1997 :Some Important dates:

Jan 1st: Last night party at home.

Jan 2nd: Awir office trip to start the day.

Jan 3rd: Hashim gave the EPPCO letter to obtain the petrol card.

Jan 14th: A trip to Izaz's farm.

Feb 8th: Trip to Abu Dhabi at 3:40 pm to Babuatten's house.We all had Hotel Airlines at AbuDhabhi. Also had a trip to Asha's house.

Feb 20th: Francis Maveli came from Oman to see me. Picked him at the Dubai Cinema.

Feb 21st: Trip to Jabel Ali Hotel to see Francis uncle.Dropped him at the Taxi stand in the evening.

Mar 1st: Trip to India via Mumbai.

Mar 2nd: By 4 am at Mumbai.Driver put me in Sureksha Hotel.12:45 flight to Calicut. Called Brenda and she said on return visit her.Aji and Pravin in Calicut airport to recieve.After shower at Dharmadam, went to Melur to surprise mum. I was feeling sorry for father's loss this time. Lighted sandlewood sticks at the place where he rests.

Mar 3rd: Discused with Pappan Master the Dharmadam plot problem.Reached Thottada Golden Enclave by 3 pm.From there to Muthappan by bus.

Mar 4th:With Praveen started for Manthody. 8:30 am reached. 9:00 am Sultan Battery.Small place. Started by 3 pm. Phoned Mr. Menon at Bangalore.

Mar 5th: Bangalore trip.Aji along.Tyre repair for the car etc.

Mar 6th: Trip to Trichur, Calicut flats under construction. Visited Guruvayur temple. 7:30 pm from Coimbatore from Salem.

Mar 7th: Reached Bangalore and called Mr. Menon.

Mar 8th: Trip to Dinesh PK. Saw some plots.

Mar 9th: While driving saw a big advertisement board. Phoned and went to see Mr. Srinvasan who was the resident partner. Took photos etc. Down payment Rs. 70K and a cheque for Rs. 224300/- dtd 25/3/97 given. At 7:15 pm started from Bangalore. Dinner was chicken from the road side dabba and some local barndy which upseted my stomach and had loose motion and vomiting on the return journey. The driver had to stop enroute and I was knocked off on Aji's lap on the rear seats.

Mar 10th: Touched Calicut at uncle's house, had breakfast.The driver Dinesh wanted to fix film on the car windows, which we did.

Mar 13th: Visited Palayad and East Palayad relations.Biryani at Dharmadam as wedding ann of parents.

Mar 14th: At Pariyaram for the Padiyil Thera.

Mar 16th: Andalur Kav visited.

Mar 17th: 9 am boarded the flight to Mumbai.2 pm reached Mumbai. Called Brenda and she said to come to Air India Building. 5:05 pm met her nd Romi, her friend. We went to Borivelli.

Mar 18th: Trip to Taj. By Visa, bought books.Tried in Mittal Chambers.Returned to the house.

Mar19th: 6 am, reached DXB airport. Ashraf came to collect.Attended Awir office.

Mar 28th: Desert Safari, kids enjoyed. Vilma got hurt on the forehead as she hit the roof light.

April 30th: Sohar trip

May 8th: Call from Thamara that she wated to buy VCR and hence collected her from AlAIn and brought to our residence. Introduced her to neighbours. After shopping dropped her back in Al Ain by 10:00 pm.

May 15th: HDFC trip.

May 16th: Sathar came from AbuDhabi. Had chats and then droped in Plaza theatre. Saroja and family came as today we had a traditional function on account of father's "shraad".

May 19th: Mr. Nayar, father of Sheila met and we decided to go to Al Ain for a trip. 7 am, started.Visited Zubair Auto, Buraimi. Met John my ex-collegue too.Saw Al Ain university. By 10:30 pm returned and reached Awir by 12:25 pm to office.

May 25th: GM's meetng and outcome is he will gice children's tuition fee allowance.

May 26th: Resigned at 5:15 pm.

