interesting development in my personal life that has completely changed the way I look at the word ‘relationship’.
This is the kind of stuff that makes you want to hum and sing and smile for no reason at all and is actually the main reason for my lack of blog-ability the past couple of months!

Yes, I know what you’re thinking and it is true, and I promise a detailed post on this as soon as I can; and I still can’t stop smiling :)

All in all, I would like to look back and say 2009 was quite a successful year, and I’m only looking forward to more excitement in the coming months and for the rest of the year.