Post on Istanbul almost a month later!

In a rare moment of forward planning I booked tickets to Istanbul in July for the long weekend of Eid in November. Now in Dubai there is always an element of suspense when it comes to the exact dates of Eid since the ‘moon sighting committee’ based in Saudi Arabia (YES there really is one NO I have not made this up) declares the dates only after sighting the moon. So I had my fingers and toes crossed from July to November and hurrah Eid holidays were declared on exactly the dates I wanted. Since my husband and I have valid visas to the US we knew we would get visa on arrival in Turkey. Istanbul was where we were spending most of our time and we found it to be enchanting, historical, exotic and very tourist friendly. We stayed in the Sultan Ahmet district since that’s where all the main tourist destinations are. We got to our hotel by taking the metro and then the tram from the airport. Infact throughout our stay in Istanbul we did not use a cab even once.

The first sight of the Blue Mosque took my breath away....

We did not expect to fall in love with Ishtiklal street near Taksim Square. The street was lit up beautifully for Eid and if you like shopping please go to the clothes and shoe shops there. I’d like to give a special mention to ‘Mavi’ where we bought two pairs of jeans, two shirts and a sweater and after all that my husband left all his credit cards and our hotel room card there, but we got them all back the next morning!

The Agya Sofya, Basilica Cisterns, Bosporous Cruise, Topkapi Palace, Galata Tower are all beautiful. It is also worth walking on the Galata Bridge and watch people fishing. If a fan of seafood you can also enjoy grilled fish at Eminonu.

Had we had more time on hand we would have probably taken the bus to Izmir to go to Ephesus but we had to fly there. Ephesus is absolutely worth going to. Unfortunately we could not go to Cappadocia since it was snowing there.
Ideally Turkey needs atleast 10 days to do justice to it. Street food there is yummy and affordable. The people are lovely – not only do they ALL look good but are also friendly, helpful and excellent salespersons. You see chubby cats everywhere and all in all when you get there you know instantly that you are in a region that is not only rich in history but also has a promising future. With an emerging market economy and strategic location, being at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Turkey is considered to be a force to reckon with. Istanbul has now replaced Amsterdam as my favourite city in the whole, wide world!

Janet Jackson and more...

I went for the Janet Jackson concert that took place last Thursday and was really grateful for the opportunity to watch atleast one member of the Jackson family live in action. How I wish I had had the good fortune of watching Micheal Jackson perform live! Janet was awesome and I realised that there are so many songs she has sung that I do not know at all, especially the slower numbers, but I had a good time nonetheless. I loved her dance troupe, they brought the stage alive, especially when she performed my personal favourite Rhythm Nation.

I was a little upset during the concert when a group of four girls, much taller than me, decided to stand right in front of me, even though I was standing where I was since much before them. I requested them to move and they refused. They were rude and ill-mannered and it took all of my will-power to stop myself from saying something awful to them. They were also double my size so I guess it was prudent to back off when I did. But for the rest of the concert I had evil thoughts of pouring water on one of them (the rudest of them all) or throwing stones at her. The extent of my anger surprised me but shouldn't all of us be intolerant of such thoughtless behaviour in a public place?

Aah...the familiarity of brands!

I have never been one for brands so I did not know what the big deal was about Tim Hortons opening up in Dubai. I had not heard of it earlier - it's a Canadian brand offering fresh doughnuts and coffee across Canada and USA. They now have a branch in Dubai and have set their sights on India and China as well. The Canadians in our office were excited about the launch and one of them bought the whole office doughnuts, which were fresh, as promised. So Tim Hortons is like our Barista, except that cafe shops were not part of my growing up years so my life goes on without entering one for months altogether. But I can relate to the excitement of something so familiar coming to the city you have moved to and it is nice to be part of someone else's excitement as well. Like the time my husband and I went to Student Biryani - a Pakistani chain with branches in USA and now Dubai for it's mouth watering birayani.

