Friday, November 16, 2007
Scarmbled Thought 2
God knows how to make one forget a sorrow!!! Simple create a bigger sorrow an he will forget the old one....he is guiding me perfectly for this :)
Friday, November 9, 2007
Scrambled Thoughts
In the darkness,
At the trough of hopes,
Times u wanna collapse in to the laps of mother earth…
Redmind yourself that life is an oxymoron.
At the trough of hopes,
Times u wanna collapse in to the laps of mother earth…
Redmind yourself that life is an oxymoron.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Entrepreneurship the formula for “live and let live”
“Become an entrepreneur” this is the phrase that I repeatedly tell to myself ever since I completed reading “Rich dad poor dad” series by Robert kiosaki. After reading this book I was very much convinced that there is only one way to become wealthy & have a lot of personal time. It is “Being on your own”. But something that immediately came to my mind is, if a dumb guy like me can understand this so easily why many of my fellow Indians have not understood this? Why many fellow Indians are still relying on their pay checks for their sustenance? Why even (many) the alumni of famed b-schools look for an overseas offer rather than starting on their own? I had searched for an answer for this question in quite a few places and had discussed this with many of my friends, but still could not get a solid answer.
One fine day I realised that the answer for this question lies in me. I fit in many criteria that define an elite club. I have a good education, was an alumnus of a reasonably good b-school, have completed CFA in no time (forgive me for boasting), have moved reasonably well in corporate ladder but still I don’t have the courage to start something on my own. It struck me, if I find the reason for my reluctance to do something on my own, then I am done with the answer.
During my school days my employed parents always advised me to become an engineer or a doctor. I am sure my parents would have suggested me the best possible thing within their purview. But why my parents did not think about making me a business magnet? The answer lies in the environment in which they were brought up during their childhood. They were born just after mother India was freed from the hands of British Empire. Needless to say that this is the period in which most of the Indian families were in poverty and the Nehru government has initiated lot of public sector plans to employ the Indian population. So, the only aim of our previous generation is to study well and get in to a government job. In essence survival is the key and government has made an easy way out for this. Having attained this they always wanted me to take this easy route and settle in life.
Ya, I could hear you saying “so what? If you are boasting that you belong to elite club, why don’t you think?” The fact is my mindset never got an opportunity to change. In my b-school “placements” was the buzz word from day one. Entrepreneurial capabilities were not even discussed for the sake of discussing during those days. When I came out of the b-school the corporate world welcomed me with its arms wide open. The salaries were lucrative and I could grow at a good pace too. So, even though I toyed with the idea of business quite often I never had the courage to risk leaving my high paid job, clearly an act of cowardice.
Now, when I step back and see my career I could see that what I perceived as growth and good pay is just an illusion. The reason why I am saying this is a) corporate growth more often than not, is just a change in designation. Whatever designation I get, somebody will still be goading me. b) The good pay will not be sufficient to make me obtain my financial freedom. Once I stop working I will go bankrupt sooner or later. On the other hand business gurus will continue to earn the same money because they have created a system which generates money. Let me make this point bit more clear with an example here, let us take example of Mr.Ambani who is owner(major share holder) of a listed fortune 500 company. Now, if he stops working Reliance will still continue to generate money because there are other stake (share) holders who have vested interest in the company and thus Mr.Ambwani will continue to earn. The only loss for Mr.Ambani on his retirement would be his further growth, but financially he will stay where he is.
The interesting story about the Indian working community is most of it is capable of running corporate, but are just reluctant. There are “n” number of CEOs who successfully run companies yet very few have ventured their own. Let us take Mr. Kamath, he has taken ICICI to great heights in no time. ICICI is matching the asset levels and penetration of SBI which has a history of nearly hundred years. No one can deny that ICICI’s CEO played key role in attaining this phenomenal feet. Yet, he is still an employee. May be he is getting his ESOPs’ but still he is not an entrepreneur. I am not sure about his personal case for not being on his own, but my gut suggests that he too belongs to the typical Indian working community. I am sure I can bring out quite a lot of examples, if it is not Mr. Kamath.
Having discussed what prevents us from becoming “real” bosses, let us also briefly see what it takes to become one such. I am sure whatever I am going to say is not a panacea, but I can assure you that it will be good starting point. When I analyse the case of successful entrepreneurs I could categorise them in to two groups. ( I am speaking about first generation entrepreneurs here, not the ones who latch on to their forefather’s business). 1) People who hadn’t had a sophisticated life. These people are forced to look out for opportunities and when they did it, there was no looking back for them. People like Mr. Dell, Mr. Gates, Mr. Ambwani will fall in to this category. 2) People who are innovators as part of their profession. These people bring out ideas as part of their profession, at some point in time they had decide to en-cash the ideas for themselves and started business on their own. Men like Mr. Edison, Mr. Morito, Mr. Narayanan Moorthy will fall in this group.
So, by virtue of our culture, family background and present sophistications in life most of us are ruled of the option of becoming part of category ‘a’. Nevertheless, the category ‘b’ is still open but we are turning blind eyes to it. When I was writing this piece one of my close friend pinged me saying that “ his job is hectic”. I just said him dude why should we slog in like this, let us start something on our own. “I neither have the money nor ideas about the kind of businesses that can be done” came the reply. This is the typical case of most of us (including me). We find reasons why it can’t be done rather than thinking how it can be done. We come out with lot of innovative reasons like time, family background, risks bla bla bla for not doing anything but are not even ready to give a thought about starting something on own. The simple and only reason behind this is – We don’t want to come out of our established safe routine.
