I’ve moved again. Finally left India for Dubai, for better or for worse, I don’t know, but I’m positive. Leaving home was hard since I had to leave my wife and son behind this time, …till ‘things’ get done. Things here mean the friggin passport. Yup, you read correctly, Anu’s friggin passport is still not done! It’s more than 2 bloody months now! I fume if I think about it. I can write a book about this passport issue so I’m not going touch on that subject. No thanks to the passport ‘thing’, this is the first time I’ve been away from the family since …let’s see, the beginning of 2011!
I’ve started work for my ex-boss. Everything’s basically still the same here. Dubai is as we left it nearly 3 years ago. It is still sand and pylons all over the place. … I don’t know why they need so many friggin high tension lines and pylons around the city. Dubai’s full of fantastic looking buildings, but I guess nobody ever thought of trying to do something with the darned pylons. If I were them, I’d have organized a Pylon Design Contest or buried them deep under the desert.
Another common sight, the tower cranes are still around. But a lot of them aren’t moving, and I figure they’ve not moved for years. There’s a look of desolation in many of the building sites. Half built facades, nameless towers, abandoned housing estates, ghost construction yards and locked up offices. Some of the housing estates look like a ghost town straight out of a Wild West movie.
And it’s still as expensive as before. Except for petrol, everything in Dubai is expensive, especially accommodation and food. I heard house rental prices just shot up 50% in the last couple of months. So I guess it’s my bad luck for coming 2 months late huh?
This part of the world is completely barren from the air, a vast expanse of brown. It’s a world of a difference compared to Kolkata where I flew out from. Kolkata is completely green with pools all over the place (of course, this is the heart of Bengal)! Nice to look at, not so nice to live beside, especially if you’re not trained to withstand the itch of a thousand mosquito stings from young.
The main consolation about being here is that I’ve not had a single mosquito bite since I stepped into Dubai. A big contrast to our cosy home in Silchar – a minimum of 8 stings per sitting. They even sting thru underwear, so you can imagine… Heck, mosquitoes must be an endangered species in Dubai, but who cares? I don’t! And I’ll gladly kill the last surviving mosquito if given a chance.
Another plus point is that I don't sweat. Not as much as if I'm in another place anyway. I’m a sweaty type of fellow. In Malaysia, I sweat non-stop. I shower at least 3 times a day in Malaysia, and I’d have started sweating even before I put on my clothes. Here it is hot, definitely hotter than Malaysia, but I’m dry! And my clothes can last two days of wearing before I wash them.
But this dry weather seems to affect the body in strange ways. While I don’t sweat, I tend to be more prone to sweaty palms and sweaty feet here. And this causes my shoes to stink. Come to think of it, this was the same when I was staying in the UK as a student in the mid-90’s. I don’t sweat but my feet, god, do they stink! Which brings me to a hypothesis: Sweaty people are less prone to Athlete’s Foot. I’d test that hypothesis if I’m medical student.
Here's a view from my room, International City, Dubai
I’ve started work for my ex-boss. Everything’s basically still the same here. Dubai is as we left it nearly 3 years ago. It is still sand and pylons all over the place. … I don’t know why they need so many friggin high tension lines and pylons around the city. Dubai’s full of fantastic looking buildings, but I guess nobody ever thought of trying to do something with the darned pylons. If I were them, I’d have organized a Pylon Design Contest or buried them deep under the desert.
Another common sight, the tower cranes are still around. But a lot of them aren’t moving, and I figure they’ve not moved for years. There’s a look of desolation in many of the building sites. Half built facades, nameless towers, abandoned housing estates, ghost construction yards and locked up offices. Some of the housing estates look like a ghost town straight out of a Wild West movie.
And it’s still as expensive as before. Except for petrol, everything in Dubai is expensive, especially accommodation and food. I heard house rental prices just shot up 50% in the last couple of months. So I guess it’s my bad luck for coming 2 months late huh?
This part of the world is completely barren from the air, a vast expanse of brown. It’s a world of a difference compared to Kolkata where I flew out from. Kolkata is completely green with pools all over the place (of course, this is the heart of Bengal)! Nice to look at, not so nice to live beside, especially if you’re not trained to withstand the itch of a thousand mosquito stings from young.
The main consolation about being here is that I’ve not had a single mosquito bite since I stepped into Dubai. A big contrast to our cosy home in Silchar – a minimum of 8 stings per sitting. They even sting thru underwear, so you can imagine… Heck, mosquitoes must be an endangered species in Dubai, but who cares? I don’t! And I’ll gladly kill the last surviving mosquito if given a chance.
Another plus point is that I don't sweat. Not as much as if I'm in another place anyway. I’m a sweaty type of fellow. In Malaysia, I sweat non-stop. I shower at least 3 times a day in Malaysia, and I’d have started sweating even before I put on my clothes. Here it is hot, definitely hotter than Malaysia, but I’m dry! And my clothes can last two days of wearing before I wash them.
But this dry weather seems to affect the body in strange ways. While I don’t sweat, I tend to be more prone to sweaty palms and sweaty feet here. And this causes my shoes to stink. Come to think of it, this was the same when I was staying in the UK as a student in the mid-90’s. I don’t sweat but my feet, god, do they stink! Which brings me to a hypothesis: Sweaty people are less prone to Athlete’s Foot. I’d test that hypothesis if I’m medical student.
Here's a view from my room, International City, Dubai
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