May 31st: GM agreed to increase the salary and warned not to repeat this etc.Children's allowance was added. He asked to withdraw resignation.New contract was made.

June 9th: ISO awarded to Al Naboodah.

June 22nd: Meeting with IT staff on cost heads.

June 23rd : Company accepted my idea of appraisal form for QA purpose.

July3rd: Muscat reached Prem's house by 10 pm.He showed me the internet set ups first time how it worked etc. He created a hotmail email account for me.(tpshashi)

July 4th: A trip to temple. Shiv's birthday. Went to Anantha's house, had coffee etc. Returned via Joyson's room.Met Jagdish.Again busy watching the internet. Shiv's birthday celebrated. Joyson droped at 5 pm.Return journey to DXB. Reached by 9:45 pm home.

July 6th: AS400 installed in our stores.

July 7th: Steev Lever says "verbal diarrfea"

July 10th: Muscat trip. Dinner out with Prem and family at Madina Qaboos.

July 11th: Lunch at Prakash Babu's house.8:30 pm returned from Muscat.

July 24th: A trip with Mr. Iqbal out to Hatta store. Lunch at Fort Hotel, Jabel Ali. Birthday party at Suresh's house of Nandu. Mr. Gaffour & Zarina of Fujeriah was my guest then.He was with us till 2 am.

July 25th: Visited Saroja, she says Suresh's visit visa is under process.

July30th: My 15th Wedding anniversary.Temple trip at 7 pm.. Crossed Abra in boat with family first time. Kids enjoyed.

Aug 4th: A mission statement introduced in the Plant Division Stores by me and all participated. At Kawneej, lunch with Babuatten and Dhanechi.

Aug 9th: Mission statement put for the family on the wall.

Sept 1st: School reopened. On line AS400 kicked in for all.

Sept 5th: Met Adv Zapa first time in DXB in his office.

Sept 13th: Sujit MM's visa recieved.Mother Therasa's funeral.

Sept 20th: Sujit arrived, picked from airport.

Oct 8th: Wilson D'Souza called by surprise and talked all about the past.

Oct 30th: Bought "Pavizham" necklace for Vilma

Nov 12th: Suresh's visa ready at HQ.

Nov 26th: Joyson visited home.

Nov 27th: Joyson bought gold and showed us. Party at Ales's house as his son's Christaining.

Nov 28th: Joyson dropped at DNATA ONTC bus stop.

Nov 30th: Suresh dropped in Andromedea office.

Dec 16th: ESS called to inform that S Lever wants to discuss ISO matters on ACS.

Dec 17th: Got Praveen VK's visa.

Dec 23rd: Suresh's residence vis is done.

Dec 28th: Suresh's license obtained.

1998 :Some Important dates:

Jan 1st: Party last night till 2 am.At IT Dept with Zubin and Hasitha sorting Arcon matters.

Jan 9th: With Suresh TP went o see Lamby and Badruddin in Dubai as they were known to me back in Tellicherry through Mohan P.

Jan 13th: New Project C9722-Jabel Ali starts and need a S/keeper to be appointed.

Jan 14th: Meeting with Ian Foulds.

20th Jan: Met Bill Bridges first time. Discussed about small plants.

22nd Jan: Trip to Kalba project.

Feb: Praveen VK in town looking for jobs.

Mar 7th: First time ECG taken by Kawaneej Medical Centre. All good.

Mar 20th: Fujeirah trip. While swimming I lost my Cats eye ring in the sea.

Mar 26th: Sidharthan picked from airport coming from Muscat and put at home.

Apr 2nd: Globl village visited with family till 11:40 pm.

Apr 7th: Joyson arrived from Risbert's house.

Apr 8th: Aqua Fantacia watched till 10 pm.

Apr 10th: Sidharthan dropped back to Airport for Muscat trip.

May 1st: Dropped Praveen in airport to Muscat trip and return in order to transit for visa change; picked him at 11:50 pm.

May 26th: Mr. Rajan's send off party.

