I believe I can fly!

When I first came into the UAE back in December 1995 - I remember landing at the verdant Abu Dhabi airport where I joined my husband of two months who worked there - driving back into the city, one thing that truly astonished was the lush greenery, the decorative palms swaying in lonely splendour at regular distances from one another, the resplendent pergolas on both sides of the road and the beautifully sun-shiny weather with dappled blue skies and puffy white clouds...a perfect welcome - and add to that the long winding roads that just about upped the ante with regard to 'going for a drive'.

Yes, you may well put it down to the nostalgic memories of a young bride, but those were the days when one could actually see the roads and enjoy the drive - fewer cars and certainly more well-mannered drivers, less road rage and a general sense of etiquette and well-being that made everything so much more civilized, if you get my meaning!

Fast forward 21 years and today such visitations are most definitely consigned to the sands of time. Life has come full circle and even if taking long drives are one's thing, the lack of time and energy post work, the terrifying stories of traffic woes and challenges with juggling the daily logjam of one's life, render such an activity - undertaken just for pleasure - a sheer luxury! Driving anywhere in the UAE is now dreadful, to quote some of my family and friends who refuse to do it more than absolutely needed - they will also give you a litany of complaints about why it can be just too hazardous to one's health and peace of mind!

As a non-driver in Dubai (oh yes, I have heard the shocked gasps and dealt with the raised eyebrows, as people listening to me immediately pipe up about how on earth someone in the media industry has actually managed to survive without what they consider a basic survival skill in this concrete metropolis. Of course I have had to weather some horrendous experiences waiting about in the middle of the desert back in the days when public transport was a myth at best, but that is a story for another day!) - so, as a non driver in Dubai - heavily reliant on the public transport system in the city - and it has lately considerably improved with a plethora of options - from the ubiquitous Dubai Metro, to the Dubai Taxi, Dubai Tram, RTA's Dubai Bus and even water taxis that have beautifully complemented the age-old abras and dhows as scenic conveyance across the Creek - I am pleasantly excited to hear about any advances in this space.

The most recent story is of the flying taxi that Airbus has said it is looking at introducing at some point over the next decade - connecting Abu Dhabi and Dubai, to give people some reprieve in beating the daily grind. We also hear of some fascinating developments like the hyperloop that will ostensibly enable people to do the Abu Dhabi - Fujairah journey in just 15 minutes. Truly fabulous....cannot wait! Given the surge in population and motorists this might be a great way to go...good job, UAE, in thinking out of the box and making the impossible possible! You inspire me to get up and get going everyday! It is true that great cities inspire great stories....I truly believe that with a wind like Dubai beneath my wings, flying should be no challenge at all!

Flying city taxis
http://www.thenational.ae/business/aviation/dubai-to-abu-dhabi-in-a-flying-taxi-airbus-looks-to-revolutionise-the-daily-commute

The Art of Being Still!

More and more as the pressures of modern life and staying in the rat race continue to pressure us, we realize that as human beings we can only meet the pressures and demands thrust upon us, if we step away from our work for a short time.

Of course this is no new idea, no revolutionary thought, no 'innovation' as everything in the 21st century must almost of necessity, be. Scholars and philosophers from Shakespeare to the stoics of the past have always recommended some 'alone time' to re-energise and orient ourselves better - to develop a coping mechanism as it were in order to better handle today's 24 x 7 electronically leashed world.

While travelling has been known to broaden horizons, and going somewhere has been always advocated as the answer to finding one's hidden purpose, the truth remains that it will rarely give us hidden insights of our world within - that oft-unknown, hidden world of our subconscious self, that little niche which encompasses the vastness and answer to what makes us happy, what makes us alive, what is our true purpose.

 A world that can shape us in fact into competent and confident individuals better able to deal with our lives on this information superhighway.

Listening to renowned travel writer Pico Iyer on his TED Talk session recently, I was fascinated by the author's affirmation that going nowhere was perhaps as important, if not more so, than going somewhere. He spoke of how important it was in this day and age, to observe an Internet Sabbath, an enforced break from social media and platforms, some time out for our whirlpool existence, to just be. At 29, the author realized one day, as he was returning home in a taxi, that although he was living his dream, writing and travelling the world, he could never manage to catch up with life, he was unable to hear himself think!

