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Chennai or Dubai?

Well, after a year I visited the place I grew up. And now I have found a lot of things negative about it.  Of course it is a city which is more than 300 years according to Madras day celebrators.But the city I once loved has deteriorated and that too very badly in the last few years. One extremely appalling fact about the city is there is absolutely no parking anywhere none whatsoever. And the worst part is that the police take full advantage of this situation. My father who is about 70 years old, parked his car for two minutes and that too on a side road which was not even a main road and he had to pay a 200 rupee fine. Just minutes before that he had requested the watchman of the building that we wanted to go to to allow him to park for a few minutes in a reserved parking slot. Neither did the watchman have a heart, nor did the police. This is just one of the many woes in the city. The roads which I was once really proud of is actually full of potholes. And I couldnt see one roa
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Books and being desperate in Dubai!

I have been reading a lot of books lately and have not written anything on the blog since 5 months. But the one good thing that has come out this year is that I am back into reading books. First one was Desperate in Dubai. From the title I thought it might be about desperate expats sunken with loans and all the worries that go with the expat life. But it turned about to be quite different. Although the storyline was good, I really wished it was not just a novel which was like a tribute to the best hotels in Dubai. I mean people who get to go to these expensive places are not really the type who sit and read books at home like me. And people like me , well I have never been to either Atlantis or Atmosphere to comment about its interiors and what colors would have made it better. The other book I read was Cecelia Ahern's the Time of my life. This one was also okie-dokie. Bit too romantic and optimistic for my liking. Again a very different idea for a storyline, but unrealistic. Th
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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 m
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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 w
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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 smal
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Are these gadgets really necessary?

So Steve Jobs passed away last week. Zillions of people mourned over his death. People whom he never really knew. But seriously, if you could take a look at all the three famous products from the Apple in the last decade, they were all gadgets that we could easily do without. And basically they were stuff meant for just show off. Let's start with the ipod. There are so many lesser known mp3 players which are much more user friendly than the ipod. Then came the iphone with its oh so many add-ons for social networking. It just increased the number of useless status updates in my Facebook page. Because people bought this phone paying so much that they had to let the whole world know that they were using it. And then they started using it for all features except for making a phone call (which is what a cellphone was invented to do in the first place)! After that came the ipad. Now we have laptops, desktops and practically all internet browsing tools now on the phone itself, so why on
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Bad Customer Service?

Many a time I have felt that I have been discriminated against just because I am an Indian. The most recent incident occurred when I went into the Splash retail outlet in one of Dubai's malls. I had picked up a few clothes which were on sale and had proceeded to the billing counter. First the lady standing at the counter I chose left the counter at that very moment.I waited thinking she will be back soon. She just disappeared. The guy standing at the next billing counter was busy with another customer for a while. We were the only two customers at the billing counter by the way. Another lady from a different nationality walked into the shop and this guy at the counter instructs one of the sales girls to attend to her!! Hey there was no special attention given to me when I was shopping? And how does this guy assume who will shop for more money or what if that woman walks out of there buying nothing at all. I waited five more minutes and then I left the clothes on the counter and
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