Fourteen in Dubai

Winter Hols

2006-12-20T16:34:00.000+04:00

My winter holidays have started, and they have been OK till now. I got average results (around the upper seventies, lower eighties) so my vacation has not been completely amazing but good enough- it could've been worse.

There are different scenarios that affect my vacations, for example your exam results, if your exam is after the exams etc; Usually a 'good' vacation scenario would be:

You've just started a term and the exams are far away
Your exams are over and the results come right after it (this way the marks don't affect the vacation. This can be both good and bad)

The worst vacation scenarios I've experienced are

Your term just finished before the holidays and your exams start right after them
Your exams just ended before the vacations and your report card was pretty ugly

In my experience I think the latter scenario is the worst ever. Of course, the best vacations would be that your exams ended and you got the most amazing marks. I've experienced such vacations too and they're like heaven.

So a lot depends on whether you do well in your studies or not. During the exams and before I always think about when the exams will get over, and I'll be free. But then the exams do get over and the results come and then... all my plans ruined! I guess many students my age find themselves in the same predicament (unless you're one of those super-nerds with an incomprehensible capacity for work).

So, my advice is, study hard, work hard before the exams, 'cuz the fruits of your labor will be much enjoyed during the holdays that follow. Yeah, I know, I sound like a grumbling old parent, but well, it is true!

Taxi... taxi!

2006-12-04T19:35:00.000+04:00

Yeah, I know, that's I nice picture of those lovely air-conditioned taxis that take us everywhere, are always there when we need them and have the most cheerful drivers ever.

NOT!

Today morning, I missed the bus. So like how I had done a couple of months ago, I took some money and went down to hail a cab. It was a disaster.

Firstly, hardly any taxis came. I waved at the first taxi that came. The guy looked straight at my face, nodded, and happily drove pass. Second guy made a hand gesture like saying “Wait” and drove past again. The third guy determinedly looked straight at the road and continued driving, though I’m sure he must have seen me waving. By then the other parents at the bus-stop were giving me amused looks. I tried to change my position. The fourth taxi came after a long time. He too glanced at me and drove past. I was sure all of these four taxis were completely unoccupied.

Can anyone tell me why at 7:00 am in the morning no taxi wants to stop for me? I could have given them a good fare too, my school was near the 2^nd Interchange on SZR. The taxi scene in Dubai is really, really dismal. Four empty taxis and none stopped for me. In the end I had to just give up and skip school.

I just feel really sorry for those who have to use taxis everyday to go to work...

Carrefour Woes

2006-12-02T18:01:00.000+04:00

First there were supermarkets- reasonably sized indoor markets selling enough stuff to survive. It never got crowded here, and shopping was easy. The trolley was easy to push and you could never get lost. Then they got hypermarkets- and its never been the same since.

Yesterday I went with my mother to buy stuff from Carrefour (Deira City Center). By the end of it I was so exhausted I decided to write about it.

On Fridays at 8:30pm going to Carrefour City Center is like suicide. There must have been something like a thousand people in the store. I just managed to get the last trolley, a very dirty one which kept moving towards the left. Already it was nearly impossible to push a trolley through the crowd. With a broken trolley it was nightmare. Add to that the way my mother ran off in different directions and I thought whether I would survive the ordeal. The place was soooooo crowded. It was like as if the whole town was buying stuff from the same store.

I think people push their trolleys in Dubai in nearly the same way as they drive. Whenever a gap would appear in the crowd I would hurriedly push my trolley through. By the time I was halfway through the crowd some idiot from the other side would drive his trolley straight at mine, as if expecting me back out all the way through the crowd. When his trolley was right in front of mine, he would make a huge ‘tutting’ sound and reluctantly back out and let me go. Also none of these mad drivers made eye-contact with me, they always stared at my trolley.

After about two hours we finally managed to reach the cash counters. Paying up at the cash counter is another adventure. This includes finding a reasonably short queue, finding space to station your trolley, and not blowing up when those lousy barcode readers stop working. Luckily my father joined us and I ran away to sit down somewhere outside and rest my aching feet.

