A pen without a pen

It was late evening, I had stopped at the local supermarket to buy a few things. As I hastily walked towards the car to leave, a man approached me. He was in his late 30s or probably early 40s. He looked haggard and had a stubble. His clothes were soiled & bag hung across his shoulder & chest. He had some thing in his hand... a thick handkerchief. I grew wary as he neared me.

He started speaking softly & discreetly. He said that he had lost his job & is doing odd jobs now to sustain himself. He was carrying some pens (new) covered in piece of cloth and said that he is selling them. Each one was costing 5 Dhs & requested me to buy. Every sale would help reduce the burden on his brother & that he will make "du'a" for me.

I paused for a moment, trying to figure out whether he was genuine or a fake, and then decided to buy one. I gave him the money & asked him to keep the pen so as to sell to someone else. The refusal to take the pen might have offended him. He said that he was not begging, to which I responded that he can accept it as a gift. He agreed and walked away.

As I drove back home, my mind was searching for some answers - Was it sympathy or fear that made me do this? Was he saying the truth or was it a deceptive move?

Answers, possibly, I could never find...

Nostalgia

Once again it is time for them to emerge from hibernation...to see the light of the day... remove them from the cupboards & under the bed & dust them...the luggage...
It is time for some frantic & impulsive shopping...
It is time to pack your bags...
It is time to say goodbye to IMs & video chats...
It is time for grand parents to see their grand children...
It is time to see ones kith & kin...
It is time to escape the scorching heat for a while...
It is time to smell the air after the rain... and feel the rain...
It is time again to hear the temple bells...
It is time for the schools to close...
It is time to enjoy the vacation...
It is time for some good times...

And then one day... abruptly... it will be time to to say 'au revoir'...
As they say all good things have to come to an end...

Yes indeed, all these, are just for a few weeks... before one is back to the grind...
And then continue, wistfully, cherishing the vivid memories until it is time again for the luggage to see the light of the day...

Amongst Friends

It was the first week of April 2003 that I changed my job. It was in the new organisation that I met a colleague who later became a good friend of mine. When I met him, I felt that he was genuine & was able to connect with him immediately.

He helped me to settle down into the new milieu & organisational culture...
He guided me through the intricacies of the organisation...
He was there when you wanted an unbiased view on a business problem...
His inputs were valid when you had a dilemma...

It was a relationship built on trust & respect. Gradually, the relationship started to grow and did not confine within the boundaries of the organisation.

He was there to help us when our bundle of joy arrived...

Many a message was communicated even with out uttering a word, when I met his gaze...
Those long sessions over coffee & tea, working together on analysing data & making presentations...

And today as he stands on the threshold of departing from the organisation to boldly take up a challenging & exciting new assignment elsewhere, I wish him the "very best in his life" with a heavy heart.

Managing Success & Failure

There is an important learning that comes out of the "Dubai Story". It is important to manage your success & also your failure.

At times, one can be influenced by excessive growth. When spurt in growth occurs, organisations grow rapidly in size. In times of these high growth periods, it is extremely important that one manages the entity properly – by having the right people & systems in place. India is a good example of this. Since the finance & banking sector had certain controls & checks in place, it was not so severely affected by the economic slowdown.

With success also comes failure. It, then, becomes equally or even more important to accept the failure & manage it accordingly. What is then crucial is how one manages failure, what you learn from it & then rise from the fall. IBM, GE, Sony are some of the great companies who had stumbled at some point in time, but refused to accept defeat.

And this is indeed true for nations, organizations & even for individuals.

Choose Your Career

Many of us, do not choose our career... What we do in our job or profession, in our ‘work life’ is by chance. Though this is changing gradually, this is the case with the majority of the people & not all. The root cause of this problem lies with the society, the culture & our educational system.

In the 60s ~ 70s, everyone wanted to have a job with the Government or Govt owned companies (ISRO, Telecom etc) or Govt educational institutions or Nationalised banks. Job security & pension was the attraction.