June 6th: KMB inventory for merging

July 4th: Trip to Calicut from Sharjah lae night. Reached Calicut by 12 Oclock, Tly by 4 pm.

July 9th: Muthappan trip.

July 10th: Went to Dharmdam Puthiyera house for Vijayatten's funeral. Met Jayavelli chechi and others there.To Sasi's house at Kuyyali.

July 17th: Guruvayur trip. Mother's birthday too. We picked amma from Dharmdam and Arma And Aji team and reached Guruvayr by 6:30 pm.

July 18th: Sidharthan came to Guruvayur room and an astrolger Shivaya accompanied too.

July 21st:Bangalore trip.Hotel Broadway. Srinivasan contacted. Site seeing, shopping at Kids Kamp, Kamp's Foot and Shiv Temple.

July 22nd: Mysore trip at 7 am.

July 23rd: Ooty trip at 6 am.At 5 pm, the bus to Chennai.

July 24th: Reached Chennai by 5.30 am.

July 25th: Dolphin city trip with cousins.

July 26th: At Chennai house with uncle and cousins.

July 27th: Trip to Trivandrum from Chennai by trian. Uncle and cousins came to see us off at Central at 6:55 pm train.

July 28th: At morning TVM.

July 29th : Return by night to TLY.

Aug 1st: Olavil Swamy trip with Aji. Sasi Kolasseri invited for a dinner at his house with booze etc. Later at night he dropped me back at home on his bike.

Aug 2nd: Potten Kav thera 1st.

Aug 3rd: Return trip to Dubai from Calicut.

Aug 29th: Vilma and kids to start from Calicut today.

Sep 23rd: Dinesh of Dharmadam (Brehnnen College surroundings) came home with Suresh TP.

Sep 24th:Satyan and family seen in Al Gussais shopping.

Sept 25th: Water therapy started.

Nov 17th:Madhu joined ACS reporting me for the Furniture inventory and barcoding programme which I volunteered to do for the company.

Dec 14th: Sidharthan's second trip to DXB, picked and dropped him in Hotel Denis.

Dec 20th: Sharjah trip to see Somna and family as they were going off.

Dec 30th: Inventory starts in all sites under my supervsion.

2000- Dubai- Met Mata Amrithanada Mayi (Amma- The hugging saint) first time in Dubai in a large crowd. Amma gave me a hug and whispered in my ears" Monay.. Monay..first time and that echoed in my ears and vibrated my soul for ever.) I am a staunch follower since I migrated to New Zealand and when I came in association with a fellow follower Mohan Chandra Kurup (More details in 2002 year. I had the blessings of hosting the web site for Amma- the above link which is the official website for Amma New Zealand).

2000 :Some Important dates:

Jan 2nd: Completed 4 yrs in Al Naboodah this day.The Thottada house construction Greygold and HDFC papers were all in place during; midway this time. i was attached to ACS. I used to be looking after project stores also. I had ARCON, EMAAR, Ring Road and some others. USed to visit Accounts for sorting out problems AS400 based.

Jan 29th: Venu a good friendly staff in the accounts was terminated for reasons unknown.

Mar 17th: Joyson visited our Khawaneej house via AbuDhabi with his friends.

March 30th: Party at Kwaneej Club as Ring Road project concluded.

March 31st: Met Pravir malhotra with Suresh TP to obtain a job for Suresh. Atrip with ESS and family to the Heritage Village as it was the final estival day. Had dinner outside.

Apr 2nd: Sajeevan oof Kuwait wrote to me about Tellicherry.com issue.

Apr 8th: At Pariyaram, Thera from our side.

Apr 21st.Shilpa was forcing us to call Ammumma(her grand mother). When we called it was learnt that Praveen was hospitalised.

Apr 27th: A trip to Abu Dhabi. Met Babuatten and Dhanechi.Next day, Sathar came and tok to his house.Met Naidu also.Introduced to Laxmi, Bharathi etc.

May 8th: Sister Cleapha called from Jaunpur by surprise and told the address is same.

