My first visit to Kish Island

Its a memorable event for me, on the whole, to this Island off the coast of Islamic Republic of Iran. Kish Island, as its known, is a place which every resident in the UAE would remember, which allows a person to visit this island without any visa for 14 days after which one needs a valid visa from the Immigration authorities in Iran. People would go there to get a new visa to enter the UAE.

For a few its a wonderful journey, whereas for many its a pain. I have visited this place 3-4 times, thanks to my previous employer who never completed the process to issue an employement visa for 'n' number of unforeseen reasons. I still remember my first visit to this island which is hardly 15kms in length and 8kms in breadth. Kish Air that carries people to and fro, is a small Fokker F-50 or F-27. A scary flight indeed! A flight of 40 mins is completed with some snacks served along with a Farsi speech by the crew on flight safety.

I was welcomed by the immigration officer at the Kish Airport which has only one single floor building with two huge hoardings "Arrivals" & "Departures". Once the immigration formalities got completed, I was driven to Hotel Farabi where I was supposed to stay. Managed by the airlines, this place is a congregation of different nationalities who reside in the UAE. I could look at the weary faces of the people there who must have been staying in this hotel for God knows how long. I have even met people who have completed months of stay there. I was asked to approach the reception to complete the check-in formalities which I refused and demanded that I need to take a look at the room in which I would stay.

That is the last conversation I remember! I went to one of those rooms, 6 beds like a dorm, untidy bedding, unhygienic comfort stations and floor dirtied with skins of bananas and oranges. I didn't talk to anyone there but just found my way out to reach a cabbie. I told him to take me to a better place. A drive of just 5 minutes and to my relief I reached this wonderful place, Hotel Pars Nik. I remember staying in this place for 4 days after which my visa arrived. I stayed in a 'suite'.

The next challenge I faced-Food. Being a vegetarian (Eggetarian, to be precise), I found it difficult to communicate what I wanted. Hardly anyone understands English / Hindi there. Lady luck favoured-I found a Filipino and he was kind enough to communicate to the chef on my requirements. I remember having bread & tea in the morning, egg fried rice for lunch and curd rice for dinner. I could remember even the okra fry and brinjal sambar that my mom used to make and I never used to have it, but used to escape to some hotel nearby. Those delicacies that I used to hate appeared like a banquet fit for a king!!!

I visited the underground town of Kariz, the zoo, various malls spread across the island, took a ride along the coast, the Greek Ship, Kish island park etc. These attractions completed washed off those bitter memories that I had with this place and people. Its a wonderful place if you need to take a break from the hectic schedule. I am planning to visit this place once Sandhya is here. A weekend stay would rejuvenate one, indeed. Worth a visit at least once. I am sure one would wish to go back again!

Relocation

Shifting the house! This activity sounds familiar to all of us. We move from one place to the other. Its more common here in Dubai where people tend to save those few Dirhams. With the house rents seemingly reducing, people look forward to move to different locations keeping in mind the time taken to travel to and fro their work places.

I had a similar session yesterday. Our landlady vacated her office that was located in the hall, in our apartment. We friends used to stay in the room. All we did was to move our stuff from the room to the hall which she made available for us. Today I am not able to sit and work in the office. Back, hands and legs are aching! I realize now, how my parents used to carry out this house-shifting activity earlier. The maximum we friends moved was our clothing, cots, couple of furniture etc. But when I recollect our shifting in Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore, its a huge task to carry out, that my parents did. Everything from kitchen items, furniture, bedding, clothing etc., to vehicles, its a major task. They used to start packing things a week earlier in order to make sure they dispose the unwanted.

This is only half the job! Unpacking and arranging the stuff at the new place is another painstaking effort which they carry out. With much of patience and hard work they used to shift each and every necessary item, arrange them in order and dispose off the unwanted even after the shifting is done.

"I am dead tired because of this shifting" I told my mom.

She laughed, "Just moved from one room to the other, that too in the same apartment? Imagine how your Dad and me used to shift from one place to another, from one city to the other."

Hats off to them. They have done it for us. No wonder people say, once you are away from the family, every small thing that the family did for us will appear as a mountainous task. I completely agree. It makes sense.

Ignorant Co-workers

"I need a flyer for my product" says my colleague who wishes to promote his products for which he needs some flyers to be printed. This is no rocket science. Some images of the products, text explaining the product with technical specifications and its ready for print.

"I need the monogram of the company to be added" he says. I tried correcting him that it is the logo of the organization that he is referring to. But no, he wouldnt budge.

I sent him a project brief form to be filled up by him, so that I could have maximum information about the product, the USP, the technical details etc. He starts blabbering. I wonder how they work? What if there is a sales meeting and the clients ask questions that he is not able to answer? Its a pity!