Following this epiphany, he decided to abandon his dream life for a single room in the backstreets of Kyoto, Japan. A place that boasted no excitement, no hopes of career advancement, no entertainment, and - get this - no technology of any sort. A place where when you wake up in the morning, the day simply stretches before you. Iyer never regretted his decision. He understood the importance of leaving it all behind or 'switching off' if you wanted to take control of your life back.

While cutting back is not something most of us can afford to do, the fact remains that this is a probably one of the best ways at our disposal today to simply recharge, rejuvenate and re-energise our souls. The most important prerequisite to forging ahead in our lives and careers, fulfilling the different roles we have to play - as professionals, productive stakeholders of the community or as proactive family members!

I have attached the TED Talk link to Pico Iyer's speech. Please take a few minutes to enjoy the message!



https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_the_art_of_stillness?language=en

In Celebration of Being Alive!

Yes...I am a big fan of celebrated South African surgeon - Dr. Christian Bernard, whose pioneering surgical efforts as much as his fabulous philosophy - a celebration of being alive - something all human beings should aspire to do - never cease to leave an impression. This week gave me cause to reflect on Dr. Bernard's beliefs yet again - when my sister-in-law and dear friend succumbed to endometriosis or uterine cancer which had only been diagnosed in October 2013. What followed was a truly traumatic time for friends and family. Apart from the agony of seeing someone as lively and vivacious as this lady deteriorate steadily were the logistics of taking her from one hospital to another subjecting her to endless chemotherapy and radiation sessions, morphene injections and other indignities - in early April in the presence of the entire family, she finally breathed her last. As we all prepared to give her a fitting farewell and bid her soul adieu in its journey into the afterlife to merge with the divine (a common belief among us Hindus), one thought assailed my senses again. How important it is to live every day as if it were your last. You do not know in the greater scheme of things who you may have the good fortune or bad karma, as the case may be, to encounter the next morning, next month, next year. Being positive, pleasant and living a life free of regret must come as prerequisites or essential tools/ instructions in the DNA manual to being human today.

Quite often in the rat race that life has become - and if you live in a city as busy as Dubai you definitely appreciate what I am saying here - you forget to appreciate the finer touches, the sentiments, the subtle nuances, the mundane everyday little bits and pieces - that make life worth living. While in 50 years time the money you earned or the education you attained may have little or no consequence, how you lived and what people thought of you as a human being will definitely leave a lasting impact. About Vinita Rajkumar, who lived the moment with effortless ease and managed to secure more real-time friends than many pretenders to extroverted-ness might boast of on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, there can be little doubt. She epitomised Dr. Barnard's human being - she celebrated life and lived just as she died - in the limelight. Rest in peace girl, you have been an inspiration, and all of us - friends and family have been privileged to know you - for the short span you were with us. I am now resolved to live life. Large.

Expo 2020 Dubai - The view from here!

As we get into holiday mode in Dubai this year, we realize that all is not what it should be, considering this is holiday season and we are counting down to the new year. Dubai and its residents should be out celebrating. Not only has its winning bid of Expo 2020 capped another phenomenal year of achievements, but at the same time, created opportunities enough to ensure that its GDP just keeps ticking along in a healthy, upward staccato. But as I said, that is as it should be....

Some of the gloomy faces would quickly put paid to the hope that all is well. So what are our prime concerns?

One of the significant ones of course, is something that not just Dubai's residents, but our friends and relatives around the world are equally familiar with thanks to our continuous ranting and raving about the it all year long - yes, the infamous 'R' word - rents we are all quite sure are poised to rise again and this time minus the rent cap that the country's leadership, for ethical reasons as much as to keep the 'rabble-rousers' at peace has so far imposed, which permits landlords to raise rentsonly once in two years and then again not above a rental cap of 5%. All that we are told by skeptics is now a thing of the past. There are to be no more rent caps as Dubai fast-tracks on building and infrastructure projects in a race to meet its tryst with destiny. So what is to become of us, we ask? What will the poor person whose salary already does not keep pace with Dubai's exalted vision do? Well, say the skeptics with a shrug of their shoulders, you can always go home...?!