And that's where we also had Pakola - The Cola of Pakistan for the first time.


I'll probably be ecstatic if Gokul - my favourite pav-bhaji and ice-cream hotel in Santacruz (W) opens up a branch in Dubai :)

Conversation with a 7 year old

Conversation with a 7 year-old today -
Kid: Auntie, it's my birthday today. Will you come to my birthday party at McDonald's in the evening?
Me: Isn't the party only for kids?
Kid: No, it's also for bigs.

A pleasant surprise in the newspaper

I was pleasantly surprised when I read this article in The National yesterday which was about Trevor Scott-Briggs, a former rugby player who sustained serious spinal injury earlier this year. After months of being in hospital he took his first steps to recovery on Tuesday. He thanked his family for their support and then went on to thank my radio station - Radio 2. He said that he found the songs on Radio 2's breakfast show inspiring and they helped him to stay positive.
As someone who is in charge of the music on Radio 2 I sometimes find my job dull and monotonous but this article made me realize the reach and impact of radio and how simple decisions I take at work can affect so many people.

Here is the link to the article -
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/health/rugby-player-stott-briggs-winning-his-hardest-battle

The Box Appeal

If you are in the U.A.E and would like to do your bit towards charity try out the Box Appeal. This is an initiative I had heard of in the past in which the Red Crescent distributes shoe boxes in the U.A.E. People are urged to fill these boxes with personal items such as anti-bacterial soap, shampoo, towels, shaving cream, razor etc. The boxes are then given to labourers in the U.A.E. There was a time when the Human Rights Watch described the conditions of labourers here as being 'less than human'. Most of them are from the Indian subcontinent. This is something you can easily do to show them you care. The campaign is on till September 15th and it takes about twenty minutes to fill up a box. Boxes can be picked up and returned at any Radisson Blu hotel in Dubai.

Countdown to Iftaar

Ramadan is on which means that we cannot eat or drink in a public place during the hours of fasting, infact it is a legal offence to do so. It also means that restaurants come up with great Iftaar buffet offers and the social calendar fills up with Iftaar dates with friends and family.
I saw this today - I've seen countdowns to New Years or the opening ceremony of the Olympics but this is the first time I have seen a countdown to Iftaar. I totally understand the sentiment though - I would be counting down to Ifaar everyday had I been fasting.

It's so hot in Dubai now that.....

...I have to hold my steering wheel with tissues so as to be able to drive when I leave work at 4 p.m.

...The hanger in my husband's car seat bent to an unrecognizable shape

....The dashboard of my car states that the temperature outside is 36 degress at 11 at night!

....My colleague believes that his fillings might melt if he steps outside

....My cat has taken to sleeping in the wash-basin or in my flower pots to keep his cool

....My plants have died and my cat uses the flower pots instead

.....Weekends have become stay-at-home days and nights

....I have taken to having oats for lunch since I can't be bothered walking to the cafeteria to pick up food

.....My sunglasses fog up each time I step outside

.....I've started going to the gym five times a week because there is not much else to do (grin)

It just gets worse...

Got a mail from admin today that read - During the holly month of Ramadan general working hours will be reduced by two hours.

Then overheard a colleague say - Oh! He's spelt Holy wrong. Shouldn't it be 'Wholly'?

What kind of mushroom is this?

I've never had much of a green thumb and the summer in Dubai thwarts any ambition of developing one. So I don't know how to react to this mushroom growing on one of my dying plants. What kind of mushroom is it? Is it poisonous? Should I uproot it or let it grow? How did it start growing in the first place? Help...

A spooky first

There have been many firsts in my life since coming to Dubai but by far this is the spookiest. This is the building I live in and as far as I know this is the first time I have lived in a building a murder has taken place in.

Summer pinks?

If ‘winter blues’, the more common way of referring to Seasonal Affective Disorder happens in winter, when the sun is hardly up, surely summer should give rise to ‘summer pinks’ or Seasonal Heightened-State-of-Bliss disorder. And I guess some people in some parts of the globe do experience that as well but it is diificult for one based in Dubai.

