Companions of 2025

I’m back! And what a nice adventure our holiday was!

The main drawback to this is that there’s now a ton of work in the office waiting for me to attend to!

Haven’t downloaded any of the photos that we took during our recent trip, so I’m gonna post my annual tribute to the people in our lives. Here goes, to the people in our lives last year (2025), without which our lives would be so dull. Thank you all, for your time, for your friendship, and for enriching our lives! May you all have happy, successful, and fulfilling lives, full of joy, hope and good health!


Diwali with the Agarwals (Umesh, Bhavna and Dyuti), at their place in Oia Residence, the same apartment block that we share, Oct 2025. Justin wasn’t with us this time, as Diwali was a little early last year, and Justin was still in Singapore


And here’s our immediate neighbour Milind, with wife Rajeshri and umm… niece (right), I think, (nope, I don’t remember her name) who was here doing a temporary job as part of her academic practical training, at our home on Diwali, Oct 2025


And here’re Milind’s kids! Mihir (second left) and Aru (first left), close friends (and ‘partners in crime’) of Jayden, at their home, on Ganesh Chathurti (yes, another Indian festival – dedicated to Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed god), a major festival in Maharashtra where Milind’s family hails from, Sep 2025. (I don’t know who the other boy is, maybe Jayden knows!)


Here’s KP Singh (centre, standing, in black) and Abha (second left), our former fellow Oia Residence mates who’ve ‘upgraded’ and moved into a villa of their own! In Victoria Heights, Dubai Sports City. Way to go mates! The others in the photo, are the Singhs’ friends. Diwali 2025


And here’re KP’s and Abha’s kids, Advika (left) and Shreya (centre), at their new home, Victoria Heights, Sports City, Oct 2025


We don’t only celebrate Indian festivals. Here’s a little Chinese for you. Jayden, with one of the teachers in the Chinese Institute he attends, at the institute’s Chinese New Year function at their DragonMart2 branch, Dubai, Feb 2025


And this is his Chinese teacher, Liu Laoshi (i.e. Teacher Liu – ‘laoshi’ means teacher in Chinese) at the Great Wall Institute, Motor City, Feb 2025


More Chinese coming up… Jayden and fellow Chinese language students (I only know one, Rachel (third right), Jayden’s Chinese Class classmate, who’s Indian, but better at Chinese than Jayden!) performing a Chinese poem at the UAE Chinese Poem Gala and Great Wall Institute Anniversary, organized by his Chinese Institute (who else, when it featured their name!), at the GEMS Modern Academy (which, ironically, is an Indian school), Dubai, Jun 2025


Moving from Chinese to music, this is Jayden’s piano teacher, Marc, who is from the Philippines, at a piano recital, where Jayden played Hedwig’s Theme. Not bad, Jayden. Keep it up! Dec 2025


Justin’s back! And here’re his friends, Yiro and Angelina (I forgot her Korean name, which she prefers to use nowadays), both from South Korea, at our home, Dec 2025


Moving to my colleagues, here’s another Indian festival, Onam, the biggest festival of the Indian state of Kerala. At The Island Project site office, where I was stationed for 6 months last year. Here’s Mahesh, Safety Officer for the M&E works of the massive hotel complex project (4 luxury hotels on an island!) (We shared a work cubicle – don’t ask why I was sitting with the Safety people, it’s a loooong story), Sep 2025


And here’s what you do for Onam, a feast! Featuring over 20 multi-coloured dishes served on a banana leaf… but they’re ALL vegetarian! Sorry meat-lovers, it ain’t your day! In the photo are: Sujatha, Senior QS (left, from Tamil Nadu), Noufal, HSE Manager (centre) and Aryan, QAQC Manager (right) (Noufal and Aryan are both from Kerala). The hand that you see on the right, belongs to the Project Director, Mr Konudula Rao


