Rajith’s Column

It’s never to late to say “Happy New Year” !!!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody the very best for 2010.

2009 have been a very busy and an eventful year. My wife graduated and thus ended our 2 year stay at the university residences at UTM. All though a small townhouse (albeit with 4 bedrooms - no idea how they fit them all in that tiny space) it was nestled in a lovely location. There was greenery all around and our townhouse backed into a wooded lot where there was deer with plenty of raccoons and the occasional rabbit. The campus had clearly paid a lot of attention to maintaining a healthy balance with nature, so there was plenty of tress around the area. I am not really a shutter bug, but we did take a few pictures here and there. Sadly I can’t seem to find them, so I’m linking with a few photos (pic1, pic2, pic3) I found on the net taken by one QueenCindy. My kid loved this place as there was plenty of room to run around and play.

After my wife graduated we had to moved into another place and after a very exhaustive search we found our selves back in the northern edge of Brampton,ON. House hunting was no fun and we spent countless hours running around looking for a place that fits our whims and fancies and also within our budget. Once we found the house it was a mad rush to find a mortgage at a suitable rate as we had only a few days. At the time the rates were very attractive, but the lending institutions were very thorough with so many requirements for various kinds of documents. I just about managed to get all the paper work done in time, but not without a last minute scare where for reason only known to them the bank refused to work with my lawyer. So I found another one at the eleventh hour that had a good working relationship with the bank which ensured we closed on time. All this happened while my wife was doing her final exams and I had to work on site with a customer that had a fairly aggressive schedule. My interactions with customers were mostly via email or phone calls, so being onsite was a new experience, all though I have to admit it was fairly stressful as well. I have blogged on my experience about it here. By the time the gig came to an end, I had lost quite a few hair.

The university gave us a one month grace period as there was nobody waiting to lease our townhouse. It allowed us some flexibility in the closing schedule. We have moved 5 times during the last 6 years, where one move was from Ottawa to Brampton (in Greater Toronto Area) !!!. So the very thought of moving again itself was a dreadful experience. I managed the last 5 moves on my own by renting a UHaul trunk. It wasn’t fun and I had enough, so this time I hired a mover. It took us quite a bit of time to get everything unpacked and settled in.

I started playing cricket in earnest during the last season (2009) for the Toronto and District Cricket League. It was an up and down season ending with me breaking my finger pretty badly during the last match of the regular season. The finger was dislocated and had a volar plate chip fracture. My finger is still in a pretty bad shape with a real possibility of it not attaining at least a 70% of what it used to be. One highlight of the season was facing Navin Stewart from Trinidad (who came to Canada to play club cricket during his off season). He plays for Trinidad and Tobago and featured in the Stanford Super Series and the esteemed Champions League in India. The bastard bowled two bouncers the second of which hit my glove, ricocheted off my helmet before being caught at the slips. He had decent pace and it was difficult to pick the red ball against the fading light. I hope I had better luck this coming season, but not sure if I am able to play at all due to the finger injury.

With all the madness happening around I had managed to post a grand total of 3 blog entries for 2009. I am certainly hoping to improve on that in the coming year. Again I wish everybody the very best for 2010 !!!