We are in the final quarter of 2026. It has been an eventful year, to say the least. The whole world is in turmoil, and economies are affected so badly. Oil prices are up, Middle East is the new war front, and overall people are worried about travelling. Obviously airlines are impacted big time, and working in the aviation industry, we are also impacted.
First, Jo got settled in and now finished her probation period. She’s currently in Munich, preparing to present her MTech thesis in a conference, along with her mentor and guide. It’s good experience, and I pushed her to travel and enjoy that opportunity and learn from it. That she is now financially independent, is a big achievement and milestone, and blessing. For the first time, I see my salary in my bank account!
This year first half didn’t have much travels, but it picked up in the second half. I finally got my tenant evicted from the apartment and it’s now in the process of being re-rented. it was a long journey, complicated by lot of bureaucratic processes which took lot of time. I had to visit Dubai to get the key from the tenant. In fact, though an eviction officer was supposed to come, he was stuck somewhere (as per his words, some Russian tenants were not moving out from another apartment nearby, and police were getting involved). So, along with a security, I went to my apartment, and politely asked the tenant to hand over the keys and move out ASAP. He tried to dilly dally, but I didn’t have any of it. Finally he left that day.
The property management company was saying that rents have gone down, and told me to reduce the rent by 25 percent. I said no, was OK even if the apartment was not rented out for couple of months. Once the rent goes down, then it’s very difficult to lift it back up. Finally, one tenant seems to have approached the agency, and requested for 6 cheques, which I was ok with. So now, got the tenant, and fingers crossed they move in and I start getting some money. The old tenant didn’t pay the full amount, the poor guy didn’t have it. I felt sorry, and didn’t proceed with the court case, once he agreed to leave. But what’s the point going ahead with a case, filing a travel ban, getting him inside etc…I got most of the money, which itself I never though. 50K AED was pending for more than 5 months !! And the court expenses came to 10K AED….He gave me 45K AED… I wrote off the rest…
I was planned to visit Riyadh for a week, third week of Oct. However, seeing the situation, I doubt that it will happen. But I also have an australian trip combined with it, and now I am not sure how that will be impacted. I got a great deal, where I booked premium economy both ways, for around ten thousand AED, and then i was able to upgrade to business class on both bounds, since i had lot of points (65K points each bound, and I still have around 30K points remaining).
Here in NL, weather is now getting colder and wetter. Every day there’s rain, and it’s difficult to walk out in the open. So, I go to a shopping mall and walk there and finish my ten k steps. My biggest achievement was that for the last 1 year, I averaged ten thousand steps daily. But as winter sets in, it’s becoming more and more difficult. I also need to change the car tyres to winter tyres, but it’s better to do it Nov beginning. I think this year, winter will not be that hard as last year.
It’s now very interesting to visit Dubai, because I have some good friends there. Here it’s mostly work, home, and not many friends. But in Dubai, I think the friends aspect is very much exponential, which also leads to lot of complications. And in my opiion, it’s important to weed out the fair weather friends, and keep some very good and strong friends who will be with us always. I have a small group of four, and they know who they are…
This year was a difficult year due to another reason – my father fell sick. It started out as an infection, and then went so complicated, things became really dark. Finally, when they said he started developing lung complications, I travelled to my place. Also, my sister and family got some infection and fever, and they couldn’t be with my father in case he caught it. So i went to the hospital one Saturday morning, and returned from there next Friday evening. Not even a visit in between to my home. I literally lived there, and by the third day, I felt I was also coming down with something. Father ji was moved from ICU to room. My bed was a slab, with a foam layer on top, and anyway sleep in the hospital is just not possible. Every one hour, the nurses would come, else my father would need something. But it was such a strong experience, I really thanked God that I was able to spend that much time with him. He was completely bed ridden, and it’s a difficult stage to handle. But, thanks to God, he fought hard and recovered, and we went home after a week since I came, with urine tubes, gall bladder tubes etc. Once I dropped him home, I couldn’t stay there anymore, i felt like i wanted to rest for two whole days. So i travelled back on the very next flight and reached home in NL, and slept like anything for two days. Now, he’s at my sister’s place, and she’s doing a great job looking after him. To be honest, I never was that close to my father, because he was travelling all the time, and then I started travelling all the time, and even on phone, we wouldn’t talk much. But when he was sick, I felt like losing a part of me, and literally felt crushed. Now my father says I was very strict with him at the hospital, every hour would make him do lung exercises, make him walk (he couldn’t walk without support). I think the same discipline I put into work, I used there as well, and with the nurses too. Sometimes they were not very efficient, and I would immediately remind them of their job and responsibility. My father’s 84, and every year with a good quality life, is a blessing. He was very healthy, which is what helped him pull through, but now he’s still recovering. I hope and pray he has a long life, and now he likes resting and being pampered. Our house is locked, in fact now there are two houses in trivandrum locked and uninhabited. Our family house and my apartment. Maybe I will sell one of them.
