A Small Tribute!!!!!!!!!!

What has made Mc Donalds or Pepsi or Coke such famous brands across the world???? What’s the difference between a big Mac or a burger at your neighbourhood restaurant or for that matter Pepsi from a local cola brand???? Well i think it is the taste or so called "Standardization" in management terminology. Wherever you go u get the same taste or same quality burger or Pepsi tastes the same in any part of the world. Well i am not here to write a management doc on the success of Mc Donalds or Pepsi but to just draw comparison with the so called Giants of Standardization with a simple person in our office who works relentlessly everyday to serve our staff.
His name is Abdukka (dont know his actual name as we call him Abdukka!!!!!!!). He is an office assistant in our Head office and of his many tasks one of the main is to provide tea to all the staff. And this is where my comparison comes with the Standardisation giants. I have been drinking the tea prepared by him for nearly 4 years now and I find the tea having the same taste which I tasted when I joined. This thought can be verified with over nearly 50 staff who regularly drink the tea prepared by him. As mentioned, every tea tastes the same on any day, day after day.
Probably he has a secret formula for preparing tea. This tea is far superior than any of the tea prepared by our other colleagues. Whatever be it, this is a small tribute to that great man who has relentlessly served our staff for nearly 2 decades without change in quality. God only knows how many teas he has prepared in his life. It may be in thousands or even lakhs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hats of to U Abdukka!!!!!!!!!!! U r really great……………

who gave this gift????????????

Hmm......... now now where was I????????? Why did I not blog for so many days??? Well quite a bit happened during this intermittent period in life and it has been a downhill journey but with lot of positives to be drawn in.

However past is past and as they say we have to rise like a phoneix from the ashes. hi hi hi..... typical not me isn’t it. Anyways let’s get to work.

Now the other day i was washing few utensils after a lengthy cooking session. So these utensils were actually brought in from India. Most of them are older than me as they were gifted to my parents for their wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not long ago, it was a fashion to gift utensils to the wedding couple and usually newly weds used to end up getting a lot of utensils which they would never use in their lifetime. But what fascinated me with this ‘not often used’ utensil was the inscription of the name of person who gifted this. The name and wishes was still clearly visible on the utensil even after 27 years of gifting. This actually took to my childhood days, when I used to go along with my mother to the utensil shop to buy these so called gifts. After the purchase my mother would ask the shop keeper to engrave the wishes and the name of the presenter on the gift.

This gifting pattern has seen a sea change over the years with people increasingly trying to impress others giving expensive gifts which wud not last for more than a few years. I feel the gifts of yesteryears were given to remind us of the presence of our friends and relatives, while today it is just another status symbol with no particular emotional value. Over a period of time, u will not associate an IPod or an watch with an individual. However, our dear old utensil will still remind us abt our well wishers till such time the same is with you (at least u will remember him/her when u wash the utensil when the inscription gleams at u!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Well to end the question is can these new generation gifts match the emotional value attached to that less expensive utensil which reminds u of that friend or relative who gifted it???????? Its a difficult question to answer for me too. But i wud say No these gifts do not help us connect with the well wisher after a certain period. Anyways, I leave it to my dear readers to figure this out.

Childhood Memories

Well now since I back to solid ground after those mesmerizing and magical days when my marriage was fixed, I was just trying to recall some of the moments during these days. It was congratulations all around, right from my relatives to my colleagues in office. I have not received so many congratulations in my entire life. Maybe I may not also again, as this is such an important turning point of my life.

Well I will like to take my dear readers to a very small point which kept recurring amidst these congratulatory messages and celebrations i.e. talk about my childhood. The main talk amongst our family members was my acts during my childhood. They were describing the various pranks I played, the manner I spoke etc etc. This is the not the first time I am seeing this happen with people when their marriage is fixed. I have seen this happen with my other relatives as well.