It is high time guys we should start thinking about being on our own. This will not only help ourselves but our community, our country and in fact the whole world. There is also a moral/ethical reason for starting a business. I read a book which stated “if somebody comes to you in hunger don’t give them fish but teach them to fish, because giving a fish would serve him one meal whereas teaching to fish would give him a life”. When we start something on our own we will continue to earn at least what we are earning now(save me for initial period), if not more, but the amount of jobs and opportunities you can create for others through your venture is much much more. Eventually, the amount of God’s grace that you can earn through providing a career for two men and thus a life for two families is much higher than feeding hundreds of beggars in a day.
Let me make another point clear at this juncture. I am not suggesting that all of us should quit our present jobs and start a business tomorrow, but all I am suggesting is “be vigilant”. There will be lot of business ideas around you in your day to life, in office, in house, in fact everywhere. Scout for them, keep it in top of your mind, once you get few workable ideas prepare a solid business plan with all your learning in life and start some thing on your own. Again don’t crib for lack of finance and make me to remind you of the quote “It’s not the money that is scarce, but it is the idea that is scarce”. So, guys when we commit ourselves to the cause we can definitely raise all the resources irrespective of whatever comes in the way.
Let us break the glass ceiling and let’s be on our own guys. Let this Diwali, the festival of lights enlighten our thoughts. See you all in next Global entrepreneurial summit.(Ithu konjam over than irundhalum oru finishing puchukaga)
One fine day I realised that the answer for this question lies in me. I fit in many criteria that define an elite club. I have a good education, was an alumnus of a reasonably good b-school, have completed CFA in no time (forgive me for boasting), have moved reasonably well in corporate ladder but still I don’t have the courage to start something on my own. It struck me, if I find the reason for my reluctance to do something on my own, then I am done with the answer.
During my school days my employed parents always advised me to become an engineer or a doctor. I am sure my parents would have suggested me the best possible thing within their purview. But why my parents did not think about making me a business magnet? The answer lies in the environment in which they were brought up during their childhood. They were born just after mother India was freed from the hands of British Empire. Needless to say that this is the period in which most of the Indian families were in poverty and the Nehru government has initiated lot of public sector plans to employ the Indian population. So, the only aim of our previous generation is to study well and get in to a government job. In essence survival is the key and government has made an easy way out for this. Having attained this they always wanted me to take this easy route and settle in life.
Ya, I could hear you saying “so what? If you are boasting that you belong to elite club, why don’t you think?” The fact is my mindset never got an opportunity to change. In my b-school “placements” was the buzz word from day one. Entrepreneurial capabilities were not even discussed for the sake of discussing during those days. When I came out of the b-school the corporate world welcomed me with its arms wide open. The salaries were lucrative and I could grow at a good pace too. So, even though I toyed with the idea of business quite often I never had the courage to risk leaving my high paid job, clearly an act of cowardice.
Now, when I step back and see my career I could see that what I perceived as growth and good pay is just an illusion. The reason why I am saying this is a) corporate growth more often than not, is just a change in designation. Whatever designation I get, somebody will still be goading me. b) The good pay will not be sufficient to make me obtain my financial freedom. Once I stop working I will go bankrupt sooner or later. On the other hand business gurus will continue to earn the same money because they have created a system which generates money. Let me make this point bit more clear with an example here, let us take example of Mr.Ambani who is owner(major share holder) of a listed fortune 500 company. Now, if he stops working Reliance will still continue to generate money because there are other stake (share) holders who have vested interest in the company and thus Mr.Ambwani will continue to earn. The only loss for Mr.Ambani on his retirement would be his further growth, but financially he will stay where he is.
The interesting story about the Indian working community is most of it is capable of running corporate, but are just reluctant. There are “n” number of CEOs who successfully run companies yet very few have ventured their own. Let us take Mr. Kamath, he has taken ICICI to great heights in no time. ICICI is matching the asset levels and penetration of SBI which has a history of nearly hundred years. No one can deny that ICICI’s CEO played key role in attaining this phenomenal feet. Yet, he is still an employee. May be he is getting his ESOPs’ but still he is not an entrepreneur. I am not sure about his personal case for not being on his own, but my gut suggests that he too belongs to the typical Indian working community. I am sure I can bring out quite a lot of examples, if it is not Mr. Kamath.
Having discussed what prevents us from becoming “real” bosses, let us also briefly see what it takes to become one such. I am sure whatever I am going to say is not a panacea, but I can assure you that it will be good starting point. When I analyse the case of successful entrepreneurs I could categorise them in to two groups. ( I am speaking about first generation entrepreneurs here, not the ones who latch on to their forefather’s business). 1) People who hadn’t had a sophisticated life. These people are forced to look out for opportunities and when they did it, there was no looking back for them. People like Mr. Dell, Mr. Gates, Mr. Ambwani will fall in to this category. 2) People who are innovators as part of their profession. These people bring out ideas as part of their profession, at some point in time they had decide to en-cash the ideas for themselves and started business on their own. Men like Mr. Edison, Mr. Morito, Mr. Narayanan Moorthy will fall in this group.
So, by virtue of our culture, family background and present sophistications in life most of us are ruled of the option of becoming part of category ‘a’. Nevertheless, the category ‘b’ is still open but we are turning blind eyes to it. When I was writing this piece one of my close friend pinged me saying that “ his job is hectic”. I just said him dude why should we slog in like this, let us start something on our own. “I neither have the money nor ideas about the kind of businesses that can be done” came the reply. This is the typical case of most of us (including me). We find reasons why it can’t be done rather than thinking how it can be done. We come out with lot of innovative reasons like time, family background, risks bla bla bla for not doing anything but are not even ready to give a thought about starting something on own. The simple and only reason behind this is – We don’t want to come out of our established safe routine.