I almost melted after my seven minute walk from the car park to office this morning. It was only 35 degrees then and the maximum temperature is expected to be a horrible 45 degrees! And after reaching office I realized that I had forgotten my deodorant home so I borrowed some from my cubicle-mate. The fact that he would have deodarants for men seemed irrelevant when one is melting in one's sweat but now here I am writing this post - smelling like a man!

It’s only July and things will get worse next month and in September. I took this picture on a lovely wintry evening (as wintry as it can get when you are based in Dubai anyway) earlier this year while walking to the car park from office. What a contrast to how things were this morning!


The RTA has warned us of more accidents in summer because tempers are flying and drivers are prone to road rage then. I believe the RTA intends to start counselling for people who've been in accidents this summer.

I hope summer goes by quickly till then I just have to make a superhuman effort to stay cool, especially when at the wheel!

Is this for real?

Spotted in one of the tiny shops in the Spice Souk, Deira

Leh - Ladakh

A trip to Ladakh was on my mind for the last few months so when my favourite tour organizer Women on Wanderlust (with whom I had gone to Bhutan two years ago) advertised their upcoming tour to Ladakh I jumped at the offer. My vacation started on a funny note when my Australian colleague asked me not to tell him about my personal life when I told him that I was going to Leh (lay) on my vacation! I was apprehensive about the kind of company I would have in the week to come but that turned out to be the least of my worries. Our group was made up of sixteen wonderful women, each an achiever in her own way and we were never short of things to talk about.

Unlike in Bhutan I realised that here you do not easily get a glimpse into the life of a Ladakhi family unless you consciously go looking for it. That’s because the schedule is so tight what with visiting Shanti Stupa, the Gurudwara, Alchi Monastery, rafting in the Zanskar and the long drives through Khardungla and Changla and much more. The only Ladakhis I got to know well were our three wonderful, funny and entertaining drivers whom I was really sad to say good bye to on the last day.

Words do not come easily to me while describing the place, especially Pangong Tso, so I will leave it to the photographs to do the needful. However for people who have travel to Ladakh and Bhutan on their wish-list I would suggest that they go to Ladakh first. The monasteries in Bhutan are beautiful and stay in your mind’s eye for really long and one invariably tends to compare other monasteries with them.




I tried not to compare the two but couldn’t help myself and hence found that I liked the outdoors, the Pangong lake, the Zanskar river, the high mountain passes to be more of an attraction of the region than the monasteries. Infact the Shey Palace is poorly maintained and it saddens one to see that and one can easily give Sindhu Ghat (where most of the Ladakhi public ceremonies take place) a miss unless there is something happening there at the time of visit.




Our driver Raja had told us ‘Mumbai ke fashion aur Ladakh ke mausam ka khabie bharosa nahin karna chahiye’ but we were lucky to have been blessed by the weather Gods throughout our stay. The mountain passes are not easy to navigate and we had to wait a couple of times when a vehicle broke down on the pass or when a truck got stuck and almost pushed off the mountain while making a turn. I knew that this vacation would need me to be physically fit and I managed the long drives at the high altitude with no medication but I was very breathless and giddy at Khardungla and on the way up to Changla. I wish I were as adventurous as this group of French bikers whom we saw at Khardungla. The average age of their group must have been 50! And my colleague just told me that a marathon is likely to take place in Ladakh in August this year. It starts at a village across Khardungla and ends at Khardungla. The world's best athletes are expected to take part in this 237 km marathon that is expected to last 70 hours.


All in all Ladakh is worth a visit. I wish the place were better maintained though. The Leh market is filthy, shopping is a poor bargainer’s nightmare (but I love the turquoise and coral prayer wheel I bought there). You breathe in diesel fumes almost all the time and there are stray dogs all over the place. The tiny eateries that sell yummy Maggi look questionable with regards to their hygiene standards. There are few public toilets and they are almost always unusable. And yet Ladakh is worth a visit. There is something in the air there and you feel very connected and close to nature in that place...