May 19th: Bijan Behari Biswas called to my home phone after 1974, very glad. This was after I exchanged emails with him a week back.

June 12th: Accounts staff was ready to shit to the new Al Shola building this day. I did visit them.

July 2nd: India trip today via Mumbai from Sharjah Aiport by midnight.Met Sachin, Brenda's house etc. Train to Goa- Natravati Express.

July 6th: Hotel Nanytel. Reached out of Medgaun station and train stopped for hours (4 hrs).Brakeing journey was not allowed. Decided to stay in Goa.

July7th: Goa 2nd day.A mini van fellow (Prem) was hired. At eve, to station and towards Tellicherry.

July 8th: Reached Mangalore at 6 am. Got Coimbatore Express to Tly. Reached Tly by 12:30 hrs.

July 9th: Muthappan trip at 5 am.B/fast at hotel Chitra, Kannur. Saw the house Thottada construction in progress. At eve, went to Melur. Had Jack fruit of the year.

July 10th: Train to Chenai 3.30 pm.

July 11th: Reached Chennai. Trip to Pondy at 9.45 am wiht Vilma and Veena. Reached by 3 pm. Had lunch; return journey started at 5 pm. Reached home Thiruvanmayur by 9.30 pm.

July 12th: Wedding of Shanker & Vimala's daughter at Chetpet. at 9.15 pm train to Tellicherry from Chennai boarded.

July 14th:Trip to Thottada. Trip to Govindan uncle's house.

July 16th: Auspecious day for the house pooja.Mini bus arranged to pick up relatives for the pooja.

July 17th: Vilma's neighbour Mr. Vinod and Mrs Vinod met after ages as they were in town on vacation from States.

July 18th: Walked to Palayad side, met Mohan P,on his scooter a trip to Thottada. It was the first time I was on a scooter with him. At night, he organised a small drink session at his house till 10:30 pm.

July 20th: At early morning with Vivek, went to Peerless office at Kannur to sort out the closing of the policy. At afternoon, went to Mattanur with Vilma's mother,slept in Pariyaram house.

July 21st: Met Sreedharan uncle at his residence.

July 26th: Trip to Ernakulam for HDFC offie, met Francis Maveli my friend and with his help went around. Tried to contact Jayavelli chechi but in vain as she was away in a freind's place as per Vijayatten.

July 27th: Left for Trissur. Then to Manakody to meet Sidharthan. Returned by 2 pm back to Tellicherry. Collected the rented car which was arranged.

July 28th: Trip to East Palayad. My first driving on NH17 to Thottada.

July 29th: Calicut trip.

July 31st: Bangalore trip with Advocate John. To his brother's place. Went to NRI Mayflower office.Met Srinivasan. Raj Kumar was kidnapped on this day and Bangalore bundh was declared. Tires were burnt on the roads. I had 50K Rs in cash with me which was refunded by Mayflower and I had to travel back to Tellicherry. No transports were connecting at all. John's brother used a TVS scooter and three of us had a ride in the city witnessing the closure and mobs creating mischiefs enroute. I had no space to keep my legs on the scooter and only option was to place my foot on John's feet.

Aug 1st: There was train service to Tellicherry and we managed to board it. Enroute we shifted to a fast bus service from city to city and managed ot reach Tellicherry at 2.15 pm.

Aug 4th: Thottada house warming. Raghavan uncle and cousins were also present among all other relations. My father's side Nani amma's daughter Baby came with gifts too. Neighbours were enternained till late night as booze was served.

Aug 5th: From the front balcony a very beautiful ornage color sun rise was shot by my video which was a great achievment and remembrance of the first morning of the Thottada house viz: "Shilpa".

Aug 6th: Trip to Puthukkudy Temple at Thottada. Met Govindan uncle with Raghan uncle and others.

Aug 10th: ESS and family came all the way driving from Trivandrum by car.

Aug 11th: Picnic decided with ESS and family along with us to see places in and around Kannur. Muzhapilnagad beach, Fort, NTTF, Payyambalam etc.