Now before this I would usually give my mobile to my mom and walk around the mall with my father, who had another mobile. After one hour we would call up my mom and ask her where she was, and then get her. However, this arrangement was very faulty because:

She could not hear the mobile ring and/or
She could not feel the mobile vibrate and/or
She just couldn’t figure out how to use the damn thing

In my case I had all these three problems. So we would eventually end up searching for my mom in the sea of humanity which collects in the grocery section of Carrefour. This would take almost half-an-hour and at the end of it both of us (my father and I) would be near fainting-point.

Carrefour needs some serious improvements. The biggest one right now would be to increase amount of space. There is simply no room whatsoever for the trolleys and the queues at cash counters. They also need more cash counters and they seriously need to get some decent, clean trolleys.

Well other than that the day went OK. I bought some really good Nike running shoes for just Dh. 100 from Sun and Sand Sports. Finally it rained today… now I need to get back to searching for that jacket I bought last year. Weird how I always lose them…

2006-11-29T19:37:00.000+04:00

Yahoo! Hooray! Exams are finally over. I thought this day would never come, but it did come. It feels a bit weird now, with nothing to do and so much time. I can watch TV and surf the net the whole day. Its really great!

After a lot of debate, my friends and I have finally decided on Casino Royale to watch on Sunday. UAE National Day is on Saturday so Sunday's a holiday too. I also have Don and Dhoom-2 (Hindi) on my list.

Only problem is a couple of friends will have to unfortunately back out after their parents see their marks. Hopefully I won't get any papers tomorrow (I only got Arabic today and I passed). Then we can put in as much fun before Monday.

The weather has cooled down so I'm all set for picnics and walks along the Creek. My winter hols are starting mid-december so I'm going to have as much fun as I can, 'cause Grade 10 is now just one term away. Grade 10 is the year when we have our first Board Exams... which means intense study for one whole year and absolutely no time for movies, games and other recreational activities. How boring.

Now I've to get back to watching One TV. See you tomorrow.

Exams Again

2006-11-17T10:47:00.000+04:00

Three times a year. Yes, thats the number of times a year we're put through this torture called exams. It really is torture.

I've already finished two of my exams, with nine still remaining. It looks like it'll never end. But then, when its over... its the best feeling in the world. You suddenly feel that you've free. You've been released. No more studies. There's so much time. The next exams seem very very far away. And then in another two weeks you're preparing for them again.

Well, I won't be blogging often till Nov. 28th, when I'll be free again. That is, of course, if I get good marks. I hope I do. Otherwise there is the messy exercise of being scolded, great sadness, and 3 months of deep study. Luckily there is some time between when the exams end and the results come out. For that time to be used in a constructive manner I've decided to watch and Casino Royale and Don. Any other suggestions for good movies?

A Dignified Life

2006-11-08T17:52:00.000+04:00

Finally, at least someone in the Government is concerned about the "invisible population" - the laborers. Sheikh Mohammed just passed a decree which promised "a dignified life [for the laborers] both in their places of residence and at work. At last, some justice for these poor workers.

Every time I walk past these workers, I feel so sorry for them. They have been forced to leave their homes, sell off their lands and come all the way here to be able to feed their families. They work endless hours in the boiling summer (during which I can't even walk for 2 minutes, forget doing hard labor). On top of that they live in congested, cramped places. And when they aren't paid, they don't even have the right to go on strike.

I think they are far from a "dignified" life, and even this new decree can't make their labor less harsh. The most dignified life they can get is:

Wages paid on time
Air-conditioned rooms with at least 10ft by 5ft of space for themselves (which I highly suspect they don't get)
At least a small vacation when they can quickly meet their families
Drivers who do not run them down (which also I highly suspect they don't get)

But the amount of work, the amount of hardships and the amount of separation they have to take can never be reduced. The above points are the basic things they should have, and they are not too difficult to provide. However, they still do not get these.

I honestly hope the new laws will change that, and I applaud Sheikh Mohammed for this noble initiative.

The 7DAYS article about this is at http://www.7days.ae/2006/11/08/a-dignified-life.html

Anti-Israel Social Studies

2006-11-06T20:26:00.000+04:00

We have to do UAE Social Studies this term. Most boys just read through it right before the exam... they only want to pass. But it is quite an interesting read.

