Is it really Plastic Fantastic?

News in today's papers that the UAE has a Dhs 20 billion credit card debt is just another indication of how deeply recession has sunken its talons into this country, as much as the rest of the world. What's more 8-10% of those debts, according to news sources could be distressed or delinquent, meaning recovery was going to be difficult, if not impossible....financial experts say that this was only bound to happen, given the slowing down of the economy, the job losses, the global downturn in property and real estate etc. Dubai, much more than the rest of the developing world perhaps, has always been lured by the credit card trap.....people living economically at much higher standards than they could afford to to keep up with the Jones' are more the rule than the exception.....shopping and retail therapy are the national pastime and living the hi-life is most definitely perceived as the thing to do. How important it is, you realise in times like these, to simply have been brought up to live within your means. I remember as a child growing up in Chennai, when my sister and I made demands of our parents for a new school bag mid-year or for that new walkie-talkie doll, my father, a hard-working sales professional, the epitome of frugal living, who puttered around on a maroon-coloured Java Motorcycle (a gift his father had given him when he graduated!) - actually sat us down and pulled out his wallet. He taught us then a lesson in economics - "Here is how much I earn, and this is how much we now need to run the house after school fees, household expenses, etc....now tell me how I can afford to get you that?" - which we have never forgotten! It was not even as though we were old enough to understand the financial situation - I would say, not really, being around 9 and 7 respectively......but we did get the gist of what he was trying to say, and believe me, we've never even tried to live beyond our means since that day.....fast forward 21st Century logic and ideas - where only the best will ever do. There's colleagues and friends who tout the best Prada handbag, those "wonderful" Milano Blaniks, that "fabulous" Channel bag which they absolutely "Must Have", and the Ballanciaga, which "goes so well with my clothes!" What is with us and this obsession for all things branded? Wouldn't a more ordinary handbag priced at less than Dhs. 100 do just as well? Why would one need about 10 handbags, when it is actually only possible to carry one at a time anyway......what are we really trying to prove by constantly surrounding ourselves with all things bling and designer? Are they a kind of panacea for unrequited family and work fulfilment, or some other way of assuaging the loneliness we feel all around us? One wonders....and definitely with every passing day on the planet, when you see more and more extravagance all around, you can't help stop, pause and ask yourself,"Where will it all end?"
Perhaps that end is coming sooner than we all think - already a walk around Dubai's many malls, at one time filled to distraction with heaving masses of humanity, all trying to fall over each other in a bid to pick up the best bargains - seem to have dwindled down to a mere trickle....where people used to crowd for taxis for as much as two hours, today it is the taxis that wait anxiously in long lines, wondering if they can fulfil their daily target of Dhs. 400 which they need to hand over to Dubai Taxi every evening......and despite the many SALE signs that try siren-like to entice people into stores and plazas, it's true they've all seen brighter, better days as well......
To get back to that debate though, is plastic really fantastic? Are we really a nation enslaved by those little cards that give us a false sense of our own economic freedom and powers? Like with all kinds of Power, it corrupts absolutely.....so beware those who have not yet gotten into the Credit Card noose - there is no extricating yourself from this one easily! What's probably worse in the UAE is the rate of interest for defaulting on timely payments can easily reach 100% - and very soon, people don't seem to have any choice but to abscond from their lives and the only reality they know!

Metro & The City!

As the mercury soars and people gasp in disbelief at how much hotter it is possible for the place to get, all eyes are now focused on the Dubai Metro, slowly but surely getting ready to take its place as the lifeline of the city, with its Red, Green and Blue arteries.....could anything be more exciting than watching the city taking shape with a full-fledged transportation system - I am myself quite a cynic and have always derided the RTA and powers-that-be for making that poor labourer toil in the sun at all odd hours of night and day - but one has to say that the final product has been an effort worth waiting for.....and then comes the icing on the cake, with the RTA just deciding to pitch the announcement of the Metro's fares (really reasonable and on par with Paris Metro it appears - Surprise, Surprise!) just ahead of the summer exodus from the city, as expats retreat on their annual holiday, and the city wears a deserted look...
There is a caveat though to all this Metro Mania - the existing public transport system, including the Dubai Taxis and Buses, are already circling the city wearing a pretty forlorn air! The sudden repatriation of huge numbers of the city's primarily foreign population, has resulted in a sudden over supply of transporatation....those long vestibule -style buses snaking along congested roads like Meena Bazaar make one pause to think - "Who rides on them anymore?" - there is an apparent sudden erosion in the numbers of the middle-income migrant population, who have all either lost their jobs and left home owing to the Global economic crisis, or have decided that it is far more intelligent at this point in time to work in their own countries which are doing reasonably well, regardless of the downturn. So who's going to ride in those high-speed metro trains? Well, time will tell.....let's fast track to September and see where the downturn and the upheaval etc. have left us! Watch this space....