Another fear, also triggered by the rising expenditure that basic provisions seem to be hit by - if there was a littany of complaints about how little the value of a Dhs 100 bill is today, compared to what it used to help purchase once upon a time, today there is a stark and real fear as expats find their savings hit by rising prices across sectors - education, real estate, transporation, electricity and water and other utilities.....

So, what should the government do to allay such fears? As things are they do have to deal with some very real insecurities, which is only natural considering that the majority of their population is expat-driven. Today things seem stark for a lot of the doomsday theorists who are busy writing early obits to their time in Dubai, and are talking of leaving to head back to their hometowns.

"They don't need people like us anymore, they only want to bring in the tourists who are willing to spend and throw their money on the various built-in attractions." - As expats we have often heard these doom-and-gloom stories. What must also be remembered is simply this - while the rents might go up in the short term, and prices rise, we must keep the faith that Dubai's knowledge capital today is as much its human capital, the people who have worked hard to make the place what it is today. The truth remains that experience is a hard thing to replace. Expo 2020 will simply not turn out to be all that it is hyped up to be, if the people working towards making it a dream reality simply cease to be - or simply packed up and left. It is perhaps a good time to incentivise key opinion leaders in different sectors, and make them add their two bits towards the country's success. The time is now....even as the entire country gets ready to be part of...history in the making.
 

Beating the blues...

Very often in the course of our ordinary lives we are confronted by the dreaded blues...a sudden crippling fear that paralyzes and makes us suddenly unable to get up and move on with our day. An anxiety attack that has us asking strange questions and undermines our self confidence...and makes us wonder whether we are actually good enough at all or can actually measure up.

It does not take a major catastrophe to bring us to this sorry pass. As human beings we are constantly seeking validation and endorsements - a pat on the back for some job well done, a commendation from the people we work with, a few words of encouragement that we get from our friends and peers - all of these go a long way to boosting our self-esteem and adding that 'feel good' factor to our days. However, when we allow the the world around us to tell us whether we are actually good enough or not, we are setting ourselves up for more hurt and despair.

Despair - a dreadful word and one that fills us with a sense of foreboding. We are often told to guard against it. "Stay positive", "Look on the bright side", we are often advised...but I have a theory about this. The more one is asked to guard against this feeling, I believe living in the 21st century automatically sets one up for this nameless dread. We don't know what to expect. We may go through the paces - toil through our days, filling in time at work, with family, with friends, doing the chores that are expected of us, believing we are free an uncertain future. Simply because we may have salted away something for a rainy day. Or perhaps because we see our kids doing well at school or in their chosen field of work. But remember, that these are not the factors that should ideally make us happy. These are just small pebbles on the long road of life. A typhoon could blow away your carefully salted savings. Bad company, poor judgement, bad luck,  or indeed some inherent challenges might stymie the performance of your children at school or career. Remember the age old saying - to thine own self be true. Isn't it so true when it comes to quantifying happiness and beating away the blues?

What I realize as I grow older is that such age-value systems and banking on others to help you feel better about yourself - could be truly detrimental to any long term happiness. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives and any of the rest of our extended trust circle are too busy in the course of a given day fighting their own battles and winning their own rewards. While they may be perfectly willing - or not! - to lend you a ear, and listen to you rant and rave - they are not the cover you will need in the long journey that is life.

We need to know our worth first and foremost. Everyone is good at something, everyone has some winning potential. Wake up in the morning and tell yourself that you are amazing. This may not get you any brownie points with the world at large - but you will score big with yourself. Be a leader. Be happy. Be the one that the world leans on for a change. And the watch yourself rise in style, stature, happiness. Happiness might be a state-of-mind, but you could reinforce your happy mindset by giving yourself that much-needed pat on the back.

In pursuit of happiness....Until the next time!

Hacking into one's life in cyber world!

