Bouncing Board

Post on Istanbul almost a month later!

2011-12-13T16:49:00.006+04:00

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...

2011-10-17T12:58:00.006+04:00

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!

2011-09-29T23:10:00.004+04:00

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

2011-09-09T15:20:00.002+04:00

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

2011-09-08T14:34:00.003+04:00

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

2011-09-05T22:04:00.002+04:00

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

2011-08-10T10:23:00.004+04:00

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.....

2011-08-09T12:51:00.002+04:00

...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...

2011-07-26T14:32:00.003+04:00

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?

2011-07-16T10:33:00.002+04:00

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

2011-07-14T18:22:00.002+04:00

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?

2011-07-12T12:15:00.004+04:00

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?

2011-07-11T11:09:00.003+04:00

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

Leh - Ladakh

2011-07-04T16:19:00.007+04:00

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

2011-06-28T12:54:00.006+04:00

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

2011-04-30T19:08:00.004+04:00

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...

2011-04-26T17:56:00.004+04:00

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

2011-03-31T14:46:00.005+04:00

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.

2011-03-28T17:05:00.010+04:00

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

2011-03-20T10:03:00.004+04:00

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

2011-03-17T12:31:00.003+04:00

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

2011-03-13T23:05:00.003+04:00

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

Federer Vs Djokovic

2011-03-02T21:39:00.004+04:00

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 -

Yet another reason to stay in shape

2011-02-07T16:42:00.002+04:00

A news report titled 'Fat rises for slim waists' in yesterday's papers states that according to a study in the UK women earn substantially more during their career if they manage to stay thin - but for men a bigger belly leads to a bigger bank balance. A woman who begins her career with a slim physique but gradually puts on some weight can expect to earn up to dirhams 59,000 (INR7,08,000) a year less than if she had kept the weight off!
Wonder what results a similar reseach in India would come up with...

Freak accidents

2011-02-06T15:12:00.001+04:00

I watched 127 hours over the weekend and loved it. I am so in awe of Aron Ralston. I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be trapped for five days, with your arm under a boulder and then amputating your arm because that’s the only way to get out and survive. There’s no telling when a freak accident can happen to one.

And then there is this news report in today’s Gulf News about how a truck driver drove over a 1.5-metre-long metal piece that was recklessly left on the four lane highway. The truck’s front right tyre burst and the thick metal piece flew up and fell on a Bangladeshi cleaner’s leg and sliced it off! The poor cleaner’s leg was amputated from above the knee. Honestly the tag-line of 127 hours cannot be more apt – Every second counts.

P.S. (for anyone who is interested) - In the process of writing this post I came across this web-site www.freakaccidents.org

The sandstorm and the rain

2011-01-31T21:41:00.009+04:00

My husband and I were supposed to drive to Umm al-Quwain with some friends last Friday. Umm al-Quwain is one of the seven emirates of UAE and lies 70 kms to the North-East of Dubai.

We left at 1:30 in the afternoon on a relatively clear day so when the sandstorm hit us we were unprepared and taken by surprise. Just five minutes into the drive we could hear the
winds blow and a few minutes later there was sand everywhere. Our car started vibrating and visibility dropped to zero. Radio stations interrupted regular transmission to give frequent traffic updates. We could see toppled over garbage bins in the middle of the road, fallen barricades and uprooted trees. The papers the next day said that the sandstorm left a trail of damage in it’s wake.

Since it was a weekend there was not much traffic on the roads and we were able to continue driving with hazard lights on. The photographs are those taken from my Nokia mobile phone, while in the car.

Visiblity improved when we entered Sharjah and it was raining by now. At Umm al-Quwain where it had rained already I spotted a rainbow – very faint and low. It was the first rainbow I’ve seen in the UAE and unfortunately it was too faint to catch it on my mobile phone.

The sandstorm passed as quickly as it came and the weather was perfect on our drive back, but the tell-tale signs of the sandstorm could be seen. The topic of discussion on Sunday in office was where we were at the time of the sandstorm. I realized that I was luckier than some of my colleagues who had decided to go on a boat trip to Mussandam, Oman for the weekend. At the time of the sandstorm on Friday they were ready with their life-jackets on, saying their prayers because their boat was poised to capsize into the chilly waters of the Persian Gulf. Luckily for them no such thing happened and they came back saying that it was the best and the worst weekend of their life.

I got some good pictures on my phone. My favourite is this one of the beach at Umm al-Quwain -

Guns N Roses & Bryan Adams - in one weekend

2010-12-21T19:31:00.008+04:00

When asked how my weekend has been and what I have been up to my answers rarely vary. It's usually "Cleaned up the house...entertained some friends...watched a movie...read a bit ..." and so on... But last weekend was truly different. I attended the Guns N Roses concert on Thursday evening and the Bryan Adams concert on Friday and both were spectacular.

Not much of a rock fan myself I was at GnR on work since I was producing our evening show which was broadcast from the venue. The concert started at 10 pm on the dot and was followed by two hours of great music and brilliant production. I loved their rock rendition of the theme tunes of Bond and The Pink Panther. It was a high energy performance by Axl Rose, with him and the guitarists constantly running across the stage, good lighting and pyrotechnics - keeping the 21000 people strong audience enthralled. Abu Dhabi sure does know how to pull off an event!

The Bryan Adams concert on the other hand lacked the production value that GnR had but that became irrelevant once he started singing. My first reaction on seeing him was that he looked so much older than I had expected him to but obviously that has not affected his music.

The highlights of the concert for me, other than his singing Summer of '69, was when he sang 'When you're gone' with a girl from the audience. She was from Goa and was very impressive. He also performed with an Oud player from Lebanon, whom he had met backstage for just five minutes before the concert began. They were good together.
I will remember this concert as the first concert I attended alone and loved every minute of it.

Dubai has been good for me music wise. Since moving here I have attended concerts of George Micheal, Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Sir Elton John, Bryan Adams, Santana, GnR, Nelly Furtado, Jonas Brothers, Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and more. My dream would be to watch Madonna and Abba live and I wish I had had the chance to watch Micheal Jackson in action.

Anyway...here's to many more concerts in 2011!

How long does it take to write a letter?

2010-12-15T11:08:00.002+04:00

I had made a resolution way back in July this year to write a letter to my sister's in-laws who reside in Germany. Having met them when in Germany I thought it would be nice to stay in touch with them after my return to Dubai. Letters would be the best way to do it since they are not internet savvy. For somebody who used to write letters very regularly about twenty years ago this tiny task took on mammoth proportions. My letter writing got pushed to every 'next weekend' and here I am five months down the line without a written word. With Christmas round the corner I have decided to make amends by sending them a Christmas card. I have finally managed to type and print the letter and hope to make it to the post-office early tomorrow morning to post them.
How long does it take to write a letter and when did I get so lazy?
While on the subject of letters I caught Aparna Sen's new movie 'Iti Mrinalini' (The unfinished letter) It was part of the Dubai International Film Festival which is on these days. I liked it, though there are some disappointing errors in the use of props and costumes which are meant to be of the eighties. Konkona Sen Sharma is such a brilliant performer. I hope the movie wins the People's choice award.

View atop the Burj Khalifa

2010-11-27T18:48:00.007+04:00

I finally went up the Burj Khalifa last week and here are the pictures. (double click on image if need be) They are taken from the observation deck on the 124th floor of the building. The Burj Khalifa has 165 floors in all. I was fascinated by the lift that takes one up there. It is supposed to be the world's fastest lift and goes up to the 124th floor in just one minute.

F1

2010-11-09T22:24:00.006+04:00

The Etihad Airways Formula 1 Grand Prix is due to take place at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, this weekend. This year's race is more exciting than last year's since it will be the deciding race of 2010 F1 season. My radio station is the official media partner of the event and I've been to Yas several times lately for meetings. I do not follow the F1 races but today I realized that it is difficult escape the excitement when actually at the venue. These are the pictures I took from my mobile phone -

I also caught a glimpse of Italian F1 driver Jarno Trulli and our very own Karun Chandhok. Mark Webber of Red Bull was checking into the Yas Hotel while we were leaving and he was happy to pose for a picture for me. He stands at number 2 in the rankings so far with 238 points, but experts say that it could be anyone's race this time at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Display at New York Fries...

2010-10-31T22:46:00.005+04:00

Off to the races...again!

2010-10-12T16:25:00.005+04:00

So it was that time of the year again when the Dragon Boat Festival took place as part of the Adrenaline Sports Festival in the capital city of Abu Dhabi. This year too I volunteered to be part of the Radio 2 team which was supposed to be a mixed team with a minimum of 13 men and 5 women in it. We had asked our listeners to text us, if interested in being part of the team, and the response was overwhelming. This time we were hoping to do better than our previous races in which we had come last in all the races!

Training sessions took place on two Saturdays before the event from 2 pm to 4 pm in the waters behind the Shangri-La Qaryat-Al-Beri hotel. We were trained by professional dragon boat racers and it was nice to once again respond to commands like Paddles up, Stop the boat and to row to shouts of 1 to 10. In our second training session we had an excellent coach Yanni, a Canadian citizen of Romanian origin who has been a coach for more than thirty years. This particular training session was intense and Yanni helped us focus and gave us the strategy of starting with 10 powerful strokes, followed by 10 quick strokes and then covering the rest of the 200 metres on a steady count of 1-2 with long and relaxed strokes done in unison. The result of the training was an aching back and arms but confidence levels were up since we won the mock race held that day against two other teams.

The day of the finals dawned and our first race was scheduled for 11:40 am. There were six teams and we came third covering 200 metres in 1 minute 5 seconds. Our timing was good enough to get us into the semi-finals with the next race scheduled at 3:20 pm. It was a warm day and we had to make sure that we were not dehydrated. We came first in the semi-finals timing 1 minute 6 seconds which was very good since the wind was against us. For the first time ever Radio 2 entered the finals of the Dragon Boat Racing Festival.
Our final race was at 4 pm the next afternoon. This was the finals of the Corporate Plate category and although the excitement and commitment was great our performance was not and we came sixth in a very closely contested race. It woud have probably taken a miracle to make us win since the other teams were professional dragon boat racers. On the bright side of things we were the sixth fastest team out of the 43 teams in this category and were also the best Radio team since the other radio stations lost in the first round itself.

Three things that I realized over the last three weeks – I love dragon boat racing. It gives me a high and I love being in the waters and being part of a team sport. Secondly being short really helps since the shortest person in the team needs to be on the last row of the boat. Last but not the least we have some wonderful people listening to our radio station. Out of the 18 member team only 3 of us were staff and the rest were our listeners who put in a lot of passion and time into this. Two of them could not make it to the finals because they were aching too much but they arranged for a substitute and were there to cheer for us.

Damn....was a second late on 10/10/10

2010-10-10T11:47:00.002+04:00

Sign in a hotel close to my house

2010-10-02T22:41:00.001+04:00

Not bad, huh?

2010-09-06T12:35:00.001+04:00

When I got an email from the Lecturer of the Multimedia & Graphic Arts Department of the Cyprus University of Technology saying that the photograph I had taken of the Rock of Aphrodite, Cyprus, was selected for research and a possible publication I was thrilled to bits.
The photograph (one above) is part of the many I had put up on Picasa after my vacation to Cyprus in June 2009. The Cyprus University of Technology left a comment for me on Picasa, more than a year after the album was put up online and I signed the consent letter today.
For a photograph taken from a simple point and shoot camera the result is not bad, huh?

Bright-time or Night-time

2010-08-31T12:03:00.003+04:00

Over the lunch table yesterday my colleague was telling me about her four-year old’s way of describing day and night. It’s so simple and uncomplicated - for her it’s either bright-time or night-time. That prompted me to pen down some other beautiful moments I have spent with children that have either left me spellbound or speechless.
Another friend’s three-year old daughter Neha, was showing me her storybooks and pointed to the picture of Billy Goat’s family – youngster, father and grandfather and said ‘That’s Appa Billy Goat, this is Amma Billy Goat and this is Neha Billy Goat’. How cute is that?
My little niece Aditi has always amazed us with her questions and comments. Once, she was irritating her mother with her continuous questions, and my sister grimaced, to which Aditi, then just three, asked ‘Mama why are you getting frustrated?’ And not too long ago their television set was not working and a very worried Aditi asked ‘Mama, is there a technical problem?’
And then there’s my three-year old nephew Mihir, who goes up to his mother and says ‘Mom, I have a terrific idea….’ When he was visiting us in Dubai he took to me instantly and was not so sure of my husband Aniket. So his way of addressing Aniket was ‘Kanchan Maama’ :)

I mean seriously...what is with her bathroom obsession?

2010-08-22T21:40:00.003+04:00

And no wonder my plants look harassed when she is around.

