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’

All Together Now by Light of Midnight

Before I came to the UAE, I was told a lot of negative things about the country, about the ways of the government, and how things really work over here. Most of it turned out to be contradictory to what I had heard when I actually saw things with my very own eyes. And most of the things turned out to be basically the same in form or another like it is there back home in India. Might I as well add, that for the next years, UAE is my home. The 4 years of engineering studies will keep me occupied here. What plans after that? Well, that will eventually unfold during the course of time.

One amongst the very things I heard a lot about was the Government. UAE is a monarchy, actually, one amongst the very few fully functional monarchies in the world. There are different rules for the Royal Family, different rules for the locals, and different rules for the expatriates. But is that really that bad? I don’t think so. If you go to someone else’s house, you’ll be expected to abide by their own rules and ethics for as long as you’re there at their place. You’re a guest there, and your hosts will do their best to appease you as long as you keep them happy. You came here out of your own free will, and you are free to leave at your own liberty. And if you think you’re not free to do so, you should have thought and re-thought about getting here in the first place.

We here a lot about the economic recession and the bad press that Dubai and UAE usually get from non-Middle Eastern press. Alright, every one knows that the local press, the local media as a whole is controlled by the government. And it is bad. But I’m kind of glad there’s some restriction. Back in India, the press and the media have often taken advantage of such freedom to promote agendas of their own every time they get a chance. As far as the class system goes, it’s rampant here. And it is so even in India, and that too, not just in small towns and villages, but even in metros and other occupationally bigger cities. We define what goes on here as racism. And what happens in India is basically put together as casteism. Basically, it’s the same thing with two different names. Are we so different after all?

Some people find the rules and regulations here really restrictive. I am absolutely with the government on most of the rules and regulations that apply directly to social life. Actually, I’m in huge favor of laws against smoking, drinking & non-medicinal drug consumption. Of course, it’s a personal choice, but how about doing so without causing discomfort of the others. We have plenty of that in India, and over here, it’s less. And if the cops here for once just really enforced this rule, we might just flush out all the drunken rats that we have here. If you can’t hold on to yourself after a drink or two, you need to stop. Like right now. As for the whole economic recession rant about Dubai, there is none of that here. And it probably wont have a bad financial time as long as the world needs oil, and as long as UAE produces it. People here have enough gold and sumptuous bank balances to actually be in any kind of economic recession. The same goes for India. There’s just so much of black money there that no matter how bad the situation is, the black suits and the politico types can always inject some of their own personal wealth to make sure the engine is well-oiled for even the worst of situations. So it happens everywhere. Are we so different after all?

For every nation, there’s pros and cons. And there’s always room for improvement. Is something is broken, it can always be fixed. We’re a planet run by humans, and we’re all very familiar with human nature of erring and fixing, and sometimes, not fixing. India and UAE are two very different cultural mechanisms, but in the end, who we are, and what we do is all the same for everyone. UAE and India are two beautiful countries, and both have intense potential to marvel up ahead in time.

The Christmas of 2009 ended up being the most awesome Christmas I’ve ever had. First, I’d like to wish my good old friend Disha Dubey a very happy birthday. Christmas day is some day to celebrate your birthday. To be born on the day Jesus Christ was born is a whole another legendary story to tell to your kids, once you have some. May God bless you, and I hope you have a great year ahead of yourself.

My girlfriend showing up in Dubai was a welcome change. We went for Avatar in Imax 3D at Ibn Batuta Mall, and she got me a cake for my birthday, which was on the 18th of last month. I hadn’t cut a cake back then, so she had promised me by the end of the year, she’ll get me a cake and that’s what she did. You got to like a woman with some determination. The whole thing was nothing less than a Christmas miracle for me. Considering the harsh time I’ve been having purely as the outcome of a few of my own terrible decisions, this was a very welcome change. There’s nothing like spending Christmas eve with your loved ones. Thank you Shruti!

Avatar in Imax 3D is the best movie-viewing experience I’ve had till date. The story should have had a few more twists though. It could definitely do with some improvements there. I didn’t expect anything ground breaking in terms of the story when I went there. I just wanted to be awed by visual effects. I thought it was excellent for what it was. The movie has magnificent visual presentation. We could certainly use more films like this. Weta, ILM, Framestore, Stan Wiston, Uncharted etc and everybody who worked on this did a phenomenal job! When I came back from the movie, eyes could not believe what I had seen. Just utterly gorgeous images. But to some, the movie might come off as all visual flare, and unfortunately very little substance. Easy to get carried away and lose track of time with you staring at next-gen CGI, though. And James Horner has worked his wand really well with the soundtrack. The music is very-well suiting to the way the movie proceeds. Kudos to the whole team of Avatar and James Cameron for such an awesome work.

Cycle tests in college came to a very shitty end. With my mind elsewhere all the time for the past 4 months, the GPAs right now are a total bloodbath, and if I don’t pick up what I’ve left off, I’ll be terribly screwed as far as the end semesters are concerned. It’s time to get over everything worthless and focus on what needs to be focused upon.