"Just scan the sample flyers, add our logo and print it". I wonder whether they are aware of the process that goes into the making of the final print material. Hours of designing, scrutiny, image corrections, alignments, final artwork etc etc etc...I dont think he or any of his team members are aware of such a process. Most of them here think that its an easy process to plan and release Advertisements in news papers, print marketing materials, arrange exhibitions and other events, plan and execute outdoor campaigns etc. How in the world will someone explain them the roles & responsibilities of our department.

Curious enough to know, I once asked this colleague of mine, whether he knows something about brand positioning. The answer he gave shook me completely. From then on, I avoid such situations, so that I dont blow my fuse off. Buying enough time for the job to be completed, we execute the jobs within our office's four walls so that we do justice to our profiles. Nevertheless, even now, most of my colleagues think that we simply visit the office to carry out our profitless activities and rot.

What best describes these colleagues whom I am referring to? Ignorant, lacking knowledge of marketing & communication activites, unlearned, unknowledgeable. I dont know honestly. But need to move along with the flow. As they say, 'if you are not able to change the flow, go with it'. After a point, I should surely instigate change, but at this moment, I need to wait and watch.

Hhmmmpphhhh!!! God save these people.

Les Paul

Les Paul, this might ring some bells in the heads of those Guitar & Guitarists fans. Yes I am talking about the legend who invented the modern day solid-body electric guitar. He started to play the harmonica while he was eight and started playing banjo and moved on to cultivate great interest on guitars. Incidentally I learned that he is the inventor of the neck-holder for the harmonica that allows the player to play the harmonica as well as the guitar or any similar instrument. I used to watch these artists who play the guitar and the harmonica and also sing. Used to wonder who is this person who invented the neck-holder as it was beautifully planned equipment to support the player. Some used to sing too, apart from playing.

Les Paul died at the age of 94, on 13th of Aug 2009. Have been reading about him on different websites as well as on Wiki. In 1948, he met with a near-fatal accident and his doctors had a challenge in fixing his right arm. What a disaster!! They told him that once they fix his arm in one position, it would remain the same for the entire lifetime. He instructed the surgeons to at an angle that would allow play the guitar. He continued to play the guitar with this arm. Truly a legend.

The reason why I was caught by his personality is because, I used to play guitar (very minimal) while I was in Mysore. I used to go to Mr. Felix, who happens to be the band master in the Mysore Police Dept as well as the lead in St. Philomena's Church, one of the famous tourist attractions of India. He is a master in playing string instruments and piano. Gem of a person, talented to the core, he can play great notes after couple of pegs! I got flabbergasted when I saw him play the base cello and he didnt realize that we were a group of around 13-15 students enjoying his performance.

It was only when I started to learn how to play the guitar that I realized how difficult it is. I wonder how Joe Sitriani plays his guitar. His fingers are not that of humans!!! I tried to explore the notes and also created some base chords for a nursery rhyme! Mr. Felix was surprised with my inquisitiveness. Exams approached and I was barred from attending these classes and then I had to move on with my studies, never to get back to learning guitar.

I dont regret though. I enjoy listening to the legends play the great numbers and also frequently visit the live bands that play in Dubai to admire their talent. I make sure to befriend those lead and base guitarists. Names like Roy, Bogs, Adrian, Tom are familiar in my room as I keep talking about these guys who play in different clubs. I look forward to continue doing the same.

My tributes to Les Paul. May his soul rest in peace.

Home

House, everyone of us have. But home?! Is it a home?! In a literal sense, house is a dwelling that serves as a living quarters. But what about home?! Its the environment that we create in the house we live in.

We have heard news flash stating that thousands of people going homeless. But they are able to survive in refugee camps, temporary arrangements like caravans etc. Can these be their homes? Nope. Home is where happiness and peace is. Once you live with a family, your loving ones caring for each other, the place acquires a serenity, an aura of joy and peace engulfs. We all would agree that we would like to be in such a place after a tiring day, to return and share those unique moments with the loved ones.

Living in Dubai for close to 2 years now, I have never come across such a situation. The reason, I stay with some friends. All I can find is a room full of noise, some stupid regional songs on the TV, one guy is busy chatting on his laptop or browsing for the action packed car races with blaring engines on Youtube, another is sleeping, this is the usual situation. Looks like an unmanaged and unmaintained room in one of those college hostels.

Recently I found a new way to escape this indoor fiesta! Cooking!!! I confine myself in the kitchen for close to an hour and a half. I try out my cooking skills and there has been a great development. Two-in-one; I get to eat home made food, I escape the commotion! Needless to say, I save those few Dirhams which goes to the restaurateur. I am able to avoid those nights when I suffer from heartburns and gulp Gelusil in the middle of the night and get back to sleep. I had never tried out my cooking skills in India. There was no situation to do so, delicacies prepared and served by Wife, Mom and Sister. I am also able to understand how they manage things in the kitchen, even after working and coming back home to start off the preparations for the next big day. Hats off to them.