Nugget

2010-08-13T13:18:00.005+04:00

Little Nugget (my manager's kitten) is with us again, this time for more than ten days. She's grown and is still very naughty. She's taken a liking to all things linked to the bathroom, as is obvious from the pictures -

Holiday trivia

2010-08-03T20:46:00.008+04:00

I'm waiting for the weekend to write about my vacation to the south of Germany and Amsterdam. But here is a quick post on some things I learnt while on vacation -

This is the symbol for a Toilet, so if you happen to be at a place that is old, chances are that this is what you should be looking for, if you are looking for the facilities. I saw this for the first time at an 17th century brewery and again at the Neuschwanstein castle.

While in Fussen I noticed a strange system of house numbering. Now the norm is to have all odd numbered houses on one side of the road and even numbered houses on the other side. This is done to make it simple for guests, courier delivery services and postal services to locate the house they need to be at.
But couldn't quite figure out why some houses were numbered 51/2, 91/2, 121/2. I saw this in Fussen only and so I wouldn't be surprised if there is a story behind it. Wonder what it is...

Another thing that caught my eye was this - 20*C+M+B*10. I found this written in chalk on the main door of most of the houses in Germany.

I was told that it is how the singers of a chorus keep track of the collections they have made for Christmas. 20 stands for the millenium. 10 stands for the year. C+M+B stands for the three kings - Caspar, Melchoir and Balthasar, who went in search of Lord Jesus on the day he was born. Now since orthodox Chrsitians (followers of the Julian calendar) celebrate Christmas on January 7th, the collections for this year were made and Christmas already celebrated.

A fat me

2010-07-25T13:19:00.005+04:00

Back to work today after a lovely vacation. Ate lots and not surprisingly have put on oodles of weight and look like this -

OK, that's not entirely true. This image has been generated by the Fatbooth Application on the iPhone. A colleague has bought the iPhone recently and cannot stop playing with his new toy.

I must put this picture someplace where I can see it everyday to remind me of the consequences of over-eating and lack of exercise....

Last few minutes of my birthday....

2010-07-18T01:49:00.004+04:00

So yet another birthday, yet another year and yet another beginning. Just another ten minutes to go before my birthday ends, as per the time zone in Germany. It has been a great birthday spent with my sister and brother-in-law and of course the good old husband. My sister's in-laws baked me a cake and they made up for the absence of my parents here. Photos will be added on soon.
I'm writing this post in a slightly intoxicated state so you must pardon the exagerrated sentiments, but this is a great moment to thank everyone for just being there. Ever since I have got Feedjit installed on my blog I know who visits it. Thank you to everyone for stopping by. Must admit that there have been moments when I thought I was the only person reading what I wrote. A special thank you to the person following my blog from Los Gatos, California. Thank you. I would love to know more about you. I am planning a visit to California in April and cannot wait for that vacation!

A silent killer is on the prowl

2010-07-04T15:15:00.002+04:00

I leave for Germany day after tomorrow to attend my sister’s wedding there. I was in Germany last in July 2006 and had stayed for a couple of days in the beautiful city of Dresden with Lorna Lindner. Mrs. Lindner, as I called her, was my landlady in Mumbai. My dear friend Anu and I stayed in her spacious 1 BHK in Andheri East which we had rented from her. I was there from 2003 till I got married in 2006 and my friend Anu continues to stay there till today. Mrs. Lindner is a Manglorean, grown up in Mumbai and married to a German – Gerhardt Lindner. She was in Dresden, Germany for almost 20 years. She was in her early sixties and an extremely active lady with an excellent green thumb. She used to visit Mumbai every 2 years or so. As a landlady she was strict but also generous and our rent was always considerably lesser than prevailing rates in the expensive suburb of Andheri – a discount she had given us keeping in mind the fact that we were both single and fending for ourselves in Mumbai.

I wrote to Mrs. Lindner on Thursday to inform her about my trip to Germany. I wanted her phone number since I thought I’d catch up with her on phone since meeting her this time seemed difficult. The next day I got an email from her son Franz saying that his mother was in hospital, suffering from cancer and the doctors said that she would pass away in the next few days. He asked me to pray for her. The mail was so shocking and I was just about coming to terms with it when I got a call from Anu saying that Mrs. Lindner had died on Friday morning, maybe around the same time that I read the email from her son. I was in a daze for the next few hours thinking of the wonderful time Anu and I had with Mrs. Lindner when she visited us in Mumbai. We used to catch up almost every night, drink tea in our living room with us telling her about life in the media in Mumbai and her urging us to meet more people so that one day we would find someone to settle down with. The fact that both of us were unmarried was almost as much as a worry to her as it must have been for our respective parents. I remembered the time I spent with her in her cozy home in Dresden and how just less than a year ago Gerhardt and Franz had visited me in Dubai and I had sent a whole lot of stuff (mainly mangoes and marmite) for Mrs. Lindner.

She was in Mumbai earlier this year – from January to March and when she went back in April she learnt that she had stomach cancer. She lost her battle to cancer in just three months. What a shock it must have been to her family. Franz is only about 20 now. I am not looking forward to the phone call I will be making to Franz in the next week.

I am also alarmed at the number of people I know who have died of cancer recently. Just on the 20th of June I lost my uncle (father’s sister’s husband) to lung cancer. My aunt, his wife, died two years ago of stomach cancer. A neighbours’ boss’s wife is dying of cancer. Another friend lost her mother to cancer earlier this year.

No wonder Cancer is known as a silent killer.

My new Afro look

2010-06-30T16:45:00.004+04:00

So the weekend mood's kicked in already and everyone is fooling around in office which probably explains why there are lederhosens and afro wigs lying around our work stations. My colleague mailed this picture to everyone. Subject of the mail was - Missing Pointer Sister found

Sights in my office after England's defeat in the World Cup....

2010-06-28T17:35:00.005+04:00

The lederhosens came out and these brave English boys swallowed their pride and paraded the office in them.

What's in the mail......

2010-06-19T12:18:00.003+04:00

I'm looking after my boss's kitten these days. Her name is Nugget and she's adorable and this is what she does each time I check my mail -

R.I.P Rekha

2010-05-23T12:11:00.004+04:00

I have just come back to my seat after observing two minutes of silence in office in memory of Rekha who died in yesterday's plane crash. Rekha worked in the finance department of Gulf News and worked closely with our division. I remember her as a lady who attracted attention whenever she came to our side of the office because of her lovely sarees, her big bindi and the earthy colours she wore.She was off on her annual leave and was supposed to leave on Friday but pushed her tickets to Saturday instead since she still had to finish packing. Rekha, her husband and daughter died in the crash.
It was no surprise that by the end of the two minutes most of my colleagues were in tears. I have goose bumps on me as I write this post.
Rest in peace Rekha...

Musandam (Oman) - A perfect get-away

2010-04-27T21:58:00.009+04:00

We went to Musandam, in Oman, recently for a quick get-away from Dubai before the onset of summer. Musandam, otherwise known as Roo'uoss Al Jibal in Arabic is a peninsula separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates. It is where the Arabian Gulf meets the Indian Ocean, whose waters are called the Gulf of Oman. This is the Straits of Hormuz, separating the Gulf from Iran.

The quickest way to Musandam from Dubai is by road. We first drove from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah. The roads are good and sign posted and you get there in just over an hour. We were looking for the Al Dara exit point in Ras Al Khaimah. One needs to be alert as one gets closer to Al Dara because the sign posts disappear suddenly, but there are enough people around to guide you. The road leading to the border suddenly narrows down so one needs to drive carefully.

The process of entering Oman takes about 40 minutes including the formalities needed to be completed while you exit the UAE. The entry fee to Oman is 6 Riyals per person and for some reason only credit cards are accepted at the border. Once in Oman one needs to follow the signs to Khasab. Meaning fertility, Khasab is a peaceful town lying in a small harbor at the base of Wadi Khasab in Musandam.

The landscape changes almost as soon as you enter Oman. The roads are winding but well marked and a pleasure to drive on. The road to Khasab is lined by mountains on one side and the sea on the other.

Since ours was a day trip we did not have to hunt for a hotel to stay in. We came across the Golden Tulip Hotel where we stopped for a bit waiting for the lunch buffet to start at 12 noon.

The highlight of a trip to Musandam is the dhow cruise along the Fjords of Musandam which takes you into the Straits of Hormuz through the 16km fjord (Khor) The cruise is almost 4 hours long and there are a number of dhows along the Khasab harbour waiting for tourists.

One needs to bargain a bit and we managed to book our seats for 80 dirhams per person as against the 100 dirhams we were asked for initially.

Once the cruise began the sights and sounds that followed put us in a state of speechless marvel.

No words can describe the beauty of the spectacular mountains standing out in the middle of the sea with not a patch of green on them.

These naturally carved limestone mountains come in all shapes and sizes.

About an hour and a half into the cruise we came to the part of the Strait that is home to many dolphins. Very shy initially the dolphins later got into their playful best and swam along side our dhow. They are fast swimmers, it was difficult to catch them on camera. They swam next to our dhow for almost 25 minutes and we were told that we were lucky to see the dolphins at a time when they were active and awake. At one point we had a school of almost ten dolphins close to our dhow.

The cruise then took us to Telegram island where we could swim in the sea with the colourful fish.

I was wondering if there is a story behind the name of the island but no one seemed to know anything. The water was cold and swimming in it with a float was not as easy as one would imagine. As the dhow took us back to the harbour one witnessed the shadows on the mountains and the different hues of the landscape.

A few days after our visit to Musandam my parents visited me in Dubai. It is a pity I could not take them to Musandam because the UAE does not issue multiple entry visas. Hence one needs to fly directly to Muscat and then go to Musandam to see this scenic peninsula. There are plenty of opportunities to go snorkelling and deep sea diving here, so a trip to Musandam would warrant a two day stay for the more adventurous traveller.

Suspicious Minds

2010-04-18T15:40:00.003+04:00

I was in a bit of a pickle last week when a colleague's wife called me to keep an eye on her husband. They’ve been married just 6 months and she suspects him of hiding something from her. Apparently when with her, he avoids calls from one particular number and if she asks him anything about it he gets irritated. My job was to find out more since her instincts tell her that he is up to some mischief. Of course I wriggled my way out of this assignment but could not help thinking of Elvis Presley’s song Suspicious Minds -
We can't go on together
With suspicious minds
and we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds

As an aside, and also based on some experiences I have had in the past I wonder what it is with men? Is it so difficult to be loyal to one person?

Such is life.....

2010-04-12T15:35:00.004+04:00

Last Tuesday my colleague Noufal received a call from the police saying that his friend had met with an accident. Even before he could reach the hospital he got another call saying that his friend had died on the spot. Noufal took the rest of the week off to fly to India with his friend's body, attend the funeral and also take care of the paperwork involved in the two countries.

I met Noufal at work yesterday and we were chatting about how unpredictable life is. For Noufal this was the second friend he lost to an accident in Dubai in three years. This friend got married just eight months ago. Noufal's wife and daughter - just an infant of six months, are in Kerala and after this incident he is under pressure from family to either return to India or to get his wife and daughter to Dubai.

It takes something like this to remind us, yet again, of how precious lfe is. I hate it when I get those 'goody-goody' emails on life, love, time etc but this incident made me think about how true they are. It also gave me the chance to look at my life from another perspective - for the time being atleast.......

Talk about having your pulse on the city....

2010-04-06T22:21:00.003+04:00

Heard it on the radio today that select theatres in the U.A.E. are going to telecast IPL matches live this season. I wonder if this is already being done in cities of India. I think it's a great initiative and will take the IPL fever in Dubai to greater heights. Talk about having your pulse on the city - I wouldn't mind going to the cinema hall to watch the finals on the big screen. Wonder if it would be an ad-free transmission...

KKKP

2010-03-21T17:02:00.003+04:00

It's been a strange last few days with most of the people around neither in the best of spirits nor in the pink of health. Given that, we (my husband and I) were thinking of what exciting thing(s) we have to look forward to and we came up with this -
We have kind of adopted our building cat. He is our watchman's cat actually - very scrawny, temperamental, badly behaved, likes guys more and all that... We feed him every night and are very fond of him and I think the feeling is mutual. Lately he has taken to sleeping in the parking basement, right in front of my car, on his little cat bed which is a gift from us. He starts mewing as soon as he hears our voice in the basement and almost brings the roof down with the racket he makes :)
According to my husband feeding the cat is our duty - our Kartavya as it were and we make sure that we do our best. So no matter how tired or how late we go to the basement with his dinner every night. We have not met him the last few nights...he is around and is eating but it's just that we have not seen him. So the big question for us is - Will cat be there today? Now with only this much to look forward to at the moment how do we make the scheme of things more exciting? We turn it into a serial produced by Ekta Kapoor. We title it 'Kartavya Kat Ke Prati' and it's promo would be Kya Kat Khana Khaayega? Kya Kat neeche milega?? Kya Hoga Kat Ka???!!! (close up of Kat repeated thrice with him mewing helplessly) Kya Aniket aur Kanchan apna kartavya nibha paayenge???? (close ups of Aniket and me repeated thrice - Madras cuts as is known in editing jargon) Dekhiye...aaj raat 9 baje sirf Aawaazi #3 mein.....
So much for excitement in Dubai.......