It is high time guys we should start thinking about being on our own. This will not only help ourselves but our community, our country and in fact the whole world. There is also a moral/ethical reason for starting a business. I read a book which stated “if somebody comes to you in hunger don’t give them fish but teach them to fish, because giving a fish would serve him one meal whereas teaching to fish would give him a life”. When we start something on our own we will continue to earn at least what we are earning now(save me for initial period), if not more, but the amount of jobs and opportunities you can create for others through your venture is much much more. Eventually, the amount of God’s grace that you can earn through providing a career for two men and thus a life for two families is much higher than feeding hundreds of beggars in a day.
Let me make another point clear at this juncture. I am not suggesting that all of us should quit our present jobs and start a business tomorrow, but all I am suggesting is “be vigilant”. There will be lot of business ideas around you in your day to life, in office, in house, in fact everywhere. Scout for them, keep it in top of your mind, once you get few workable ideas prepare a solid business plan with all your learning in life and start some thing on your own. Again don’t crib for lack of finance and make me to remind you of the quote “It’s not the money that is scarce, but it is the idea that is scarce”. So, guys when we commit ourselves to the cause we can definitely raise all the resources irrespective of whatever comes in the way.
Let us break the glass ceiling and let’s be on our own guys. Let this Diwali, the festival of lights enlighten our thoughts. See you all in next Global entrepreneurial summit.(Ithu konjam over than irundhalum oru finishing puchukaga)
Though master of slaves, we are still slave of a master.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Dubai – A tourist’s dream land
Last week when I posted about Bahrain, I received two predominant comments 1) My picture on the page looks like I am very sad 2) Compared to my write ups about my travel experience in Europe, this pot was very non-humorous. My answer to both these is same; it only reflects my present state of mind. I have lost some (one) of the important treasure in my life and it still pains. In fact the objective of this outing is to divert my mind from these things. So, friends this post will be like a Chinese noodles compared to my previous write ups of Indian noodle types. Oops!!! (for) tube lights, this write up will be non-spicy without any humour.
I was accompanied my college junior Ravi, who is also working in Bahrain. Our flight was at 7.30 pm on 11-0ct-2007 and Ravi called me at 6’ o clock and told that he is still on the way. His tone was scared and he told the ticket mentions check-in is 3 hours before flight, without knowing checking in can be done till 1hr before flight. Common this is my chance…. Once he reached airport I started giving him gyans about boarding flights, procedure for immigration etc... He listened all these with a grave look for around 2 hours till we boarded in the flight and finally told, Nirmal u know “Am in Bahrain, which means I have undergone immigration already”. I just erred “Arasiyala ithu ellam saggam aapa” and remained silent for rest of our journey.
The flight landed about an hour late at 10.30 (Dubai is one hour ahead of Bahraini time). The grandness of Dubai begins in airport itself. Huge airport…with escalators even for moving horizontally. Though I had been to Dubai airport it still kept me amazed. This time I was more pro-active, I asked Ravi “had u been here already?” No came the answer. So, I started my gyan session about Dubai air port “Apada…Inga oruthan matitanda …evlo alandhalum ketkuranda”. However our excitement didn’t last long, when we reached the immigration counter there was huuuuge queue. We were sure that the night was out. We were standing in queue but how can a blabbering mouth be calm? We innovated a (fool proof!!!) system with which immigration can be automated and were discussing why it was important for an economy like Dubai which plans to make tourism as the 2nd largest contributor to its GDP (ok verum vayila vada sutom…poduma). At around 3.00 am our entry to the city was cleared, but not the nightmare. There was a huge queue for Taxi and my knowledge of queuing theory said that it would take another 4 hours to hire a taxi. So, we went out of airport to hire a taxi. My goodness, taxi drivers are least bothered to stop or even listen what we are asking and to our dismay Ravi had booked the lodge in Sarjah which is about 30 mins travel from airport. Finally we hired a taxi run by paki guy and managed to reach the hotel by 4 am. Having decided next day is gone we slept at around 5 am.
Chinna veerapan (CV), another junior in my college who is working in Sarjah joined us at around 1 pm next day. We started of our tour with a visit to sharjah city centre. Though there were lot of things to do in the mall, we ended up posing near the women dolls in the lifestyle showrooms. We wandered in the mall for around 2hrs with the usual oath “For lot many years now we are going out only with guys, this is goanna be my last outing with guys”, I guess this oath taking is goanna continue for some more time to come. Then we decided to go out to Dubai. I insisted that we should use the public transport system which is a Volvo bus. Nevertheless fat lady continued to sing, again there was a huge queue for bus, and so cursing Ravi for booking the room in sarjah we hired a taxi.
We got a drop in Deira Dubai, but we wanted to go to Burj Dubai, which is in the other side of sea/ back water. To connect this they have tunnel which goes under the sea and public boat system (called as Abra). We opted for boat which hardly takes 10 mins to reach the other side. In Deira we went through the old souq which is like Bazaar Street. Bargaining is the key for shopping here, every other shop contains an Indian sales person and made me feel home. I was just reminded of the SMS that came about Sreesanth after the 20-20 finals. (Paki hit the ball back without knowing that a mallu will be there in every nook and corner of this world).