The writers have done a pretty good job of making sure the Arab World is portrayed in a very positive way. Everywhere it has been described as "great", "brave" etc; But the most interesting was the bit on the "Palestine Cause". My favorite line:

"It [the Palestinian Uprising] rarely uses violence. The only weapons being used are stones, catapults and slings."

They didn't exactly specify what they were catapulting, though.

"[the 'Zionists'] even uprooted thousands and thousands of trees"

Those poor trees.

One more quote:

"The Iraqi people resisted the British Forces which entered their country, and rebellions spread all over Iraq calling for freedom and independence."

Its like history repeating itself.

Mohammad Ali

2006-11-06T20:20:00.000+04:00

Recently the news of the Patel family crash came in the papers. The Patels, an Indian family of four, were taking a U-Turn on Al Khawaneej Road when their car was hit by a speeding national (4WD, 150kph). Both cars burst into flames and the whole Patel family died on the spot.

The son, Mohammad Ali Patel, was a Grade 7 student of my school. I was shocked to here the news. I had heard of so many deaths on Dubai's Roads, but now it really hit me. Someone I had been close to, someone I had seen, had become a victim of Dubai's roads. Suddenly I felt the real danger out there.

After hearing this news, I wondered how his friends at school must be feeling. I wondered how it must be for them to just have one of their friends disappear. Then I thought how it could happen to me.

All this while I had looked at the road statistics, but then they were just numbers. Now they were real people. They could even be people I knew. I thought how I would feel if I lost one of my friends to a car crash, which was entirely possible. I thought of them driving around Dubai in their small cars with all those mad drivers around them. It was like seeing a close friend being dropped into a tank full of sharks.

For now I pray that Mohammad Ali rests in peace. He was only 12. He had many ambitions. All that is gone because of a car crash. In seconds, the whole family has vanished from this world.

His young sister Sanaa , who was only nine, also died in the accident. I wonder how it must be for her friends.

I pray that it never happens to me.

The Gulf News article on the crash is at http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/10/27/10077798.html. The National who hit the Patels suffered severe burns and is undergoing treatment, though we can all guess what kind of punishment he will get.

Thirteen is now Fourteen

2006-10-11T20:44:00.000+04:00

I'm back to blogging after a long break. I've been really busy with all the school work but decided that I had to return to my blog. I just found it so much fun. Also, I'm now fourteen, so Thirteen in Dubai is now Fourteen in Dubai.

I'm happy to be back in Dubai after a long vacation, meeting my friends and abusing the traffic/weather/Ministry of Education/rising rents/Etisalat. I'm looking forward to blogging more about school life in Dubai.

Hope you enjoy reading my blog from now. Also, any comments on the new banner?

2006-07-18T18:24:00.000+04:00

I've taken a break from blogging for a while due to my chicken pox. I had fever and weakness so I couldn't get around to blog. Anyway now I'm a little better. The fever's gone. The spots are still there and they are terrible but I'm sure they'll go in a few days. I keep thinking about what I'll do when my pox marks go. I just want to go outside and walk around and celebrate the freedom. It'll be great to not smell of Calamine lotion again.

I'm watching loads of TV and movies. Yesterday I saw a show called "Shabaash India". Its basically about these people who can do crazy stunts. I saw one guy put seven (yes, seven) swords into his mouth, down his throat, and then take them out. It was pretty scary when he put them in.

I did take a "neem bath". Basically a couple of neem leaves crushed were mixed in water and these were pored over my spots. It was very very very soothing. After that I immediately fell asleep. I've learnt now to respect the amazing healing properties of Neem. My biology textbook really didn't specify exactly how medicinal Neem was. At least now I know.

Well thats all for now. Will blog later.

Chicken Pox... oh my!

2006-07-13T18:09:00.000+04:00

Today morning while having my bath I first saw them... these small spots all over body. My mom knew immediately I had chicken pox. Great. The doc said I'll be down for 10 days. So now I'm in quarantine in my room, with nothing to do except wait it out. That really messed up our holiday plans. We were planning to go to America on the 24th. Now we'll have to delay that. We had drawn up an itinerary from New York to Toronto to Calgary in Canada. Now we'll be going a little late to NYC and cancel out some of the pretty places we were going to stay at on the way to Toronto. Hopefully I'll be alright and ready to travel soon.