Why does the topic of childhood crop up during this marriage time? It does not happen when a person passes his/her school or when he/she gets a job for the first time. Then why only marriage???? The only reason I can think of as I mentioned is maybe this is the most important point in a person’s life after his/her birth. The other things like studies; jobs etc are mere milestones in our lives whereas birth, marriage and parent hood are the major junctions in our life.

Well, this post is similar to my earlier one in the sense that I don’t have the answers with me. So if any one has them then please do let me know.

A great transformation!!!!!!!!

The shift from being a bachelor without commitments to a bachelor whose marriage is fixed is really a huge transformation. This too if it is happening in a matter of 2 to 3 days feels as if I am in some other world. My life is never the same since last Sunday morning. Till last Sunday there was no sense of direction, no particular person to think of and lots and lots of free thoughts. Ever since that fateful morning its been thoughts concentrated on a fixed date or fixed person.

I am sure this is what happens with all of us. Why is it that we humans behave in this manner when it comes to life partners? What makes a person so dear to one in a matter of few days or hours? You meet ur life partner, speak for few minutes and once decided u r speaking to each other as if u know each other for years. However while making friends that’s not the case. We speak to them cautiously, we evaluate them continuously and the relationship becomes strong only over a period of time.

I suppose this is the only relationship after a child-parent one which is fixed and strong right from the start. Even in case of Siblings, it is not always that they accept each other from the start. The elder sibling carries with it some apprehension about their younger siblings. They fear loss of attention and excise caution when dealing with them atleast during the initial years.

Well if u expect that I have answers to this then I am sorry. I am also passing through this particular phase of life and these doubts have crept into my mind since last week. I will definitely update my readers if I am able to find any answers. However if some one can provide me with some answers then yes you are most welcome!!!!!!!!!

Is this home sickness?????

Home sickness is one of the common topics which is discussed amongst the expatriate population in UAE, especially if the group is bachelors or forced bachelors. "I feel Home Sick", " it all because of Home sickness" are common phrases u get to hear especially when a new person joins u or when u come across a gloomy face of ur friend. Now my post this time talks about home sickness. I have come across this situation several times when I leave UAE.

This thought on home sickness started when I left for Jordan for a business trip. As I write this, I am in Jordan and I feel I can exactly write what I am feeling now or rather what home sickness means to me know. Well to me if I say I am home sick, that means I am missing UAE, though actually home sickness would mean I would be missing my home back in India!!!!!!. This happens even when I am in India. Though I am happy that I am with my family or friends, there is something in the back of my mind which says I miss this place!!!!

This actually has got me thinking abt the meaning of home sickness. I feel the greatest contributor of Home sickness is not leaving behind families back home or anything of that sort. Yes they are contributors, but not in a big way, since communication technologies have become so advanced that u can still stay in touch with your families on a day to day basis, a far cry from what it was before.

So if communication helps us to keep in touch with our families no matter where we are, then what actually makes us home sick?????? According to me it is abt the attachment to the place where u live. It is always nice to c different places and get to know different cultures. But the moment you get used to living in a particular place, you tend to feel that the place is the best. You tend to miss the place whenever u r away from it. I wonder how many of u have noticed, in all films which have characters who are working abroad or r staying away from homes, the focus when they return home is not abt meeting their family, though it is an essential part of it. It is abt the way the character goes visiting his favourite place in his home town or how he spends time etc.

So friends, according to me very soon our perception of home sickness would be what I am facing now (for a temporary period!!!!!!!). I hope u agree with me