Another feast, but I think this was a farewell feast, compliments of the colleague who was leaving, which I think in this case, was Arslan, the Electrical Engineer (5th from left) (I hope I remembered correctly). The others in the photo are (from left): - For the love of God, I forgot who that first one is; Fayaz Ahmad (Electrical Engineer); Asif (Admin Officer); Sajid Mahmood (Time Keeper); Arslan; Hazir (Land Surveyor); yours truly (ahem); Afsal (Electrical Engineer); Ashik (Sr Stakeholder Coordinator); Sohail (Project Engineer); and Munnir (Storekeeper). At the now defunct Closeout Office, in Warsan 3, Jan 2025


Here’s a party at our company’s Civil & Infrastructure Branch Head Office in Dubai South Business Park celebrating our company getting the award for the Dubai Island Bridge Project. There’s a load of company old-timers in this photo! From left: Han Guang (Assistant GM, in charge of the General Management Office of the Branch – I’ve known him since I first joined the Company in 2008, he was then our site office’s Admin Officer); Xue Bingbing (drinking from a bottle, Timekeeper? Don’t really know); Anilkumar Madhusoodhanan (QAQC Director – knew him, when I rejoined the Company in 2013, I think he joined in 2012 - he retired earlier this year); Prashant Mestha (Tender Director, joined in 2014); Cheng Qianli (General Manager, our Civil & Infrastructure Branch’s top boss); ummm… an HR Manager (I think) whom I know not, he didn’t stay very long in the Company; Khaled Adel (Contracts Director, another colleague from the 2008 times, he was the Contracts Manager of a Project when I joined in 2008, he left the Company late last year, after 18 years of service!); and Ren Bofei (Project Manager, he was a Chief Surveyor in 2008!)


Finally, some complete strangers. Good Samaritans who tried to help Anu to ice-skate, 2 kids from Eritrea! Anu’s a kid magnet! Children just seem to gravitate towards her, like she’s one of their own! And this is not the first-time things like this happen! At the Galleria Ice Rink, Hyatt Regency Dubai, Mar 2025

That’s all for now. God bless us all! (Except those who’re still fueling this stupid Iran War…)

15 Going on 16

Express post coming up. Up to my neck with work, with the upcoming Eid holidays starting tomorrow, and a deadline to meet right after the long holidays. But I want to post this out before the end of the month. It’s a recap of Justin’s 16th year, and it’s way past when I usually post it (around January… His birthday’s in December! 5 months late) So, without further ado, here it is!


Justin, right after turning 15, in Dec 2024, at the Address Beach Residence Hotel, Dubai. We were all there to see his little brother, Jayden performing with the school choir at a pre-Christmas event at the hotel


Can I go cycling before I leave Dubai? OK. Here you go! (That’s Justin, speed junkie…) At Mushrif Park, Dubai, Dec 2024


It’s the schools’ winter break. Let’s head out. First stop, Kazakhstan! And his dream come true! At the Shymbulak Ski Resort, near Almaty, Kazakhstan. First time he skied down a mountain! This was his second skiing trip (after Uzbekistan in Dec 2023, where we took only a half-day pass, bcoz, who knows whether we’d like skiing or not?! He loved it, by the way, but we only had enough time for the beginner’s slope. He nailed it on his first try! Unlike yours truly, who rolled and fell himself down, the friggin beginners’ slope, twice, and then gave up. But at least I tried it twice!) This time, only the kids went skiing (ahem, I hurt my wrist, OK?!? Fell off the friggin snow the day before, OK? And that’s a valid excuse reason…)


Next stop, Meghalaya in North Eastern India, en route to his mother’s home village, in Assam, India. This was the first time he visited India, after starting school in Singapore. With a kacang puteh (that’s the Malay word for this, I don’t know what it’s called in India) street-vendor, at the Elephant Falls near Shillong, Meghalaya


Continuing on our road-trip in Meghalaya (might as well make the best out of our journey home), at the living root bridge of Riwai Village, near Mawlynnong, the so-called “Asia’s Cleanest Village”, with his cousin, Sonia (beside him), and aunt, Rekha (far right)


Finally, in Assam - Silchar city to be precise, where we call home now, with another of his cousin, Sweety, sharing a …ummm snack (I dunno what they’re having, but it looks like they’re enjoying it…)


