The man in black

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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.