This is an account of my stay in Dubai, a state of the U.A.E, for a period less than one month. The purpose of the stay was to search for a job. Here is my account of what happened to me and what you need to be prepared and the trends that I have observed.
To get a job in the U.A.E, you need to be well networked or you need to know a person who is well networked. Its only by referral that you will get a job here. No matter in what appellation you have worked or the qualification that you hold, when you come here be prepared to restart you career. I mean, beginning from the bottom and crawl your way up. Although you may have done it once or in my case twice [don't ask]. The principal pre-requisite for acquiring a job here is to have the fabled GULF EXPERIENCE. The but obvious question that is bubbling in your mind is "What the hell is that?" Exactly, my thoughts too were the same. It simply means do you know someone here to recommend for this position. The higher the hierarchy better the package. Somehow this is not applicable to the pale skinned. Yes, that's true. You have a European/US passport then all is well. Even if you are as dumb as a door knob you will still get a good job. Mind you, not a decent job but a good job. I am sure all those who have been here would definitely nod their head in agreement of the above said statement. The whole point is, I donot have the faintest of hope in getting through to a decently paid job here.
Life here, like all the other super metros, you need to be street smart to survive if you fall under the lower bracket of the salary strata. If its the other side of the coin, then nothing to fear, the world is your playground and you drive a Rolls. I did have the best of food cause only the best of the stuff comes here. How I wish my country was like this too. Rule of the stick is required to get the wayward back to track. Like Jesus said, "For all the lambs who has strayed off, I will find you and bring you back." He forgot to mention that your ass will be spanked silly for being naughty. Anyways, here everything has a time limit. It needs to be done within that time frame. There is a boundary for everything. As long as you are in it, all is well. The time you try to push those boundaries then all hell breaks loose. Its these boundaries that has made this country spick and span. All are maintained well. Anything out of place is fixed ASAP. Corruption, it is everywhere because of the meager pay. You need something to be done flash some notes are you are whisked away to another service level altogether. I guess its the same throughout the world. However corruption is unheard in the political ring. Or it is kept under wraps. Who knows, as far as we are aware Dubai is corruption free. That helps the money that comes into the country to be in the country and for its development. Unlike other nations that I know, whose politicians siphon the money of the nation and her tax payers to swiss bank.
I was staying in a place called MIRDIF along with my friend, who was my college mate. Very close to the airport, saw lots of aircraft taking off and landing. Unbelievable it was, during the peak periods I could see an aircraft taking off or landing every 2 minutes. The location is good. Family crowds. Quiet. You have a park called MUSHRIF next door. I have been adviced not to wander at nights [I go for walks at night] as the area is haunted! The best part is I did see some weird lights and activity during some of my walks. Later on I came to understand that they were off-roaders who use their huge trucks and jeeps to conquer the sand dunes. What a relief! Now I am back to my walks. I think the fear of the unknown always plays up in our mind and thanks to the movies, for people like me who are vividly visual, that would be the nail on the coffin. Guess a little bit of investigation using the art of deduction will always prevail.
My friend, whose name I will not reveal here as per his request, was more than kind enough to take me give me shelter and food. He has an AUDI A4 turbo. Good car, did drive it. It is so comfortable and the balance is perfect. The top speed as of today I enjoyed was 160 km/hr. It seems there is an area in Dubai where one can floor the accelerator of the car and push it to the maximum. I am waiting for that day. One of our favourite places to hang out after the depressing negative responses one accumulates from the application that you know you will confidently get through, is MIRDIF CITY CENTER. Its a huge mall with almost everything under the sun. Comparing to the MALL OF THE EMIRATES this is a dwarf. So one can imagine how big the later could be. Carrefour is the hyper market that we frequent. And it contains everything, everything I mean everything. If there was a chance to put kids for sale they would do that. Fortunately that is restricted to the JUST FOR LAUGH guys.
Did manage to see some movies here [vox cinemas]. Its a bit expensive. But the size of the screen and the seats are real comfy. All movies, irrespective of the nation, come subtitled in French and Arabic. The surprising fact is that I went to see this movie called "Agent Vinod", the movie needs to be tweeked more. Seems there are no good people to advice the director on reality checks from the real world. I did see a lot of Arabic people who came along with their family and enjoying the movie just like a normal Indian family. I was like WOW, subtitles did help them, but they still did enjoy the movie.
The thing about Dubai is that, everything is in ASTRONOMICAL proportions. They have nothing called small. If its small then it has to be a precious metal or stone. Even the cars are huge, the interstate / highways are a min of 6 track and certain point reaching 8 tracks. All roads are well lit, one does not need lights to drive, just the parking lights to let the other drivers know your presence. There are dark patches, but not in the major roads. I did experience this in prior when me and my bro used to visit our parents in Kuwait. My dad did show me this. Strange enough, I am yet to see a Rolls Royce glide past me. Definitely seen some high end sports cars but not a Rolls.
One of the neighbour, a Romanian lady. She was hit by loneliness one day and came running into the house. She wanted to buy a monkey. Then the planning began, roped in one of our local neighbour who used to have exotic animals before getting married, he kindly consented to help the lady in distress. Next day evening a convoy of people, the entire neighbourhood went along with this person to see the exotic animals. I was quite surprised to see a parallel zoos being conducted under the guidance of the government. And in the end nothing was bought. Two days later she buys a dog. She has a cat and now a dog. No prizes for guessing whats the state of her home now.