The man in black

2010-03-01T14:45:00.002+04:00

I am not sure I know how to appreciate poetry but this one impressed me much. This came to me from one of the music companies I am in touch with. February 26th would have been Johnny Cash's 78th birthday. People were requested to wear black for the man who always wore black. I read out this song/poem in my book club meet and it was well received. The movie on Johnny Cash 'Walk the line' is one of the best movies I have ever watched. Take a minute to read the following song written and composed by Johnny Cash -

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

The RAK Half Marathon

2010-02-21T11:29:00.006+04:00

I took part in the RAK half marathon this year, an event known as the premiere road race in the UAE. My team was participating in the relay which meant that between the four of us we had to cover 21 kms. Since we had registered for this event in November I had a good three months in hand to train, but as always happens with me I started the training enthusiatically and lost interest somewhere along the line. I must have gone running a total of ten times in all and was travelling till the week of the marathon. The marathon took place on Friday, the 19th of February.
We had planned on meeting in office at 5 in the morning and then driving to Ras Al Khaimah. I had the blue bib which meant that I was the second runner, running from 5 kms to 10 kms. About 10 minutes after the start of the marathon we saw a group of runners pass through the 5 km gate. I never thought I would be someone who finds beauty in a marathon but the sight of that group of runners was one of the best I have seen in a long time. They looked like a flock of deer, agile and fit and not distracted by the cheering onlookers. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya went on to win the marathon. He covered the 21 kms in 59 minutes 41 seconds only.

Coming back to my running, Rakesh, our team's first runner finally made it to where I was. He was completely out of breath and started retching almost as soon as he stopped. There was no time to ask after his well being since I had to take the ankle strapped timer from him and move on. I started well but about 2.5 kms into the run my left leg started cramping badly and all I could manage was some brisk walking. It was only about 8 in the morning but the sun was beating down the left side of my face and at one point I thought my heart was going to burst out of my back and explode into a thousand pieces. I cursed myself for not having taken the training seriously. The thought that Florian, the third member of my team was waiting for me at the 10 km gate made me pull myself together and I managed to run the rest of the way. The last two minutes of the run - when the gate was in sight and all I had to do reach it - seemed the longest two minutes of my life. My team completed the 21 kms in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 55 seconds, which was better than how most teams fared. We really enjoyed receiving our participatory medals and were jubiliant about running the marathon.

If I were to run this next year I will make sure that I train thoroughly for the same, I ran 5 kms in 37 minutes and 59 seconds and I need to aim for 30 minutes next year.

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month

2010-02-01T19:47:00.009+04:00

On the first day of each month I am reminded of A pinch and a punch for the new month – something we sisters followed diligently through our childhood years. Infact we were very competitive and serious about it - the one who woke up before the others and pinched and punched more number of people on the first day of the new month was supposed to have a better month than the others. I never bothered to find out how or why we followed the P & P, I guess one of us read about it somewhere. Interestingly my online search on it today showed up the following -

Etymology- Originating from old England times when people thought that witches existed. People thought that salt would make a witch weak, so the pinch part is pinching of the salt, and the punch part was to banish the witch. The witch would be weak from the salt so the punch was to banish her.

As a noun - Said the first day of a new month, accompanied by a pinch and a punch to the victim. With all of us four sisters in different cities we no longer have the P & P, but that’s the first thing that comes to my mind on the first of every month. I have replaced the P & P ritual with Susan Miller. On the first of each month I impatiently visit her astrology site to find out what the month has in store for me :)

The Dog Show - Dubai, 2010

2010-01-30T13:03:00.009+04:00

The 22nd Dog Show - an annual event organized by Pedigree and K-9 friends took place yesterday. My husband, Aniket and I were there to get our quota - our year's stock of furry hugs and licks. Last year I volunteered for the event and ended up missing most of it, so this year I was the spectator. It was fantastic - dogs of all shapes, sizes and breeds. My favourites were the huskies. I saw two husky pups - just two months old and they were adorable. I worry about them though - huskies are not hot weather dogs and it seems cruel to keep them as pets, here in Dubai.

And then there was this four month old Lab pup - all black, except for his one white eyebrow. He showered me with his wet kisses and bear hugs -

We met Rocky - a seven month old Lab, imported from Egypt since you do not get brown coloured labradors in this region. Rocky lay down on his back and enjoyed the massage Aniket gave him -

We had an ice cream break with two lovely retreivers next to us -cooling their heels before their turn to walk the ramp :)

There was also the tent specially for the Salukis - the oldest known breed of domesticated dogs. Their weight telling little of their strength, speed and endurance.

I got the chance to buy a lovely huge bone for my 5 year old lab - Rolf, whom I will meet when I go to Pune next month. We've also planned on adopting a kitten as soon as I'm back from my vacation. I hope we really do go ahead with it!

A date mix-up

2010-01-07T22:35:00.003+04:00

My boss Fiona, an avid F1 fan, was delighted to receive an invitation today from the Yas Marina Circuit to the launch of the 2010 events calendar. But she didn't know what to make of the invite which read -
Dear Media partners Yas Marina Circuit is pleased to invite you to the launch of the 2010 events calendar.
WHEN -
12:00 Tuesday, 13th January
WHERE -
F1 Press Conference Room, Yas Marina Circuit
Please RSVP no later than 4:00 p.m. on Sunday 12th January.

She looked up her diary to check her schedule and realised that Tuesday is the 12th and not the 13th and how can Sunday then possibly be the 12th? We made a joke of it saying that the event organizer was probably referring to calendars of two different years while drafting this invite- In January 2009 the 13th was a Tuesday and the last time the 12th of January happened to fall on a Sunday was in year 2003. But on a more serious note I wonder if the person responsible for this error still has his/her job considering this invite was sent to all media partners.
An expensive typo error to overlook if ever there was one!

The longest middle finger

2010-01-07T22:18:00.003+04:00

So the Burj Dubai..oops the Burj Khalifa finally opened it's doors to the public on the 4th of January, 2010. I got this text message that day-
Today Dubai has shown the west it's longest middle finger...

2009 gets a blue moon sendoff

2010-01-01T18:19:00.004+04:00

Loved this picture taken last evening of the blue (full) moon and Burj Dubai in the same frame. The New Year's Eve full moon is what's known as a blue moon, because it's the second full moon in a month. Blue moons occur about once every two and a half years, which is the origin of the saying "once in a blue moon."

Beyonce....

2009-11-06T20:22:00.005+04:00

I was reading about how Beyonce took the MTV Europe Music Awards by storm and won the Best Female singer, Best song and Best video award. Going by what I read her performance in Berlin was too good to be true and I would not have believed it had I not watched Beyonce in action last Thursday. The Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place on the 31st of October at the new Yas Marina Circuit at the Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. There were concerts by Beyonce, Jamiroquai, Kings of Leon and Aerosmith to mark the occasion. Since my radio station was the official station for the Grand Prix I was lucky enough to get passes to some of the concerts.

I have always enjoyed Beyonce's music ever since she was with Destiny's Child. I went to the concert not knowing what to expect and came out a total fan of hers. Beyonce is a superb performer - she sings beautifully, her moves are sexy, the number of costume changes she manages in a concert are the most I have seen ever, her band is an all-woman one and all in all what they put together is memorable and worth every penny spent on the fast selling tickets. She is an excellent entertainer and knows how to engage the audience. Everyone, including me, was in a frenzy and the one and a half hour concert seemed to get over all too soon. She sang Crazy in love, Naughty Girl, Single Ladies and ended the concert with Halo. She also paid tribute to Micheal Jackson while she was singing Halo and touched a chord there. She ended the concert on a promise - that she will always give her 100% to entertaining and said that it is a tradition of hers to sing Happy Birthday to anyone in the audience who happens to celebrate his/her birthday that day. Of course, all hands went up when she asked if it was anyone's birthday :)

It was a priviledge to watch Beyonce perform and I hope we have many years of good music from her to look forward to.

Two things that stayed in mind

2009-10-28T22:02:00.004+04:00

In the midst of a lot of work in office and the busiest quarter of the year was Diwali. My in-laws spent a week with us here and thankfully, because of their enthusiasm, Diwali felt like Diwali this time.
My husband and I were waiting at the airport to receive them and I noticed two things that stayed in mind. I love airports...I love the anticipation of travel, I love watching the people around and when I am at the airport time seems to fly faster than it would any place else. The flight from Kolkata to Dubai had just landed. I first noticed an elderly woman, on a wheel-chair, waiting for somebody to come to fetch her. The guy who was pushing her wheel-chair waited about five minutes and then started getting impatient. He was from Bangladesh and spoke to her in Bengali and asked her if she had the number of her relatives in Dubai. He then gave her his mobile phone and waited while she made her call. My heart went out to her when I watched her. The way she looked so lost, searched her big purse for the small notepad that had the telephone number in it, and her concentration while listening to the voice on the mobile phone. Reminded me of my grandmother..... Eventually her son (I'm assuming) came to get her and I heaved a sigh of relief. He may have had valid reasons for being late but can anything be more important than being on time when an old parent has come visiting?
The second incident was even more touching. Another lady standing close to me asked me if I was waiting for someone on the flight from Kolkata. She said that she was waiting for her son who should have been out by now. She then went on to say that he was a slow learner which was why she was worried about him. I asked her if he was very small to which she said that he was 26 years old and would surely respond if he heard his name announced on the speakers. While my husband went to the Emirates customer service to ask if an announcement could be made she told me that her son was coming home to Dubai for Diwali. About three months ago she admitted him into what she called a 'rehabilitation centre' ( My understanding is that it is a learning centre) in Kolkata. He was in a centre in Mumbai before that but she found that place to be very commercial in their approach. He seemed to be happy in Kolkata and this was his first ever flight alone. It was a busy night at the Dubai airport last Thursday and we were advised to wait another thirty minutes before making an announcement for him. About twenty minutes later her son came out and there was sheer relief, both, on his face as well as hers. The way they greeted each other is something I will remember for a long time to come.
In just about an hour at the airport that night I felt I had witnessed different aspects of being a mother and these two things will stay in mind....

Julie and Julia

2009-10-07T22:41:00.003+04:00

I just got back from the premiere of Julie and Julia and loved every bit it. Meryl Streep is excellent, as usual, and Amy Adams (this is the first movie of hers that I watched) is very endearing. After stepping out of the cinema hall, having watched this movie, one is tempted to either go into the kitchen and cook something exotic or sit at the computer and update one's blog. I chose the latter :)
I could associate with every step of Julie Powell's journey into the blogging world - from selecting the template, to naming the blog and to the excitement on getting a comment. I also loved the tagline of the movie - Passion. Ambition. Butter. Do you have what it takes?
It reminded me of the days when I used to work on the Priya Tendulkar Talk Show that was telecast on Star Plus, this is way back in 1997. I used to put in long hours at Priya's place, which was also my office and would feast on the food cooked by her cook-cum Man Friday - Bahadur. He used to put a lot of oil in his food and I soon started feeling the inches around my waist. On complaining he used to say "Memsaheb....khaane mein tel jitna jyada utna khaana swadisht hota hain!" Julie annd Julia seem to follow the same philosophy - the more the merrier (butter)
The movie also reminded me, yet again, of what a stress buster cooking can be. I am now motivated and hope to start trying out the recipes in the Kashmiri Kitchen (a book on Kashmiri cooking a very dear friend gifted me last year)
Julie and Julia is a must-watch. Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach.

Online friends

2009-08-22T16:02:00.002+04:00

There was a phase, not too long ago, when my husband was hooked on to some chatrooms and had made some new 'online friends'. They discussed books, movies and politics and he seemed to enjoy his interaction with them but I always wondered - Are online friends real friends?
Curious to know what the experience is like I entered an Indian chatroom on Meebo and got talking to a young medical student from Ahmedabad. We exchanged names and some generic details and soon this guy asked me what kind of a chat I wanted. Nervous about what to answer I said a general one. I must admit that my chat with him was extremely boring but what was unnerving was his level of dependance on his chat-mates. No sooner had I chatted him than he gave me his personal email ID and asked for mine. Not too comfortable with sharing my details I politely refused. Soon he got down to begging for it and scared the living daylights out of me. I have not visited Meebo since :)
Some of my husband's colleagues spend their spare moments in office chatting with their online friends. Some have fictitious chat names and a separate account for chatting purposes. I personally get very uncomfortable when I hear of something like this. I guess I am old fashioned in many more ways than I'd like to admit. But I cannot help but wonder - are online friends real friends?