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

“Chalte Chalte Mere Yeh Geet Yaad Rakhna Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna” the immortal song sung by Kishore Kumar from the movie Chalte Chalte, was in my mind this week. The reason being one of the employees in my company whom I am very close will be leaving the company this week. The person whom I am referring to, I should say is one of the best individual I have met. I consider this person not only as a friend but as my elder sister. The relationship we shared was not only the professional, as would be expected between any 2 employees in an organization. We have had several good times in our offices with a bunch of some other colleagues. These good times ranged from, chit chats during the long coffee or tea breaks (as you call it) during the Ramadan Time or the long discussions on certain professional issues and not to forget the cooking lessons I had from her (especially the Bhaigan Bhartha which I will never forget!!!!!!!!!). Coming back to my topic for this post, this situation kept me thinking about the number of people we meet in our lives, whom we are close with and whom we look to in times of trouble. Parting with these people is always difficult. We would never have words to express or convey anything to them. Even as I write, I am not able to express it in any other words. But this is life. People come, meet and part but real friends keep in touch. This reminds me of a saying one of my close friends told me when we were parting ways after our CA course. He said it is always good to stay apart in order to keep the relationship. He said we will feel that it is not possible to be away from each other but the beauty of life is such that you adapt to the situation and carry on with it. His saying is true till today as we still share an excellent relationship even though we are miles apart. And before I end, with respect to the good times I shared with didi, all these will be good memories and here again I end with some beautiful words from the movie Yaadein “Yaadein Yaad Aati Hain, Baatein Bhool Jaati Hain, Yeh Yaadein Kisi Dil-O-Jaanam Ke , Chale Jaane Ke Baad Aati Hain” All the best to you Didi

Strangers or r they really strangers????????

The heat is catching up as days go by. Today was no better. It was as if we were being smoked in a furnace. So it is in this heat when I was walking towards my office that a thought crossed my mind in order to divert my attention from the heat. Its this thought that I am sharing with all of u today.

How many people do you meet regularly on a daily basis on your way to the office? Yet these people whom u meet are total strangers. You may know how they walk, how they talk, or even how they behave. You may even recognize their voice or smile yet u don’t know them, their name or even where they come from.

Life is so strange, isn’t it!!! here we have people whom we “know” or whom we claim we know very well but still you may not be able to identify him with certain characteristics whereas u may be able to identify a total stranger even without knowing the name.

Well to end this topic, I did count the number of people whom I meet regularly and I was able to count at least 4 such people. I meet them everyday but do not know where they work or their names or anything other than that they walk to their destination on the same route that I take to the office.

The Art of Negotiation

Its been a long time since I have written a post. Well this is usually my starting line in most of my earlier posts. So I thought I will not break the tradition when I am writing after this reasonably long time. What remains to be seen is that how many hits my post will get after this as most must have forgotten my id. Anyways friends I hope to start written more frequently after this. Before I go to the topic a special thanks to my friend who has encouraged/inspired me to start writing again.


I do not know how many books have been written on the art of negotiation or develop you negotiation skills. I have even met a holder of the degree called “Certified Negotiator “.

Well some events which I witnessed during the past one month made me think on these different books and degrees.

I am referring to the period when my parents where in UAE and when we used to go out for shopping. In all these cases my cousin sister also used to accompany us. The manner in which my mother and sister used to negotiate with the shop keepers especially in the Friday Market (Masafi) left me bowled. I can vouch for a million dirham (since I am in UAE I would quote DirhamJ) that they would never have gone through any of the books which educate the people on the Art of Negotiation!!!!!!!!!

This is the typical scenario with any home maker. You may take any house wife or the working class woman who are sharp negotiators. They follow a very simple technique. They first decide on the price they would pay for the product. Afterwards they start the conversation with the shopkeeper in a very nice and calm manner that the shopkeeper is carried away. Then as the saying goes when “Strike when the iron is Hot” is applied with the deal makers strike the price!!!!!!!!! This negotiation is taking place daily in their life from negotiating with a hawker selling vegetable in the street to a big purchases like that of home appliances.

So coming back to the topic of the books on negotiation, these writers have to learn a lot from these simple unassuming home makers who go about negotiating for small and big things as if it is a daily routine. This is in stark contrast from big corporations who throw parties when they successfully negotiate a “big deal”.

So friends do take notice of these small negotiations which happen around us all the time. You will appreciate and learn a hell lot more than what you would by reading the so called “Best Sellers”.