For 1 A.E.D ice-cream is available from Mc.D's. Post meal it is mandatory for us to have it. On one such occasion his friend who is an Indian born in UK looked at his shoe and said that he needed to get a new pair of sneekers. We took the ice-cream, went home chowing down on it, parked his car, got into the Audi and zoomed off to this mall called THE OUTLET MALL in a god forsaken place en-route to Al-Ain. The speciality of this mall is that it is way cheaper than what you get in the cities. The reason why it is so far away is to deter people off. Only the people who are hell bent in coming over pops in. Mind you, all top brands of the world were present. Coming to think of it, I did not see Zaras. Maybe its in another wing. His first choice was nike, so we went to the nike showroom. The selection was deplorable. We came out in ten minutes. The rates were not so cheap too. So, the next option that I suggested was my personal favourite ADIDAS. And I was right, they had a wide variety of shoes and articles. My friend ended up buying two shoes. One for jogging and the other for his outdoor activity. In case you did not know, He is a landscape artist and is always on the move.
I did have the pleasure to visit "THE PALM - JUMEIRAH" my friend works there. Had a tryst with the fabled
ATLANTIS hotel. My-O-My what a sight. I could manage to explore the property for thirty minutes only. In those thirty minutes I was transported to a another dimension. A place of fantasy, grandeur & extravaganza. It has more than 1300 rooms and there is a suite room that is right in the middle of both the wings. It is called the bridge suite. It looked for a second that it is hanging in midair. The entirety of the hotel or should I call it a district' has been done up like it is the castle of the lord of the water POSEIDON. Everything that you gaze upon has a connection to the sea in one way or the other. The pillars are intricately designed with figurines from the ocean. There is a massive art form right in the middle of the lobby which is made from glass. The base begins as deep blue and it fades as it goes up to the top where it is deep red. It signifies the evolution of mankind from the oceans to the land. Why red colour on top? It signifies man changing into a warm blooded creature and the great role that the sun plays in our life. They have a massive aquarium which has a variety of fishes in it, including the black tipped reef sharks. It has 11.3 billion gallons of sea water in it and it is well fed from the sea too. There is an option of diving into such an environment too. You have helicopter rides, Deep sea angling and what not. You have all that one needs to do. They even have Rolex showrooms! As I said, its a different dimension altogether.
My days here are winding up and still no sign of a job. Well, maybe its my destiny not to work here. Maybe something else is stock for me, somewhere else. The journey so far was uneventful. I did come to understand that I am capable of walking eight kilometers at a stretch. It makes me wonder, why do I tend to do these kinda walks outside the country? I can easily do a eight kilometer in my place. I think I need to try it back home. We did have an uninvited person popping up in the garage one night. My friend went out for stroll and found this person running away from our porch. Maybe he is a homeless person looking for a shelter or a thief. God knows.
The day started with a sand storm. My-o-my what a sight it was. I though we were driving through some lost planet, the roads were empty. It was sometime before we got to see somebody. Visibility was poor. Usually from where I stay we can see the flights take of and land. There is a point called UPTOWN MIRDIF from where we can hit the plane with stones if we fling it hard enough. The planes were invisible I tell you. You could just hear the din of the engines. Last night in Dubai and we have no clue where to go. Lots of ideas on the table. For the moment its PS3. And we finally hit Park Regis hotel. Had a couple of rounds and went back home. The hotel is centrally located but it is a bit of a bummer to reach there. Too many exits and turns. You miss one and you are gone. We went to the roof top bar and what a sight it was. We could see the entire Sheikh Zayed road bedecked with Rubies and Diamonds. Had lunch from a traditional Arabic restaurant near to Deira city center, we had The MANDI amazing experience it was. The three of us had it from a single plate like the way its meant to be eaten. Usually you feel stuffed after consuming it but not here. There was lots to eat and we polished everything down along with a can of chilled pepsi followed by a round of ice-cream. Fitting finale to the final lap. Now waiting for my flight at Terminal 3 gate 213.
So, till we meet again Hasta la vista, Dubai...
I did have the pleasure to visit "THE PALM - JUMEIRAH" my friend works there. Had a tryst with the fabled ATLANTIS hotel. My-O-My what a sight. I could manage to explore the property for thirty minutes only. In those thirty minutes I was transported to a another dimension. A place of fantasy, grandeur & extravaganza. It has more than 1300 rooms and there is a suite room that is right in the middle of both the wings. It is called the bridge suite. It looked for a second that it is hanging in midair. The entirety of the hotel or should I call it a district' has been done up like it is the castle of the lord of the water POSEIDON. Everything that you gaze upon has a connection to the sea in one way or the other. The pillars are intricately designed with figurines from the ocean. There is a massive art form right in the middle of the lobby which is made from glass. The base begins as deep blue and it fades as it goes up to the top where it is deep red. It signifies the evolution of mankind from the oceans to the land. Why red colour on top? It signifies man changing into a warm blooded creature and the great role that the sun plays in our life. They have a massive aquarium which has a variety of fishes in it, including the black tipped reef sharks. It has 11.3 billion gallons of sea water in it and it is well fed from the sea too. There is an option of diving into such an environment too. You have helicopter rides, Deep sea angling and what not. You have all that one needs to do. They even have Rolex showrooms! As I said, its a different dimension altogether.