My new car

2009-08-17T21:25:00.003+04:00

Since my blog and the one and a half people who follow it have witnessed my transition from a nervous trying-to-learn-to-drive person to one who finally got her license in Dubai it seems only fitting that I post the pictures of my car on it. It's a Peugeot 207. It's my first big purchase ever but what makes it special is that it is a symbol of my success in overcoming a deep rooted fear. Now that I have been driving to and fro work for more than a fortnight, that too on a busy road like Sheikh Zayed road, I can confidently say that the only way to overcome fear is to attack it - persistently and to give yourself loads of positive reinforcement.

For my nephew who grew up in one day

2009-06-30T18:58:00.003+04:00

Ever since I can remember, my cousin’s children Akshay and Avanti have been the apples of my eye and all through the years of my struggle in the media in Mumbai, they have been my reason for living. They are aged 25 and 21 respectively, but I always seem to think of them as kids, eager to take them out for a movie and some ice cream and fattening junk food thereafter. My nephew is studying Audio Engineering at SAE Byron Bay (Australia). After I heard about the controversial attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, I enquired after Akshay’s well-being and when I read the email he sent in response I realized that he’s no longer the little toddler I used to carry around what seems like just a few years ago. I guess I was so caught up in my own world that I didn’t realize that Akshay is now an adult and someone who thinks independently and expresses himself beautifully. As I read his mail I thought to myself " He sounds so grown up. Where was I when he was growing up?" I felt like I was reading an email from a friend or a colleague and I suddenly saw my nephew for what he is - another individual capable of taking care of himself and not someone I need to mollycoddle anymore.
I’m pasting part of his email –
“There is a bit of a media hype about the whole racism violence and I'm pretty sure that the attacks are more opportunistic than racist. However, I cannot deny the fact that Indians are easy targets because it is our nature to shut up and tolerate rather than defend ourselves with twice the power that we're attacked with. But all said and done, if you roam about in any part of this planet at unearthly hours all alone, you're bound to get robbed or beaten up!

Byron Bay is absolute paradise though. There is absolutely no hint of racism here and Indians are really respected for their modesty, simplicity and humility. Quite a lot of people have been to India and are in absolute awe of the place, and they love our culture. In fact people here respect and treat me a lot better than most Indians do!!!!”

Time flies and while we think we are in touch with the people around us, we may not in reality be as connected as we think we are. It takes something simple like this to drive the point home that time and tide wait for no one. Incidentally I am writing this on the last day of the month of June. I cannot believe that half the year has gone by already and the second half starts tomorrow!

Driving license and more.....

2009-05-31T18:36:00.003+04:00

I finally passed my driving test last Monday, in my third attempt, and am now the proud owner of a Dubai driving license. It is the talking point of my life these days - how I drove beautifully in those seven minutes of my test and how polite and patient the examiner was etc. It is all a matter of luck, I guess. The biggest challenge is to actually drive on a day to day basis and to gain confidence on the roads. Somehow my brains seem to go on a walk when I drive and I manage to get honked at even when there are only two cars on the road out of which I am one.

As I write this I am reminded of what my younger sister had said to me a couple of years ago. I don't remember what we were talking about - probably about learning swimming or some such thing and she said "Everything needs practice, except failure"

I hope to write another post soon on how much I am enjoying driving in Dubai. The traffic laws are strict and hence there is much more discipline on the roads here than I have witnessed back home in Mumbai or Pune. So this is probably the best time and place for me to perfect my driving skills.

So beware the roads/people of Dubai.....here I come!

A divine folly

2009-05-20T10:28:00.001+04:00

The biggest challenge about learning Arabic is to practice it in day to day life. I hardly get the opportunity to do that, but I make sure that I don’t miss the chance, if I get one.
There’s a popular Lebanese bakery close to my house – Al Reef bakery. It has the world’s best Falafel sandwich, shorma’s, grilled chicken etc. Another incentive for going there is the eye candy that place offers. Most of the chaps working there are great looking and that makes a trip to Al Reef something to look forward to :)
We buy Arabic bread from there often and I asked my Arabic teacher what I could say while asking for two packets of bread or ‘khubs’, as said in Arabic. The next day I went to Al Reef wearing my most confident smile and asked for two packets of Khubs in Arabic. The good looking man on the other side of the counter was speechless for a minute and I felt my confidence melt away faster than ice cream. I quickly repeated my order in English, picked up the bread and went home wondering what I had said wrong.

We had a good laugh in my Arabic class the next day when my teacher told me that I had asked for ‘Two Gods of bread’ instead of two packets of bread. The word I used was Rabbatain while I should have said Rabbtatain instead.
Needless to say I make sure that I am nowhere close to Al Reef bakery these days :)

A blast from the past

2009-05-11T21:18:00.006+04:00

I heard from an ex-colleague from Zee TV today and the call brought back memories of the wonderful years I spent there, from year 2000 to 2004. One of my best memories is of the time when I was the Executive Producer of a series known as 'Chausath Panne' which was a series of 64 episodic short stories. We launched the series with a successful story - Dil Naa Jaane Kyon, starring Kirron Kher, Ritu Chowdhury and Vikas Sethi.
Since I was working long hours on that project I developed a great rapport with the show producers Rupali and Pintoo Guha. They had submitted the proposal of this show to the Zee TV team a couple of months earlier and it came to my attention when I was in the Ideation team of Zee, then headed by Vinta Nanda. Eventually they bagged the contract and the show went on air.
It is amazing how people remember the tiny things you do for them. Rupali used to always tell me how much it meant to her to have a show on air. She and her husband went on to produce many more shows for the channel. I'm not in touch with them too often now, but I'm sure they're doing well for themselves.
Sometime in 2005, when I was with Zoom TV, I got a call from Rupali saying that I had to watch the episode of their second show on Zee - Tumhari Disha. Apparently in that night's episode they were introducing a key character - that of a lady police inspector and they had decided to name the character 'Kanchan Koppikar', as their way of showing me how much they appreciated what I had done for them! I was quite embarassed about the whole thing but it was too late to do anything about it - the episode was due to go on air in just a couple of hours.
As luck would have it I missed the episode that night, but my parents and sisters watched it and they said they were almost rolling on the floor with laughter when the show ended with the actress, playing the inspector, look straight into the camera and say "Mera naam hain Inspector Koppikar...Kanchan Koppikar" followed by three cuts of her close-up and highly dramatic background music. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me when I heard that.
Many months later when I met my future husband, he said that in an idle moment he ran up a search on my name on Google and didn't know what to make of the results that read 'Kanchan Koppikar is an Inspector........'

Change

2009-05-05T11:46:00.001+04:00

While we all know that change is the only constant in life I wonder how many of us stop and make note of the changes that happen in our life/routine/appearance/relationships in a very subtle manner but on an almost day-to-day basis.
The last few months have been hectic, to say the least, and the weekends are packed with household chores and social obligations. We attended two birthday parties (of two toddlers) over the last couple of months and realized that even the kind of social do’s we attend now are different from the kind of social commitments we had earlier. The demands on my time these days, due to the Arabic classes I attend after work, means that there is no time for exercise and I can feel the inches I am gaining, as much as I hate to admit it publicly.
I arrived in Dubai on May 16th last year and was totally lost in this city and was wondering if I would ever be comfortable here. But one year down the line this place feels like home.
We are expecting a new recruit to join our department today. She was made redundant, four months ago, from her earlier place of work and has been fortunate enough to get this job and today is a new beginning for her.
The point I’m trying to make is that circumstances change and the best thing to do is to go with the flow. Good things happen and then there are bad phases followed again by good times.
The last few evenings have been pleasant for this time of the year and I was telling my husband that I would give anything to have this weather stay and he said so casually that it must change, it is normal for the weather to change and that’s what got me thinking about how much changes around us constantly and we do not even realize it.

Of chakki fresh atta, theplas, helpful neighbours and Kitchen Table Wisdom

2009-04-13T22:43:00.005+04:00

Since I am born a Mangalorean I am a complete rice eater. At my parents house 'rotis' are not made at all. We used to make them earlier, for Doogie, our dog. After Doogie's demise last year my Mom stopped making them altogether. Given this background it is not surprising that I hardly make good rotis. I have been working on my roti making skills lately, but the biggest hurdle in my path was getting the right kind of 'aata' in Dubai. The search for the 'right aata' has been a matter of great discussion with almost everyone and anyone who seemed inclined to help, but alas nothing worked. For some reason Pilsbury too has not done the trick for me.

One weekend, sometime last November, my husband and I bumped into a young couple who had moved into our building, infact on our floor, that very evening. They too were from Pune - our city, and so there was an instant connect with them. Over the last five months the connect has grown stronger and now we are in touch with each other on a daily basis. We get together for impromptu dinners or breakfast and if any of us has cooked anything special we make sure it is sent across to the other. A couple of days ago, my new friend Rasika told me that she had found the best place to get 'aata' from in Dubai. It was from a flour mill which offers home delivery services promptly and at a very reasonable rate. She offered to place an order on my behalf since I am on a hectic schedule these days. Last night my seach for the 'perfect aata' ended and I now have two kilos of chakki fresh aata in my kitchen, all thanks to Rasika.

Incidentally, less than a week ago, I happened to catch my friend Meena online and asked her for her Mom's recipe for Theplas. I love Gujarati cuisine and Meena's mother makes the world's best theplas. Could there be a better start to my perfect aata? I made theplas for dinner tonight, under the watchful eyes of Rasika and they turned out really nice. I am sure they'll get better everytime I make them.

I'm reading an interesting book titled Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen. This book is about the moments of everyday life which help us connect with the deeper meaning of our lives. One of the points Rachel makes in her foreword is about how a sense of loneliness, alienation and isolation is prevalent in our culture because of the breakdown of the social networks that used to give us a sense of connection and community. And this loneliness is the real epidemic in our culture. I was thinking about this point Rachel made and realized that it is so true. I guess I am lucky to be discovering the joy of having helpful neighbours, whom you know you can count on at all times. Simultaneously, I am lucky to be exposed to the simple and undiluted joy of chakki fresh aata and of a tried and tested recipe.

Rachel also mentions that in the earlier days the kitchen table was the place where life stories and wisdom was shared with everyone. Well..the kitchen table may not be the place now, but I could not help but equate my blog and the blogs I follow to the Kitchen Table where one's experiences and stories are shared and a connect is made.

Musings at 2 a.m.

2009-04-07T02:03:00.002+04:00

I was thinking of updating my blog earlier today and was wondering what to write about. Could think of nothing interesting. It occurred to me that I wasn't sure of whether I drive my blog or whether my blog drives me. As in - do I try to do interesting things so that I can write about them or do I write about interesting things because I do them anyway? Still don't know the answer.

The last few days have been uneventful, the only saving grace being my Arabic classes that started about a week ago. I had forgotten how interesting and challenging it is to learn a new language. It's fun being a student again, to get new books and instruction sheets and a roll number. My classes happen thrice a week from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. and I rush from office to make it to my lecture on time. I'm amazed at our capacity to fill more things into our day when we put our mind to it. A couple of months ago I would have probably shuddered at the thought of doing something after work, but now I seem to be able to put in a long day at work, attend my classes after that and return home to other domestic chores and it all feels quite effortless (till now atleast). It's feels nice to have a full day and it makes the next free evening even more special.

Will end the idle musings of my mind on that happy note. It's almost 2.30 a.m. and will have to be up in a couple of hours to meet the challenges of another new day...

Bhutan

2009-03-30T22:03:00.011+04:00

Warning - Long Post

The best thing I have done so far this year or in the last decade or so is taking the break I just did and going to Bhutan. The Kingdom of Bhutan – the last Shangri-La and the jewel of the Himalayas is a must-see for any nature lover. What I had read about Bhutan before actually going there - About the size of Madhya Pradesh, perched high up on the snow-capped mountains of the eastern Himalayas nature and religion are the two things that stand out in this little kingdom. Its 8 lakh population with a colourful culture, tradition, unique architecture, peace and tranquility live in this unpolluted habitat, which makes Bhutan a unique destination. Bhutan is also the last bastion of Mahayana Buddhism. It is not merely the religion but the way the people live their daily lives. Its rich and diverse flora and fauna earned the world's recognition as one of the Top 10 Global Hot Spots. Bhutan opened to the outside world only in the 1960s. Planned development was initiated with Gross National Happiness as its development vision. Television and Internet found their way to the country only in 1999!