Diet Diet Diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of all the stuff in the world, the last thing i thought i would do (and also all those who knew me) was to go on Diet!!!!!! Well that exactly what i did last week. a friend and colleague of mine hooked me on to this diet called GM diet. it is a 7 day diet program which promises weight reduction and cleasing of the body's system.

on paper, this 7 day diet looked so easy as the best part was that there was no restricition on the quantity of food you could take during the entire program!!!!!!!! To top it, my friends were making fun of me saying that there is no food available in Abu dhabi since i started the program(the place where i am staying) and it made me wonder whether i am actually on diet?????????

Well anyways, the first 2 days of the diet were the most torturing days in my life. all i could think of was about the diet. i forgot about work, or entertainment and had headaches etc etc etc. At one stage i was almost dialling the number of the nearby hotel to order some subcontinent delicacy to relieve myself of this misery. But somehow i held on and completed the diet.

the result was at end of Day 7 i felt lighter and also very good. there was a sense of achievement. the feeling in those 7 days were actually comparable to that of a caged animal in a zoo. there is a limit within which u could move. i have seen animals in zoo, where quantity of food is not a matter but there is no choice. similarly in my case, quantity was not a matter but the type of food was. on any other given day we would not have bothered to have an all fruits/vegetables day (thats is day 1 & 2 of GM diet) for food. But when u r told to have only fruits that day then ur mind wants to rebel and say no to fruits.

so friends i think it is worthwile to undergo such a diet program once in a while to control your wild mind atleast from a food intake point of view.

This is my 25th post, i.e Silver Jubilee Post. So i have to write something special. So i decided to write on one of the worlds most beautiful relationship i.e Mother Child relationship!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a relationship which, i am sure all of us will agree, is a very very special one. it is said that generally male child are more close to the Mother and Female child is more close to her father. Well i dont think it is true. whether it a male child or female child they are close to the mother. So am I.

Well lets come back to this post. This is inspired by few events which took place revolving around a particular colleague of mine. this particular person who is a mother of two had a if u can call, a very harrowing time for the last 2 weeks or so. This is because her children had gone to their home country for their vacation. The pain, sorrow and lonliness was there written on her face for the entire time.

Today her children have come back. The expression on her face was tottally changed. There a hint of wavering in his voice and moistness in her eyes when she talked to her kids on their arrival. the way she went about making arrangements for welcoming them was all very touching and frankly it reminded me of my mother and to an extent made me home sick!!!!!!!

Anyways thats it. To end i would like to thank god for creating such a relationship. And for those people who are put their parents in old age homes, or forget abt them please remember that your parents have spent sleepless nights for u or ruined their days because they were just missing you when u r away. The life always comes a full cycle.

All cities live the same life!!!!!!!!!!!!

All these days I was wondering what to write in my blog. It really difficult phase of blogging life that I am going through!!!!!! As one of my cousins put it I am going through the phase called Writer’s Block. Well anyways today the block is cleared and I have decided to write.

My recent visit to Egypt and Jordan was a really good experience to me both professionally and personally. I was in Amman and Cairo, both capitals of the countries. These 2 cities though very different in layout and population have many things in common. Infact I have come to realize that most of the cities of the so called developing nations are similar and live a same life. They may be inhabited by different people, these cities speak different languages and follow different cultures and traditions but they as I said have many things in common.

All these cities have high density of population; people do not have time to relax and are always on the move. The people complain about the lack of water or basic amenities, infrastructure, the traffic, the corruption etc etc ……. But still love the place and would do anything to stay in the city.

I don’t whether you ppl will agree to it but definetly I have felt this. if there are any other opinions please let me. By the way the photo is that of a taxi in Cairo. The beauty of this picture I feel is that this picture does not have a propotion. Neither do we the car in full or the road in full. But somehow I fell this picture symbolizes a typical city in any part of the world, a bustling, dusty city with traffic jams and this somehow reminds me of the city Mumbai!!!!!!!!!.

People who influenced me!!!!!!!!!