One of the most disturbing things to happen to me this week was having both my hotmail and gmail accounts hacked in one fell swoop! Well, for any average person these days, it is bad enough when this should happen to you with one email account, but to suddenly find your life has crunched to a standstill, and that you are now persona non grata among friends, followers in cyber-sphere simply because all your social networking is linked up through your online identities which have now been sabotaged - well, it sure was a ghastly experience folks! The day - October 3rd to be precise, kicked off with one friend calling to check whether I was actually still alive and well, because she had just received a message from my account telling her I was is Madrid, and in urgent need of Euro 1,500, and to send the money through an account that had been created through Western Union.She sounded chagrined and more accusatory than solicitous, telling me to put a stop to it now! This was followed thick and fast by messages and phone calls all day long from friends and associates - some of whom I hadn't heard of in years - asking what on earth was happening, and was I ok? Madness enough believe me, but what would you say to DEWA suddenly deciding to switch off power on the given day in the area I lived in.....catastrophic? Yeah....it was actually nightfall before I managed to get hotmail to send me a link to reset my password and regain access to my account - the entire beleagured inbox was in a strangeChinese script - which made one wonder at how these guys had even managed to gain access to my accounts to start with. And for all of you out there who have not yet been victimised by the nasty hackers, please beware....the first indication you'll get that you are next in line for this sort of cybercrime will be in the form of a mail that comes to you asking you to verify the account details. DON'T DO IT!

The Write Line: Rape as a means of repression by Muamar Gaddafi

The Write Line: Rape as a means of repression by Muamar Gaddafi

http://www.channel4.com/news/gaddafi-ordered-rape-attacks-as-tactic-of-war-icc

Rape as a means of repression by Muamar Gaddafi

Even as we keep thinking that mankind is now an advanced species, and that civilization will prevent us from behaving like our caveman ancesstors or maligning ourselves, we wake up to new shocks. The latest are news reports emerging from Libya that the dictator, who has been fighting his people tooth and nail in the Middle Eastern country of Libya to retain his grasp on power,where the NATO and its allies have not really been able to make much of a mark when it comes to offering a token support to the populist uprising. It transpires that Muamar Gaddafi has been sending his army consignments of viagra-like substances, to boost their sex drive, and encourage them to plunder, loot and rape women, all in the pretext of quashing the revolt.What a pathetic and retrograde human being must be the man that tries to exploit fellow human beings in such an inhuman way. Surely not even the Nazi Jews would have tortured their prisoners like this. Shame and a total mockery of all that stands for civilization....and what is the so-called developed, West doing? Well, frankly my dear, there is not much we can do - this is the country's sovereign right to govern itself, we believe in the non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.....Oh really?! Where did that attitude go when Osama Bin Laden needed to be bumped off in Pakistan? Did that really trouble you when it came to feretting out Saddam Hussain in Iraq and hanging him? No sir, all men are equal, but perhaps, for America and the West, some are definitely above the law.....it should be a mercy to rid the world of the likes of Gaddafi. This is surely not the time to sit around and watch developments on TV and shake our heads and say our hands are tied!

Making Sense Of The News!

Yes, guess we need to be thankful these days that we don't exchange the word news for "nonsense"....truly what is it that defines news in this day of the electronic media revolution and online journalism. There used to be a time when we were told to go out and find hard news stories - "When a dog bites a man it is not news, remember the news element comes in when man bites dog".......one used to simply chuckle and go on one's way wondering what on earth was the matter with a crazy profession where people waited for the incredulous to happen.....after all wasn't truth often stranger than fiction anyway? Well, it would certainly appear so in 21st Century India, where I am scribbling from these days.....there're about 20 different news channels, including the vernacular ones (and woe betide that we leave them behind!)....the last couple of days have been a stunning case in point that it is only the negative news stories that make for sensational press, and ensure air time.....Vishwananthan Anand being slighted by the HRD Ministry when a South Indian University had proposed his name for an honorary doctorate....and the subsequent machinations in the world of red tape and real politik, monopolised the media frenzy when it came to being affronted....the media channels appeared more chagrined than diplomatic, suave Vishy Anand, who true to his reputation as a man of few words had little to say on the incident except that he wanted his country back, and to politely refuse the doctorate, which the HRD Ministry managed to proffer as a delayed bit of troubleshooting.....of course to the average man on the street, who was completely unaware of what the whole brouhaha was about in the first place, and why on earth the babus at the HRD were asking for proof of the Midas of Madras' (that's Anand's sobriquet by the way for the uninitiated)......the whole incident seemed completely bizzare! Atleast the only good thing to come of it seems to be the temporary repreive that it seems to have given the Common Wealth Games, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in the last couple of months, first thanks to all the corruption scandals linked to it, then for the poor infrstructural shape that the national capital was in a month prior to the spectacle thanks to the incessant rains and flooding, and also for all the international names of top athletes and sportspeople that were dropping like flies from the list of expected participants initially drawn up. When will the powers-that-be realise that only where there's smoke is there a fire for starters....if we keep ensuring that the country is in the news for all the wrong reasons, then perhaps we should not be too surprised that India and Indians everywhere are being much maligned and looked down upon by the rest of the world....why on earth can the press and media stop trying to grab eyeballs and TRP's for a change, and get seriously into the act of building the nation, or helping it to thrive? Is that really so "un-doable" after all for a billion-and-a-half people (and still counting) to achieve if they really want to see India become an economic powerhouse by 2050, as predicted at Davos? Why are we sitting there - prisoners to our idiot boxes, and not helping to define what news and information content we would like to see? Surely if we set the agenda, then the news emananting from India, about India, need not be all bad...surely we can find something nice to say about the weather, the state of the organising committee, the indefatigable will of the average hard-working Indian, who struggles against all odds, in what seems a futile battle to improve his lot and put food on the gtable, while aspiring to lift himself and his family from the quagmire to a decent standard of life......surely somewhere out there there are stories that the masochistic media can find of bravery and courage, of people saving the lives of total strangers, of the great economic and social benefits that hosting the Common Wealth Games can have for India....little things that warm the cockles of our hearts.....for, hey guys, here's a news flash....we are human beings after all, not machines, and it feels good sometimes to see, hear and believe in our humanity!