Anyone knows any home-remedies for chicken pox? Right now my grandparents are suggesting having baths with Neem leaves in the water, and keeping Neem leaves near my bed. Someone even suggested sleeping with neem leaves all over my bed but my parents assured me they would not do anything that drastic and sleeping with Neem leaves all over my bed was not medecinal. Quite frankly I'm alright with just applying the anti-ich cream the neem-free doctor prescribed.

Well, at least now I'll have a lot of time stuck in my room to finish my holiday projects! I kept delaying doing the projects. Guess God found a way to force me to do them.

World's Easiest Quiz

2006-07-12T20:37:00.000+04:00

I fell sick yesterday. In the afternoon I suddenly started feeling really cold and now I'm down with fever. Tomorrow probably I'll go to the doctor. Coincidentaly tomorrow I've a dental appointment also, in the same clinic. Hopefully I'll get OK fast. I'm just feeling really weak and cold but I don't have a cough or nausea.

Here's something to keep you entertained:

The World's Easiest Quiz- (Answers are at the bottom, don't cheat!)

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
3) From which animal do we get catgut?
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7) What was King George VI's first name?
8) What colour is a purple finch?
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the colour of the black box in a commercial aeroplane?

All done? Check your answers below:

ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ
--------------------------------
1) How long did the Hundred Years War last?
*116 years
2) Which country makes Panama hats?
*Ecuador
3) From which animal do we get cat gut?
*Sheep and Horses
4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
*November
5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?
*Squirrel fur
6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
*Dogs
7) What was King George VI's first name?
*Albert
8) What colour is a purple finch?
*Crimson
9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
*New Zealand
10) What is the colour of the black box in a commercial aeroplane?
*Orange, of course.

2006-07-10T18:39:00.000+04:00

Note the worried expression of the man by the door.

This just highlights the ridiculous obsession of TV serials in India. And they are really quite stupid (fights between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law). What surprises me most is the TV is still working! Pehla doesn't work properly even after paying the money.

Food Fest

2006-07-09T17:06:00.000+04:00

There's a nice 'Food Fest' at Lamcy Plaza for kids from 7:00 to 9:00 pm until 12th August. I won a couple of Luna products. They started off with some games for kids (stack up the Luna Cream cans), then there was a ice-cream eating competition. I really wanted to participate but unfortunately that bit of the show was only for adults. The people who took part were horrendous. They all ate so slowly it was like as if the slowest one would be the winner. They were given each a pint of Baskin Robbins ice-cream to finish. Two men and a lady took part.

The first man cleaned his mouth with tissue paper after every bite, and then took a sip of water. I almost wanted to yell at him , "IT'S A RACE!!!! What the hell are you doing??" The lady was even worse. After seven or eight spoonfuls (and they were those small plastic spoons) she kinda just gave up. Atleast she could have given the remaining ice-cream to someone in the audience. The other man ate it 'till the end, but he took three whole minutes. I would have gulped down the whole ice-cream in under 40-seconds.

Then there was a quiz... I got an audience question right (Total estimated age of the earth- 4.6 Billion years) and won a couple of small packets of some Luna product... forgot what it was. After that there was a competition for kids in which you had to gulp down a 500 ml bottle of water with a straw and then fill it up with some beans.

On a different note, I changed my blog layout today. Hope its nice. Any suggestions you can drop me an email or comment.

Dubai Wikipedia Article

2006-07-06T17:44:00.000+04:00

I was browsing through various Wikipedia articles for a school project and I came across the article on Dubai. It started with some basic information (flag, location etc;) and a brief history. But their is a special article on Human Rights and Labour. It had a account of the miserable conditions of the laborers in Dubai:

"...workers "typically live eight to a room, sending home a portion of their salary to their families, whom they don't see for years at a time." Others report that their salary has been withheld to pay back loans, making them little more than indentured servants."

Also:

"The BBC has reported that "local newspapers often carry stories of construction workers allegedly not being paid for months on end. They are not allowed to move jobs and if they leave the country to go home they will almost certainly lose the money they say they are owed. The names of the construction companies concerned are not published in the newspapers for fear of offending the often powerful individuals who own them."

