Day 6 & 7 : The Weekend Really!

I am sure I can be forgiven to combine the last two days together. Diaries almost always do it, governments do it too; combine that with the fact that I did not do anything much, it looks perfectly justifiable.

This has been a weekend in a long time when I was relaxed, did not have to work and did do things which people should ideally do in the weekend - cleaned the car, shopped, bought books, watched movies. Though I have just now turned down an invitation from a friend to go play Tennis in the Park to write this blog, this has been a near-perfect weekend.

Also, importantly, I restored some of my reading habits. Started reading a long-overdue 'State of Denial' by Bob Woodward. I have read his Bush at War and Plan of Attack earlier, and did decide to go ahead with this 500+ page tome. That says a lot about his writing. As one reads, one may wonder - how does this guy know so much - and feel as if the author was sitting right there with Bandar Sultan, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Bush when they discussed things. It feels incredible, but two things make it believable. First, this is Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, after all. Second, he sounds totally honest, impartial, his Bush isn't a hard-headed fool [as in Michael Moore] but an ambivalent idealist, out to avenge his dad's defeat, and someone who was tutored in world affairs by none other than Price Bandar Bin Sultan, Saudi Ambassador to the United States, the all-powerful international fixer, whose fame/ infamy comes from many things including the recent corruption probe in bribing by BAE for sale of military aircrafts to Saudi Arabia.

I also bought a number of books, despite stopping to buy books altogether a few weeks ago. This was primarily sparked off by the store closure of the local Books etc. store. I knew they would be closing for some time, as Borders, the owner of the chain, has decided to close all stores in the UK. I bought a number of good titles very cheap, one on Logo Design I wanted to buy for a while, essays on Entrepreneurship by Luke Johnson, Anthony Seldon's Blair [which cost me an amazing £1] and John Kampfner's Blair's Wars. I also landed up with a cheap copy of Alan and Barbara Pease's Definitive Guide to Body Language, and Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss. All of these on my reading list now - and I must do this within these 100 days too.

I also spent some time planning my return to India in two year's time. I am clear in mind that I want to go back to India in a few years. But the question is when and what do I do there. The next few years clearly needs to prepare for that, and my priorities should clearly be guided by what I want to do next. While these things need to be sorted out over coming days, this thinking helped me to clarify my priorities clearly - I came here to study, upgrade my skills and get international work exposure. Everything else should be secondary now, and I should focus completely on upgrading my skills and knowledge and getting exposure to International Business. I have my work cut out for next couple of years, but the preparation to go home must start soon.

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