The 13th floor

I had to go to a friend's apartment on the 14th floor of a building in Dubai. I got into the lift and this is what I saw -

I had almost forgotten about how in some buildings there is no 13th floor and didn't expect it in a relatively new building.

My favourite photographs

Came across these two photographs I had taken a couple of years ago. The lady and child were in Bhutan and I took that picture just before I started the trek to the Tiger's Nest monastery. The man with the flute was at the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur. Just thought I'd share them here....

 

The Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi

After five years in the UAE I got the opportunity to go to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi only last month. I had these pictures on my phone and thought I'd share them on this blog. With the weather being the way it is in this part of the globe, it is not very often that one gets to see clear blue skies. The mosque itself is beautiful and definitely worth a visit. I regretted not taking my camera with me and these pictures do not do justice to it at all. I guess I underestimated the beauty of this place.

Even the washrooms are so beautiful....

Remember to wear something that covers your head and arms, shoulders and legs when you visit the mosque. They do give you these abayas if you are not dressed appropriately.

 

 

 

Pest control for the literate lizard

We got an email from our admin department yesterday about pest control happening in our office on Saturday. No one is going to be allowed at work for six hours after the pest control has been done. The mail reminded me of this photograph I took last June when I was at my Aunt's place in Pune. The words 'Kanchi Varadaraja' were handwritten on almost all the walls of her house. When I asked her what that was for, she said that it is a belief that when you write these two words on your walls you no longer have lizards in your house. And my Aunt swears by this.

Growing up in Pune I remember being mortally scared of lizards, and now, even though I know they are quite harmless, I still am very scared of them. How I wish I had known about the power of Kanchi Varadaraja back then! A search on the internet will lead to sites on the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram, but nothing on why these two words are effective in getting rid of your lizard problems. But I can't help marvel at the miracle behind this non-violent way of pest control for the literate lizard.

A fishy fish

I recently inherited an aquarium in office and am now mother to what seems to be a Ryukin goldfish and a bottom feeder. Problem is that the goldfish is possibly the fattest goldfish ever..and I mean EVER. He also has a comical expression which makes him look quite unreal. Take a look and let me know what you think. Is he really a Ryukin goldfish? That's what my research said so. But this is my first time with fish so I could be wrong.

Baby okra!

How cute is this?

My fridge magnet collection

  

It's time to buy a new (bigger) fridge!

A surprise visit to Istanbul, again!

So just ten days after our wonderful holiday in Kenya and Tanzania I found out that I had to make a work trip to Istanbul. My radio station was doing a promotion with Radisson hotel and Etihad airways and we were taking 40 lucky listeners to Istanbul for a big weekend. I was told on a Wednesday evening that I had to leave for Istanbul early on Friday morning, so I had a lot to do before I left. I was the official photographer and had to ensure that we had regular updates on our official facebook page. (Yeah, not a bad way to earn a living, isn't it?). It was great to be in Istanbul again, that too on an all-expenses-paid trip. All our tours were organized by Radisson and this time around I actually got the see the famous Kohinoor in Topkapi palace. Had a great time, enjoyed myself thoroughly and fell in love with Istanbul, all over again!

African sunset

Just back from a fantastic week long vacation to Maasai Mara and Zanzibar with a whole lot of lovely photographs. This one is my favourite. Shot at sunset, it reminded me of the photography class I attended during my masters in Mass Communications. We were told that sunrise and sunset are the magic hours to do photography in. We were heading back to the camp after a wonderful evening safari and our driver was eager to get back before it got too dark. We saw this herd of Thomson gazelles and impalas and they made a beautiful sight against the setting sun.

Since the Maasai Mara is just one degree away from the Equator sunrise and sunset takes only a minute so we had to act fast. Besides we wanted to catch this herd in our frame so this picture was taken in a hurry but the result is beautiful.

RIP Bala

Today happens to be the birthday of an ex-colleague of mine. His name was Balakrishna and we were at Reliance Communications back in 2007, when I had a short stint with Reliance just before moving to Dubai. Earlier this year I learnt that Bala died of a massive heart attack. The news was shocking and unbelievable because Bala was not even forty, but I guess I eventually came to terms with it so much so that I even forgot about it.
When I logged in to Facebook this morning I got the notification reminding me that it's Bala's birthday. It was a weird feeling. It's as if the person were still alive even though you know that he is not. Another colleague had wished him on his wall and I figured that she had no clue that Bala was no more. So I wrote to her and she was as shocked as I was when I had first heard the news. She then went on to say that she is taking a break from work because she's expecting her first baby in January. And then it hit me, yet again...the beauty....the cruelty (depending on how you look at it) of the universe...the continuity of the cycle of birth and death. I informed one person about the death of another and she told me that she was going to give birth soon. It's fascinating, mysterious and beautiful at the same time, isn't it?

First post of 2012

I wish I could attribute my long silence on the blog to more exciting reasons but alas that's not the case. It so turned out, one fine day in early December last year, that my husband got a call from home saying that his mother was in hospital due to a wound that led to complications thanks (or no thanks) to her diabetes. The result: 54 days on and she is still in hospital, but thankfully recovering well. Three valuable lessons learnt are as follows:
1. Exercise for just 20 minutes a day but do that diligently. If you are diabetic there is no way you can skip this one.
2. When you start feeling any pain, anywhere, go the doctor to get that checked. My MIL thought she had a muscle pull and did not go to the doctor till many days later, and that has cost her a long stay in hospital not to mention the pain and a (very) hefty hospital bill.
3. Learn to read the signs your body gives you. For example the kind of diet/exercise you have maintained over the last few days will immediately reflect on your skin. So if you start noticing pimples you know it's a sign to stop and make amends quickly - whether diabetic or not.
With that I'm off to the gym now for my 20 minutes of exercise. Of course, sometimes I literally drag my feet there but I have always come out of the gym feeling fitter and more energized. So here's to a fitter 2012 and Mummy if you ever read this - please take care of yourself and do not give us a scare like you did this time!

Post on Istanbul almost a month later!

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

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

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

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

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

Janet Jackson and more...

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

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

Aah...the familiarity of brands!

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

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


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

Conversation with a 7 year old

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

A pleasant surprise in the newspaper

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

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

The Box Appeal

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

Countdown to Iftaar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It just gets worse...

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

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