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Hmm… its been quite some time since the last post. And as expected, so many things happen here in short periods. Those developments on the work front aside, I just got hold of a new toy. A Sony Ericsson P1i phone. It’s packed with features, more or less everything that I want (which incidentally my HP iPaq 6965 also has, but in a much sleeker package, and with a better camera and phone).

With free data plan, WLAN, push mail synchronisation, and other bundled applications like Opera browser, it seems fun! Not that UIQ3 interface doesn’t have its inherent glitches, but it still seems a neat little package.

Update 1:

The handset was hanging every half hour or so, initially I thought it was something to do with the network, but in the end realised it was something wrong with the phone itself. Thankfully, Jumbo (where I bought this from) immediately replaced the handset with a new one. From then on, no issues!

Update 2:

When was the last time you were genuinely impressed by a phone feature? (Ok, all those iPhone owners are exempted). The P1i has truckloads of features, one of them is a free service called TrackID. You have a tune playing on radio or TV, but have no way to figure out which song… What would you do? With TrackID, the phone samples 5 seconds from any part of the tune, sends that sample over to a server, and in a few seconds shows you which song!

It scored 5 out of the 5 songs I tried, including one Hindi song! I’m impressed!

I can’t imagine how unbearable it would have been.

Many had warned me that Dubai may not match up to my expectations, that working here is not going to be as the PR machines claim. Having spent one month here, am glad to say that it has matched and exceeded my expectations. Maybe I was realistic, or maybe this place is not bad after all.

That being said, I also understand what they originally meant. Of the many cogs that run the system, the most visible one is the enormous amount of construction that happens 24/7. And the life of an average construction worker is, to put it mildly, appalling. The general working conditions are horrible, and when you consider the unbearable heat of summer, sometimes you wonder why they even bother to come here to work. But of course, the answer is obvious… money.

It is this exploitative environment that is rubbed off on other fields, other industries, and that in turn leads to people having awful experiences. If you are lucky, your story would be different.

Arne asked me if I have any regrets so far. Fortunately, my answer came fast - No!

(You might have guessed this was written a month back, the heat is pretty bearable these days, mid-30’s, and still coming down… Good!).

Dusty car, a common scene! 

Living in Dubai is very similar to living in Singapore. But at times, it acts up in ways that distinctly remind you of India. To do some basic tasks (like connecting water & electricity), it hardly takes any time. Water & electricity gets activated in 2-3 hours, which is amazing (much like Singapore)! But before you can do that, you need to get a dozen other things done, each with its own set of red-tapes (much like India).

Similarly, there is a pretty decent Taxi network, there’s even a phone booking system. But you call a taxi, there’s no guarantee when that taxi is going to arrive!

Here, there is an uncertain percentage of things that work by the rule of “Insha-Allah”. It just means “God willing”, and you can hear it in just about any conversation.

On a personal note, its been a different experience. Working environment, and life in general.

Firstly, there’s Pushmail (think BlackBerry): Anyone who has had the misfortune (or pleasure, whichever way you look at it) of using this will tell you how things change with this. Your office follows you wherever you are. Forget the ads that talk about how BlackBerry “keeps you out of office”, thats simply a “repositioning” statement But you will also get to see its real use. I’d say, in the end, its a good thing.

To another experience, imagine the blast-furnace sort of heat outside, and imagine having to put on a tie and suit and waiting outside for a cab (yeah, I cannot buy a car yet, first I have to go through a long process of getting a license here!)… I can only ask you to imagine, because if you havent been here before, you will have no idea how bad the heat is…! But the good thing is, you can actually feel the heat coming down as the weeks go past. These days, mornings are quite bearable, and by that I mean the equivalent of a hot day in Singapore or Trivandrum! In another month, things should be pretty good.

And finally I come around to the image at the top, thats how dusty things are outside. That car probably has all of a week’s worth of dust, and I might be wrong, it could even be just a couple of days!

Thought I’d drop by with some more mall pictures. In the summer heat they are the only decent places you can go to. And unlike Singapore, they are fewer and far between… But with heat on the decline, there’s something to look forward to seeing, perhaps in another couple of months! Until then, its more of the same malls!

China Court, one of the 6 “malls” within the huge Ibn Battuta Mall.

Mercato Mall, very nice looking, but not huge as the others.

And then there’s “the burj”, already the tallest building in the world. Although driving past it, you don’t quite get the scale of its size. In the foreground is another icon of developing Dubai, upcoming train system. One one hand, the Burj stays away from most of Dubai’s normal life, the rail system looks like it’s bugging a large percentage of the population. Running right through most of the busy places, it is causing endless road diversions, blocks and delays. Worse still, there is no confirmed date yet for its completion…

We reached Dubai in the height of summer, when it’s 45 degrees or more outside…! You have to brace yourself every time you get out from any building, and in 2 minutes you are sweating all over!

If not for the heat (that’s a big if) and the desert conditions outside, the place is not much different from Singapore. The endless malls and eating places, and they even have more or less the same shops. Like Singapore, people stay home, or in the malls during weekends… At least in Dubai you cant blame them, as it is impossible to stay out in the heat for long!

My friend Arne took us around the city on Saturday. Here are some snaps:

Burj Al Arab, after some retouching of the image. The actual view was much hazier.

Jumeirah Beach Hotel, view from the same place. Marina can be seen vaguely in the background.

The land on the left and sea on the right.

Madinat Jumeirah, beautiful place!

Us, at Madinat Jumeirah.

Dubai Marina.

Ibn Battuta Mall, huge, and well designed interiors!