On another road trip, this time with his granny and another cousin, Mahi, Rekha’s daughter at the Unakoti Rock Carvings, a UNESCO Heritage Site, in the neighbouring state of Tripura, India. We did this all in our little yellow car. Bravo Tata Nano! You still work despite years of lack of maintenance


Back home in Fulertal, Assam… Trying some paan (betel leaf and areca nut) – his first time. When in Assam, do as the Assamese do! Dec 2024


Time to go back to school in Singapore… tough going, but as people say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going… I hope he takes it in that spirit. Got this from WhatsApp. That Justin fella just isn’t very keen with photos… Those must be his floorball mates, SJI, Singapore


It’s June 2025, his school’s midyear break. We allowed him to visit Malaysia and stay with his aunt, June in Kuala Lumpur so that he could indulge a little bit in his hobby, racing, which is a lot cheaper there, than in Dubai, and also gel with his Malaysian side of the family, his granddad, aunt, etc. Here he is at ummm… I don’t really know which go-kart track this is. Somewhere in Selangor, Malaysia. On hindsight, we shouldn’t have let him do this, he’d be better off with us here in Dubai, studying… so that his results would be better. There’re little photos of him because his phone which was his mommy’s repaired Samsung S20+ phone, self-disassembled during the trip…


Finally, back with us in Dubai, June 2025, at DragonMart 2, Dubai


With his Dubai friends at our home… Moaz (left) and Yiro (right)… Look at how big the Dubai kids became?!? Is it the food?


Back to Singapore! Some sort of graduation party at his hostel (I think), St Andrew’s Hall, Singapore


An international school trip! To Shanghai, China, Nov 2025. That’s one of the only photos I found that had a decent view of him!


Back home with us in Dubai. Let’s all watch a family movie! Mall of the Emirates, Dubai, UAE


What do you want for your 16th birthday? Not racing again… Yes, racing, again… At a pre-race briefing, Dubai Kartdrome, Dubai, UAE.

Justin, I hope you stay focused and be diligent in your studies. Your efforts will pay off, and it’s only a few more months to go, for the O-Levels. All the best my son. Love you.

That’s all folks. To those celebrating, Eid Al-Adha Mubarak! Selamat Hari Raya Haji!

The ITS2020 Project

Finally, a ceasefire! Whew, we’re still alive and kicking! Tired of this stupid, futile war. I hope it holds for good, and that it fucking includes Lebanon! Someone, reign in that trigger-happy, deranged Israel! If you wanna know what an overkill is, this is it – Israel’s senseless bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon! This war feels like those movies with a twist, that the evil villain turned out not to be that stern and corrupt patriarch (Iran), but the guys you thought were the ‘good guys’ (the US and Israel) - who have gone bat-shit bonkers! Way to go, that’s a sure way to dismantle the world order that’s been keeping the peace for so long. God save the world!

Anyway, on the work front, my ITS2020 Project, has finally ended! We obtained the Completion Certificate (or more accurately, the ‘Performance Certificate’ as it is known contractually) 2 months back! Signifying that we’ve completed all our obligations! Now, where’s our friggin payments?!?? Yup, that’s what I’ve got to do now, go after the Client for the balance of our money... And life goes on…

Here’re some photos of the ITS2020 Project(s), for memory’s sake.


A dynamic message sign (DMS) in Dubai, ITS2020/1B Project …as you can see, it was taken during the COVID times… compliments of a photo-savvy colleague, …umm… what’s his name, yes, Harsha Jayaramaiah, the Systems Integration Engineer of our project.

The ITS2020 Projects were a set of intelligent traffic systems (ITS) projects aimed at upgrading Dubai’s traffic management system to more efficiently monitor & manage road traffic and incidents. Our company (in partnership with local specialist contractor, Scientechnic) was awarded 2 of the 5 packages on offer, Package 1B which was for the installation of dynamic message signs (DMS) all over Dubai (112 of them, altogether), and Package 1C for the construction of the communication network and power supply systems to all the ITS field devices across the city. Yours truly was the Project Manager of the 1B Package (for most of the project duration anyway), and also took over the 1C Package for its close-out phase, ahem.