Last week while returning from Dubai after work, me and my colleagues were spending time chatting. During this chat session, one of my colleagues was telling about some of the proverbs and persons who influenced his life. This got me thinking as to who all have influenced my life. I am putting down some of the people who have influenced me.

1. My Parents
Nothing to beat my parents!!!!!!!!! Whatever I am today, its because of my parents. They have really taken pains to raise me up and now as I look back at my childhood I realize the hardships they have undertaken to c me happy. My prayer to God is that I am always able to keep them happy.

2. My Grandfather
My mother’s father is whom I referring here. The characteristic that influenced me was his willingness to help others. I have seen him go to any extent to do a favour to another person, even if means angering his family!!!!!!!!! It’s a quality I feel is very rare in the present world.

3. My Economics Teacher
Now why I am influenced by this teacher, I don’t know to explain. I think to a great extent she was responsible for me becoming a CA. I clearly remember, she was the only teacher who congratulated me when I selected Commerce stream in 11th standard. All the other teachers actually asked me to select the science stream. Now looking back I wonder where I would have been if I had selected the science stream!!!!!!

4. My dear friend Vishnu
I am influenced by my friend’s strong mind. Despite undergoing a kidney transplant when he was only in 10th standard, he has recovered from this tremendous shock to become a successful professional. Now he is a partner in a CA firm. I still remember him dreaming to be an engineer (mechanical if my memory is right) during school days. For a person to recover from a shock, where all his dreams where shattered, that too in such an early stage of life is amazing.

5. My Colleague- Prashanth Veeramangala
What do I say of him, we call him Mangalamji affectionately. This person is a walking encyclopedia (if I can say that), a man with lots of energy, enthusiasm and of course short temper ness. What has impressed me about this person is that despite him being so experienced and knowledgeable, he has no qualms in interacting with us. Infact he has this amazing ability to change his style according to the group which enables him to gel with all people. Hats off to him!!!!!!!

Well there are many more people whom I have met and have influenced me, but I just put down 5 of them.

Chartered Accountants

CA
Alphabets of Trust

2 simple alphabets that go well beyond professional status, to epitomize the finest tradition of ethics, transparency & accountability. Nurtured & trained at a hallowed institution that has kept the flag flying high for over 56 years- ICAI- four simple alphabets that stand for excellence, independence and integrity.

Yes, today we are celebrating the 56th Chartered Accountants Day. Well to be frank this is the first time that I have come to know abt this day!!! Anyways better late than ever!!!! It is while going through the CA journal (the monthly magazine for CA’s) that I came across full page ad, the words of which I have reproduced above. The sentences did actually made me proud of my achievement of being a CA. The statement has aptly brought out the importance of the Alphabets and the role of the CA Institute. So I thought why not pay tribute to the CA Institute in my small way by blogging my thoughts.

I have no doubt in my mind that the CA course phase was one of my best phase in life till now. It’s during the course that I made lots of friends, improved my skills and developed professionally. This course teaches all those who enroll in it, clear thinking, and loads & loads of patience :-) (those who have undertaken this course will surely vouch for that). It’s one of those or maybe the only course in which it is easy to enroll or get in but difficult to come through successfully.

The institute has recently launched a new logo for its members as a part of promoting the brand of the CA profession. the logo is given below:

Well to end, I would like to say my friends is that

I Adore my Profession
I Salute my Institute
I Respect my Council
I am proud to be a Chartered Accountant

Ads................

It’s really a long time since I have blogged anything. Actually my office work has held me up for the past several weeks. In fact it should be “holding me up” and not “held me up”. So today I decided what come may I will put down a post. The past may weeks as I mentioned earlier has been truly a learning experience in many aspects. I had the good fortune to visit a new country (Singapore), I shifted to a new premises and now have a flat all for myself. All this were actually materials for my posts but as usual work held me up.