A Life Less Ordinary....

As we go about our daily lives, fetching, carrying, organising, planning - have you ever wondered what makes one life more special than another? Is it only high achievers and ambitious people that can stake a claim to leading fantastic and even extraordinary lives, that us lesser mortals can only look at enviously....so do they also serve who only stand and wait?Do people like mothers, housewives and helpers ever help to make a difference?Well of course they do....we know that, we need no affirmations to tell us that those people are the most vital part of our lives - and help make the world go round in fact.....but do they ever get the recognition they deserve? In more cases than ever in the 21st Century they are forgotten, or considered appendages that only obstruct growth. So to all those mom who gave up their youth and fun, so that their kids could appreciate and feel a sense of warm security, thank you. There is more merit in being able to shape another human being than in wearing several corporate medals and badges of honour.....even if the acheievements of motherhood happen to be grey hairs and more creases on one's face tha anything else!

Of Ash, Flights & Food

It really is true today that no man is an island.....sitting in Dubai on a brilliant, sunshine morning, you may look at that newspaper which tells you on the front page that the cancelled flights due to the Icelandic Volcano Ash impairing visibility has set the Gulf and Arab airlines back by 67 million dollars....."WHO CARES?!" tends to be your attitude, and not unsurprisingly, you would not be even considered selfish for voicing those sentiments. But, like it or not, we all better care,it appears......hypermarkets in Dubai are voicing concerns about dwindling stocks of fresh food from European markets....so you may get up tomorrow, go to your neighbourhood Spinneys or grocery and find the shelves that are always replete with succulent fruit and meat and cold cuts from Europe, the gorgeous Australian pears and New Zealand apples all gone.....what then? Aha....now that is making you sit up and take notice, isn't it? Especially in markets like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where we are so much at the mercy of the rest of the world when it comes to even our daily basic supplies, one just cannot underestimate the importance of the marvellous connectivity we share with the world, being such a geographical meeting point for the East and West.....so perhaps it is as critical for us to worry about when flight connections will be restored, as for those poor stranded passengers at airports in Europe or Dubai...

All we need is psycho-gaga!