Here goes the photos…


A DMS gantry on Sheikh Zayed Road, near the Museum of the Future… Again, taken during the COVID-19 times, by the same photo-savvy colleague, Harsha… ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’


And this was taken by, none other than, yours truly, ahem… Can’t even read what’s on it! It’s the darn LED lights… I think you’ve gotta do it with long exposure with a proper camera, not with some measly Redmi mobile phone, while on the road…


The message signs are the nice and visible parts of the project, but that’s only part of the works involved… you’ve gotta drive some piles into the ground for them signs, you know?


And you’ve gotta dig loads of trenches for the cables and the ducts, install manholes, and cabinets, etc. (Incidentally, the 1C package’s scope is mainly that, hundreds of kilometres of cables and ducts, but everything’s underground! The only visible things after the work is done, are the communication hubs, feeder pillars and IT cabinets, and there’re hundreds of them all over the city)


This is the only photo I have of the 1C Package, pre-casting of manholes… at the ITS2020/1C Site Office


Sometimes disaster strikes! Accidentally hitting an irrigation pipeline while carrying out soil investigation works! This photo shows the trench where the damaged pipeline lies (under water), with dewatering pipes sticking out like weeds in a marsh (they’ll have to be connected to a main dewatering pipeline to carry the water away to a discharge point…) so that the damaged pipeline could be replaced…

Now, for the people, the most important part of any project…


Eid Al Fitr 2019 gathering (yeah, that long ago), organized by our specialist partner, Scientechnic, for the ITS2020 Project, at the Patiala Restaurant, Souk Al Bahar. From left to right, they are: - Kevin Williams (Scientechnic’s Project Director), Habeeb Khan (NOC Coordinator), Rathinavel Arumugam (QC Manager), Devansh Raj Kanchan (Assistant Project Manager, a promising engineer from Scientechnic… wonder where he left to), Qamar Abbas (Scientechnic’s Senior Project Engineer), Mohammed Badruddin Naveed (Technical Engineer), and Arunkumar Chenicheri (Technical Manager of the 1C Package). With the exception of Kevin, who’s an Irishman, the rest are all Indians.


The first DMS installation, Jul 2019. A butterfly post structure, but done without the cladding (a big mistake, we’d find out later… it had to be taken down again, sent to the factory for the cladding to be fitted, and brought back for re-installation …with traffic diversions to be done for bringing it down, and reinstallation – just imagine the extra costs for that silly bravado, just to prove we were on time…) Let’s see whether I can get the names correct (it was done during a time that I wasn’t in the project), from left to right: - Ali Ruhi Alsancak (Ortana’s representative in Dubai – Ortana is the Turkish supplier of the DMS panel); Devansh; Ghazi Al Sheikh (Parsons’ Resident Engineer of the ITS2020/1B Project); Sarvesh Nayak (ITS Engineer); Laith Rababa (QAQC Engineer); Ibrahim Dib (Traffic Engineer); hmmm… is that Ali Ridha?? (Project Engineer); …the next two look familiar, but I can’t really place a name…; and lastly, Gul Nawaz (I think, Foreman). Ali of Ortana is Turkish, the RE is Syrian, Devansh & Sarvesh are from India, Ibrahim is Lebanese, Laith is from Jordan if I’m not mistaken, and Nawaz is Pakistani. A mix of nationalities as you can see! That’s Dubai!