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&Itemid=1&id=559610&sid=4

Where is Kindness after all?

One of the thoughts that frequently stream into your mind in Dubai is the whole issue of kindness....that elusive "do good" quality that has always been touted as a virtue second to none.....do we ever in the course of our hectic days and frenetic nights here in Dubai actually spare a thought for anyone else's misery - to helping an accident victim....to just go out and hand out bottles of water to those construction workers we are always ranting and raving about.....to give a total stranger a meal that you know would be their whole meal for the day......to go and spend one's birthday in the company of special needs children and take them gifts that bring out the wonder in their eyes. It would be so wonderful if instead of whining and whinging about the common grouses we deal with in our privileged life - oh yes, I did say privileged because believe me we are privileged if we have the pleasure of four meals, a roof over out heads and limbs and brains that work......and start to worry about what we could do to leave the world a better place than we found it. Not just banal philosophy.....something to think about!http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/spirit/inspiration/slideshow1_ss_phil_feature

Effective Communication & Communicating Effectively

Last weekend was refreshing - on Friday, 19th June, I had an opportunity to speak to the parents of The Indian High School Dubai's magnificent Shaikh Rashid Auditorium - Grades Five and Six, as part of an initiative by the school's Counselling Centre - the topic chosen was "Effective Communication With Your Pre-Teens"....very interesting subject, especially as Pre-teens are the new Adolescents, in the media-explosive 21st Century. I began by outlining some of the interesting characteristics of Pre-Teens, the Challenges that Parents faced in communicating with their hitherto angelic children, as they stepped into the dreaded age group of 9-12 years, then went on to state and explain some do's and dont's in communicating with this age group.....vigorous debate, interesting questions and overall I hope we atleast managed to touch the tip of the iceberg, of a subject that is as vast as perhaps the virtual world we now inhabit! Speaking to those parents, I began to understand what a lot of issues the iconoclastic Gen Next - with its complete defiance of systems and authority - had created for its care givers, parents, teachers.....each person assumes theirs is a unique agony, but having a forum where parents could come and vent their spleen perhaps helped deal with the frustrations somewhat! And here's hoping we did actually start off a communication process!

Of Swine Flu and Summer Health Scares

It doesn't take much to get the rumour mills working overtime in a place like Dubai -tech-savvy people with their mobiles, blackberry's and other gadgets are constantly trying to "keep in touch", circulating news that ranges from the banal to the bizzare.....take the whole scare with McDonald's for instance - Swine Flue is suddenly the talk of the town, coming hot on the heels of the case of the two little children that died of food poinsoning after being treated for food poisoning at a Dubai hospital. And the overdose of Swine Flue news - its being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation just recently isn't helping either - has most recently caught up with McDonald's with one of the fast-food chain's employees in its Al Nasr Street outlet supposedly having contacted the disease. McDonald's had to issue an official declaration that they are in the clear:

Swine flu rumours false, says McDonald's

McDonald's Arabia has been forced to issue a denial that any of its employees have been infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus and that it has had to close one of its retail food outlets, following rumours spread by mobile SMS messages and across the internet. It said the text messages, sent over the past week, were 'not true whatsoever' and urged people to instead rely on 'credible information' from 'official bodies'. Government ministries have also dismissed the rumours.

Now, while panic and knee-jerk reactions are not uncommon when it comes to diseases, things could reach alarming heights if we don't each and every one of us, take precautions to stop spreading malicious rumours, Maybe there's someone that doesn't quite like fast-food, someone else who is communist or anti-capitalist (no, they are no longer the same thing, I am afraid!). Maybe, the thing to do in situations like this, is to take what preventive action we can, and leave the rest.....eat at home as often as possible, when you are eating out make sure you choose a restaurant that is clean and has a good safety record (that is often apparent from the exterior itself). And NEVER order food from a place which you haven't seen or know nothing about. Slightly more difficult than the other points to consider....but definitely critical when it comes to your health and the lives of your near and dear ones. Of course, living the frenetic pace that some of us do, we certainly can't avoid eating out altogether. So let's take some effort to stay safe, and then, let it go. Nothing to be gained by rumour-mongering of course!

Dubai - Life and Times

As the summer season hits us in theUAE yet again, I am drawn reminiscently back home to the dusty streets of Chennai, in South India....it was a quiet time, the proverbial calm before the storm that was to hurl Chennai into the era of dotcoms and BPO's......drinking lime juice at a little room that passed for a canteen in Chinmaya Vidyalaya, an idyllic time when thatched huts served as classrooms, and teachers could happily thrash children if they misbehaved! Now you can see that my perspective has changed - being a parent does these things to you.....anyway, in Dubai where we heave and sigh with the traffic congestion, the construction overload - all of which we hoped had come to an end with the so-called crash in the real estate......here's a question, "what happened to repatriating expats?" - the place is now more crowded than ever.....