Boy meets girl,boys runs after girl, boy and girl run around trees, boy and girl face stiff familial resistance.....put up token fight,huge bust up with villain, boy and girl's family realise their mistakes, they are reunited....formulaic films that used to be the norm once upon a time, and we, the willing multitudes - used to enjoy going to the movies, getting our small packet of popcorn, if we were lucky, and sitting through three-and-a-half hours of a film, in less than desirable environments - simply for the dose of escapism from our stark realities - that they offered.....zoom forward three decades, and things have radically changed.....movies are now quite literally larger-than-life, with some sophisticated huncho backing every small venture, and some big corporate somewhere having an ulterior motive in wanting the film to be a runaway hit........the 21st Century has proved to be a throwing out of formula and embracing of the stark reality time - most films have some kind of a leitmotif - other than the routine pyaar - shaadi - what is fascinating, but perhaps not entirely unexpected - is the sudden focus on all things psychological and psychosomatic - it is not just the interesting undercurrents or psychological nuances that were obvious in films like Kismet Konnection - today there are much deeper psychologicasl messages - not just at a subliminal level - in your average Bollywood film.....why's that you wonder? Really? In Bollywood? you ask.....yes really.....My Name Is Khan is the most recent one to explore these subconscious depths of a problem - in his portayal of Rizwan Khan, a person suffering from Asperger's syndrome, Shah Rukh Khan is the most recent star to jump on the psyhology brandwagon.....Aamir Khan did it before him in his debut film as a producer with Taare Zameen Par....andKajol has always found herself part of such fasninating story lines whether as the hapless wife of a wanted terrorist in Fanaa where again the focus is the mind of the terrorist - to My Name Is Khan - where the approach is about proving a man being treated as "national combatant" to be a national hero in the real sense of the word......it looks like Hindi films, like everything else, have comes full circle, in their treatment of reality.

One Attitude Wherever In The World.....

Living in Dubai, we are always criticising the system, the maintenance people, the maids, the visa situation, the traffic, the eternal construction clearances and detours - all issues that we find in most growing young economies, and situations, which we would not bat an eyelid about in our native countries.....why? Is it the same inconsistency that makes us meticulously careful about littering in Dubai (sometimes) while it is almost the first thing we find ourselves doing when we get off the planes back home? Perhaps the same approach that makes us weather the weather and grub, filth and garbage on the roads in our home countries, while we grumble loudly to anyone who is listening, including the maintenance people (bear in mind these guys are even working religiously at 6 a.m. on Fridays, when the rest of the town is sound asleep in warm beds)if there is any mess on the streets here, or if the rains cause a mild disruption in our not-so-busy schedules? Where do we shed this whole attitude? Is it even possible to stop the rant and rave and become more responsible about venting spleen. How wonderful things would be if people could present the same face to everyone, and consider the whole world to be their home (only from the point of view of keeping it in ship shape and caring for it).....I bet it would be a small price to pay for everyone's peace of mind, if we could only get a harmonious attitude.Imagine not being subjected to whinging and whining, either at work or home.....I bet we could all get so much more done in half the time! And that would lead to the said quality time being spent outside of work, and at work as well. Hmm....utopia! :)

Everyone is equal in front of the Law??!!

Even as the news comes in that Shaikh Isa has been cleared of the torture alleagtions against him, for "apparently" beating an Afghan businessman and setting his body alight, there now emerges a counter strike by the defendant's lawyers that this was after all a case of the Shaikh being "victimised" and his mind being meddled with owing to some medication he was on.....does anyone in the cynical, 21st century world actually buy this story? Why is the legal system hell-bent on meting out punishment only to those less privileged? Is the not-so-well-to-do section of humanity worse than the lowest form of low life, and therefore entitled to only the harshest punishments? Having lived in the UAE for several years now, I've had the fortunate / unfortunate experience of seeing absolutely innocent people languishing in jails, for unwittingly bringing in some Khus-Khus (dried poppy seeds, a substance banned in this country, but a common spice in places like India), for flouting a visa rule although they may have had no control over their circumstances, for being caught eating or smoking during Ramadan, for so many other apparently simple misdemeanours.....while those in high places guilty of fraud, embezzlement and yes (sometimes even murder) get away scot free. It is time perhaps to make each person accountable, and therfore the legal system, less of a laughing stock, by shifting responsibility for action squarely on to the individual's shoulders.Until we do so, the world will continue to give the UAE little credit for being free and fair....essential prerequisites to step up its image as a dynamic economy.
To be quite honest, this is of course, not just UAE's problem. In India, the BJP party has some MLA's who make a habit of bumping off people who disagree with them on the slightest issue, in Italy Sylvio Berlusconi can because of his political clout get out of any legal wrangle, in France, Nicolas Sarkozy has the last word in what constitutes ethics, he hss the habit, by the way, of also changing his take on any point.....more frequently than women or the weather are rumoured to do! Reminds you of the Orwellian phrase from Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, some are more equal than the others." Will we ever see justice on God's green earth, or is the divine justice going to be the only kind that might be served.....