Next day CV opted out of our group, sighting official works, so Ravi and I went for desert safari. A land cruiser jeep picked us up and we had to travel for around 45 mins to reach sand dunes. Normally I would enjoy watching through the windows in these kind of situations, but somehow heavy heartedly I was laid back in the head rest with a heavy heart. May be my mind was just revolving around an issue but jeep moved, we reached the sand dunes. At the entrance the driver reduced the air in tyres to half and said to Puzzled looking me “saab otherwise it won’t be possible to drive in the sand”. The safari was marvellous to say the least. Those of you who are interested in roller coaster ride just try this, moving up and down in the mountain of sand…oops it requires stupendous driving skills and the way they organised it with around 20 jeeps rallying like a snake is also commendable.
Then we were taken to dinner arranged by the touring company. The place had every other thing that Arab culture is known for, Seesaw (smoking tube), mehandhi, Arab men and women dress to name a few. Ravi and I got dressed up in Sheik dress and shot few snaps. The dinner was also very good with options from western to eastern items. Then came the highlight of the trip, the ‘belly dance’. We had a few shots with her but for me it is nothing more than a live Indian film song. I just felt like repeating comedian sathiyan dialogue in Mayavi “ ni ellam nadicha padatha(film) than 3 hrs parpanga, enga thalivi simran nadich naan posteria 3 hrs parpen”.
We reached sarjah late in the nite, but CV had already made plans for Pub, so couldn’t decline. Sahrjah being the cultural capital of emirates, pubs and prostitution are strictly not allowed so we had to travel to Ajman which is 10 mins drive. I spent the night with soft drinks and dancing (roaming). Prostitutes from the world’s most populated country are available at anybody’s disposal in these places. Thank god it is one of the few un-ethical things that had never crossed my mind. However we spent time till 4 am in the morning. Yes henceforth nobody can say “vaypu kidikathathu naala than ni thapu panalai” at me. Yeah!!!
Next day we wanted to roam around the city, Ravi wanted to opt for double decker tourist service (Big bus). I started saying“ravi from my experience in Paris tour…” he just cut me short and told, “ I don’t know what is your experience, but from my experience I understand that you boast a lot about your only other overseas trip”. Now am trapped had to shut up my a__. We got on top of the double decker bus and watched the beauty of Dubai. The world’s largest floating bridge, Gold souq, in-number able sky scrappers to name a few.
We got down at Dubai museum, the museum looked so deserted at the first sight. Back home my cousin living in US had given lot of hype about this museum, but after seeing this condition I started cursing her. When we are about to leave we found steps like the ones that we see in Indian Ghost films leading to underground… dark and falcon birds hanging over. With kind of suspicion we got down slowly but there lied the real museum. Unlike typical museum where one can find articles of old ages this museum was full of plaster idols that depict the living style of Arabs in various forms of life. I just said “see ravi they have managed to create a museum out of nothing” had quick thought and continued “ they have created a marvellous city out of nothing, cant they built this museum then?”, made sense. Then we got on to the palace through Big bus. Again this is not as great as modern day saddam’s palace, but throws light on their trading relationships around the world. They have used all currencies from Indian rupees to British pounds during early 20th century. Realising that they didn’t had even a proper currency I just thought “Maadu maikira payaluku imbutu valvaa?”, jokes apart it appealed to me that even autocracy with proper visionary in top would lead to betterment, on the other hand democracy with selfish morons around, will lead to a great downfall.
From there we went to Jumeirah beach via Jumeirah Madina, the only mosque that is open for non-Muslims. A good sculptural work. Then we spent some time in Jumeirah beach, what else screaming at pairs, “Ennda nama matum epo paaru thaniyave beachuku varom”. Then we went to madyint jumeirah a mall exclusively meant for art works, it made even an art blind like me to appreciate things. The world’s first 7 star hotel “burj al arab” is also located in this region. A visit to this (vadikai parkrathu) will cost around Rs.2500!!! We consoled ourselves saying that ir-respective of number of stars all food are goanna come out as s__t” and decided not to go in. Finally we hit sack at 11 pm with the thought that like erstwhile hutch’s “thodi dhur mai” ad, Dubai’s places to visit list will never end.
Next day we packed things and handed over our luggage in cloak room before starting our trip. Then we took a public transport bus and reached for the much hyped “dhow cruise” / “water bus”. But it was nothing but the sea water trip(same as trip between Burj and desire Dubai), but in a sophisticated cruise for a longer time. By now we are more familiar with place, so spent this trip in just photo shooting.
Then after lot of struggle we reached “mall of emirates” through public transport. Oops what a mall, it is like you name it we have it. Retail giants like Carrefour looks like nothing inside this mall. The highlight of this mall is “ski Dubai”, the artificial snow land which is maintained at -2 degree Celsius. You have ice skating, skiing, winches on top of Ice Mountains etc… in the park. Due to time constraint we could not enjoy there. One thing is sure visit Dubai at least once, either as a bachelor with joy of looking at gals or as a couple with scariness of becoming bankrupt!! (I never mentioned women are spending freaks). It is not the cost but the options that will make you bankrupt by shopping.
By now we were running out of time so we came out and were looking for taxi. An Indian approached us and offered a drop to airport at a relatively cheaper price. The Indian mentality forced us to choose this, but soon we were told by the driver that he is also new to Dubai and hence he don’t know the way properly. My goodness, he kept on roaming before finally dropping us at airport. I just thought we could have hired him to roam around Dubai instead of opting for the costly “Big bus”!!
Finally we boarded the flight and reached Bahrain at 3AM. However, the objective of the trip, to get out of dissonance about Bahrain was defeated by a huge margin, after visiting Dubai my heart is feeling so heavy about landing in this deserted place and this continues to add to my already existing pains. Nevertheless, a good outing has come to an end and I need to live with reality!!