My experiences -
Bhutan turned out to be a delightful place, full of surprises and extremely peaceful and serene. A tip to anyone who wants to go there – please keep your camera handy at all times. Every sight makes a pretty picture. Our flight to Paro International airport was delayed due to bad visibility at Kathmandu. On days of good visibility one is blessed with the experince of flying above the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayan range between Kathmandu and Paro. It is a sight to remember. One of my friends took this picture on our return journey.

Paro airport is a small one, between two mountains and as soon as I took in the cool, crisp air of Bhutan I knew my vacation had just begun.

We were met by Raj, our guide for the trip. It is said that Bhutan encourages only a limited set of tourists each year to make sure that the number of tourists do not exceed the infrastructure of the country. Hence you need to book yourself through an agent and make sure that you have a guide for your entire stay. You cannot enter a monastery or a Dzong or museum without a guide. Since I had gone through Women on wanderlust all the arrangements were taken care of by Sumitra Senapaty – the founder of WOW. She is probably the first in India to start a venture that arranges tours only for women. I hope to go on many more trips with WOW.

Thimpu -
We first drove to Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. The drive from Paro to Thimpu takes about 90 minutes and is a very picturesque one. Thimpu is a very small city. The city centre square is surrounded by shops selling handicrafts popular in Bhutan such as thankas, statues of Lord Buddha, prayer bells, incense sticks and more. Bhutan is not thickly populated and the country has ensured that it has preserved it’s traditions and customs.

The national costume is widely used and is very nice. Women wear the Kira while men are dressed in the Gho. In Thimpu one does see some youngsters in jeans and trousers. We did the usual things in Thimpu like a visit to the Memorial Chorten, which is a memorial of the third king built by his mother, and then a visit to the School of arts and crafts. School education is free for boys and girls and since handicrafts is a major source of income in Bhutan every child is encouraged to study painting, mask making, weaving etc. We also went to the paper factory. Bhutan is an environment conscious nation. They do not use palstic and encourage the use of handmade paper. The paper factory in Thimpu is worth seeing, and the process is easy to understand. The biggest challenge for us was the visit to the Cheri monastery.

Most of the monasteries are located out of the main city and are generally up in the hills. They say that the energy in the mountains is very pure and doing your meditation there is a very peaceful experience. Raj had told us that the Cheri monastery would involve a half hour trek but it took us almost an hour to get there. I realised that day how out of exercise I was. My legs were shaking and I could hear my heart beat and it was a scary experience. So when I did reach the monastery my prayers were fervent and heart felt. Cheri monastery is a beautiful and simple one. One of the monks there asked me where I was from and when I said that I was from Dubai, he did not know where that was. That’s how cut off they are from the rest of the world.

Punakha –
Punakha is picturesque valley and the erstwhile capital of Bhutan. The drive from Thimpu to Punakha is a three hour one and over the Drochula pass which is at 3000 mts. The hills are green and the prettiest sight is that of the magnolia and rhododendrons, all in full bloom making the drive a very colourful one. On the way to Punakha there is a halt at the Chimi Lhakang which is a memorial built by the people of Bhutan in memory of the people of Bhutan who lost their lives in the war against the Assamese Bodos in December 2003.

This memorial has 108 stupas and inside each stupa is buried the weapons used in that war. It seems that people came from all over the country to help out with the building of this structure. No wonder I read somewhere on the internet that Bhutan is a country where life is respected in all it’s incarnations. Close to the memorial, a little uphill, is a fairly new monastery. I went up there as an after thought and am really glad I saw it. It is the prettiest place ever, with an impressive statue of Lord Buddha.
We went to the Punakha dzong the next day, where I went completely overboard with the photographs. A dzong is a place of worship and every city has it’s dzong so there is a Punakha dzong, a Paro dzong and so on. It is different from the monastery in that a Dzong is located in the heart of the city and is also a place where district administrative tasks happen where as a monastery is strictly a place of worship and is on the outskirts of a city. The Punakha dzong is located at the confuence of two rivers. The male river, known as the Pho Chho and the female river – the Ma Chho. Ma Chho is darker in colour (the one on the left) and gets it colour from the minerals of the rocks it flows on while Pho Cho is a lighter coloured river and is a snow-fed one.

Punakha Dzong was built in 1637 and it’s courtyard is impressive. The huge peepal tree was gifted to the dzong by Indira Gandhi who had visited the dzong with Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. She is the first woman to have spent a night at the dzong.

One cannot take pictures of the altar of the Dzong. It is a beautiful, calm and lovely place and no words will be able to potray the beauty and uniqueness of sacred altar of the Punakha dzong.

From the Punakha dzong we went to the Souvenir making centre supported by the Youth Development Fund. This place has some unique handicrafts and gift items and is an excellent place to do your gift shopping from. The rates are high in Bhutan but if you can bargain well you can walk away paying half the price quoted initially. The fertility temple is another popular tourist destination in Punakha. One has to walk through some pretty paddy fields for about 30 minutes to get to the temple.

There are monks there who can predict whether you will have a child or not. I had a long drawn process I’m a little wary of writing about though (let it be the little secret between me and my companions) before I finally got an answer based on the dice I rolled. It seems that I will have a daughter and I am supposed to name her Chhimi Dewa.

Phobjikha -

Phobjikha is a valley and is a two and a half hour drive from Punakha. Phobjikha means ‘Cup shaped valley’ and the place is the home of the highly endangered black necked crane which visits Bhutan from Tibet during the months of November to February. Since we went in March we could not really see the black necked cranes but were lucky to sight one crane. Locals told us that only two cranes were still in Phobjikha – one adult crane who could not fly back due to an injured wing and another baby crane, too young to fly back. I think we spotted the adult one thanks to Raj’s binoculars. It was very cold in Phojikha and it had snowed the previous night.

The valley has no electricity and our hotel runs on generators. We were told that there would be no electricity in our rooms after 9 p.m. and the only way to keep warm was with the bukharaas in each room. It was quite an experience. I’m not sure if it makes sense to go to Phojikha during months other than November to February. The place is pretty but it is too cold to go for long walks and exlore the surroundings on foot. Also the drive to Phobjikha is exhausting. However this is purely my personal opinion, we met a couple who stayed in Phobjikha two nights because they liked the place so much.

Paro –
We had a long, six hour drive to Paro the next day. One gets to see the changing landscape of this country as one drives through the towns of Bhutan. I liked Paro the most amongst all the our halts in Bhutan.

The National Museum in Paro is worth a visit to. The museum building is a erstwhile watch-tower and you get a fantastic view of the entire city from there. The building also has lovely and hidden staircases and passages which form the various levels of the museum. The collection here is vast and gives great insights into the history, culture and lifestyle of Bhutan. There is one section that gets a little spooky – the section where weapons and arms are displayed in an actual prison cell of the watch-tower. The room is cold, with high stone walls and no ventilation. Prisoners imprisoned there many years ago must have done some horrible things to be sentenced to imprisonment in those two rooms.

Another place worth going to is the Paro playground. If you are lucky to be in Paro on a weekend you must go to the playground to watch the archery competitions taking place. Archery is Bhutan’s national sport and the archers strike from a distance of 145 metres! As soon as a hit is made all the people on both ends of the game get together and dance a small dance. It’s nice to watch the game.

What I liked best about my stay in Bhutan and what I am going to cherish for a long time to come is the visit to the Taktsang or the Tiger’s Nest temple, the most revered temple amongst the Buddhists. This magical temple clings to a vertical granite cliff 800 mts above the valley. Legend has it that in the 18th century, Guru Rimpochey,(also known as Guru Padmasambhava) a Tantric master, flew here on the back of a tigress and meditated in a cave around which the temple is built. Most of our group decided to take the mules up the cliff, but three of us decided to walk up and I am so happy I did that. I had Sumitra for company and we made our way up in good spirits and at our own pace.

We took ample stops in between and caught our breath and finally reached the Tiger’s Nest after a three hour trek. The mules take one to the steps that leads to the temple. There are around 750 steps in all, some of them are steep, but they are not difficult to climb provided you do not run on them. By the time Sumitra and I reached the monastery most of the tourists were already on their way down. We therefore were the only two people in the monastery. The chants in the altar were reaching a peak and the atmosphere was magical and overwhelming. I cannot explain what it was to sit in silence, so high up in the mountains, with the lovely Buddhist chants the only sound around you. It was divine and that was the closest I have been to feeling God with me.

A visit to the Tiger’s Nest is a must for anyone wanting to go to Bhutan. I was chatting with a group of American tourists all above 60, trekking up to the temple. One of them asked me if I was a sporty Indian girl since she hadn’t seen too many climb up and I told her that trekking up was something I wanted to do for myself especially after my disastrous trek to Cheri monastery. She said that it is good to challenge oneself once in a while and I couldn’t agree more!
Paro is a shoppers’s delight and there are plenty of shops in the main market to buy all your gifts from. That evening we had a cultural programme arranged for us at our hotel. A lovely group of youngsters presented some of their cultural dances – some dances that are to appease the spirits of the land, some are performed during harvest times and some are based on the black necked crane. The movements of the dancers was graceful and all of them sang so well! The people of Bhutan are a very artistic and creative.

We had our flight back to Delhi the next morning and all of us left with a heavy heart. I loved Bhutan and I think the place deserves a second visit because there are so many other towns yet to see. The Bhutanese are simple, peace loving and hard working people. There is absolutely no begging in Bhutan. The people really do look happy and content with what they have. Some may insist on seeing the photo you have clicked of theirs, they get really happy when you show it to them. More often than not they are happy to stop and pose for the camera.

Traditions –
There are so many traditions but one that stuck in my mind is that of placing the Chahows. When one dies and is cremated a little ash is collected and mixed with clay to form these small triangular structures known as Chachows. The Chachaows are then kept in a place, generally on a mountain or in a cave, so that it will not get destroyed by the rain. It is kept in memory of the departed soul.

Prayer flags – These seem to be really important. You can buy a prayer flag based on the year you are born in. I am born in the year of the ox so I am meant to buy a brown coloured prayer flag.

Before going to Bhutan I was under the impression that since it is so close to India there will be a lot of overlap with Indian architecture. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Bhutan is a country with an extremely strong sense of individuality. All new constructions follow the style, design and colour they have always had. Not many people know Hindi but you do come across some people who speak Hindi fluently. The Bhutanese currency the Ngultrum is at the same value as the Indian rupee. So if you are Indian you can easily manage with Indian rupees but make sure that you do not carry 500 or 1000 rupee notes since small shops generally do not accept large notes. We, as Indians, are lucky to have such a lovely country as our neighbour and the fact that we do not need a visa to get there makes it so easy to plan a trip to Bhutan. I think the ideal period of stay in Bhutan should be 10 days or so. It makes sense to go with like minded people since this place might disapppoint someone who is keen on man made or urban attractions.
Last but not the least, I must say that I was completely floored by the company I had. We were ten women in all – from Singapore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. All of them independent, passionate about travel and some about photography too. Each one unique in her own way and I ended up sharing things about myself with them which I wouldn’t easily share with anyone else. I think the average age of our group was about 30 – 32. They are all women I hope to be in touch with for many years to come. When I got back to work last week my colleagues couldn’t stop remarking on how relaxed I look. I sent the pictures to my boss and now she knows why I looked the way I did. I hope the calm and serenity lasts for some time.

Replacing the why’s with the why not’s

2009-03-26T15:57:00.000+04:00

Last evening, while on my way home with my colleague Sunil, I got a call from the institute where I have enrolled for Arabic classes. It is the basic course and my classes start Sunday evening onwards. It is something I have looked forward to and was surprised when Sunil asked me why I’m learning Arabic.
I’ve just come back from Bhutan, where I was vacationing, and before going lots of people asked me ‘Why Bhutan?’.
I’ve been thinking about the question ‘Why?’ and realized that it is asked when one does something out of the ordinary and off the beaten track. So when asked why I want to learn Arabic I think Sunil’s ‘Why’ meant why not German or French or Spanish or any other popular foreign language. Similarly when asked why I am going to Bhutan one meant to ask why an uncommon tourist destination such as Bhutan and why not a more popular destination like maybe Egypt or Italy or Singapore.
I think it is something to do with our herd mentality and with seeking solace and comfort in numbers. Why not replace the Why’s with the Why not’s? Why not learn Arabic, why not go to Bhutan, why not do the things we’ve only read about other people doing but never done ourself?
While on the subject of funny questions I just remembered this incident – In September 2005 I had a serious attack of dengue fever and was in hospital for a week. I joined work a whole month later. A colleague asked me how I got dengue. I thought it is/was common knowledge that dengue is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito infected with any one of the four dengue viruses and since I didn’t have or know of any other exciting and creative method of catching that deadly fever I was wondering what kind of an answer to give her. The number of times I was asked how I got dengue was really not funny. Here again, I think, people meant to ask why and how dengue and why not the regular flu.
Must be really difficult for some to accept the uncommon.