The only relaxing moments amongst this hectic work schedules are the short chats with my colleague sitting next to me, the evening walk with yet another colleague and of course Cable TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it was during this one relaxing moment through Cable TV that I came across an advertisement. It was an ad from Bajaj Fans. What struck me the most abt this ad is the manner in which the idea of air speed was conveyed. This ad shows how an old woman can be made to look like a young lady because of the speed generated by the fan. The ad shows that because of the speed generated, the old lady’s wrinkled and sagging skin is transformed temporarily into normal skin. (I hope u ppl understood the meaning as I don’t know how better to describe the ad!!!!!!!!!!).

Well the point I need to make here was the manner in which advertisements have grown from a medium of just marketing the product to a medium of entertainment. Nowadays, advertisements are more of entertainment. They convey a lot of idea, lot of humor, lot of emotion apart from the outsmarting competition (as seen in the pic above!!!!!). Children and elders alike look forward to seeing such advertisements.

Since then I have been closely following the advertisements on TV (particularly Indian Channels) and I find that all ads can be categorized into 2 types
Ads which go straight into the product like the Reliance Insurance ads
Ads which convey the advantages of the product through an idea like the bajaj fans ad

I think it that advertisement industry has also carved out its place in the corporate sector and very soon we may have ad companies listing in stock exchanges and coming up with IPO’s!!!!!!!!!!!! Also I should admit that ad makers are a different class of artisits.

To end I will leave you with some of the ads that really impressed me and which I feel u ppl should check out

• Bajaj Fans


• Mentos


• Western Union


• Reliance Communications


• Dove


• Fevicol

Parent Strategies

If you think you have won when your parents agree to some of your requests then please be aware that a lot of thought and strategy must have gone into your request before they decide to heed to it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this is my post after a fairly long interval. So I thought why not I share with you ppl my experience in a restaurant. It happened last week. I was alone that day and went for lunch at my usual restaurant. Since the place was crowded I sat alongside a elderly gentleman (hereinafter referred to as the “strategist”, sorry for the legal terminology). He was chatting with his colleague on several things. Normally I go out with my colleague for lunch (the same one abt whom I was referring to in my previous blog) and we chat abt various issues while eating. That day I had no one to speak with and I decided to listen to what our Strategist was saying. Both of them were talking abt there families who were back home. For the conversation I understood that both of them had college growing children.

The topic for discussion that day was the demand for a motor cycle by Strategist colleague’s son. Our strategist narrated the strategy he used when a similar request was put to him by his son. According to him the strategy for such a request should be two fold

1. Never dishearten your children by rejecting their request
He says never reject such request and accept them whole heartedly. This way you will make you children happy and the will never feel let down.

2. Transfer the entire responsibility of the request on your children
However he says that parents should make it clear that by accepting to the child’s request the responsibility of the parent is over. He says when his son asked for a bike, he immediately accepted the request. But he made it clear to his son that now it is up to him to find the bike he wanted and tell his father

Now the fact is that, as our strategist said, till now his son has not found a bike to his liking!!!!!!!!!!!! According to the strategist, whenever children are given the responsibility to carry out a decision they go on the defensive mode and are not able to decide on the best alternative. He says that it is always better to adopt such a strategy when it comes to deciding on uncomfortable requests from the children.

To end this post, as put in by one of my colleagues this may not hold well in all the cases. I look forward to hear from all the readers’ abt whether the 2 pronged strategy of our strategist is effective or not.

random thoughts

There r times when we r excited or worried abt something we tend to notice the thing wherever we go. Confused right? Well I am not able put it in any better words. But let me explain it using 2 situations one of excitement and other of depression.

Excitement
Whenever u r planning to buy a valuable asset like a house or car a lot of planning goes into it like if it’s the house then the area or the structure etc etc or in case of a car it is the model, the colour etc. While u r planning this exciting purchase, I don’t know whether u have realized that, u tend to notice these things whenever u r out traveling. For eg if u have decided to buy a particular model of a car u will feel that most of the cars on the road are the one u r looking to buy.