Well lets hope Etisalat doesn't block Wikipedia for this article. There is more in the article. Just click here and scroll down to the bit about "Human rights and labour".

Justice is blind...

2006-07-05T14:25:00.000+04:00

... at least in Dubai. It can feel money and nationality though.

Music producer Austin Dallas proudly carried cocaine into the country, waved it in front of Dubai Police, and left, without any kind of punishment. Wonderful.

What is the point of having a court in Dubai anyway? "Dubai Courts" should be renamed as "Bank of Justice". Deposit some money and get justice as interest.

I remember an incident when I was nine and living in Karama.

I had a group of friends who I used to play with downstairs between two buildings and their parking lots. The guard/cleaner of one used to hate for God knows what reason (we used to not shout, play with balls or jump on cars... the Arab kids used to do that). He kept trying to scare us away. We asked our parents to talk to the fat GCC guy but he was so thick-skinned he would just grunt in return. One day I was playing with my friend A. and some other kids when he came to shoo us away. A.'s mom (who was pregnant for eight months) was there and she tried to argue with him. The man became very aggressive and started to push her roughly with his hand. She called for her husband who came running out of nowhere and pulled the GCC guy away. There they had a big physical fight 'till some passers-by pulled them apart and called the police.

The Police came and listened to A.'s father's story and were getting ready to arrest the GCC guy when one of his GCC friends came to help him. There those two GCC guys took the Arab policeman aside and had a long chat in Arabic. After ten minutes the policeman gave A's father a warning, said bye bye to the GCC guy and left.

After this incident my mom stopped having me go down to play so often near the GCC guy. What wonderful justice. First assault a pregnant woman, then fight with her husband, then have a friendly chat with a policeman and go back to your house. Justice has been served.

I won the draw, but...

2006-07-04T17:31:00.000+04:00

Pepsi is having a promotion... every can/ bottle you buy you get a number under the cap. SMS that number to 4404 and enter a draw to win a gazilion different things. So I entered the draw... and won. Nothing much though, just a "normal football signed by Pepsi Stars" according to the SMS. This is what the said:

You won! Please visit your nearest Pepsi redemption center to collect a normal footbal signed by Pepsi Stars. Password is .

All this is very nice, but where in the world is the redemption center??? The SMS came from 4404, without any number to call/ website to visit and find out where to redeem the prize. Does anyone know where the redemption center is?

They insult us...

2006-07-03T15:38:00.000+04:00

Today I came across a really funny article in Gulf News (Page 10) - "They insult us in freedom's name" (by Ayesha Sultan, a UAE columnist). It was basically a report on how the English newspapers in the UAE "insult" UAE nationals by carrying provocative reports and letters in their pages against the nationals. Just a few quotes from the article:

"Recently, an English language newspaper published letters from their readers that carried comments against the policies of the Labour Minister Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi with reference to his latest decisions concerning the emiratisation of human resources and personnel managers and secretaries in the private sector."

"The newspaper has encouraged its expatriate readers to dare the country's laws and citizens, implying that it is not the UAE's right to issue such rules."

No, it was simply implying that the expatriates (which make up more than 70% of the total population) should have at least a small say in the matter.

"Even worse, it carried letters that insulted UAE nationals and referred to them as the 4-wheel drive citizens ? !"

How terrible... they missed out the bit about the blacked-out BMWs, Mercedes' and Bentleys.

"In a letter, a reader said the UAE citizens cannot work in such positions or handle their jobs properly because they are lazy and cannot shoulder the responsibility and work around difficulties."

Right on! That is sooo true I would bet my Visa on it!

"This has gone too far and reached unbearable limits. Therefore, I believe a high-level official resolution must be issued to prevent the audacity of such newspapers."

That isn't already happening? It's called 'censoring' in English. Perhaps that should ring some bells.

"Foreign workers are treated with respect and nicely as long as they do not cause any harm to the country and its standard policies."

Yeah well, what can we do if EXISTING is causing harm to the country and its standard policies.

"Strangers should always be polite and this is the dominant golden rule followed everywhere in the world."

Oh, so now we're strangers? Who built your country while you were watching the World Cup over some Shisha?

