Shawarma...

Shawarma...(I expect the ninety-nine percent of my readers not to know this word a bit… in case it’s the opposite then it’s my pure ignorance on play)

Whatz so special abt this word…. This wouldn’t be of any significance for me if it didn’t happen to be my dinner for past 1 week... I have been surviving on this for last 7 days….

This happens to be an Arabic dish (I think one of the best things that they gave to this world)… Its origin is from Turkey and its cousins across the globe are Greek Gyros and Mexican Taco (I haven’t tasted those yet)…

It’s got slices of grilled chicken meat or lamb (have heard that beef variants are also available) with tomato, cucumber, lettuce dressed with garlic sauce. Some people also include potato fries in between to build it up... this is all wrapped up in a Arabic bread (locally called Kubhoz or pita)… The meat is grilled in a vertical flame cooker… With this they also give some cucumber and chili seasoned in vinegar.

Whoa this combi is heavenly and a must for every food lover (non-veg)… some people may not like the rawness of the meat the first time but somehow I have learned to bypass that part…

The taste here differs from each countries restaurants... Turkish, Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian…..

The best part is that you (actually I) don’t have to go to hi fi restaurants to have this... u have lot of street corner shops serving this… so that saves u a lot of time and money and stares…

Coming to the last part “the stares”…. Being an expatriate here in an Arabic country where your ethnic race overtakes the local native population (the demographic ratio is little unbalanced here), u have to sustain these stares…

Sometimes when I go to these Arabic Restaurants, u find heads turning... (sometimes 180 degrees) and looking at u… (that typical “what the heck” kind of stuff)…. I somehow manage to convey across the counter what I need and get it with a broad smile on my face… most of the guys who served wore a puzzled look….

This usually used to deter me from going to treat myself with some extra calories… but this thing changed some time back… I happen to go to this Egyptian restaurant and asked for the Shawarma… even though the guy was new, the look was the age old one… but the difference was this guy spoke… he knew a little English(that’s strange) and little Hindi(that’s not very strange in this part of the world or at least where I reside)…

He asked me “u Indian?” (with his chin going quite narrow and wide eyes)

I said with a made up smile “yeah…” and to myself “is that a problem”

He says to me “I joined (this) place 2 weeks (back)… you the first one who comes here…” (as though I was one of those little zombie things walking)

Oh Boy…. this guy is sure to make my sandwich cold… but for courtesy sake I just reply that “I happen to like the taste….”

Then he gives a even more wide smile… “That’s strange...seriously strange...”

Then I quiz him “whatz strange abt that”

With a broad smile he tells me, “u not like other Indians, u talk nicely too” (if he had continued a bit more I bet he would have got what is to talk to a guy who is half dead out of hunger)

Baggage Check !!!

One more reason to opt out of IE !!!

if you had noted that Micro$oft's Internet Explorer is not displaying my blog properly...

U don't get the lists, smilies, empty paras, etc etc... Its time to look for alternatives like Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, Netscape...

Support Open Sauce...

Web filter glitch slows down internet service...

This article was in the front page of my newspaper today…

Web filter glitch slows down internet service
Dubai: The slow internet service experienced this week stemmed from technical problems over the web filter that blocks inappropriate content throughout the Gulf, UAE's telecom regulator said on Tuesday.
Since Sunday, web users throughout the GCC have endured slow connections and inconsistent service, with some users unable to access mainstream sites like Google or Yahoo.
xxxxxx, director-general of the yyyyyyy Authority , said early reports suggest a software program became incompatible with the proxy filter.
zzzzz officials informed xxxxxx the problem was resolved as of Tuesday afternoon, when telecom operators in the region jointly completed a system upgrade.
Service was wholly unaffected for du's internet subscribers in Dubai's free zones, however, which is not covered by the proxy.

I would like some explanations regarding this article (obliviously I cannot write to the editor :-) )

• What do they mean by inappropriate content?? Does Google Web accelerator, skype, public proxy servers, orkut(till recently) fall into these categories
  
• If it’s slow now…. Excuse what do u term the situation before ? “Fast” ?
• Does the director general know the difference between the software program (leave alone proxy filter) and his TV remote.
• Its Wednesday night I am writing this and still the situation is same… so what do they mean by Tuesday afternoon ?
• So does the immoral and inappropriate content not affect the Dubai’s free zone… why are they not covered by the proxy
  

In case I don’t blog in future then you can all guess what happened to me… :-(

It was nice knowing all of you...

“Letters to the Editor” or is it “Thanks to the Editor”??

The other day when Baba was in town we were discussing the quality of newspapers back at home and here… I certainly do miss “The Hindu” and its editorial. I literally grew up reading it up every morning till I came here. After ending up here, I have given up reading and even forgot what actual editorials are supposed to be. How many decades have to pass before these gulf newspapers get some balls to be a critic of the governments here? Instead of calling themselves as newspapers it would be better off if they said they were just press releases of govts. Forget even reporting, the kind of letters to the editor you get here is sometimes unbelievable. Usually it’s a thanks letter to government (it seems for keeping all happy) or somebody.