Signs in Leh

I just got back from a very refreshing vacation in Leh and a detailed post on it will follow soon but to start with here's a peak at some of the sign posts one gets to see there. I loved the 'Please after close the door' one which I saw on my very first day there outside a toilet at Shanti Stupa -

The Border Roads Organization are commendable not only for the roads they have built in the world's highest passes like Khardungla and Changla but also for the signs they have put up at regular intervals that make you smile. These are just a few that I managed to click - the rest of the time I was gasping for breath in the high altitude!

Shakira Shakira

Yet another concert and yet another opportunity to watch one of my favourite singers and this time it was Shakira. She was in Abu Dhabi, as part of her only Asian appearance of her 'When the sun comes out' world tour. Amr Diab, a well-known Egyptian singer was supposed to go onstage first and Shakira was supposed to come on at 10 p.m. I timed myself accordingly and drove the 110 kms to Yas Island, looking forward to a great concert.
Shakira did not disappoint the thousands of people gathered there to watch her. The only hitch for me was that I had to catch most of the concert on the side-screens since the crowds made it impossible to go near the stage. Shakira being pint-sized and with me not being tall either I could hardly see her on stage. Despite her singing so many Spanish songs that I don't know I still enjoyed the concert. She is an amazing dancer and I particularly enjoyed Waka Waka, Hips don't lie, Loca Loca and her oriental style rendition of Metallica's Nothing else matters.
Shakira also proves another point - Short is sexy!

Me in Gone with the wind...

According to Oldbooth, an application in iPhone 4 this is how I will look when I grow old. I think I can pass off as a house servant or slave on the Tara plantation of Gone with the wind.

India, The World Cup & Cricket

Ok - I admit it - I am finally liking cricket...loving it is more like it. For someone who always thought that cricket was a slow game, took the whole day to watch, lacked excitement and was over-hyped I have now fallen for it - and how! Yes, it took an India-Pakistan World Cup semi-final to finally realise this and now I am being greedy - I want the World Cup! Here are some pictures of the celebrations on the roads of Dubai after we won last night.

I badly need a vacation and since I cannot take one till May I get by by looking at these photographs I'd taken last month. These are in Fujeirah and I love the hues of the mountains and the blue of the sea and the many seagulls...

Stevie Wonder in Abu Dhabi

Stevie Wonder performed at Yas Arena, Yas Island on Friday night and it was one of the best concerts I have attended. Since the radio station I work for was broadcasting live from the venue I was there from 3 p.m. onwards and had the good fortune of watching Stevie and his band practice on stage for almost two and a half hours before the gates opened.
And when he came on stage later in the night he performed to a crowd of more than 10,000 people. To say that he was fabulous would be an understement. He performed for almost three hours and sang some of his best tunes - Sir Duke, Signed sealed delivered - I'm yours, My cherie amour, I just called to say I love you, Do I do.... He was also very funny and had the crowds in splits often.
Stevie Wonder Shukran for coming to the U.A.E.

Overheard in office

So the other day I heard my Indian colleague tell my Brit colleague on phone - You come there straightly and I will join you from here.

Tigger mauling kitchen towel

This is what we found our 8 month old tabby boy do in our kitchen this morning -

Federer Vs Djokovic

Watched Federer vs Djokovic in the finals of the Dubai Dutyfree Tennis Championship almost three weeks ago but did not find the time to write about it earlier. For a tennis enthusiast like me it was a dream come true to watch two of my favourite players, but the match was disappointing. It was Djokovic's match from the first game onwards and he won in straight sets. But I was lucky to catch Fed-ex in superb form in his previous matches, from his serves of 211 kph to his fast and silent movements across the court. I wish he had put up a fight against Djokovic!
Leaving you with some pictures of the match -