The Airport Development Fee

2009-03-24T22:58:00.004+04:00

I have been travelling quite a bit the last fortnight and in the course of my travels I have paid the airport development fee (ADF) twice at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport. An amount of Rs. 1300/- each time I left the country.
I was at the airport yesterday to catch my flight to Dubai and was waiting in the queue to pay the ADF so as to get my boarding pass. Soon I heard raised voices and found out that a person in the queue next to mine did not have the money to pay the ADF. He was a middle-aged man, definitely not well-to-do and was looking very worried and helpless. He pleaded with the man at the counter but to no avail. He was sent to the airport manager’s desk to figure things out. His boarding pass was not given to him.
My heart went out to that man. Flights to Dubai are filled with people going there to work as construction workers. Theirs is a hard life, but I guess they take up the job so as to send some money back home to their families.
I had some Indian rupees to spare so I followed the man thinking that I could lend him the amount he was short of. Unfortunately just as I was getting close to where he was, my name was called out at the counter I was at. After I got my boarding pass I went looking for him again but he was nowhere to be seen.
While awaiting the boarding call I kept looking out for him, wondering what happened to him. Fortunately he made it to the flight. As I was entering the aircraft I overheard the girl in front of me tell her companion that she was short of money because she had to spend for the ADF and said that the airport authorities told her that the newspapers had published news of the ADF and so travellers should be aware of it. There were no boards put up anywhere in the airport informing passengers of the ADF.
My cousin had dropped me to the airport yesterday and as we approached it we saw the construction in progress for the new airport. It is massive and I’m sure it is going to be impressive. But after what I witnessed yesterday I wondered whether the man I saw or the girl I heard would ever enjoy or be proud of it. I wonder if they will shop in the duty free shops or drink coffee in the plush cafeteria of the new airport.
Incidentally, after I reached home last night, I looked at the receipt I got from the airport. It was a receipt of payment for excess baggage, with the words ADF written in hand in an almost illegible scrawl.
Why is it that when we dream of something big the execution of it is so small, unplanned and insensitive?

Happy Holi?

2009-03-11T18:43:00.015+04:00

It is Holi today, it is a beautiful full moon night and the radio stations are playing Holi songs, but other than that there are no visible signs of Holi in Dubai. I don't mind that. For the last decade or so Holi and the days approaching it used to fill me with a dread that increased with every passing year. It started one year when some women in the ladies compartment of a local train I was in were hit by a balloon. The trains in Mumbai are so crowded that a balloon hurled at you unexpectedly can easily make one lose one's balance or grip on the handles. The consequences could be fatal. Surely this is something everyone understands? People used to target the ladies compartment and I often wondered what is so amusing about watching women try to duck the balloon when they are barely able to stand comfortably in an overcrowded train.
I was once hit by a balloon that was filled with violet coloured water. It was two days before Holi and I was in a rickshaw on my way to attend an interview. My clothes were stained and I could not bring myself to say Bura naa maano...Holi hain!

Over lunch today I was speaking to Shaheen, my colleague, about my experiences of the past. Shaheen, like me, is from Mumbai. She was once hit by balloons, thrown at her, from the top of a building. She had her two young sons with her then - one asleep on her shoulder and the other was holding her hand. Both kids below four years of age. It made me wonder why anyone would want to target someone like Shaheen to throw a balloon at. Not one to get pinned down or give up easily Shaheen went to confront the children who threw the balloon at her but they hid when they saw her approach. She then went to the local police station and made sure that the constable on duty gave them a sound warning. They weren't children really...most of them were teenagers.

Where has all the fun gone out of Holi? When I was growing up Holi was all about plenty of water, colour, laughter, food and great fun. They were innocent games that lacked the aggression that seems to be so dominant these days and when we threw a balloon at anyone, we didn't need to scurry for cover later. I'd rather have those memories of Holi than the more recent one's.

For me these days it is Bura maano...Holi Hain. It is a scary, painful and aggressive Holi :(

A medley - death, me, holiday, husband...

2009-03-08T00:28:00.005+04:00

About ten days ago while on my way to work I got my first panic attack. It was a beautiful day, very pleasant and cool, I was going to office to a job that I love and was reading a light novel by one of my favourite authors - Sophie Kinsella. Everyone was going about their business and there was nothing out of the ordinary that prompted the attack. I don't know what, in the midst of my reading, made me suddenly think of death and the more I thought about it the more uncomfortable I became. So much so that my heart beat accelerated, my palms got sweaty and I lost all desire to go to work.
I have thought about death a lot and I find the subject scary, daunting and terribly mysterious. For all my study and practice of pranic healing and for all my understanding of the concept of the soul and it's evolution that day the thought of death scared the living daylights out of me. I felt despair, felt that life was futile - why do anything at all if I am going to die one day? All I could visualise was a dark, black void and me alone in it.

Eventually work got me busy and drove all other thoughts out of my mind but by the end of the day I came to realise two things -
1. It was not the idea of death as much as the idea of being alone that really scares me.
2. The thought of me being my own companion gives little solace, which is not an encouraging thought at all.
I love my 'me time' but at the same time I am terribly dependent on some people - the pillars of my life - my husband, family and some select friends. I cannot imagine life without them and just incase a day comes when I have to live without them I am not geared up for it at all.

While I can work on being less dependent on them I need to work more on enjoying my own company. The first step towards that has been taken - I'm going on a vacation alone. Actually I'm not really alone, there will be 9 other women with me. I don't know any of them, but the point is that I am going without any of my pillars. I'm going to Bhutan for a whole week and I know that I'm going to miss my pillars terribly but I'm going ahead anyway. It is my treat for myself and the idea is to enjoy my company.
So Bhutan, here I come...

P.S. - Must also admit that Bhutan is happening because I was tired of waiting for my workaholic husband to confirm our vacation plans, so I simply made my own without him.

Found this on the internet -

2009-03-06T23:58:00.004+04:00

For anyone who didn't see David Letterman's take on this: (And it's a true story...)

On a recent weekend in Atlantic City , a woman won a bucketful of quarters at a slot machine. She took a break from the slots for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room. But first she wanted to stash the quarters in her room. 'I'll be right back and we'll go to eat,' she told her husband and carried the coin-laden bucket to the elevator.

As she was about to walk into the elevator she noticed two men already aboard. Both were black. One of them was tall... very tall ...an intimidating figure. The woman froze.. Her first thought was: 'These two are going to rob me.' Her next thought was: 'Don't be a bigot; they look like perfectly nice gentlemen.' But racial stereotypes are powerful, and fear immobilized her. She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anxious, flustered and ashamed. She hoped they didn't read her mind but gosh, they had to know what she was thinking!!!

Her hesitation about joining them in the elevator was all too obvious now. Her face was flushed. She couldn't just stand there, so with a mighty effort of will she picked up one foot and stepped forward and followed with the other foot and was on the elevator. Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the elevator doors as they closed. A second passed, and then another second, and then another. Her fear increased! The elevator didn't move. Panic consumed her. 'My God,' she thought, I'm trapped and about to be robbed! 'Her heart plummeted. Perspiration poured from every pore.

Then one of the men said, 'Hit the floor.' Instinct told her to do what they told her. The bucket of quarters flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collapsed on the elevator floor. A shower of coins rained down on her. Take my money and spare me, she prayed. More seconds passed. She heard one of the men say politely, 'Ma'am, if you'll just tell us what floor you're going to, we'll push the button.' The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He was trying mightily to hold in a belly laugh. The woman lifted her head and looked up at the two men. They reached down to help her up. Confused, she struggled to her feet. 'When I told my friend here
to hit the floor,' said the average sized one, 'I meant that he should hit the elevator button for our floor. I didn't mean for you to hit the floor, ma'am.' He spoke genially. He bit his lip. It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing. The woman thought: 'My God, what a spectacle I've made of myself.' She was too humiliated to speak. She wanted to blurt out an apology, but words failed! her. How do you apologize to two perfectly respectable gentlemen for behaving
as though they were going to rob you? She didn't know what to say. The three of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.

When the elevator arrived at her floor they then insisted on walking her to her room. She seemed a little unsteady on her feet, and they were afraid she might not make it down the corridor. At her door they bid her a good evening. As she slipped into her room she could hear
them roaring with laughter as they walked back to the elevator. The woman brushed herself off. She pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband.

The next morning flowers were delivered to her room - a dozen roses.
Attached to EACH rose was a crisp one hundred dollar bill.

The card said: 'Thanks for the best laugh we've had in years.'

It was signed;
Eddie Murphy
Michael Jordan

I would if I could...

2009-02-27T13:41:00.008+04:00

Another two weeks to go for me to be back home in India after more than six months, the longest I've stayed away from home ever. I was making a list of things I want to bring back with me and thought of the many other things I would carry back if I could. Like -

Rickshaws and the (mostly) friendly rickshaw-wallas, especially those outside Andheri station. I know now what prompted Himesh-bhai to include them in that scene of Aap Kaa Suroor shot in Germany.
The sound of the local train announcer at Andheri station - such a familiar and comforting one.
The smell of the Raat Rani which instantly reminds me of Pune and lazy, long summer vacations spent reading, playing and drinking nimbu-paani.
Wada-pav
Twinkling stars I see shining above my parents house in Pune. I have not seen a single one in Dubai ever.
Electricity cuts and the swearing thereafter, followed by the sounds of the hunt for a candle which later graduated to the hum of the inverter.
Unexpected visitors dropping by to say hello. I used to hate it when it happened but now I don't even know my neighbours.
Long and friendly chats with Suman - my erstwhile cook and Amlu - my domestic help with whom I have shared many a cup of coffee.
The women in the ladies compartment of my favourite 9.46 to Churchgate. All those who asked me my age, marital status, family background, religion, caste and mother tongue in our first and only encounter.
Stray dogs and the occasional lick or wag of tail.
The racket the 12-odd cats at my mother's house make the moment Amma is out in the garden.
A nice, hot cup of tea made by Amma
Good friends and long therapeutic chats with them.
Sunday as part of the weekend.
That part of me which I've left behind in Mumbai which is probably roaming aimlessly between Andheri and Lower Parel.

The list is long and unending, but these are some of the things I would carry back with me if I could...

The Dubai pet show

2009-02-23T16:31:00.012+04:00

This weekend was a wonderfully dog-filled one for me. On friday morning I volunteered for a garage sale organized by K9 friends, a non-profit dog rescue organization. The sale was held in a villa and my job was to be of help to the people who came there and to help with clearing up after the sale. This was my first garage sale ever and I was amazed at the things people donate and the things people buy. There was almost everything imaginable on sale and most of them got sold too. The rates were affordable and people went away with cartons full of stuff. We raised over two thousand dirhams that day and didn't go back home empty handed either. I bought two cassettes on 'how to learn arabic' and a book I've been wanting to read since long - Mark Haddon's - The curious incident of the dog in the night-time.

The next day I volunteered with the Pet show organized by K9 in association with Pedigree. I was supposed to help out at the judges ring but since a lot of volunteers did not turn up I was given duties at the entrance where I had to sell the entry passes. Luckily my friend Divya was also with me and we had a blast. The pet show was a great success with more than twenty thousand people attending and about 500 dogs participating in their various competitions and shows. There were dogs of all shapes, sizes and colour there. Since we were at the gate we missed most of the shows but managed to catch a few minutes of the Dubai police dog show and Abu Dhabi police dog show, both of which were very impressive. I was particularly taken in by the fancy dress competition and could not stop taking pictures of the poodle dressed up as a stewardess of the Emirates Airlines. There were other dogs dressed as angels, pirates, superman and one as slumdog :)

Divya and I realised that it takes a lot to volunteer. We were at the gates from 8.30 in the morning till 4 in the evening. People were coming in almost every minute and the bright sun wasn't making things any easier. There were moments when the temptation to forget the volunteering and enjoy the show as spectators was great, but then we thought that this was a choice we made and it is these things that make the difference so then why not? That kept us going and no regrets since. The perfect end to the day for me was to find out that Coco (one of the dogs I sponsor) has found a home now. What more could I have asked for?

Happy Thursday!

2009-02-19T15:11:00.004+04:00

Happy Thursday! – These are the words that greeted me, as I walked in my office today. Claire, our receptionist greets every person in our building with these words every Thursday and we all marvel at her enthusiasm and cheer. I like to catch up with Claire when time permits and that girl does not fail to amaze me.
Claire is not an employee of my company. She is recruited by an agency, at a salary that really could be better than what it is now. She stays in Deira and takes the public bus to work, which means that she has a one hour commute to work one way, and on days of bad traffic (which is very often) she is stuck on the roads for more than two hours one way. She is required to put in twelve hours of work daily. So she is up at 5, at work by 7, leaves office at 7- a whole twelve hours later and gets home only by 9. She says that the only thing she manages to do after getting home is eat and iron her clothes for the next day. And yet, every morning she is at her desk, juggling between phone calls, visitors, courier guys and all of us and smiling through it all.
Friday and Saturday is the weekend in Dubai, so Thursdays are special days for Claire and us, so she makes sure she spreads the cheer of Thursday around. She amazed me yet again recently when I out that she works six days a week and is at work every Saturday. If I were her I am sure that would have diluted the pleasure of ‘Happy Thursday’ for me but then, if I were her I don’t think there would have been greetings of ‘Happy Thursday’.
So here’s to Happy Thursdays and to Claire and to how she finds pleasure in the simplest of things. And also to how that pleasure seems to only increase with every passing week.
Happy Thursday all!