Guess this will inspire at least a couple of my friends to visit Dubai.
I was accompanied my college junior Ravi, who is also working in Bahrain. Our flight was at 7.30 pm on 11-0ct-2007 and Ravi called me at 6’ o clock and told that he is still on the way. His tone was scared and he told the ticket mentions check-in is 3 hours before flight, without knowing checking in can be done till 1hr before flight. Common this is my chance…. Once he reached airport I started giving him gyans about boarding flights, procedure for immigration etc... He listened all these with a grave look for around 2 hours till we boarded in the flight and finally told, Nirmal u know “Am in Bahrain, which means I have undergone immigration already”. I just erred “Arasiyala ithu ellam saggam aapa” and remained silent for rest of our journey.
The flight landed about an hour late at 10.30 (Dubai is one hour ahead of Bahraini time). The grandness of Dubai begins in airport itself. Huge airport…with escalators even for moving horizontally. Though I had been to Dubai airport it still kept me amazed. This time I was more pro-active, I asked Ravi “had u been here already?” No came the answer. So, I started my gyan session about Dubai air port “Apada…Inga oruthan matitanda …evlo alandhalum ketkuranda”. However our excitement didn’t last long, when we reached the immigration counter there was huuuuge queue. We were sure that the night was out. We were standing in queue but how can a blabbering mouth be calm? We innovated a (fool proof!!!) system with which immigration can be automated and were discussing why it was important for an economy like Dubai which plans to make tourism as the 2nd largest contributor to its GDP (ok verum vayila vada sutom…poduma). At around 3.00 am our entry to the city was cleared, but not the nightmare. There was a huge queue for Taxi and my knowledge of queuing theory said that it would take another 4 hours to hire a taxi. So, we went out of airport to hire a taxi. My goodness, taxi drivers are least bothered to stop or even listen what we are asking and to our dismay Ravi had booked the lodge in Sarjah which is about 30 mins travel from airport. Finally we hired a taxi run by paki guy and managed to reach the hotel by 4 am. Having decided next day is gone we slept at around 5 am.
Chinna veerapan (CV), another junior in my college who is working in Sarjah joined us at around 1 pm next day. We started of our tour with a visit to sharjah city centre. Though there were lot of things to do in the mall, we ended up posing near the women dolls in the lifestyle showrooms. We wandered in the mall for around 2hrs with the usual oath “For lot many years now we are going out only with guys, this is goanna be my last outing with guys”, I guess this oath taking is goanna continue for some more time to come. Then we decided to go out to Dubai. I insisted that we should use the public transport system which is a Volvo bus. Nevertheless fat lady continued to sing, again there was a huge queue for bus, and so cursing Ravi for booking the room in sarjah we hired a taxi.
We got a drop in Deira Dubai, but we wanted to go to Burj Dubai, which is in the other side of sea/ back water. To connect this they have tunnel which goes under the sea and public boat system (called as Abra). We opted for boat which hardly takes 10 mins to reach the other side. In Deira we went through the old souq which is like Bazaar Street. Bargaining is the key for shopping here, every other shop contains an Indian sales person and made me feel home. I was just reminded of the SMS that came about Sreesanth after the 20-20 finals. (Paki hit the ball back without knowing that a mallu will be there in every nook and corner of this world).
Next day CV opted out of our group, sighting official works, so Ravi and I went for desert safari. A land cruiser jeep picked us up and we had to travel for around 45 mins to reach sand dunes. Normally I would enjoy watching through the windows in these kind of situations, but somehow heavy heartedly I was laid back in the head rest with a heavy heart. May be my mind was just revolving around an issue but jeep moved, we reached the sand dunes. At the entrance the driver reduced the air in tyres to half and said to Puzzled looking me “saab otherwise it won’t be possible to drive in the sand”. The safari was marvellous to say the least. Those of you who are interested in roller coaster ride just try this, moving up and down in the mountain of sand…oops it requires stupendous driving skills and the way they organised it with around 20 jeeps rallying like a snake is also commendable.
Then we were taken to dinner arranged by the touring company. The place had every other thing that Arab culture is known for, Seesaw (smoking tube), mehandhi, Arab men and women dress to name a few. Ravi and I got dressed up in Sheik dress and shot few snaps. The dinner was also very good with options from western to eastern items. Then came the highlight of the trip, the ‘belly dance’. We had a few shots with her but for me it is nothing more than a live Indian film song. I just felt like repeating comedian sathiyan dialogue in Mayavi “ ni ellam nadicha padatha(film) than 3 hrs parpanga, enga thalivi simran nadich naan posteria 3 hrs parpen”.
We reached sarjah late in the nite, but CV had already made plans for Pub, so couldn’t decline. Sahrjah being the cultural capital of emirates, pubs and prostitution are strictly not allowed so we had to travel to Ajman which is 10 mins drive. I spent the night with soft drinks and dancing (roaming). Prostitutes from the world’s most populated country are available at anybody’s disposal in these places. Thank god it is one of the few un-ethical things that had never crossed my mind. However we spent time till 4 am in the morning. Yes henceforth nobody can say “vaypu kidikathathu naala than ni thapu panalai” at me. Yeah!!!
Next day we wanted to roam around the city, Ravi wanted to opt for double decker tourist service (Big bus). I started saying“ravi from my experience in Paris tour…” he just cut me short and told, “ I don’t know what is your experience, but from my experience I understand that you boast a lot about your only other overseas trip”. Now am trapped had to shut up my a__. We got on top of the double decker bus and watched the beauty of Dubai. The world’s largest floating bridge, Gold souq, in-number able sky scrappers to name a few.