Its relieving to know that I would stay like this only for couple of months more, in the midst of the 'indoor' fiesta. Once Sandhya (my other half) is here, I would move out of this place to re-invent the days we spent together in Bangalore. Waiting to experience HOME again.

Here I come 'Home Sweet Home'.

Traditional Dress!

I sent a mail last Thursday to the staff in this branch requesting them to wear our Indian Traditional Dress today, 15th Aug. I expected a good response as 99% of them are Indians. This activity of wearing traditional attire during such occasions have been happening even in my previous organizations and I've been receiving very good response. We distribute sweets too.

To my surprise, it was only me and my colleague who wore traditional kurtha and the rest came in their usual formal & semi-formal attires, as they would do normally.

Is it because they would feel odd wearing our traditional outfit? Is it because they simply didnt want to buy a new clothing (maybe they didnt have any to suit the occasion)? Is it because they are just not bothered to acknowledge a colleague's request? Is it because they dont have this habit of remembering our nation's most celebrated occasion? Most likely, one of these reasons is applicable to each and every one of us. Being out of our country, we tend to miss all the occasions back home.

Of course, in the midst of all these, we did enjoy the occasion. Remembered our good 'ol days in India. Took some great photographs (another opportunity to experiment with my Nikon D60)!

Thank you Mother India, for everything.

Independence Day

This is a day when we all celebrate our freedom. It has been 6 decades, but are we still free? Maybe, may not be.

What are my plans this 15th? Planning to come to the office wearing a traditional attire. Maybe a kurtha set. Need to buy one though. "Take those good kurthas that you have" Mom said. I didnt want to get them here because I could find a situation that I would be wearing it in Dubai. I regret now, to have left those traditional dresses back in India. I still remember my days at Dell International in Bangalore when we all planned to paint the Customer Care division with saffron, white and green. Our plan worked! we could see only these three colors that day. Dresses, balloons, flowers, our national flags, and much more.

I had worn a white kurtha set with the saffron and green as chunnis. Appreciation and praises poured from the team members!

I miss being in my country this Independence Day. Especially the celebrations and of course, a day off from work! I need to glue on to my couch to watch and listen to some desi news so that I could be updated on the happenings that day in India.

Waiting!!!

This is something everyone of us dislike to do. Being clear of my order for lunch, from the usual restaurant that picks up my call and they know my name, my location and the order. My lunch menu is fixed unless I change it.

Probably this is the first time that the order was sent wrong. The reason-maybe because I added another order for one of my colleagues. Am waiting for my order to appear in front of me and I am confident of finishing it within minutes. I realized how difficult it is to wait with empty stomach. I wonder how people survive without food for a long time. I wonder how people survive at the Poles, in the deepest jungles, the members of staff of various Channels that show us creatures, places, lakes, depth of oceans, mountains and what not, which of course we might come across for the first time on TV. How do these people survive? Who is there to pick the phone and take down their order? They wait for hours and hours to just complete a documentary of maybe 45 mins. I am sure it must have taken months together to complete one single program.

Hats off to those brave men & women who risk their lives to reveal nature to us as seen through their eyes! May GOD bless them!

Finally my present waiting is over. My food has arrived.

Recession?

It seems as though the number of hours per day has been increased. Or maybe the clock has stopped ticking!

With my manager off on his annual vacation, though I've got this lengthy joblist in front of me, there seems to be no big deal of a job to be executed. With people around me who can easily call a 'logo' as 'Monogram' (lol), I am finding it difficult to convince them on the jobs that we had planned, on the events that we were prepared for, on the media releases that we had already scheduled. On the name of the recession that has invaded the world, anything and everything is blamed no the recession. Poor recession, what wrong has it done?

In fact, in a way this was required. Famous Economists, pondering over the situation few years later, wrote books to express their genuine analysis which could prove the situation which we are in currently. No, no one seemingly believed their words. But here we are, in the middle of the downfall in the Economy.

Especially, the cost-cutting measures that the companies carry out. I am sick of hearing this 'cost cutting' thing! Every morning I get up to be surprised and shocked that one of my friends / relatives has lost the job. WHY?! All in the name of recession. What were these managers and the so-called bosses doing so far? In the name of cost cutting, for example, we are now drinking our 4-times-a-day tea in the office in china cups which was hitherto served to us in disposable tea cups. What saving does the management acquire by stopping the usage of disposable tea cups and including the china tea cups? I will surely end up vising my family doctor for one good reason of being affected by some infectious bacteria. How can I be sure of these cups being washed properly and hygienically stored to be used the next time?! Point to be noted and to be pointed.

Well, time has come for me to buy my own cup. Needless to say, I need to wash my cup even in the office now. Enough of cooking, cleaning and washing of utensils going on at home and now, even in the office? OK, accepted.