A group photo at the ITS2020/1B Site Office, Oct 2019. From left: Trinu Rajan (in front, Technical Engineer); Arunkumar (at the back); Maricel Cabatbat (NOC Coordinator); Naveed; Sameh Mahfouth (NOC Coordinator, yes, another one – NOC or No Objection Certificates are permits or approvals issued by the respective authorities and/ or stakeholders to allow construction works at any particular location to proceed. As the ITS2020 project covers different locations all over the city of Dubai, NOCs are the most important thing to possess to enable works to take place); Hussein Shawkt (Project Manager, he’s the PM who took over from me in April 2019, and whom I succeeded later on, in Dec 2019, let’s just say that he had a fallout with our Consultants and some of us in the team); Habeeb; Devansh; Vineeth Thomson (Planning Manager); Laith; Abdul Saleem (Systems Project Manager); Sarvesh; Avinash Kuruba (way at the back, QAQC Engineer); Rathinavel; Abhishek Radhakrishnan (ITS Engineer); Mohammad Saleem (Document Controller); and Eldho John (Electrical Engineer). Of the ‘new people’ mentioned in this photo, Trinu, Vineeth, Abdul Saleem, Avinash, Abhishek, Mohammad Saleem and Eldho are Indians, Maricel is Filipino, Sameh is Palestinian (from the West Bank), and Hussein is Egyptian.


Fancy bumping into project colleagues at a conference – Meet Shahid Riaz, middle (no, not Shahed. That’s the drone…), Materials Engineer from Parsons, the Engineer/ Consultants of the ITS2020 Project. His colleague on the right also looks familiar, but I can’t recall his name. Shahid is Pakistani. At a conference organized by Dubai Municipality at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City, Nov 2019


Back to the ITS2020/1B Office, another group photo! Dec 2019 (while I was on a short 1- week family holiday in Tunisia). From left: Trinu, Maricel, Francheska Tiamson (Secretary), Jaicin Joy (QS), Evika Mathew (Document Controller+QS), Naveed, Mukadas (Office Assistant), Mubashir Wani (Senior Project Engineer, specializing in NDRC i.e. non-destructive road crossing works), Mark Anthony Abeleda (I think, Document Controller), Ayush Agarwal (Technical Manager), X (can’t really recognize him, with only half his face seen), Brijesh Moothat (Scientechnic’s Senior Manager for Technical Support), Hussein, Hashir Mohamed Kaleel (QS), Harinder Bhasin (Scientechnic’s Manager for Projects), …hmmm, this is a very familiar face, but for the love of God, I can’t remember his name…, Vishnu Vijayan (QS Manager), Aliasgar Numberdar (Planner), Sarvesh, another 2 persons whom I just can’t remember, and Satyajith (Draftsman). The ‘newbies’ in this photo are all Indians with the exception of Francheska and Mark (who’re Filipino), and Hashir, who is Sri Lankan.


The 3 musketeers, Feb 2020 – Ahmed Nehro (left, Construction Manager, from Egypt), Edsel Nariz (middle, Project Engineer, from the Philippines), and Faseeh Ullah (right, Project Engineer, from Pakistan).


Installation of the penultimate DMS… (the new ones I mean, not the rehabilitated ones, those are another headache altogether), Mar 2020. As you can see, installations were done at night, typically after 1am, with help from the police. We had to close the entire friggin road when installing it… From left: Man in red whom I don’t know; Laith; Bernar Makdisi (Safety Manager); Antoine Atallah (Construction Manager); Engineer Ghazi, the RE from Parsons; yours truly; Ibrahim Dib; and Nizar Makdisi (Site Engineer). The Makdisis are Syrian Christians, while Antoine is Lebanese (Christian, obviously, from his name).


Finally, all things must come to an end. Here’s a farewell party in Dec 2020, for Ajeesh Ramakrishnan, the Project Manager of ITS2020 Package 1A, which was directly under Scientechnic (middle, in green), in Scientechnic’s maintenance office in the Jebel Ali Industrial Area. Of those that I can recognize here (even with their COVID-masks on), are, from left to right: - Shahid Alam (on the left of Ajeesh, Surveyor); Bernar (in black, on the right of Ajeesh); Safi Ullah Khan (the tall one in the middle, Deputy Project Manager of Package 1A); skip; Sohail Ali (the muscular one in black, Document Controller); Hashir; Rathinavel; skip; Shamsudheen Sharooth (QS); Bashar Al Nuwasir (NOC Coordinator Package 1A); and Ibrahim Dib. Ajeesh and Sohail are Indians, Shahid and Safi Ullah are Pakistanis, Shamsudheen is Sri Lankan, and Bashar is Iraqi.