The Williams sisters

2009-02-17T23:35:00.009+04:00

The Barclay's Dubai World Tennis Championship is on these days and I got the opportunity to go for the player's party (women) today. It was a quiet affair and I was lucky to get pictures of Venus and Serena Williams. I was hoping to get to photograph Anna Ivanovic and Sania Mirza too but they had not come in till I left.
I am not much of a fan of the Williams sisters. Somehow I miss the grace that Steffi Graf brought to the game, something which I think Anna Ivanovic does now. Just an hour or so before the party Serena won a thrilling match against Italy's Sara Errani.
Although I did not recognize most of them, it was nice to see the players chill, get some henna applied and enjoy the belly dancing. Serena Williams left the venue at the same time as I did and I saw her dance to the music as she walked, a light-hearted side of her we don't get to watch too often.

My driving...the saga continues....

2009-02-17T13:43:00.002+04:00

…so I am still struggling with my driving lessons. The latest is that I am waiting for my new instructor. I have asked for a male instructor now only because all the lady instructors seemed to get really nervous when I drove (I think I’m infamous in the driving school and can feel all eyes on me when I enter the yard and hunt for car no. 79). My last instructor resorted to chanting prayers loudly, with me sitting right next to her, especially after I bumped into the dustbin (which was very embarrassing because I was driving at a speed of 40, in the yard of the driving school, with no incoming traffic). I am hoping that my new instructor is the calm sort who keeps his cool in all manners of adversity. And I’m not being sexist or anti-feminist; I’m just following my instincts and feel that a male instructor might finally be able to do the trick.
Asking for a male instructor was quite a task in itself. I first needed a no-objection letter from my sponsor (my office in this case). Then my office came up with the assumption that no wannabe lady driver can get a male instructor even if she wants one. So then I had to tell them that I had checked with the driving school and all I needed was a no-objection letter, so surely they cannot object to my having a no-objection letter? Then they told me that since they do not issue letters of this kind often, they wanted me to write out the contents of the same. So then I wrote the letter and managed to get it from them on a letter head. Phew!
I went to the driving school all armed with the no-objection letter and was told that I needed another no-objection letter saying that I do not object to myself having a male instructor. Thinking that I imagined the conversation I clarified again whether I really needed to give that letter considering that I myself had asked for a male instructor for myself. But apparently you have to have something like that on record, especially for the road transport authorities, so I promptly wrote out that letter too. It’s been three weeks since the surreal experience of writing a no-objection letter for myself, and I’ve been told that I’ll be assigned a new instructor soon.
I’m hoping that he will be all that I hope and pray for! My husband, in the tender moments of our new marriage, after he sat in the car while I drove, told me that I drive like a brainless twit :)I wonder what kind of a reaction I will get from my new instructor.
On a more serious note I wish people would take me seriously when I say that I cannot move more than two body parts at the same time. I’ve known this all along, and using my eyes, hands, legs and brains while driving is too much for me to handle. I also believe that I was born to be driven around, but my husband just ignores me when I say that.
So, I am still struggling with my driving lessons…………….

The Dragon Boat Festival

2009-02-15T12:19:00.005+04:00

I hadn’t even so much as heard of dragon boat racing all these years and in the last three months I’ve participated in a dragon boat race twice already. The most recent one was on Friday at the Dragon boat festival and it was only because of my office that I got to take part in a fun festival such as this. Dragon boat racing is a serious passion for many in this part of the world, and not everyone thinks of it as a fun sport. There are teams that are extremely dedicated and serious about it. They are also a delight to watch, an epitome of team work and co-ordination and one look at them made it clear to us that we were going to come last, which we did :)
Since we all work different hours we could not go for any training session and it is a miracle we managed to keep the boat afloat. However we did manage to stand out as a team all due to the mad streak in my colleagues. The motto of our team was Mission Sabotage; we wore pirate hats and went on the boat with huge supplies of water guns and water balloons :) and in true pirate-style we growled at other teams passing by, hoping to intimidate them.
On my way back home from the event I was thinking about how lucky I am to be with people who are so fun loving and young. Not only my colleagues, but also the other team members who simply laughed when we threw balloons at them or attacked them with our water guns. I thought we’d probably get beaten up for our behaviour but it was all taken in a sporting manner. Though secretly I would have loved for us to win I feel that we were the jesters who added the fun and lightness to a highly competitive sport, and I quite liked being on that side of the fence :)

The Chinese connection :))

2009-02-12T15:11:00.012+04:00

My colleagues and I ordered lunch from a chinese restaurant today. I placed the order on phone. Look what they've done to my name :-)

Does every day have a motif?

2009-02-12T10:13:00.001+04:00

Last night, on my way back home from work, I was thinking about what this week had been like and I came up with an interesting observation. Almost all days of this week seemed to have a motif.
On Sunday I found out that three of my friends were pregnant.
On Monday I made friends with two dogs, whom I bumped into accidentally. One does not come across dogs in Dubai the way one does in India. There are no stray dogs here and for some strange reason I have met very few people who have adopted dogs. So coming across two absolutely adorable dogs, in one day, was a treat for a dog lover like me.
On Tuesday, I witnessed a minor road accident on my way back home from work. A few hours later my husband came back home and said that he, too, witnessed an accident on his way home. (And we were not talking about the same one)
On Wednesday, my day began with a very happy mail from my sister, who had to still get over the fact that she actually saw Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras in action. They were playing at the SAP Open, the annual tennis tournament held in the Bay area. And in the evening two of my colleagues were extremely thrilled to get a photograph with Shaggy, who had come to our radio station for an interview. Shaggy is performing in Dubai this evening. Celebrities, and the excitement they bring to the lives of some people seemed to be the motif yesterday.
This made me wonder – does each day have a motif or is all of this just a random coincidence? Maybe there are days when the motif is subtle – maybe in the form of an emotion or a thought form and hence we do not even realize that it’s there, and then there are days like this week’s where things happen and you go – I just heard of something like this a few hours ago and here it is again.

The things people do for a living!

2009-02-10T09:51:00.007+04:00

Over the weekend I was at the Burjuman mall and saw this display of dresses, accessories and a range of fashionable items designed by Nikolas Fric. What was different about them was that they were all made of balloons. Apparently Nikolas Fric is a well-known balloon artist and his technique is known as the Nikoloon System.
The things people do for a living! Took some pictures on my cell phone, the designs are worth a dekko.

Funny, or not funny: that is the question

2009-02-07T21:42:00.006+04:00

Every thursday morning we have a meeting in office to discuss new programming ideas for the breakfast show, which is the flagship show of any radio station. I was asked to think of ideas that would pull in Asian listeners, mainly Indians, since there is a large Asian population in Dubai. Our station is a classic english hits station and we tend to get very 'English' at times so we need to do something to give us a more universal appeal. I thought of doing a quiz on bollywood songs that are copied from or based on english one's. Mainly play a part of the bollywood copy (like Mere rang mein rangane walli), ask listeners to guess the original and then play the original song (The final countdown - Europe). Since music is a universal language anyone can participate in this quiz, regardless of their nationality.

While our programming head liked the idea he was concerned about how this would go down with our Indian listeners, both in Dubai as well as our online listeners abroad. What if they are sensitive and what if this hurts their sentiments? This was a tough one to answer considering the frequency and ease with which the sentiments of some sections of our society gets hurt these days. Someone might take offence to our questioning the creative genius of some of our bollywood personalities. I find the ease with which some music directors and film-makers get 'inspired by' other works extremely funny and I'm hoping that atleast some of my fellow countrymen see the humour in it too. Time will tell....

Incidentally I'm trying hard to recollect the hindi song based on Neil Sedaka's 'Oh Caroll, I'm so in love with you'. Please help anybody....

And also many thanks to Shakespeare, he was my 'inspiration' for the title of this post. Couldn't think of a more fitting one than this!

Bowling, dancing and more......

2009-01-30T10:37:00.007+04:00

It was my boss Fiona’s birthday yesterday and she took us out bowling. It was good fun and at the end of three hours I had chipped off the nail of my thumb and my right hand was aching. It still is, as I type this….
Having fun is the new mantra so I didn’t want to decline an invitation to go dancing with my colleagues last Thursday night. Since I have two left feet and cannot move more than two body parts at the same time I was terribly conscious of everything I was doing on the dance floor. I wouldn’t dignify the action by calling it dancing! I’d stepped into a discotheque after about two years and had almost forgotten the ‘moves’. It was fun eventually….
And then there’s my neice Aditi, all of two years and four months, learning to dance and not self-conscious at all. As her Mom says – Dancing is her newest thing. I got these photographs today. My sister labelled the photographs 'Pillu-dance' :-)

Heidi's angels....

2009-01-29T12:24:00.004+04:00

While on the subject of miracles here is the photo of my cousin Sheela's dog – Heidi’s pups. They were born on the 27th of december last year. 9 of them, all adorable and most of them have already got homes they’ll be going to soon. Saying bye to them is going to be tough for my cousin’s family.
Presenting Heidi’s angels (from left to right) –
Tike (Bully amongst the males)

Kiara (The princess)

Simbi (The athlete)

Honey (The babe, perfect in all ways)

Spice (The naughtiest of the lot)

Sugar (Sw-e-e-t, but loves to bully)

Simba (The lion, an apt name for him)

Kovu (The obedient one)

Apollo (My sister’s darling...he was born in the car, youngest of the lot)

Eat, Pray, Love

2009-01-29T10:55:00.002+04:00

I’m reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love these days and can’t seem to be able to put the book down. It is simply written and so profound and heartfelt. I love the bits where when troubled, she writes to God and gets a reply!
I’m a complete believer in God or the Supreme Presence as I prefer to call It and I’m going through a phase of deep gratitude these days. I’ve heard so much about the Universe conspiring to give you what you want, if you just ask for it. I experienced it earlier this week when my Mom had a bit of a panic attack regarding the state of my parents’ finances and how they would manage their bills and other expenses. I told her that the money would come when needed and sure enough the next day I got a very decent bonus from office, as part of the quarterly commissions. Decent enough to wipe my Mom’s worries away. This is not short of a miracle for me, considering I’m still on probation and get confirmed only later next month.
This made me realize, yet again, the power of prayer. I’ve altered my prayers slightly these days. I’m asking the Supreme Presence to help me realize the purpose of my life and to give me a sign that tells me – This is the purpose of your life, now do your best to serve it.

Myths

2009-01-22T13:40:00.005+04:00

The other day my colleague Rashmi sent me a forward on interesting myths and facts that she felt would have been a good read on my blog. They were great and got me thinking about all the myths I’ve grown up with and how they got broken eventually. The truth, they say, is painful and in my case I would say they were part of ‘growing up pains’. Anyway, here goes –
Myth 1
Santa Claus exists – For the first decade of my life I truly believed that he did. I blame my Mom for this. Every Christmas Eve, from the late seventies to the early eighties, my parents made us hang stockings near our bed, and we used to wake up next morning thrilled to see our gifts and sad to have slept through Santa’s arrival. I was shattered when I found out that Santa does not exist, that was one of the first rude shocks that I got!
Myth 2
Using Carefree or Stayfree makes you a happy person – Granted the advertisements did not say so specifically but as a child I remember watching these mighty happy and chirpy Carefree/Stayfree using women on TV and used to yearn for their state of mind. The myth was broken the day I gained ‘adulthood’. Grin…
Myth 3
The sacred fire gives you your babies – This is probably the mother of all my myths, but with all the emphasis on the ‘pavitra agni’ (sacred fire) in our good old Bollywood movies I actually thought that once the couple finished the ‘pheras;’ the bride got pregnant, and I thought it was a miracle the fire performed. When a seven year old watches a marriage scene followed by a ‘mein maa banne waali hun’ scene, what else would she think?
I once embarrassed my Mom at a wedding by asking her if the bride was pregnant now that the pheras were done. Little did I know then that getting pregnant is a different ball game altogether (pun intended)
Myth 4
There is a God saying ‘Tathaastu’ all the time – My parents forbade me and my sisters from saying anything bad about anyone/anything. Why? Because there’s a God saying Tathaastu (So be it) all the time. Is this one true? I’d like to think that it is, but my colleagues laughed at me when I told them this. So I still don’t know….
Myth 5
Soaking yourself in sea water makes you lose weight - In December 2005, I went to Goa with my colleagues from Zoom TV. I love the sea and those were the days when I thought that soaking in sea water makes you lose weight. So the minute we got to the beach I used to run in with my back to the sea, hoping to lose some weight off my ample backside. My colleague Mansi noticed me do this and told me that there were no shortcuts to losing weight.
Exactly a year later my husband and I went to Goa on our honeymoon. Imagine what my new husband would have thought of me had this myth not been shattered…Thanks Mansi - you don’t know this, but you saved my marriage!