Depression
Similar is the case with a person who is depressed. Now this is a situation which involves my friend. He is little upset abt as he has fractured his leg and is taking bed rest. As a result he is forced to walk on crutches whenever he moves. The situation is obviously depressing. Now this friend of mine is finding that whenever he is watching a television (which is the only visual contact with the outside world for the past 2 days) he sees ppl in situations similar to his i.e. ppl lying on beds with fracture or walking with crutches.

Now this got me thinking. Why is it that we c such things when v r excited or depressed. Well the only reason I can think of is that, these situations are always around us but when we r excited or depressed on a particular thing, we try to find out whether the same phenomenon is there elsewhere also. In short we end up concentrating and seeing only those situations around us and missing the other things happening around.

Well I think I have already confused u a lot and that too on April fools day!!!!!!!!!!! But believe me this is not any April fool prank. Just that I was not able to explain my thoughts properly. Well that’s all ppl. Do let me know if there is any other explanation to this.

Rasam

Hmmm…… even the mere thought of the word “Rasam” brings water in my mouth. Well why I selected this topic is bcoz today I was having lunch in one Kerala restaurant and I commented that the rasam served there was too watery. My friend said that rasam is supposed to be watery and I opinioned it ought to be a little thicker. This sparked a thought process about the “Rasam” the manner in which the same dish is made and eaten in different parts of South India.

Rasam is typically a watery dish taken along with rice (for those who hav not heard of it!!!!!!!!) but don’t ask the recipe pls!!!!!!! J . In Kerala and Tamil Nadu it is called “Rasam” while in Karnataka and Andhra it is called “Saaru”. In Kerala, TN and Andhra, Rasam is taken in the end while in Karnataka it is taken in the beginning!!!!!

Each place there is a sequence in which the meals are taken. In Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra, the sequence is Rice, Sambhar, Rasam and then Butter Milk while in Karnataka it is Rice, Rasam and Butter Milk. It is when I wrote the sequence that I realized why Rasam is thicker in Karnataka and watery in other parts. Being the first serving in Karnataka the dish has to be obviously thick so that people can eat them while in the other 3 states, the dish is used more as a drink after the main course!!!!!!!

If you think this is the only difference, then u r wrong bcoz the preparation is different in each state. Now I don’t have the details on that, but u hav to believe me that it’s true. Maybe some one can comment on how the preparations are different.

It is really fascinating to note that a dish having a similar name has different versions and different ways in which it is consumed. The best of part of this entire story is that the name Rasam is a Persian word. Can u imagine!!!!!!!! And till now I thought it was an Indian word. That is one of the reasons why India is such a diverse country. For more details on different types of Rasam u can visit wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasam

Anyways whether is in Chennai Rasam or Kerala Rasam or Karnataka Saaru it’s the same for me, another one amongst the long list of mouth watering dishes.

Jebel Ali Airport

Well guys don’t be confused. This plot of barren desert that you c in the picture is the site for one of the biggest international airports in the world. Here u c the site of Jebel Ali Airport which has been christened as Dubai World Central International Airport. It is targeting to be the World Largest Airport. This comes right behind the construction of the Worlds Tallest Building i.e. Burj Dubai (I had referred it in my previous post).

Well my posts are become a sort of an advertisement for Dubai isn’t it!!!!!!!!!!!! Well its becoz I am finding it hard to get a suitable subject for posting. So I thought why not share with u some of the developments in the country especially Dubai as people don't know UAE but they recognize Dubai (its the way they have marketed Dubai).

Sometimes, as I mentioned in the earlier posts I wonder if there will be any desert left in the country. Though it is a real marvel to c such buildings rising in this desert land, but sometimes I feel is it really worth it. just like world leaders are meeting for discussing issues of Global Warming and melting of icebergs, shouldn’t they also b concerned with the dwindling desert (sounds crazy isn’t it!!!!!! :-) ).

Well its up to the leaders to decide. Before I end the post find below an artists depiction of this barren land after the construction is completed.