We got down at Dubai museum, the museum looked so deserted at the first sight. Back home my cousin living in US had given lot of hype about this museum, but after seeing this condition I started cursing her. When we are about to leave we found steps like the ones that we see in Indian Ghost films leading to underground… dark and falcon birds hanging over. With kind of suspicion we got down slowly but there lied the real museum. Unlike typical museum where one can find articles of old ages this museum was full of plaster idols that depict the living style of Arabs in various forms of life. I just said “see ravi they have managed to create a museum out of nothing” had quick thought and continued “ they have created a marvellous city out of nothing, cant they built this museum then?”, made sense. Then we got on to the palace through Big bus. Again this is not as great as modern day saddam’s palace, but throws light on their trading relationships around the world. They have used all currencies from Indian rupees to British pounds during early 20th century. Realising that they didn’t had even a proper currency I just thought “Maadu maikira payaluku imbutu valvaa?”, jokes apart it appealed to me that even autocracy with proper visionary in top would lead to betterment, on the other hand democracy with selfish morons around, will lead to a great downfall.
From there we went to Jumeirah beach via Jumeirah Madina, the only mosque that is open for non-Muslims. A good sculptural work. Then we spent some time in Jumeirah beach, what else screaming at pairs, “Ennda nama matum epo paaru thaniyave beachuku varom”. Then we went to madyint jumeirah a mall exclusively meant for art works, it made even an art blind like me to appreciate things. The world’s first 7 star hotel “burj al arab” is also located in this region. A visit to this (vadikai parkrathu) will cost around Rs.2500!!! We consoled ourselves saying that ir-respective of number of stars all food are goanna come out as s__t” and decided not to go in. Finally we hit sack at 11 pm with the thought that like erstwhile hutch’s “thodi dhur mai” ad, Dubai’s places to visit list will never end.
Next day we packed things and handed over our luggage in cloak room before starting our trip. Then we took a public transport bus and reached for the much hyped “dhow cruise” / “water bus”. But it was nothing but the sea water trip(same as trip between Burj and desire Dubai), but in a sophisticated cruise for a longer time. By now we are more familiar with place, so spent this trip in just photo shooting.
Then after lot of struggle we reached “mall of emirates” through public transport. Oops what a mall, it is like you name it we have it. Retail giants like Carrefour looks like nothing inside this mall. The highlight of this mall is “ski Dubai”, the artificial snow land which is maintained at -2 degree Celsius. You have ice skating, skiing, winches on top of Ice Mountains etc… in the park. Due to time constraint we could not enjoy there. One thing is sure visit Dubai at least once, either as a bachelor with joy of looking at gals or as a couple with scariness of becoming bankrupt!! (I never mentioned women are spending freaks). It is not the cost but the options that will make you bankrupt by shopping.
By now we were running out of time so we came out and were looking for taxi. An Indian approached us and offered a drop to airport at a relatively cheaper price. The Indian mentality forced us to choose this, but soon we were told by the driver that he is also new to Dubai and hence he don’t know the way properly. My goodness, he kept on roaming before finally dropping us at airport. I just thought we could have hired him to roam around Dubai instead of opting for the costly “Big bus”!!
Finally we boarded the flight and reached Bahrain at 3AM. However, the objective of the trip, to get out of dissonance about Bahrain was defeated by a huge margin, after visiting Dubai my heart is feeling so heavy about landing in this deserted place and this continues to add to my already existing pains. Nevertheless, a good outing has come to an end and I need to live with reality!!
Guess this will inspire at least a couple of my friends to visit Dubai.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Bahrain - Land for expats from india
This post aims at giving guidance to Indians shifting to Bahrain, having said that I should also admit that I am writing this just on 3rd month of my stay in Bahrain, so it’s up to the readers to take the post with a pinch of salt.
Flight
There are quite a few options to fly to Bahrain. Gulf air, Air India express and Indian airlines operate direct flights to this place from various parts of India. My experience with Gulf air so far is not encouraging, so I personally prefer to avoid this. Other options include Srilankan airlines, Emirates, Air Arabia etc... The cheapest of the lot is Air Arabia and Srilankan airlines, nevertheless you should be ready to wait for long hours in between transits.
Climate
Climate in the kingdom gets to extremes. The summers here get very hot and frequently the thermometer crosses mid 40s during that time. Though I am yet to spend a winter here, from my discussion with others I could understand that winters are also worse here. Though it does not get to –ve as in western countries, quite often one could see temperature of single digit it seems.
Food
One thing that Indians won’t miss here is Indian food let it be S.Indian or N.Indian. There are quite a lot of options at brand levels like Sangeetha, Mysore, and Takatak apart from the many small resturants. Cost wise also Indian foods are cheap when compared to western food. Apart from Indian restaurants there are also restaurants focused on each of the region. So variety won’t be an issue.
Indian vegetarian food would cost 500 fills to 1.5 Dinars depending upon the restaurant you choose. Most of the restaurants here will deliver the food on order over phone which makes it quite comfortable for bachelors. One can also buy monthly food passes in some of these restaurants which will reduce the monthly bill by somewhere around 10% to 20%
Housing
Thanks to initiatives by government there are adequate houses in the country, this has prevented the place from soaring rentals, unlike neighbouring emirates nations. However houses will be rented out quite fast here, one need to be vigilant and fast in renting home.
