To win a lottery!

Its that time of the year again -Dubai shopping festival time. I have already filled a dozen lucky draw coupons. Till date I have not even won 5 dirhams. This year there are fully furnished apartments, big cars and a million bucks (Thats nearly 1.3 crores in Indian rupees)for the lucky folks. Honestly if I win any of these , the first thing I would do is to resign from my job.
I have my eye set on the apartment actually. I know I am not lucky enough to be a millionaire. And I probably would spend it all on a tour or a cruise mostly, so it really isnt worth it. I keep hoping and praying every time I put the ticket in the drop box. And then I would think of all nice thoughts so that my instincts tell me that I would win. But till now nothing has ever happened.

I am just so fed up of working and there doesnt seem to be any respite. I am tired, not happy with the salary( I just consider it a shade above having no salary at all). The only way out is to win the lottery. Lottery comes in many forms to many people. Some people get good jobs. Some get rich husbands or dads. And I have neither. Oh I would give anything to win a lottery now.

Hyderabad Blues

Finally went to a destination which was not Trichur or Chennai. This time I went to Hyderabad. For once it was a change. Of course it did look a lot familiar to me. As most buildings resembled the ones in my hometown of Chennai but this was more of a hilly city.
The Salar Jung museum is definitely worth seeing especially for history buffs like me. But apparently they have removed most of the valuable stuff like jewels. (Or this is the news conveyed to me by a relative). But the statue of veiled Rebecca, the musical clock and the double figured wooden statue with Mephistopheles and the image of Margaretta in the mirror was really good. I am a museum geek. I have loved Mysore palace and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in the past. But I know that this may not be very interesting to people who dont really care much for History.

Next up was the Charminar. I really wished somebody would paint it with Apex Ultima. I mean when all  other countries can maintain their landmarks so well why cant we?? Apparently this is a UNESCO world heritage site.And its not like we dont have the money. It would cost only a few crores compared to the thousands of crores being scammed in nationwide scams! People just dont care anymore or what? Or is it that we want to portray ourselves continuously as a third world country?

The Birla Mandir was a much better site with all the marble. And of course it has one of the best views of this hilly city. Wish I could have stayed for more than an hour over there but we had a wedding reception to attend the same evening.

The next whole day was spent at Ramoji Film City. We had a funny tour guide, who cracked his jokes with the most serious expression on his face. Maybe he was made to mug a script by-heart? Anyways this has been spread over a sprawling 2500 acres. Supposedly the largest film city in the world.Lots to walk. The movie making and stunt shows were good. Food was horrible and overpriced.I dont think I would want to go back there again just for this one reason.And we werent lucky enough to witness a live shooting.

The last day was spent visiting relatives. And finally in the evening we went to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to return to Dubai. This was by far the best airport I have been to in India. It definitely was of international standards. And even Jet Airways runs much better flights to and from Hyderabad compared to the lousy flights they normally send to Chennai. All in all it was a pleasant trip. And my next destination-> yup gotta be Bombay a.k.a Mumbai.

One shop to love!

So my mom called me up Saturday morning with bad news. The shop I had been going to for the last eight years to buy salwar kameez closed down. She tried enquiring around if he had shifted but nobody at Alsa Mall had any idea where the shopkeeper left. We had the landline telephone number which is not working anymore. So there! One more shutdown of a location I used to frequently visit. First it was the Woodlands drive in hotel , then the beauty parlour and now this. While the hotel was shutdown for a garden being built in its place. The other two was mainly because of bad business.

Just a week back my boss was talking to his colleague about the MBA student who had not paid his fees yet. Apparently the guy was the son of a small grocery store owner. And basically due to poor business the boy could not afford the fee any longer.

Running a shop is no joke. Even if it is a small one. In fact I believe its harder if you have a very small shop. You not only have competition from the smaller shops nearby, but huge gigantic hypermarkets can easily weigh you down in a jiffy. So in what way can you set your shop apart? Good customer service! But I have always felt the staff at Lulu and Carrefour more friendlier than the people in smaller shops. Could it be because of low wages? I really dont know.

But all the same I still feel sorry for the owners of small grocery stores especially in major cities.