Skyward Fire

Today, I complete my 6 exact months here in UAE. And truly so it has been an adventure, one of it’s kind. Things unfurled in ways I did not expect them to, but it had truly been a journey full of shock and awe, good and bad.

Honestly speaking, despite all the bad press that Dubai usually gets, I love it here. And there’s scores of reasons why. We’re all people, none of us are perfect. But the media has a thing for inflated bad publicity and that’s what Dubai has always got, specially from Western media. But I shall speak unbiased, unprejudiced. I’m no fan of monarchy, and a lot of things that UAE advocates. But I love Dubai. Every place, every person, every entity has it’s own flaws, and we’re all flawed in our special ways. But that is what makes it even more fun.

I’ve had the pleasure of roaming around the city plenty of times, but it has never seemed enough. This one time not along ago in the first week of February, I was with my girlfriend there. Every single new trip is an experience of it’s own. Here’s to exactly what makes Dubai so special (with quite a few contributions from my friends on Twitter).

• Contrary to what the RTA has to say and everyone else’s traffic vows, owning your own car is more convenient in every single way that public transport. Cabs are expensive, and buses will confuse you. Metros are a good initiative but they’re not widespread right now. Eventually, may be. But the city will be difficult for you to measure if you don’t have you own car
• Karak chai. Two words. That’s it. There are a lot of places in Dubai, and in the other Emirates where you’ll find the most refreshing karak ever
• The Shawarma, preferably at Beirut Restaurant & Grill or Wildpeeta
• Leaving your car unlocked and not worrying about not finding it the next day except in Deira & Bur Dubai
• You can go to the beaches what ever time of the year you wish to (just don’t get too kinky)
• The map of the city changes every week. If you think what is where, you have no idea what you’re getting yourselves into
• You can roam around Bastakiya even when its the middle of the summer and walk into the galleries and cafes
• You can wear flip-flops and sandals all year round. Though I don’t prefer this one since a lot of premier places have dress-codes that only allow closed formal wear, plus, all the outdoorsy elements wont do your feet any good
• The locals are really nice and pleasant people
• Carrot Cake at Lime Tree Cafe, Jumeirah
• Thanks to Burj Khalifa, you can climb the highest man-made structure ever built
• You don’t have to speak neither Arabic nor English to live here
• Nothing beats the 8:00 PM view from Burj Al Arab while you slip in some good wine at Skyview Bar
• The banks will increase your credit limit just when you’re thinking of buying that fancy new flat-screen
• It is easier to get a new credit card than it is to get your bank account statement
• The sea food at Saffron, Atlantis The Palm
• Fly Dubai!
• You can reach most of the worlds destinations within 5 to 7 hours. Europe, Africa and most of Asia. Where ever you may need to go
• Thai food at Lemongrass, Lamcy Plaza
• There is no fixed time for having sheesha. 3 AM, 6 AM, 2 PM ..
• Cops will stop you just to check out your ‘cool ride’

Internet is not the most reliable sources of information, specially if the particular source we’re talking about is a screenshot of CNN article hosted on Angelfire. Come on people, seriously? There’s absolutely nothing on CNN about it, but people are believing a CNN story screenshot which is hosted on a third party website.

Everyone has been talking about it, and since Twitter is pretty hip these days, the whole deal with trending topics hardly gave the rumor time to spread. It’s out like wildfire, with almost 400 tweets every second containing the phrase “RIP Johnny Depp”. What the screenshot contains is text from a hoax from back in 2004. Yes, it’s the same damn thing. For a moment even I was stunned to hear the same. But a little researching on the internet is all that is takes. The screenshot in question is this.

The rumor mill is nothing new for celebrities, but we have got to think how much jokes like these hurt the fans, friends and families of the celebrities, and the celebrities themselves. It’s a way of creating traffic, generating mindless chaos, and wasting other people’s time. And I pity those who’re responsible for all this, even though it is just for the heck of some fun.

If you know what internet is, by now you probably know about the whole Leno-Conan-NBC fiasco. If you’re still aloof from the whole situation, give this a reading. Everyone has been talking about this, and in the end, it seems Conan will lose his show, get a whole lot of money, and Jay Leno will be back on air on what time he used to come at night. But no one fails to take pot shots at one other. As a result, the ratings of both the shows, Conan’s and Leno’s, have gone up like crazy, and continue to climb new heights every day due to the antics of the hosts.

As a part of further poking fun and making a mockery out of NBC, Conan O’Brien decided to go a little out of the way by spending over $ 1.5 million on a small gig on his show. As per the contract, NBC has to pay for everything that happens on the show, and Conan took advantage of the same by taking some sweet revenge. Watch the video for yourself (click on ‘close’ below the MediaITE logo and hit the play button).

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/conan-blowing-nbcs-money_n_430883.html