The article can also be found here.

Arabic- Oh what a pain!

2006-07-01T17:53:00.000+04:00

I really wish I was born just 3 or 4 years early. That way I wouldn't be studying Arabic now and would have finished it in Grade 8. Now they have made it compulsory 'till Grade 10 and optional 'till Grade 12 (an option not worth taking).

Arabic education is really terrible. It is taught very poorly. Despite learning the subject for 9 years, the taxi drivers can speak better Arabic than us, and they have not gone for Arabic classes at all. Before Grade 9, we used to have 4-5 classes a week for Arabic. This year, we'll have only 2 classes, and more amount of portion to cover. Its been disastrous. Half the class failed. I passed quite miraculously. And its a compulsory subject (you have to pass if you want to go to the next class).

This year, they asked us to write two compositions in the exam- none of which we had learned before. We have never done a composition in Arabic without memorizing it beforehand. They asked us to translate sentences from English to Arabic, make sentences and questions we didn't know the meaning of.

Most boys in my class cannot say "the bird is sitting on the tree" in Arabic, and they expect us to write compositions. Futhermore the GCC teachers are horrible. Ours can't speak English AT ALL (he talks to us in Hindi, that too broken up but better than the English). In my last school we had female Arabic teachers who used to hit you with a steel scale (my, my, I wonder whatever happened to that Ministry rule).

And as if that wasn't enough, we got a picture composition without the picture in our exam this term! It was quite funny, The questions went like this:

Where is the bird? What is she doing? Where is the bird now? What is the boy doing?

*Note: They didn't correct that mistake and all of us lost 5 marks on that question. Its all our fault, of course. We should have memorized the pictures in our textbook.

I hope the Ministry sees the plight of us students and gives us some better teachers. 'Till then, I pray that I pass next term and they don't introduce some other ridiculous rule making the subject compulsory for Grade 11&12 also.

Mobile Ban in Schools

2006-06-29T15:06:00.000+04:00

The Ministry of Education has revealed it may lift the ban on mobile phones in schools in the UAE. They say that mobile phones may be used as "educational tools". How they plan on doing that, I don't know. But I do back their idea. If they do lift the ban, there'll be celebrations in my school and classrooms will be filled with beeps of phones and students swarming around a phone to watch a video or game. As far as "educational tools" go, how do mobile phones qualify as promoters of education? Do they expect the teacher to communicate to us through SMS or something? Mobile phones will definitely help us in our exams though. No more whispering and passing notes, bluetooth and SMS will help us. If anyone knows how education can be imparted by mobile phones, please enlighten me.

Also in Emirates Today, parents were criticising Etisalat for introducing entertainment services for 6 year olds with mobile phones. One of them said:

"As it is, he spends most of his time watching cartoons, playing video games and the PlayStation. I would prefer my son to spend more time with nature rather than staying indoors. Now the new service is only going to keep him indoors more"

Well, if you really wanted your son to spend more time outdoors, why did you:

Buy the PlayStation
Allow him to watch cartoons, and
Give him a mobile phone?????????

Why don't you try chucking the PlayStation, TV and mobile out of the window. Your son will become Tarzan in twenty days.

There is a nice article on Page 22 of Emirates Today which supports my view: Etisalat is not to blame, its the parents. Etisalat doesn't buy the mobiles, does it? Leave poor Etisalat out of it for once. All they were doing was carrying out their "Get rich or monopolise tryin'" agenda.

Hopefully the parents will see light. Until then, best of luck to those Ministry guys trying to improve our school life!

FIFA Mania

2006-06-27T16:11:00.000+04:00

Well Football Fever has descended on Dubai. I've been reading reports of hotels for "Football Widows", divorces over football and tips in Emirates Today on how to survive the World Cup. I myself am not that crazy over all this football thing. I mean, I play football but I don't obsess over it. All my classmates and friends have been talking only about the World Cup. And now my dad. I was so shocked when he refused to change the radio channel (he had put on the channel which was giving football commentary). Even more shocking was that he had downloaded the matches schedule and was keeping a list with the scores.

