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!