There are quite a few options when it comes to homes with houses options of furnished, un-furnished, single to five bed rooms and villas. Manama, Hoora, gudabiya are places where houses are comparatively cheap. A furnished suit will cost around 180 Dinars, a single bedroom un-furnished house would cost some where around 180 Dinars to 220 Dinars and for less than 250 Dinars one can find an un-furnished double bedroom houses. For furnished version it would cost some where around 60-80dinars extra per month. Juffair, Adliya, um-al Hassam are bit Porsche and house would cots 50-100 dinars extra in these locations.
After signing the rental contract you should register with ministry of water and electricity to get electricity connection to your house. The ministry charges 10% of the rental towards water and electricity will be on actual basis, which on an average would be around 6-7 dinars per month for a two bedroom flat.
Groceries and provisions
Buying groceries is not an issue in the country. Cold stores (provision stores) are available almost in every 200 mts distance. The options with super markets are also quite wide; there are lot of super markets in the city. All Indian cooking items, vegetables and curry powders are available in the super markets and what else the cold store guys will deliver at your door steps on order. Like in Chennai one need to buy drinking water, drinking water costs 600 fills for a 20 lts an.
Commutation
Commutation is kind of head ache in the country. There is no established public transport system in the country. The bus transport that is available is in-frequent and in-sufficient. One need to heavily depend on taxis for local commutation and taxis are not very cheap. For a travel of anywhere inside Manama the minimum charge will be 1 Dinar and to places such as Adliya, Seef etc…from Manama would cost around 2-3 Dinars depending upon the timing of your travel and your bargaining skills. Though taxis are fit with meters seldom drivers will use it. The alternative for taxis is the illegal taxis driven by expats. You can establish contacts with these people and they will pick you up and drop you for nearly half of the normal fares.
Health and hospitality
The labour laws necessitate employers to provide health insurance to their employees, so in all probability you will have medical insurance which will cover the family. However one should admit that the quality of treatment here is slightly below par, so if you are planning to shift with your parents, think twice.
The water that is supplied here for day to day use is very hard and hence better be prepared for a heavy hair loss during your stay here. I have also come across few cases of skin allergies to the kind of water available here.
Communication and internet
There are two mobile operators in the country viz. Batelco and Zain, with both of them offering comparable quality of service. Calls to India costs around 170 fills per minute and local calls will cost around 25 to 45 fills depending on schemes. Zain at present is offering a scheme which allows 26 mins of talk time to India for each dinar. Apart from that there are numerous calling cards with which you can call India for somewhere in the range of 25 fills per minute. The other option is internet centre which allows international calling over VOIP for around 25 fills/minute.
If you rent a furnished house in all probability you will get internet for free, otherwise also some of the house owners provide internet for a charge of 7-10 dinars per month. One can also opt for broadband from the telephone operators, which would cost around 10 -15dinars/ month for a 128KBPS line with a limited download.
Satellite channels
The options in this arena are also quite wide. The free to air channels and FM can be brought to home with a receiver which would need a one time investment of 20-40 dinars. There are also quite a few cable TV providers like pehla, orbit etc... focussing on specific regions of the world. For example Pehla provides most of the Indian channels and sports channels for around 15 dinars/ month. The services of illegalities are available in this space also, one can opt for these providers who provide almost all Indian channels for 5 dinars/month.
Other Entertainment
This is a big question in the country. There are few shopping malls which the people in the country consider as primary entertainment centre, but if you don’t like roaming in shopping malls your options are limited. There are couple of theatres in Manama which screens Hindi and Malayalam movies, a ticket in these theatres would cost around 1.2 dinars. Seef, the biggest shopping mall in the country has some 28 theatres, screening multi lingual movies, but these theatres are comparatively costly with around 2.4 dinars per show.
Pubs are definitely a place for hangout in the kingdom. There are lot of pubs, mainly to attract Saudi tourist during the week ends. One could see flooding of Saudi and Kuwaiti cars in the week end, but beware prostitution is at anybody’s disposal in most of these pubs.
There is also an Indian club in Manama, where cultural activities happen. Also health freaks can find it easier here, as there are quite a few gyms in the country for a fee of 10-18 dinars per month. Apart from these things I could not find many hang out places in the country. It’s difficult for Indian women to find an executive job here, so my guess is women will find it difficult to live here, especially given that week ends also need to be spent in home. So my suggestion is if you are a party freak then say big NO to Bahrain.
Forgot to mention, folks who are book worms are pitiable in the country. There are few government libraries in the country but they are predominantly flooded with Arabic books. Though I have not personally visited, my friends here say British council library for a fee of 15 dinars for three months offers quite a good range of collection.
What else guys you need to compromise a lot on your social life, and my guess is finding a executive job again in India might also be a problem (this is only first impression, so need not be true) but decent saving is available in the country. It’s your call…all the best.
Flight
There are quite a few options to fly to Bahrain. Gulf air, Air India express and Indian airlines operate direct flights to this place from various parts of India. My experience with Gulf air so far is not encouraging, so I personally prefer to avoid this. Other options include Srilankan airlines, Emirates, Air Arabia etc... The cheapest of the lot is Air Arabia and Srilankan airlines, nevertheless you should be ready to wait for long hours in between transits.
Climate
Climate in the kingdom gets to extremes. The summers here get very hot and frequently the thermometer crosses mid 40s during that time. Though I am yet to spend a winter here, from my discussion with others I could understand that winters are also worse here. Though it does not get to –ve as in western countries, quite often one could see temperature of single digit it seems.