A typical one that appeared today…

City with a heart

I had finished my grocery shopping and the cart was heavy. I was pushing it across the car park. There were many speed bumps along the pathway. I managed to negotiate a few. And then came a colossal one. I hauled and heaved no avail. As I gave it a second try, an old man walking past quickly stopped and helped me pull it over.
Once the cart was over the speed bump, he turned and walked away. I barely had enough time to say a “thank you”. It may not have been much, but it was a random act of kindness, which showed me that Dubai has its heart in the right place.
From
Name withheld by request
Dubai

I won’t mind these kind of letters once in a while but certainly not daily… the typical letter subjects -- “A true story”, “Dubai police to the rescue”, “Bold Initiative”, “Awesome idea” --- these are the subjects are from a single day :-)

I am thinking of writing a thankful letter to the editor tomorrow thanking for publishing the paper and delivering to my home and I have a gut feeling that it would get published (and of course my name would be withheld by request)

Truly IT

I am bloggin from Chennai Airport... Thanks to BSNL's free wi-fi.... believe me guys we have a good connection in midst of all the same old bureaucratic hassles and broken chairs and leaking taps....
In one side there is a billboard for CRY and next to it Free Wifi board....

Ok now on the way back to work.. After all the great time for past 2 weeks with the gang....

Rest of the bloggin from AUH

Service Industry

“We Serve”… That sentence seemed far from truth to my friend and me who had a field day today in the Dubai International Airport… Airlines or for that matter any service industry is losing their core theme which happens to be the service to the people….

Everybody understands that the people serving us at these places undergo various stress levels because the people they encounter are diversified. But that’s no reason to be arrogant or “Do I care?” stance.

Today happened to be my weekend and as usual I was sleeping dead when suddenly at mid day I get a call from Dubai and in half sleep I hear the familiar voice of Baba... Now that jolts me to reality... He is not calling to tell a HI during a normal transit flight… He is stranded in the airport…

The reasons for his plight were

1. He thought of going home for winter vacation (Next time try to go on 9/11... ur sure to find the flights empty and bookings easier…)
2. He took a transit flight (As far as possible try take a straight one… but in case the bucks really matter then former is acceptable)
3. He took EMIRATES, which takes the transit via Middle East i.e., Dubai (Buddy taking a transit via Europe is fine… u get to see chicks... but middle east… did u think u can catch a glimpse of future osama?)
4. He carried some 100 bucks with him (Rule 314 of Air Travel: Carry sufficient cash… And if taking a transit always take an amount with which you can always book another flight and leave that goddamned place)
5. He smiles a lot and tries to be polite with all… (I guess its time u saw some American movies and all those great cowboy westerns to deal with people who are not polite with u)
6. He is still single… in spite of all the charm and the great “Baba” smile (Can’t tell much on this aspect since the whole gang expect a few are still in this status… Many people have not yet realized that u can sometimes even get a F117 jet to drop you at the South Pole if you have a good girl standing beside you…)

He boarded the EMIRATES flight yesterday from the great United States of America and landed in Dubai today morning... His connecting flight was in the night and he expected to have a good time in Airport till then… Alas it worked the other way around. To his astonishment he finds that his outbound ticket to India stands cancelled. So that meant that he was standing in an airport with no visa to enter the country and no ticket to take him to this destination. It was an alien nation and the only person I guess he knew in that country was me. So there comes the call to wake me up from my Friday slumber…

He asked whether it was possible for me to arrange for a visa or a ticket… The issue was that it was Friday and a public holiday and till Sunday it was not possible to arrange for a visa from my side. The other issue was that I was staying in Abu Dhabi, which is some 170 kms away from Dubai. Just grabbed a jean and T-shirt and called up some people at my office who were kind enough to arrange for a car to take me to Dubai because it was Friday and midday… The country kind of shuts down because of the Friday prayers…. My driver who happened to be from Oman missed his holy prayers and took me to Dubai at an incredible speed. We finally reached the airport and there starts my adventure
The only way my friend and me could speak was that he could call to my mobile from a booth inside. So when I reached there I needed to inform somehow that I have reached and he needed to call me now… For that I first went to some “Marabha” service available there. They were the guys to whom you pay and they take care of your people inside. Usually used for old, disabled, young people who are traveling. I went and contacted them stating the situation. The lady at the front desk smiling said I cannot help you maybe you can fill up that form and stand in that queue for the enquiry. I was bonkers and asked another “kind” gentleman. He was “kind” enough to direct me to the passport information counter.

There was a similar “kind” gentleman who was having a good chat with somebody in the phone and after I were standing there for some good 5 minutes showing no intention of moving out he turned to us asking “kindly” with a great “smile” in his face “what do u want?” Even before I could finish he told us that he cannot help us and asked us to contact us the customer service in the Civil Aviation counter. I asked him the directions and he seemed to have not heard us. So getting the directions from other people I finally landed up there.