Aug 12th: ESS and family left for Trivandrum. We decided for a Guruvayur trip in Tata Sumo. Reached by 1 am at Guruvayur.

Aug 13th: Guryvayur temple darshanam. Returned via Mahe- Sudheer's house and they had arranged a great feast!

Aug 14th: Met K.V Krishnan my ITI mate and friend who came over to Dharmadam house as I had exchanged letters about my arrival.

Aug 16th: I had my return journey alone as Vilma and kids would stay extra days at Tellicherry. Flight at 8 am from Calicut. Reached DXB by 11 am.

Aug 26th: My trip to Rotana Hotel to collect my priveleges card from Komal. She had two kids in Indian School as I did; in XIth and VIII .

Aug 28th: Vlma and kids retuned.

Sep 2nd: School reopened for kids.

Sep 3rd: There was a map requirement of ACS yard by Mr. Bridges. I was spent my time doing some video and a hand sketch of the Awir yard and presented it to him in the afternoon. He was asking if this was my resignation? I said no and kept guessing. He remarked who drew this ? Is it the cartoonist who drew earlier etc? I did not like the conversation at all. I was feeling there is some foul play somewhere! When I sounded the incidents to Mr. Iqbal, he was saying one should be ready t go any time! It was not a pleasant talk anyway.

Sep 6th: Redundancy letter issued to me. Vilma was very upset. I kept telling her we will get better jobs. I started applying to Al Habtoor and so many other firms.

Sept 21st: My last day at Al Naboodah. Gave letter to the GM. Met my subordinates at ACS- Madhu and team and gave off all my office keys etc.

Sep 22nd: My company car surrundered at 11 pm; handed over to Mr. Zafar Iqbal. Harvinder Singh and family came from Oman, took them to the city and back by 11 pm.

Sep 25th: Interview with Al Abbar and got the job. Interview was with Mr. Rashid Al Abbar for Aluminium and Glass Division. I was awarded the job as their Group Stores Manager.He introduced me to the Management team. ESS dropped and picked me after the interview. The night all of us gathered and had a chit chat on the achievement of this day.

Sep 27th: Met Al Abbar:Santia and told few things I need etc.

Sept 28th: The G.M was met first time by my own self introduction.Met Mata Amrithananda Maye first time today at a huge gathering at night in Al Qouz. We had to sit on the floor and move forward foot by foot as we progressed. Late night(11 pm)we managed to get a hug and Amma called." Monay.." which was echoed in my ears for a long time.! It was my 1st day of company car and felt that I used it for a good cause. The car was Toyota Tercel- white colour.

Oct 12th: Met Shankar, Canada Migration agent and some ideas on the interview points.

Oct 16th: Alico agents Mamta and Dev Ranjan came t collect cash from me for the insurance.

Oct 19th: Vilma's birthday was celebrated earlier this year on this date as Meena wife of Murali was going to India on the actual date. The party was at Blue Elephnat- Rotana Hotel, DXB.

Oct 25th: Shifting to Al Gussias house first trip was done on this day.

Oct 26th: The Al Abbar boys helped to shift the house from 3 pm, onwards.

Oct 27th: The official shifting to the house, friends like ESS and family came over at night.

Oct 28th: A lot of furniture was allocated by Al Abbar for the house.

Nov 20th: Abu Dhabi Canadian Embassy trip for the interview.

Nov 26th: A trip with Murali to a Lady's place for acupuncture on the finger. It was Madhavi's friend. Internet was first installed at my residence today. We had EDORA mail then, by ETISALAT.

Nov 28th: A trip to Al Ain with Murali and family.

Dec 2nd: Holiday due to 29th National day.

Dec 28th: A memorable Oman trip with family friends, two cars.

Dec 29th: In Oman, Muscat, Temple trip,Stayed in Prem's house, Harvinder's house,Trip to Al Bustan Palace,Katab Beach and Palace. Headed towards DXB then.

Dec 31st: It was a wonderful New Year party at Chandru's house. Ashraf and family also came. Dance and songs by kids and parents with video coverage.