Tsonga

One of my friends mentioned that Tsonga looked quite a lot like Muhammad Ali. Quite true I say.
Can't wait for tomorrow's match. My money is on Djokovich.

After the match: What an amazing final!!!!! Too bad i am not into betting. Tsonga is unbelievable. But i guess Djokovich was just more experienced when it came crunch moments having won 7 titles and been in a Grand Slam final before (even though he's 2 yrs younger than Tsonga) . This season looks very exciting. After the humiliation he received from Tsonga, Nadal will be fired up for the Clay season. Federer will want the missing jewel in the Crown. Djokovich has come of age. Then there are Tsonga, Nalbandian and Murry. Men's tennis has reached unbelievable heights of late!!!!

1 Cyprus Pound = 100 Rs = 2.54 $ = 1.71€

Above are the various conversion rates I have had to deal with over the last year.

No, its not a typing mistake, 1 Cyprus pound is equivalent to about 100 Rs. I wonder how such a small Island with hardly any industry other than tourism can have such a high valued currency. But, tourism is free money, and people do spend a lot of their hard earned savings rather extravagantly on holidays. Anyways, I had a very tough time when I first moved here, multiplied all prices by hundred, and had second thoughts before buying even bare necessities. Imagine my surprise when I came to know that the daily newspaper costs 2.35 Pounds!!! The annual DNA membership back home is cheaper than this!! This phase didn't last long thankfully.

Since we were paid in Dollars when I came here, the next rate to worry about was the USD-Cyprus Pound conversion. Now this has been extremely volatile. From 1 Pound = 1.4 USD in 2001 to about 2.48 last month. For my colleagues working here since before 2001, their salary converted to Cyprus Pound today is lesser than what they made seven years ago!!!! Anyways, it was a monthly ritual to wait/hope/guess when the dollar would rise and convert your salary for the monthly expenses. Some people even tried Credit Cards to outwit the Forex market while others dabbled with Hedge Funds.

There were 2 alarming side effects of getting habituated to Pounds and Dollars. Firstly, since Cyprus is so fucking expensive, I did all my shopping on the net and on my US trip last year. US is so incredibly cheap!!! I mean not only for electronics, but even apparels and stuff. And just thinking about the high prices in Cyprus, I have started to get carried away while shopping on the net (to have the items delivered to colleagues on site in US!). Secondly, I found myself dividing each price by 100 on my vacation back home and started tipping autorikshaw drivers!!!!

Anyways back to conversions, the European Union came to our rescue this January, and the Euro currency has been introduced in Cyprus. The Pound was pegged with the Euro at 1 Euro = .585274 Cyprus Pounds six months back. And I chose to getting paid in Euro instead of the dollar (having lost faith in Uncle Sam long back). Now I sleep peacefully not having to worry about any conversion rates, except twice a year perhaps when I (hopefully!) send some money to the motherland!

The Wonder Years

There was a series "The Wonder Years" which used to run on Star Plus when I was in School. Dealt with the life of Kevin Arnold, a 12 year old kid growing up in small town America. It ran for 6 seasons picturing Kevin from Grades 7 to 12. I used to watch it religiously. Can't say honestly that there are too many similarities between growing up in Mohapada, quintessentially rural India, and suburban America. But i could still identify with the characters, and fell in love with the show. The way childhood relationships are shown is simply brilliant. Some very simple and unassuming and others rather convoluted.

Looking back at my schooling, my experiences were very similar in that regard. It was so easy and natural to be friends with some people, while with others it was more intricate but equally pleasurable. This is nothing new i guess, everyone experiences it.

Anyways, see the show if u get a chance. Definitely worth it i say. Part of the final narration is:

Growing up happens in a heartbeat.
One day you're in diapers; the next day you're gone.
But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul.

We dont know whom to hate!!!!!

Got this interesting statement from George, a Cypriot man i had a chat with today.

This nice fellow is one of my friend's Landlord and simply loves to talk. I was at his place when the Landlord came for rent and he was there for a good hour and half eventually chatting about various topics ranging from rich Arabs, property investment, work wages, Euro currency, his wife and North Cyprus. The entire discussion was very captivating.

North Cyprus, or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, as Turkey and the people over there call it, is Turkish occupied area of Cyprus island. There is line of control monitored by UN between the North and South parts of Cyprus since 1974. Since 2004, people are allowed to move to either side via some controlled points. George mentioned that before the border was opened, they had not seen or met the people from the other side for 30 years and used to think that they were poor, uneducated and generally backward compared to themselves (the Greek Cypriots). Once the border was opened, a lot of people went back to see their ancestor's or old houses on the northern side. They were mostly welcomed by the Turkish people cordially for coffee etc and to see their houses. The same happened for the Turkish visiting the South side. And in few meetings, people realized that the Turkish were as rich, educated and looked the same like the Greek Cypriots. so George said "We don't know whom to hate! When we had no contact with these people it was easy to blame them. But they too are good hardworking normal people. The politicians, army or whoever created this situation are crazy!"

Cyprus converted to the Euro this Jan 1st. My friend's monthly rent was 360 Pounds which after conversion should be 615 Euros. They requested George to round it off to 600 Euros as its easy to divide between 4 people. To everyone's surprise he easily agreed, only saying, "You round UP the rent. Who the bloody hell decreases rent to round it up?"

While discussing about work wages, George recounted an incident with his friend. This friend of his is a construction worker and earns about 60 Pound a day. The guy had gone to a night club where he met women wanting to "hire her services" for the night. After a few drinks and initial conversation, the women casually inquired about how much money the guy made. On hearing his reply, she was surprised and said she'd never work for anything less than 100 pounds a day!!!!! And for studying 4 years of Engineering and working for a Software firm, i don't even get 50 Pounds a day!!!!!

Lastly, George mentioned in passing that his wife is going out of station next week. I casually teased him that he'll be enjoying the bachelor life. He said "My wife generally spends 4-5 months some place else. The day after she leaves, i feel really nice. I enjoy my freedom. Then the culinary question arises. But the worst is the sleep. After sleeping next to a person every night for 20-30 years, its very lonely and difficult to sleep alone!"