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.