That’s all for today. I hope I got all the names correct. Let’s pray that this senseless war stops for good…

The Prince of Trouble

Finally, I’ve put together the photos for Jayden’s 11th year of existence. He turned 11 last October, so I am… umm… 5 months late. Only. Wink!


Jayden, 2 months after his 11th birthday, at Mawlynnong, aka “Asia’s cleanest village”, Meghalaya, India

What can I say, Jayden? You’re 11 going on 12, and you’ve started secondary school. Why, oh why, do you keep doing the darndest things, that’ll get you (and us) into trouble?!??? I have a long list of those… Shall I let the list fly?? No?? OK, but on one condition… From now on, please THINK, use your BRAIN, before you friggin do, or say something! And grow up already, willya? We love you lots. Hope you’ll grow up into a responsible boy, who’ll know how to take care of the people and the things around you. Hope you’ll be loving and kind, well-mannered and considerate. That you’ll be hardworking, and know how to focus on the important stuff first (rather than waste time on clutter and nonsense). Hope you’ll be organized and self-driven. Hope you’ll be righteous and brave. Hope you’ll never be greedy, or boastful. Hope you’ll be smart and resourceful. Hope that when life throws you its problems, you’ll have the grit to persevere, and never give up. With lots of love, Papa. OK, here goes the recap.


A month plus after his 11th birthday, at the Address Beach Residence Hotel, Dubai, with his koko. Jayden was performing in the school choir for a pre-Christmas function at the hotel


Winter break 2024 – A visit to his mother’s home in India! Jayden with 2 of his cousins, Mahi (left) and Anshu (middle), Fulertal, Assam, India


Back to Dubai, and to school – Here he is with 2 of his school friends, Vivaan (left) from India, and Aryan (middle) from Iran, Metropole School, Dubai, Feb 2025


It’s camping season! Jayden with a blue lizard at our regular camping spot, Wadi Shawka, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE


What’s Eid without a trip to Oman? (That’s what we’ve been doing for the last few years… including this year!) Jayden with 2 friends he met in the guesthouse that we stayed in, the Alshumukh Guesthouse, Qalhat, Oman, Mar 2025. The kids are Polish, but they reside in Jordan. The older one is Yager (pronounced 'ya-zher' it may not be spelt like that, it’ll probably begin with a ‘J’), and the younger one is Franco… We asked Franco where he’s from and he said he’s from 'ospital' (hospital)… ‘Be nice!’ Franco would say to his older brother…


Jayden dressed up for …what’s it for?? For his prom!??. When did Year 6s start having proms??! Oh, so, it’s the last year of primary school! I see! May 2025


His koko is back from Singapore for the midyear break. Here they are with mommy at Dragonmart 2, Jun 2025


The end of Jayden’s academic year means lots of school functions. He won 4th place for the Arabic Reading Competition (for non-native speakers)! Bravo, keep it up!


It’s the summer break! On the go again. Jayden, at the Great Wall of China (Mutianyu). A stopover at Beijing, China en route to Malaysia, Jul 2025


Here we are again, Malaysia! At the Floating Mosque of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia


With his grandpa and aunt at Empat Sekawan Restaurant, Butterworth, Malaysia – Malaysia’s all about food! Seriously, we’d kill ourselves from overeating if we stayed any longer in Malaysia


Some family visits! With his second cousins (children of his father’s cousins), Ginny and Eugene (I think… I hope I got them right), at Jayden’s father’s old home in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, Aug 2025


More family! With his favourite uncle now, Jack (they got lost talking about fish and marine life, Jack is an avid diver, among other things…) at a restaurant in Petaling Jaya (Kean Fatt Restaurant), Selangor, Malaysia


More Malaysian holidays – in the old town of Melaka, the place that gave the olden Sultanate of Malacca and the famous Straits of Malacca its name...


And finally, his 11th birthday party at home! Be nice!! Be good! Love you.