(all??) Men!

Guy at work slams the phone down and starts muttering

Him: Such irritating people!
Me: Who?!
Him: Wives!

He is only 25 years old and just got married a few months ago to his girlfriend of TEN years!! (crazy!!!)

Me: So this is what happens with marriages huh?

Him: Actually! She’s so bugging! Keeps talking about how I used to be in the past and how I’ve changed now.
She doesn’t realize… Tab pataane ka tha! Ab toh pat chuki hai!

It's been a while.


But sometimes there are so many things happening in your life that you don't know where to start. Blogging used to be topmost in my priorities a few years back. But now it isn't.


I guess it's mainly because I don't seem to need a medium to vent, which is basically what this was. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the rush of emotions I feel with the things happening in my day-to-day life, but talking about it doesn't seem to help.


The other day, it took me two hours to get to work because of the traffic.

Now usually, in Dubai, traffic is because of some accident or the other.


But last Sunday (which is the beginning of the week here in the Middle East and not a weekend) the traffic on Sheikh Zayed road was reportedly due to a film being shot near the Crowne Plaza!

Now who in their right minds would permit people to shoot a movie in rush hour traffic on a weekday?!


And what about the other main highway? The Emirates Road?

For one thing, there were several accidents on that one.

Plus the cops had completely blocked off one road leading to the free zone in Jebel Ali.
They would just re-direct you to another road, they didn't care where you went. And they wouldn't tell you why either.


I heard later on that a bunch of labourers had gone on strike and they'd gotten so violent that they had overturned the police vehicle that had been sent there to disperse the gathering.


They were on strike to protest a cut in their pay.
Apparently, they were just being paid 800 AED in the beginning, and then their pay was reduced to just 500 AED. How anyone can live in the UAE for just 800 AED is mind-boggling. To be asked to survive on 500 is just adding insult to injury.


The real estate business here is extremely competitive. And when each company bids for a project, what with most of them having the same kind of proposal to offer as far as quality and lead times as concerned, the only way these companies have any advantage over one another is on pricing. And since they cannot cut down on resources like building material, engineers etc. they cut down on the easiest thing possible - the labourers' paltry paychecks.



The workers here are are all from third-world countries and if you listen to their stories, your heart will break from the drudgery and the hopelessness of it all.


I have seen labourers working during the night (at 2 am even) and day and I've seen them doing the most dangerous of tasks- scaling tall scaffolds with nothing but a helmet, digging deep trenches... and the most dangerous one of all as far as I'm concerned... waving a red flag on a busy highway to warn oncoming traffic of road-work being carried out. Which is pitiful.


Can such a rich country not afford to pay for decent accomodation and wages for these people?
For the people who are building this country from a desert into what they claim is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world?

Life update (minus juicy details)

I've just returned from a trip to Kerala.
I'd gone to get some ayurvedic treatment done for my shoulders and neck. They've been hurting for a while now ( doc says cos I'm using the computer too much, but I'm in bloody I.T! How can I not use the pc?!)

The treatment did not go well unfortunately.
I don't wanna go into details, the pain is still there and I'm looking around for some good yoga classes in dubai, so if anyone knows of anyplace good, lemme know please! (and don't gimme some place in freakin Jumeirah or wherever, cos doc says I shouldn't drive too much either!)

I'm dead tired. My mum is in India with my sis now and it's just me and my dad.
And my dad is not the best of cooks, although he isn't the worst, I gotta admit! But he can eat the SAME thing for weeks without tiring of it, which I cannot do! (and the weirdest combinations too! I mean, who the heck has bread and aviyal??! For breakfast?!!)

Plus,my dad doesn't like the kinda stuff that I cook, cos I know how to cook more north Indian stuff than south Indian ( as my roomies in delhi were the ones who first taught me how to cook). So this time when I went to Kerala, I wrote down a bunch of mallu recipes with clear, precise instructions from mum (add 2tsp garam masala beta, that's the one in the dabba with the purple lid) and tried a few things in India and even taught my mum how to make northy stuff.

Also met with an old friend from college, whose three and a half year old daugther fell in love with me! ( How could she not?I'm so lovable na! ;o) )

So all in all, except for the botched-up Auyrvedic treatment, the trip was quite fun!

Anyway, back to cooking.
The thing is, cooking is a whole lot easier when you're not hungry and tired as hell and all you really wanna do is just jump into bed and sleep till midday. (from midnight of course, in case you're the anal type.)

but I came back from work and cooked! And even though I only made dal-chawal (too tired to make southy stuff, they're way too complicated) I was so tired that I didn't have the energy to eat it. (could be bcos I spilled water and then had to clean up the damn kitchen as well, but whatever!)

So I heated some milk, added a little sugar and a stick of cinnamon to it, and that was dinner.
It tasted reaaaal nice btw.

And now I feel nice and warm and sleepy. So I'm gonna go to bed.
Update complete!

My sister has gone to India for "higher" studies. My mother has gone with her.

They were supposed to come here to visit on the 24th this month as she's got her Onam holidays.

I was talking to her last week... Chech, when you come to pick me up at the airport, could you please get me a shawarma from that Lebanese place we used to go to?

I got a call at 4:30 am today. I was sleeping of course. When I talked to her, she was crying.

My stomach hurts Chech. I don't know what to do. It's hurting so bad!

I called my uncle immediately and he said he'll take care of it.
I called sis again and spoke to her to calm her down till my uncle came. He lives on the 2nd floor and my mum and sis on the 3rd of the same apartment complex, so he came in about 5 mins.

They ( sis, uncle and my mother) went to the hospital and the doc said she's got appendicitis. They took her into surgery and she's in post-op now. She's fine. Sleeping.

I talked to her before they took her into surgery. It wasn't hurting anymore cos they'd given her pain-killers I guess.
She was chirpy and feeling all important cos everyone was fussing around her.
I guess she felt even more so when I said I was going to fly down to see her.

No Chech! I'm fine. Don't come, I'll see you on Friday anyway.

She got off the phone and my uncle called about 5 mins later. She can't come. She isn't allowed to travel for about 10 days after they take the stitches off and after that her Onam vacation gets over and she'll have to go back to college.

The original plan was for me to go back with my sis and mum to Kerala for about 2 weeks. So I've already taken leave for September and I'll be seeing her anyway.

But I want to go now. And see her and be with her.
But for various reasons, I'm not going. And if you look at it 'logically', I suppose it's not necessary.
But I miss her terribly. And I feel helpless and useless.

And now... for the first time... I understand why parents worry about their kids being alone in the world.

Do Not Disturb

I won't go to the store at 3 am, but I'll go there first thing in the morning, buy the book, come back straight home, turn off my phone, ignore the world and read till it's over.

Anyone else a Harry Potter fan?

Someone like a Mom

I don't usually like people who don't like me.

My mum's no exception I guess.
Oh please! I'm old enough to know that all-mothers-love-their-children is all bull.

My mum does not like me.
She's got her own reasons for it.
She was fine when I was smaller. But then I grew up and ended up having a few opinions of my own, which were quite different from the kind of ideas she had.
I was too independent, I wouldn't get married to the man she chose, I ask too many questions, I thought differently from anyone else she knew in her life... her list is endless.
To be fair, so is mine.

I've tried to patch things up, but she isn't really interested. And I'm someone who has very little patience.
So that effectively ended it.
A long and useless relationship.

Now we just suffer each other.
And I'm okay with it too.


Except sometimes... when I'm feeling kinda low... I wish there was someone like a mom to hug me and tell me she loves me anyway.

Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that's all we have -- to hold on tight until the dawn.

Shantaram
Last lines, chapter 2