Foresight

2009-01-19T10:47:00.005+04:00

Over the weekend I volunteered with Foresight - a Dubai based organization helping to accelerate a cure for blindness, caused by hereditary eye disease - particularly Retinitis Pigmentosa. Foresight was participating in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon and had a team running for them, but more importantly they were there to support Katy Newitt, Foresight’s Chairwoman, who aimed to be the first visually impaired person to complete the full Dubai marathon (a whole 42 kms)

Foresight had a stall at the venue and was selling T-shirts, caps and pins for charity. My job, as a volunteer, was to sell as many T-shirts as possible, encourage people to donate and to give out Foresight brochures. This was the first time that I was working with the Foresight team and I loved the way they embraced a new volunteer. There were no questions asked – you just had to put on a Foresight T-shirt, quickly learn the rates of the items being sold and begin.

Being a person with passive interests I have stayed away from marathons so far, not knowing that it can be a place of great activity even for a bystander for me. There were so many people, from all over the world, who had gathered there, despite the rain, to cheer the runners. There were lots of people stopping by our stall hoping to get some freebies but there also were many who bought T-shirts or simply stopped by to put money in our charity box. We sold out the caps and had few T-shirts left by the end of a few hours. I had interesting companions in the form of Alison, a teacher by profession, who was now freelancing so that she can volunteer for such causes more often. Also Joyce, who had got her ten year old son along with her and he seemed to be having a great time. Like me, it was her first time too with Foresight. There was Joanna, a working woman wanting to do something meaningful in her spare time. All in all it seemed like one large family getting together for a common cause.

Katy finished the marathon in four hours, forty eight minutes, a commendable achievement and a record of sorts. We raised approximately two thousand two hundred dirhams from T-shirt sales and donations - money that will now go to Foresight's new research project.

I often think of how difficult it must be to have to live without one of your senses. My father, now 74, has lost 70% of his hearing and my heart goes out to him when I see him try hard to lip read, or intently try to catch every word we say to him over the telephone. It’s not easy to have hearing aids in both ears and to worry about whether the batteries will last till the end of the day. My mother complains of exhaustion because she has to almost shout to communicate with my father, at times.

It’s not very often that I thank God for giving me all that He has. Just being born with all faculties intact and to parents who are so wonderful and nurturing is a thought enough to give me the confidence to do everything I intend to do in this lifetime.

2009-01-14T15:19:00.002+04:00

Believe it or not it’s been raining in Dubai the last couple of days. Mild, short showers – they pass before you’ve even realised that it’s rained. But last evening it rained so hard - we could actually hear the raindrops on our rooftop. My colleagues, mostly Brits and Indians – both countries blessed with ample rain, ran to the window to try and smell the rain too.
It’s funny how some sounds and smells can take you back to another time and place. The sound of the rain took me back to my growing up years in Pune, more specifically in Chinchwad. My sisters and I used to make paper boats and send them down the tiny streams that flowed outside our gate. They were enjoyable times, despite the frequent and long electricity cuts. I remember reading my Enid Blyton books by candlelight and fantasizing what it would be like to study in a school like Malory Towers and play lacrosse. We used to get thrilled watching muddy water come out of the taps and we almost believed it was tea.

I watched the movie The Jane Austen Book Club two nights ago and it reminded me of Trishna - the Indian televised version of Pride and Prejudice, telecast on Doordarshan many years ago. We used to look forward to Sunday afternoon to catch the next episode. We are four sisters and used to draw parallels with the serial, in which it was a family of four daughters instead of five. I remember getting disappointed when I finally read the book and found that the Bennet’s had five daughters. Since I am the second born in my family I secretly hoped to find my Mr. Darcy, in as interesting and dramatic a manner as Elizabeth found hers.

Today is Makar Sankranti and I remember carrying Tilgul to school and sharing it with my class-mates. Also the excitement of finding out whose mehendi was the darkest during Naag Panchami. Or for that matter, shopping for expensive soaps for our ‘Abhyang Snaan’ in Diwali and the very colourful, but brash games we played with kids of our colony on Holi.
I rarely think about these things, it’s as if they happened to another person in another place and era, but then something happens and the gates open and these happy memories come flooding back.

Is it so difficult to change?

2009-01-14T10:31:00.004+04:00

Last night I got into an argument with the security guard at a supermarket close to home because I wanted to recycle used plastic bags of the same store. After much discussion and head shaking I was finally allowed to enter with them. I realized that the words ‘environment’ or ‘paryavaran’ were totally lost on the poor chap. He just didn't understand why I wanted to enter with old plastic bags when the store could give me as many new one's as I wanted.

I have come to the realisation that any change for the better needs to be in the form of a movement for it to actually happen. If you do it as an individual the process is long and daunting. Often times I have been made to feel guilty about requesting women, in the ladies compartment, of Mumbai locals, to pick up the many groundnut shells they shove beneath the seats. I have heard men snigger when I have requested college boys to get up from the seats reserved for ladies and for senior citizens in our public buses. I have been stared at when I offer my seat to a pregnant woman or a senior citizen. I have been laughed at by passers-by when I ask people to not spit or at least to look before spitting.

I wonder - is it so difficult to remember the endorsements we have seen umpteen times on TV or in the newspaper? Is it so difficult to try and put into practice the things we have been taught in theory? And more so, is it so difficult to look at our habits and acknowledge that some can be replaced with better one’s?

Is it so difficult to change?

2009-01-12T10:51:00.005+04:00

My parents were in St. Ingbert, a quiet town in Saarland – Germany, in October to visit my sister’s fiancé and his family. They loved St. Ingbert and their days were full with long walks in the neighbourhood and frequent trips to the city’s centre square. They went to a local park one evening and loved it's picturesque lake. My Mom noticed a swan following them around in the park and was told that his name was Ingo. Ingo had recently lost his wife Bertha in a road accident. It seems theirs was a happy marriage and they had also had a family, but now Ingo was a lonely swan after Bertha’s death. He longed for company and followed people around to make sure he was not alone.

The citizens of St. Ingbert decided to do something for him and wrote to various animal support groups and soon arranged for a partner for Ingo. My parents had already left St. Ingbert by the time the new bride arrived. They named her Bertha. It seems there was some apprehension about whether Ingo and Bertha would get along and be happy. Luckily they seem to have hit it off and Ingo is no longer lonely. St. Ingbert is hoping to look forward to many swanlings soon.

Hats off to the residents of St. Ingbert for their compassion towards the needs of a swan. I guess the need for a companion is a basic one, it need not necessarily be in the form of a life partner but one does need a friend to be with at times.

2009-01-11T10:40:00.001+04:00

My parents and sister went back to India last night after a wonderful ten day visit to Dubai. Each day was a whirlwind of activity and they absolutely loved this place. Their flight left at midnight and I spent the whole of yesterday being painfully aware of every passing minute - willing time to pass slowly or just stand still for a couple of hours, trying to grab as much time as I could with my family.

As somebody who works in a radio station I am acutely aware of the significance of a minute, we tend to be obsessed with time in radio. We try to fit in as much as possible in an hour and I struggle to find a song of the right duration to ensure that the next top of the hour jingle plays out at the right time. Before you know it the moment has passed and you start all over again for the next hour.

As I write this I cannot help but think of Patrick Swayze who is battling pancreatic cancer and who, in his recent interview told Barbara Walters that he is praying for a miracle but knows he does not have much time left. I wonder what that must be like and if I were in that situation I wonder what I would do to make the most of the time I have left.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-08T11:36:00.001+04:00

I got the opportunity to watch Slumdog Millionaire during the Dubai International Film Festival that concluded about three weeks ago. I’d heard a lot about it and was keen to watch a movie shot in India, but directed by an English director. I liked the story and the concept of every question of KBC going back to a story in Jamal’s life was something I could relate too.

Yet, I cannot say I enjoyed the movie. As an Indian, I am aware and conscious of what is not right in my country. I know there is poverty, corruption and filth, the list is long, but I also know that my country is rich in culture and history. It is an intelligent, hard working and progressive nation and my problem with Slumdog Millionaire is that the movie showed only what was bad or sad without once showing the other side of India and more particularly of Mumbai.

Coming so soon after the Mumbai terror attacks it might seem strange to say anything good about Mumbai at all, but having lived in Mumbai for twelve wonderful years I vouch for the fact that there is no city like Mumbai. I have not been to a city that welcomes you, cares for you and makes room for you as much as Mumbai does.

Slumdog Millionaire was extremely well received by the audience and so many of my colleagues have loved it. A colleague was surprised with my reservations about it and thought I was being sensitive about my country. I believe in the power of cinema and I feel that it is the responsibility of the director to perceive accurately and express correctly what he/she wants to. I guess I am being sensitive – it’s my country and I love it and I wasn’t particularly thrilled to watch some of the things shown in the movie. Or maybe I’m just an old fashioned believer of every cloud having it’s silver lining and I didn’t see the silver lining in this case.

2009-01-07T15:14:00.003+04:00

Meet Coco - she's at K9 friends and I've taken the responsibility of sponsoring her for a year. I hope to continue to do so for many years to come. Isn't she cute?

K9 friends is a non-profit dog rescue organisation, based in Dubai, and the people working here are passionate and true to the cause. If you are a dog lover, but cannot adopt one you can sponsor one. More details on www.k9friends.com.

How much is a kind word worth?

2009-01-07T15:09:00.000+04:00

Something really touching happened to me a fortnight ago. A supermarket was due to open on the 22nd of December, at 5 p.m. just a few blocks from my house. The frenzy of activity there increased as the 22nd approached and my husband and I saw people working there round the clock. A day after the launch I went there to see what the place was like and was impressed with some of the offers they had.

After my shopping I thought of stopping by the manager’s desk to congratulate him on the launch. I saw him watch me approach with a very worried and pensive expression on his face. As soon as I reached him he asked if anything was wrong. I told him that I wanted to congratulate him, especially because I had seen how hard his team had worked to ensure that all went well. It was nice to see relief all over his face. He promptly gifted me with a bag of five kilos of Basmati rice!

I was touched by his gesture and realized that it took so little to bring a smile to his face. I couldn’t remember the last time I had not gone out of my way to say a kind word to anyone. It took just thirty seconds of my time to make someone feel better and make me feel good about myself.

Fear of driving....

2009-01-07T11:41:00.004+04:00

I am in the midst of my driving lessons in Dubai and have already finished my first 20 lessons and have recently signed up for the next 10. I have a good teacher but my biggest challenge is getting over my fear – a fear that is so intense and irrational that it scares me at times. I wish I had learnt to drive earlier – I cannot even cycle and have somehow convinced myself that I am incapable of moving more than two body parts at the same time. I’ve read up articles on the internet about the fear of driving and am glad to know that it is fairly common and if one works on it one is able to overcome it eventually. I wake up every morning telling myself that I am learning something new and it is going to great fun.

As I write this I am reminded of the Dragon Boat racing competition my radio station (Radio 2, 99.3/106) took part in about two months ago. Part of the team was made of our listeners who’d signed up for this event and the other half of my colleagues, who like me, were interested in trying their hand at something new. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d tried doing something new, and the whole experience was truly worth it.

We started our training sessions in Abu Dhabi, a fortnight before the competition. We had a fantastic view of the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan mosque, which is probably one of the biggest and a national landmark in Abu Dhabi. The Radio 2 team was a lively and noisy one and our’s was a wonderfully diverse group, with probably the most number of women in it. Cheers to woman-power!

We were told to focus on getting our rhythm right. “Put in the best you have in the first five strokes and then chug forward in unison”. The term Dragon Boat originated in China and is a long and narrow human powered boat. It requires team work, power and rhythm to get that thing zooming ahead. I can’t say our boat zoomed ahead, but we managed to keep it afloat and move forward without incident. (read accident) We didn’t do particularly well in the finals, we came last, but we laughed through the whole competition and came out feeling good about ourselves.

I’m going to go for my driving lesson tomorrow thinking about all the fun I had during the dragon boat race. Maybe it’ll help….maybe…….

The Washington Post's alternative meaning

2008-11-06T21:25:00.005+04:00

The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words.

And the winners are...

1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.