Thankfully I really had one person who helped us out… He arranged to have a public announcement asking to contact the help desk. He also told that he might not be able to help us and only the airlines can arrange for a visa.

So I went to EMIRATES ticketing counter. I met the best gentleman of the whole day. Sitting there he had a grin and an expression on his face as if something was stuck up in his arse. He said no tickets available. He cannot arrange for a visa. He cannot provide accommodation. He smiling gave a look, which asked “Do I Care?”. So I went to my crescendo shouting at that ass. I made it clear to him that an airline cannot pick up a passenger and drop him in a country where he does not have a visa and also not provide him with an outbound ticket. If they were to do that they should not have boarded him in the first place. Finally somebody who seemed to be little more polite came down. He too had the same look but still he was little good mannered to say that he will look into it and see what he can do. He said if I can get a hotel booking and an airline ticket then my friend would be able to get a transit visa. This info had been already communicated to him inside. So went to the customer service made another announcement and finally he called.

So after speaking to him I went to a ticket sales counter and managed to get tickets to India through Thai Airways and Srilankan Airlines. The ticket sales counter guy said that he can give me the ticket and my friend inside can collect it or I can arrange for some delivery. So after blocking the tickets, I went back to airport information desk and they with lot of reluctance that I can contact the airport police in this regard and I did that. Having an Arabic driver helped me in this regard because that cop didn’t understand one word of English I spoke. Thanks to my driver he said that he might be able to help. He told that in such a way that it looked as if I was not standing there at all and he was just waving at the air. (But I can’t shout at him unless I wanted to take free Briyani for rest of my life). Then went to the EMIRATES counter to check up the status up there. But they still maintained the same stand and we got into another bout of loud shouts… Asking him to try again I decided to wait.

So everything arranged I just needed him to call me up now to give him the details. And the wait was quite long. So I went twice to that customer service guy who made the announcement. I doubt whether my friend actually heard any of them. After a long wait he called up and told that he made a little breakthrough with EMIRATES. He was been put up in priority for the Indian flight. I also told him about the backup booking. After 30 minutes he called up again telling me that he finally got the EMIRATES to give him a ticket and he’s flying to India at 9 pm flight… J

That settled… with a little disappointment that I won’t be spending the next two days with him here in UAE, I said I would be seeing him on next Friday (if nothing of this sort happens to me in Colombo).

Before leaving the airport went to thank the two guys who helped me in this ordeal, the customer service guy in the civil aviation counter (when he saw me approach he was just shaking his head as if he won’t make another announcement) and the other guy at the ticket sales counter.

So we finally hit the road and were stuck up in the evening traffic of Dubai and cursing everybody we hit the expressway to Abu Dhabi…

The problem with the service industry is not just here in UAE, India but everywhere. I don’t know what is the reason for this degradation of service. Is it the huge growing crowd or is it humans are just losing the touch of kindness. Are we just going to be just inhumane to other people’s sufferings? This is not the problem just in airports and train stations but everywhere in hospitals, governmental offices, police stations, shops, taxis….

What happened to the golden smile and the helping hand? Have the hearts shrinked with the world?

Enjoyin Ur Work

I have stuck this following strip in my office cabin... From then I have been receiving a look and a pat from my colleagues at work... It's a kind of a silent approval from the people but not openly admitted...


ps: "Dilbert" and the above strip is copyrighted to Scott Adams and distributed by UFS Inc. Scott Adams regularly blogs here (Dilbert.Blog)

Hitting 1 Gig....

Finally the day I turned 25, I also managed to touch another mark.... Now I have 1GB of personal data in GMail.... From May 2004 to Dec 2006.... Now was somebody talking abt privacy and Google not going to delete the data....

Open Doors....

For the unknown, I live in Abu Dhabi, UAE...
I live in a flat in the third floor in this city... There is one more colleague of mine from my office who shares the flat with me. He has gone on vacation back to his country for one month and expected back only by 2007. So I am the king of the jungle for December. I leave to office by 8-30 in the morning and usually come by 7.. But today i happened to visit another colleague of mine and had dinner with his family and came back home only by 11..

I received the shock of my life to find the door unlocked and partly open. With caution I opened the door and went inside, switched on all lights, checked all the closets, balcony, cabinets... I couldn't find anybody with a club or baseball bat or knife... With a sign of relief i closed the doors and was trying to recall what exactly happened... In my hurry to go to the office I must have forgot to latch the door and lock it. Now my door has been kept open for nearly 15 hours and now I started to wonder whether anything was missing. I explored the entire house and found that everything was intact. If somebody had tried to rob me, they did a poor job of leaving my surround system, digital camera and all my travel cash lying around the table.

When I came to this country, I was told that this was a safe place and all those stories of people finding their own purses in public parks even after two days, then I was thinking all those to be crap and hype... Now I have realized that humans living down here have foregone their natural instincts for whatsoever reason that can be imagined..
Some say it is because of the nature of punishment and according to some its a culture down here... Whatever it might be I just like it for the single reason that my stuff is still intact and I can have a peaceful sleep tonite...