Sky Scrapers

Its been a while since I have written a post. This post is for the skyscrapers of Dubai. The photo I have put features the world’s tallest building, Burj Dubai. Its the tall one in the left side of the photo (like my friend mentioned similar to Statue of Liberty!!!!!!)Though the building is still under construction it is the tallest building in the world at the moment. The coast line of Dubai is dotted with sky scrapers. The peculiarity of the city is that there are very few high rise buildings in the heart of the city. This is because the Dubai International Airport is situated bang in the middle of the city. So all the high rise buildings are in the outskirts like the one in the picture.

I wonder whether there is demand for so many of luxury apartments in Dubai as most of the population cannot even afford the rents of Dubai. Any ways it is for sure that if construction is at this rate there won’t be any desert in Dubai within the next 10 years!!!!!!!! Well this is not the case of only dubai. This is the scenario in most of the gulf countries. Its becoming more of a concrete jungle nowadays.

Before I leave here is a forward I received from a friend about gulf. Enjoy

This is GULF

* Local calls are free

* Petrol is cheaper than water, Payment for drainage too

* Any building construction finishes in 3 months

* Unqualified get more salary than Qualified

* Show-off matters more than real quality & performance

* Laborers are paid less than what they can earn back in their own country

* Companies can kick out their employees without any reason

* Wastas (recommendation) are more powerful than money

* Cleaners have more Wasta than officers

* Watchman has more Rights than the Building Owner

* Office boy & Drivers have more influence on Boss than Manager

* Gulf climate changes so fast, in one hour u can see raining, dust storm, hot / humid / chilling weather

* Gulf is located in desert, still u find greenery everywhere

* If u can't earn money in the Gulf, u can't earn anywhere in the world
* In Gulf, time goes very fast, Friday to Friday comes u never know, its sooo fast

* Every bachelor has a dream of getting married and buying a house in India

* U love your parents, friends, relatives 100 times more than when you were together

* Being at home is more painful than being at work

* Indians appear/pretend to be more religious/God fearing than they really are

* Theatres are full of Arab nationals whenever there is a movie of Salman / Sharukh

* Gulf girls sing Hindi songs but don't understand anything

* Prostitutes available, but cheaper than beggars

* Dance Bars and Pubs more than that in B'lore

* A ladies hair saloon every 5 meters

* Food/Grocery delivery to the car

* A Starbucks every 10 meters

* Hard Rock Cafe with no alcohol

* A Shopping Mall located every 5km

* Highway lanes differentiated for slow & fast drivers

* Getting a license is more difficult than getting a car

* Smashed cars are more than bugs

* Parking charge: 2 Dirham for 1 hour - 5 Dirham for 2 hours & so on

* No Queues for women

TRAFFIC SIGNAL IN GULF:

* GREEN : Signal to go for Americans, Europeans and Indians

* YELLOW : Signal to go for Egyptians and Pakistanis

* RED : Signal to go for Kuwaitis, Saudis & Palestinians

Spiderman is Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this is not the blog which an Acrophobic would like to read. Not that this post is against this phobia or am making fun of them but its about a “Spiderman scaling new heights” would remind them of unpleasant memories. Well u must have already have seen the picture, the person is Alain Robert nick named Spiderman for his passion for climbing tall buildings like the one in the picture.

The Spiderman scaled the 38 storey Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (the one in the picture). This was the third building he scaled in Abu Dhabi (I think he is really liking this place!!!!!!!). I was really wonder stuck when I read about this person. He has scaled around 70 such building in various parts of the world and has also been arrested once while attempting to climb the Petronas towers.

But the most interesting part is that this man is legally considered disabled at 66 per cent. Among other handicaps, Spiderman cannot rotate his wrists normally. He has a metal plate in his thigh, and he suffers from extreme vertigo due to a skull fracture he sustained during one of his stunts. Yet he has defied all medical expectations and continues to climb dizzying towers, with his body as his sole equipment, and a truckload of passion as his motivator.

It seems his heros are Zorro and Robin Hood. I sometimes wonder it the handicap which brings out the best in the people. May be it is that these people are trying to prove to the world that the handicap has not hindered their life in any way.