The worst bit was when he made us watch Japan vs. Brazil in the Lamcy Plaza food court 'till 1 am! And it was unbelievable when he gave me Dh. 20 for buying fries during the match (he usually just tells me fries are ridiculously expensive and fattening). Though it was interesting seeing Lamcy Plaza all closed down and dark at 1 am.

Most people would be wondering what kind of person I am, not liking football. The truth is I would be probably very excited if I could see the matches on TV, but since the subcription is unfairly expensive, I can't. So now I've decided not too obsess over the World Cup too much. It'll be a waste of time making scorecards and why bother when it really doesn't affect me. I would like to see the final match, but for now I find it quite pointless to stand outside cafés trying to catch a minute or two of a match.

For now I'm trying to avoid Lamcy Plaza and cafés which show the world cup, because I don't want to end up amidst roaring crowds till 1 am. I've also downloaded this excel file with all the match schedules. The file updates itself with all the current scores when I connect to the internet, so I don't need to keep making scorecards and reading through newspapers for my father.

Thank God the world cup happens only once in four years (or was it two? - I don't remember).

I'm Back

2006-06-18T15:22:00.000+04:00

I'm back to blogging after a very long break. My school started and I could hardly find time for anything. Grade nine is proving to be very tough. They simply give too much homework, leaving hardly any time for breathing and sleeping. My First Term exams just ended and I feel like someone trying to choke me with a steal chain has dissapeared. Now I'm bored and stuck in this boiling pot (otherwise known as the "City of Gold", hopefully the gold won't melt).

I've been asking my parents to send me back to India for my holidays, but no luck. We'll be going only in August. Of course, there are many excuses they have given me: power cuts, Delhi is almost as hot as Dubai, you'll trouble your grandparents, cousins have school etc; etc; But in Delhi, atleast they'll have the FIFA World Cup (cable TV is much cheaper there), and there'll rains to cool down the weather. Better than sitting in Dubai, staring at the biggest Summer Suprise of 'em all- the weather report.

Well, now I'm going to be posting regularly again. For an interesting insight into teen life in Dubai, keep reading.

2006-04-17T18:47:00.000+04:00

Recently I saw this pamphlet dropped at the doorstep. It reminded me of those radio players I saw in Karama, from brands like Panasoanic and Samsong. However DFC chicken seems to be an exact copy of it Big Brother KFC, and is priced accordingly too. I've never really liked KFC chicken. It looks pretty unappetizing.

I haven't blogged for a long while. The new school year just started and we have been beseeched with homework. The amount of it is so ridiculous I can hardly believe its for "our own good". Plus they are increasing the fees in all GEMS schools. They gave us a circular, one and a half pages long, just to tell us that they were increasing the fees (didn't specify by how much). Started with the usual stuff (we continue to promote blah blah blah), then went to the (false) reasons (increase in rent, living costs and Al That) and then finally concluded it with a vague plan to increase the fees. As if it was so low (Dhs. 1500/month). Bus fees have also gone up, but three people continue to sit in one seat.

Cool School Photos Site

2006-04-01T16:45:00.000+04:00

This is so.......true !!!!!!
This really is amazing! Check it out. This website is amazing.
They actually have photographs of every student of almost every
school in the world. I came across it on Google Search just recently.

Unless you went to school when cameras weren't invented, you will
find a photo of yourself or at least your classmates. It works
even if you are a current student.

http://www.worldschoolphotographs.com

Enter the name of your school and year that you were there. This even works for UAE, India students. It really works very well!!!

How I wish...

2006-03-27T14:03:00.000+04:00

...I had these amazing computers. I was going through Wired.com and I saw this article about the world's most expensive PCs (only PCs, so supercomputers etc; are not in the list). There were some 12 PCs and displays. I ticked this one as my favourite: The Voodoo OMEN for $24,000. There were 2 terabytes (2000 GB) of storage, 4GB of RAM and an amazing AMD dual-core FX-60 processor (if you don't understand what this is, it is definitely much better than the computer at grandma's). The "Ultimate Geek Status Symbol".

A laptop for the ladies and diamond-loving men was also available: The Tulip E-Go, for $335,000. Apart from being a pretty cool laptop it was also encrusted with thousands of diamonds. Possibly much more expensive than your average Gold Souk outing.

Bet Al Ain Centre doesn't keep these!!