All jobbed out!

Having just been told by the HR department of the Government TV network where I work that I have another 25 days to pack my bags and leave the unit, my services are no longer required, thank you very much, I have been gobsmacked for the second time in four months...why does someone get the sack for doing their job? What are some of the parameters to holding a job in Dubai? Looks definitely like hard work and integrity don't belong on the list at all. Possibly playing politics does, measuring up to people's liking you does, and celebrating the system definitely does earn you kudos which doing your work and being a nice person does not help accomplish for you.....curioser and curioser - like Alice would have said in Wonderland - it is a bit numbing and definitely the pressue that being unemployed after having had a job all your life, is a bit of a downer...do things happen for a reason - let's take the positive spin on that and say, definitely - there are reasons and reasons.....what is a good reason on God's Green Earth....nice to think, que sera sera, whatever will be will be, but definitely Dubai is a place where working to earn a living is expected of you - the same way as breathig is, for instance! I often wonder what would have happened if Issac Newton had felt similarly pressured, or Leonardo Davinci had been berated for spending time painting chapels, when he could be earning an honest wage?? Is great creativity often the casualty in our humdrum worlds, built to nurture a capitalist economy? Is creativity something that needs to be told to go to hell, if one must remain sane in a work place?? Let's work, work, work and go, go, go....as that inimitable cartoon character - the smurfs - would have put it.....here's to thrifty days and nights!

The Write Line: Today's News, Tomorrow's History??

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Pages+dissolving+into+pixels+and+back&artid=btnPJuRFHhI=&SectionID=108&MainSectionID=108&SectionName=cxWvYpmNp4fBHAeKn3LcnQ==&SEO

Today's News, Tomorrow's History??

The amazingly rapid strides that the media industry has taken since the first developments in printing and publishing never cease to baffle me. I only have to look around at the style in which we used to work in the press just ten years ago, and see what it is about today to draw back dewildered. How did so much change happen in so short a time?? Broadsheets, tabloids, online news letters, facebook, twitter, every given day, we hit a new method of disseminating the news and developments in our world truly making it a Global Village. When a friend asked me to do a piece for a popular Indian newspaper for the anniversary issue on the beginning of the decade, asking me to mull over the future of the newspaper itself, I actually did pause and plunge in thought........was there a real future of sorts for this wonderful medium, or was it doomed to die a not-so-slow death? For my generation the newspaper is still one of our great loves - a habit so difficult to break, we wont go there - I frequently need to answer arguments at home regarding why I need to subscribe to the newspaper and hold a printed, "hard copy" as they put it, in hand, when I could save that money and read all the news online.....how do you explain your penchant for the written word (not some screen posting that seems as ephemeral as a fleeting rainbow or the smoke trail left by a jet plane? To actually hold the newspaper in your hands, smell the printing ink that is just dry, to leaf through to your favourite sections of the paper, gives it a sense of immediacy, credibility, comfort if you like, which the online media can never take away from it...

The Life & Times of Dubai

Today's a day that Dubai-ites cherish - the fourth accession to the throne of their beloved Vice President and the Ruler of Dubai - His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Matoum, who has just spent what can only be positively described as the most difficult year in his four-year dream run, as solid as one of the Godolphin Horses he is so fond of racing to victory at Endurance events around the world! It's not been an easy year, thanks mostly to Dubai's financial dbacle - being a city that is so much more at the mercy of international influences, Dubai has always been a confluence of so many different societies and cultures. The tributes for Shaikh Mohammed have come thick and fast - not many obviously from the international press that has had a field day of dragging Dubai over the coals for its being nothing more than a "hubris in the sand" or a "bubble that has finally burst" - for most Dubai-ites like me though, it has always been a story of marvels that went alongside all the tears - yes, we have unemployment, we certainly have labour camps, we have embezzlement, we have crimes and arson - but seriously, Dubai has managed to keep a lid on its problems and try to achieve great things regardless. A testimony is the fabulous Burj Dubai - History Rising - as it has been often described - many would question the necessity for a US $ 1.5 billion edifice that has been five years in the making at a time of financial crisis and deepening debt. But Dubai's leaders and people have always aimed big - it is the need to strive and achieve that has brought so many people to this city of dreams - and it is the leader's vaulting ambition to be the best now, that has triggered so many of those man-made marvels. Why not - has always been his attitude, and this alone, if nothing, promises that everything will be all right - despite, or indeed because of Dubai's detractors! So yes, we do need a Burj Dubai, if only to prove to the world that we may be down, but are certainly not out....let's toast the world's tallest, biggest, strongest and largest - and hope that the new decade is kinder to a city that has, when all is said and one, given so many people the opportunity to hold their heads high and declare proudly that they matter.