Food
One thing that Indians won’t miss here is Indian food let it be S.Indian or N.Indian. There are quite a lot of options at brand levels like Sangeetha, Mysore, and Takatak apart from the many small resturants. Cost wise also Indian foods are cheap when compared to western food. Apart from Indian restaurants there are also restaurants focused on each of the region. So variety won’t be an issue.
Indian vegetarian food would cost 500 fills to 1.5 Dinars depending upon the restaurant you choose. Most of the restaurants here will deliver the food on order over phone which makes it quite comfortable for bachelors. One can also buy monthly food passes in some of these restaurants which will reduce the monthly bill by somewhere around 10% to 20%
Housing
Thanks to initiatives by government there are adequate houses in the country, this has prevented the place from soaring rentals, unlike neighbouring emirates nations. However houses will be rented out quite fast here, one need to be vigilant and fast in renting home.
There are quite a few options when it comes to homes with houses options of furnished, un-furnished, single to five bed rooms and villas. Manama, Hoora, gudabiya are places where houses are comparatively cheap. A furnished suit will cost around 180 Dinars, a single bedroom un-furnished house would cost some where around 180 Dinars to 220 Dinars and for less than 250 Dinars one can find an un-furnished double bedroom houses. For furnished version it would cost some where around 60-80dinars extra per month. Juffair, Adliya, um-al Hassam are bit Porsche and house would cots 50-100 dinars extra in these locations.
After signing the rental contract you should register with ministry of water and electricity to get electricity connection to your house. The ministry charges 10% of the rental towards water and electricity will be on actual basis, which on an average would be around 6-7 dinars per month for a two bedroom flat.
Groceries and provisions
Buying groceries is not an issue in the country. Cold stores (provision stores) are available almost in every 200 mts distance. The options with super markets are also quite wide; there are lot of super markets in the city. All Indian cooking items, vegetables and curry powders are available in the super markets and what else the cold store guys will deliver at your door steps on order. Like in Chennai one need to buy drinking water, drinking water costs 600 fills for a 20 lts an.
Commutation
Commutation is kind of head ache in the country. There is no established public transport system in the country. The bus transport that is available is in-frequent and in-sufficient. One need to heavily depend on taxis for local commutation and taxis are not very cheap. For a travel of anywhere inside Manama the minimum charge will be 1 Dinar and to places such as Adliya, Seef etc…from Manama would cost around 2-3 Dinars depending upon the timing of your travel and your bargaining skills. Though taxis are fit with meters seldom drivers will use it. The alternative for taxis is the illegal taxis driven by expats. You can establish contacts with these people and they will pick you up and drop you for nearly half of the normal fares.
Health and hospitality
The labour laws necessitate employers to provide health insurance to their employees, so in all probability you will have medical insurance which will cover the family. However one should admit that the quality of treatment here is slightly below par, so if you are planning to shift with your parents, think twice.
The water that is supplied here for day to day use is very hard and hence better be prepared for a heavy hair loss during your stay here. I have also come across few cases of skin allergies to the kind of water available here.
Communication and internet
There are two mobile operators in the country viz. Batelco and Zain, with both of them offering comparable quality of service. Calls to India costs around 170 fills per minute and local calls will cost around 25 to 45 fills depending on schemes. Zain at present is offering a scheme which allows 26 mins of talk time to India for each dinar. Apart from that there are numerous calling cards with which you can call India for somewhere in the range of 25 fills per minute. The other option is internet centre which allows international calling over VOIP for around 25 fills/minute.
If you rent a furnished house in all probability you will get internet for free, otherwise also some of the house owners provide internet for a charge of 7-10 dinars per month. One can also opt for broadband from the telephone operators, which would cost around 10 -15dinars/ month for a 128KBPS line with a limited download.
Satellite channels
The options in this arena are also quite wide. The free to air channels and FM can be brought to home with a receiver which would need a one time investment of 20-40 dinars. There are also quite a few cable TV providers like pehla, orbit etc... focussing on specific regions of the world. For example Pehla provides most of the Indian channels and sports channels for around 15 dinars/ month. The services of illegalities are available in this space also, one can opt for these providers who provide almost all Indian channels for 5 dinars/month.
Other Entertainment
This is a big question in the country. There are few shopping malls which the people in the country consider as primary entertainment centre, but if you don’t like roaming in shopping malls your options are limited. There are couple of theatres in Manama which screens Hindi and Malayalam movies, a ticket in these theatres would cost around 1.2 dinars. Seef, the biggest shopping mall in the country has some 28 theatres, screening multi lingual movies, but these theatres are comparatively costly with around 2.4 dinars per show.
Pubs are definitely a place for hangout in the kingdom. There are lot of pubs, mainly to attract Saudi tourist during the week ends. One could see flooding of Saudi and Kuwaiti cars in the week end, but beware prostitution is at anybody’s disposal in most of these pubs.
There is also an Indian club in Manama, where cultural activities happen. Also health freaks can find it easier here, as there are quite a few gyms in the country for a fee of 10-18 dinars per month. Apart from these things I could not find many hang out places in the country. It’s difficult for Indian women to find an executive job here, so my guess is women will find it difficult to live here, especially given that week ends also need to be spent in home. So my suggestion is if you are a party freak then say big NO to Bahrain.
Forgot to mention, folks who are book worms are pitiable in the country. There are few government libraries in the country but they are predominantly flooded with Arabic books. Though I have not personally visited, my friends here say British council library for a fee of 15 dinars for three months offers quite a good range of collection.
What else guys you need to compromise a lot on your social life, and my guess is finding a executive job again in India might also be a problem (this is only first impression, so need not be true) but decent saving is available in the country. It’s your call…all the best.
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