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 Raging Wadi

The flooded road to Wadi Hawer, Oman, March 2026


Wadi Hawer, a day before the photo above

Talking about rain (in the last post, I mean, not now. Now, it’s as dry as a parched desert (which is what this place is supposed to be), and getting hotter by the day), here’s an experience we’ve encountered for the first time in our long stay here in the Arabian Peninsula, a flash flood in the wadi!

We’ve visited many a wadi here in the UAE, and in Oman. And have heard about people, and cars, and what have you, getting washed away by flash floods that happened when the sudden rain hits. We’ve heeded the warnings on not to venture into wadis during inclement weather, and such… But in March this year, on the Eid Al Fitr holidays, we headed over to Oman, again (…yes, we’ve done it 4 years in a row now, during Eid), and one of our destinations, was a wadi! Wadi Hawer, this time, which is actually the downstream part of the popular Wadi Bani Khalid. And lo and behold! It rained, thru the night! Our hotel happened to be located across the wadi from the main road, and in the evening, a worried guest decided to move his car, to the other side of the wadi, saying that he drove a sedan car. We and another guest (who happened to drive SUVs) asked the hotel owner for his advice, and he said we could wait and see. Later that night, a person from the hotel came and told us that it’s best to move the car, and that he’d move it for us. We were lucky, he did it then… because not too long after that, we heard the roar of the water in the darkness of the night, from the wadi, below the hotel. I’ll let the pictures speak…


Mountains, here we come! Approaching Wadi Bani Khalid Town, on the way to our hotel in Wadi Hawer… Cloudy, with a high chance of rain in the evening, says the weather forecast (the best that I know of, is still Windy.com, if you know your maps)


That’s our hotel, the Inn at Hawer… in Anu’s favourite colours for a house – white and blue! (That’s her favourite since I knew her, we didn’t know at that time that it’s liked by so many around the world … e.g. Santorini (Greece), Chefchaoeun (Morocco), Sidi Bou Sayed (Tunisia), etc. Nope, we've never been to Greece nor Morocco, but we visited Sidi Bou Sayed in 2019. Anu wanted to paint our Silchar house white and blue when we bought it about 16 years ago, and I thought …hey, wouldn’t that just make it look like a police station?? (Malaysian police stations so happened to be all blue and white …since time immemorial, and it’s etched in my memory for good. Fancy staying in a police station!)


Cheers! Anybody for a cup of qahwah? The view from our hotel… Wadi Hawer!


Let’s go explore. And swim! A pool all to ourselves! That’s partly because the main attraction (a waterfall) is a further km or 2 from this place, and we missed the route that climbed up the hills, and decided to just chill here! Also, you can’t get to this pool without getting wet and swimming! See, no rain, only some clouds in the sky, eh?


Anu at Wadi Hawer! With the village (Wadi Hawer) behind, and our hotel (in blue and white) on the right


Papa and son at Wadi Hawer after a swim! You could see the road that we took to reach the hotel at the back of the photo. There’re 2 roads, the one on the left goes through the wadi (where the off-white SUV is), and the alternative road goes through the date palm farm at the back of the photo (near where the 2 people in black are seen). We took the route through the date palms because that’s the one they directed us to (for non-4WD cars, they said)


A view of Wadi Hawer from our hotel, on the day we arrived… with people walking on the route through the dry wadi, to the town on the other side (if you zoom in, you’d see the cars parked in the distance)


The same view, the next morning… a raging wadi, where the road had been. And that water is not at its maximum height (which happened sometime in the middle of the night). Luckily, the hotel people moved our car into the date farm…


The hotel’s owner helping us to carry one of our bags to get to our car… God bless him


That’s what became of the road that we came through the day before, a flowing stream. Look at all the debris strewn around, brought down by the water. Our blue & white hotel is on the right


Whew, we got thru! The hotel people and the villagers were really helpful, they helped us get our car passed the floods (see the first photo of this post, above)


Let’s go home… the highway near Muscat, Oman. Look at all the mountains behind. That’s why we love Oman!


A roadside stop for dinner, before continuing our journey… Look at the approaching thunderstorm (behind)

That’s all for today, folks. The stupid war is still on, with an indefinite ceasefire in place. All our traveling plans for the coming 9-day Eid Al Adha holidays (which we made in Jan) are in shambles now, thanks to the warmongers. May they all rot in hell!

The Rain Returns

A Little Valley (Combe) of Wild Flowers!!! One of our picnic spots near our favourite UAE camping spot, Wadi Showkah, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE -- Mar 2024

Well, well, what can I say, it has been raining on and off in the region from March till earlier this month. Nice for a change. Last year (2025) has mostly been dry, and hot, and dusty. Rain cooled down the weather (but sheesh! I can’t friggin count how many mosquito bites I’ve got since the rain started…).

I’m sure the wadis will be flowing by now, and wild flowers will carpet the normally barren landscape. We would have gone camping, multiple times, …if only, there wasn’t a stupid war going on (yup, it’s still on, despite the ceasefire, and nobody knows when it’ll end (except Trump, maybe. ‘He can feel it in his bones…’, he said)). Alas, that’s life. Sometimes, you just have no choice but to put up with dickheads, and in this case, their boss.

Anyway, here’re some photos of our favourite UAE campsite, Wadi Shawka (or Showkah, whatever you prefer), from about the same time in the year, but in 2023, and 2024, when the wadis flowed and the flowers bloomed! (What about 2025? Sorry, haven’t sorted out that lot yet). Enjoy!


A mountain pond, up on the hills, near our campsite, on our 3rd visit (and second time we camped overnight), Feb 2023


It’s a wild flower fest! A spot near our 2nd campsite


On the track to the rock pools, Feb 2023




2024 was also a wet year! Wadi Shawka, Feb 2024 (our 4th visit)




The pool that saved my live! I finally decided to swim in it, voluntarily! Unlike in Dec 2021, on our first ever overnight trip there, when I fell in! Luckily, it was deep, and I escaped unhurt! (But the Redmi7 phone which I was carrying wasn’t that lucky…), Feb 2024


The high road over the rock pool… We didn’t know this route, that bypassed the rock pool, existed on our first visit. That’s how I fell into the pool, while climbing down on the return journey (nothing happened when we climbed up). Was lowering Jayden onto the ledge below, and then I lost my balance and sploosh!!! Into the pool I went!


Water isn’t the only attraction in Wadi Showka, there’re miles and miles of hills to climb. We made our first hike up the hill tracks towards the dam (Shawka Dam) on our 5th visit, Mar 2024




Our fourth campsite (6th visit), beside the flowing wadi, Mar 2024… Reversing through the rocky wadi wasn’t such a good idea after all. It damaged the car’s front splash shield (i.e. the engine’s bottom cover)…


Another wadi-splashing time, Wadi Shawka, Ras Al Khaimah, Mar 2024, on our 7th visit! (Yup, we visited the wadi 3-weekends, in one month!)


And then came the big flood of Dubai! (in April 2024). This photo was taken a few weeks after the big flood, on a day trip to see how it affected the wadi, May 2024 (our 8th visit). That path, which crosses the water, was still passable!


Looks like we’re not the only ones checking out the damages! Wadi Showkah, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE, May 2024

That’s all for today, gotta get back to work. Tons of it waiting, gotta finish it this friggin week!

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…