Holiday Travails!

Time was when we actually waited for those cherished holidays - Eid, Diwali, Christmas, New Year, birthdays and anniversaries - with pleasurable anticipation - time out, time spent with family, quality time, we gave it different epithets - these days really gave one a chance to catch up with oneself, and in a manner of speaking rediscover one's favourite pursuits....becoming a parent, or rather being a parent to today's kids puts a whole new spin on things - a 360 degree spin, in fact! Not only are holidays now spent with itineraries built around children's schedules, indeed they are the ones that form those itinerariees these days.....close your eyes for two minutes longer when you wake up in the morning, and you are invariably forced to jump up and attend to some thing that apparently urgently demands your attention - the older one has thrashed the younger one in the bathroom for making bubbles in the wash basin, or the youngster - more precocious of the two perhaps, has taken the older one's "life purpose" and most precious possession - the PSP and smashed it - you swallow, remind yourself about the importance of staying calm and meditating, and then promptly go and get smack, bang in the middle of a raging dispute! Which mark you is a lose-lose situation - if you take one side against the other, you are accused of favouritism, if you ground them both, you are such an indefatigable monster! Taking them through their studies, sorting out playtimes, fixing meals, resolving arguments and keeping them from the brink of disaster wherever they may turn....is it any wonder that you return from long breaks at home, with a big smile on your face, greeting colleagues at work with really happy expressions, causing them to grumble - wonder what she looks so happy about??! They have no idea, do they?! Take a holiday? No thanks, I'd rather go to work - or war! Am I the only one that feels this way?!!

What Moves Us?

The other day, sitting in the darkened surroundings of of the full-house Cinestar Cinemas at Deira City Centre, watching the new, much-hyped Hindi movie, Love Aajkal, I was forced to wonder what it was that drove us to be such obsessive, compulsive consumers of the same "Shaadi-Pyaar" theme - what is it about Bollywood that remains so ingrained in our blood that we faithfully head off to catch the first-day-first-show of yet another love story that revolves the formulaic hero-heroine-villain-singing and dancing around trees-plot to kill-parents-denoument.....why subject ourselves to three hours of nonstop, mindless entertainment? As an NRI, I have to say, I believe there's some justification for this behaviour - Hindi movies for me, and all my countless countrymen who do faithfully turn up to watch each one, I am sure, have become a panacea for missing India and home - our culture, traditions, beliefs, attitudes and all that makes the quintessential Indian are reflected faithfully in these flicks - yes, even when half of them are based in London, New York and Sydney! My husband refuses to join me on these movie trysts, saying, "Phew! Imagine subjecting yourself to three hours of unadulterated rubbish! Pyaar, pyaar, pyaar, shaadi....don't they really have anything more informative to talk about?" Well, the point is really, do people who go to these movies, actually go there for information or plain "masti" and entertainment? Of course, they don't want to hear all the serious developments in the world of climate change and fluctuating oil prices...they are here to simply switch off from their grim and often not-so-palatable realities....so of course they are more than delighted with seeing the same thing again and again! Why not? We all understand love, we all understand ambition and the need to become successful, our lives are all about fuelling aspirations and striving to meet them! And that is exactly all the Hindi movie promises to provide - three hours of absolute "suspension of disbelief" - heroines who are glamorous and efficient dressed in fashions to die for cavorting around places most of us would only have seen on films! And that feeling of fulfilment at the end of three hours when the lights go up and the final credits scroll on, is hard to explain to someone who bad-mouths these films! When Shah Rukh Khan manages to beat up the bad guys and win the heroine for himself, we all sigh and rejoice in our hearts - because it seems like there is some justice after all on God's green earth.....naive, foolish, sentiment? Well, tell that to the audiences that have fuelled and sustained the world's largest film industry through good times and bad!