My father and I celebrated Onam in the hospital, and I gave him some chips and achar. I also had a small sadya. That was it.
By end of this year, God willing, I want to finish 2026 with some good savings. I haven’t saved anything in over two years, but I have spent most of what I earned, in buying my car and in the house. The good news is that my house is now 40-60K EUR more than what I got it for, due to housing shortages here. So at some point when I do need to move, and sell this, I hope to make it a profitable deal. Same with the Audi, it has good resale value. I didn’t go overboard (from driving a porsche in Dubai), but I didn’t want to become too frugal either, and drive a VW Golf. Anyway, its’ not for me.
Every time I go to Dubai, I come back with suitcases full of groceries, so it’s quite cheap compared to here. One of my friends recently started to deliver Indian stuff, and we sometimes order from there. My neighbors started a catering service, the girl there cooks very well. Biriyani being the most popular one, and quite cheap as well.
i lost weight from walking a lot, and from the food habits here. From around 88kg regular, i am now 84-85kg regular. Nothing great, I know. But, for me, it’s a big deal, because it’s just so difficult to lose weight. I want to do this for as long as I can, and I hope the results will improve my health. I was pre-diabetic, and want to keep control over sugar. But, I have a sweet tooth, and it’s very difficult. Let’s see.
With the advent of all the LLMs, our lives have become very intertwined with AI. And, we have lot of opportunities of using AI in our personal lives as well. I for one, used AI to build a personal finance app. It loads all my bank/credit card statements, and builds receivable/payable. It loads all my shares, and insurances and other savings, and builds net worth. It helps me identify where my money is giong, and how I can optimize the same. I want to make it generic, so it can be used by anyone. I am calling it RBFinanceApp, taking a cue from my sister who’s in banking.
I have more travel coming up this year. Need to plan around the various situations that are happening. Trip to Riyadh, Trip to Australia, Trip to India. All these are pending. First is work, and rest are all personal. I want to visit Velankanni in December, and it really needs to happen. Nobody in my family seems that interested now in such things, and so I think I need to take on the mantle. I of course pray daily for my friends and family and I hope they pray for me as well. With time passing by, I see a bit more of spirituality setting in, and more focus on the future and outcomes. It was my birthday last month, and I celebrated it in a hotel in Dubai. I was there for the eviction ceremony. The room boys bought me a small cake which I happily cut, but that was it. I anyway don’t have the habit of celebrating my birthdays. The people I care about, wished me, and that’s fine. Oct 21 is my father’s birthday. I don’t know if I can go and visit him. But i will try.
Now I need to install the SSL certificate for my site, It has expired. I will pen more thoughts regularly, now that I have more time. Signing off for now, with these lines to think about
“Yesterday, today and tomorrow,
all have the same amount of time
But Yesterday is the past, today is the present
and tomorrows the future.
Past becomes memories, present becomes transactional
and the future is what we plan
Wishing everyone a good future ahead.