In the 80’s, engineers or doctors were the most wanted professions (sometimes I even felt that these were the only two professions in the world!). And one had to choose between the two! Since there were limited colleges, there was a mad rush to get an admission & those who could not make it were looked down upon. Remember the ‘Brilliant & Agarwal Tutorials’ & ‘Entrance Coaching & Exams’! Even parents, of these students, who made it to these professional colleges had a sense of accomplishment. There was fierce competition between the parents of different students. They (parents), in fact, were tense & more stressed than the students.

Then came the great IT wave & also the MBA ...

No matter whether one has a flair for a particular domain or not –

One opts for Computer Science in Engineering since IT is the ‘hot’ career.

One becomes a carpenter since his grandfathers were carpenters.

One decides to do a CA or an MBA since it has lot of ‘scope’ in Finance & Investment banking or Marketing or Retailing.

One decides to do bachelors in literature or history, since financially one cannot afford what he really wants to do.

One is running the family business, since you are the only one to take it forward & hence is forced to do it.

And sometimes we succeed & at times not...

When we choose our field of study & then our career, we never think whether we have an aptitude or passion for that field. We choose it merely because it is the ‘hot’ career & it has lot of ‘scope’. Hoping & dreaming that it will land us in a fancy job in a great company with a good remuneration.

Toxic Chemicals... Shocking...

An interesting piece of information on - toxic chemicals used in household products & their impact on human life. (The article had appeared on a news paper some time back.)

Take a look... It is indeed shocking ...

(click on the image below)

Embrace Change

As years pass by, life changes...

When we pause for a moment & look back on life - some incidents, events, things & people remain in our protective instinct.

Different memories for different people...

Here are some of mine... & what or how they are today...

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Watching TV was a community event... the whole neighbourhood at home...
Today there is a TV in every room... bed room, living room, kid’s room.

Televisions were B&W (remember Keltron?) with cloth hanger like antennas on the terrace...
Today it is the LCD HD Television with no or small DTH dish antennas...

The starting music & rotating logo of one & only one channel - Doordarshan (a dot emerging from infinity); the boring Krishi Darshan...
Today we have reality shows & reality shows in various languages & channels are innumerable...

Meaningful Hum Log & Buniyaad have given way to insensible Ekta’s K serials... rebirth, amnesia, plastic surgery, one husband-two wives & vice-versa, vicious step-mother...

Interesting 'The World This Week' on Fridays & DD News...
Today scores of 24x7 news & business channels are on air...

Home work had to be completed before the exciting Chitrahaar on Wednesday...
Today forget the day & time we have 24x7 MTV & VTV...

Black 5-1/4 inch floppy diskettes & booting computers with MS-DOS...
Today – stylish 4 or 8 Gig USB memory sticks & Windows...

Kapil Dev's unforgettable catch... India winning the Prudential World Cup. Ravi Shastri’s 6 sixers & winning the Benson & Hedges ...
Today Indian cricket personalities are seen more on product commercials...

A BSA Cycle was the most wanted gift (if you do well in your exams)...
Today it is the iPOD...

Automobiles like - 'Moped', Vijay Super, Lamby, Padmini & Ambassador zoomed on the roads...
Today teenagers go to college on Hero Honda & Bajaj motor bikes... A Zen or a Santro is on the wish list after getting a job...

The tilting of Chetak every day morning before kick starting...
Today just push a button to start the ignition...

Telegrams, postcards & blue coloured 'Inland' Letters...
Today – emails, SMS, text & voice chat... distance has been diminished along with that personal touch

Had to wait 2~3 years to get a telephone connection...
Today, mobile phone connections can be obtained in a jiffy...

Booking & waiting for the 'Trunk' calls...
You can reach anyone anywhere anytime... Thanks to mobile phones...

Reading, stamp & coin collection were the common hobbies. Bartering the 'doubles' with friends & cousins, visit to the library...
Hobbies ?? Surfing the net & shopping are common... Libraries are no longer viable...

Eating-out was a taboo & expensive. Wedding feasts & temple feast were the only exemptions...
No mood to cook, no problem... Let us eat-out...

Elaborate celebrations during festivals at home & the temple Aaraat (annual festival)... Navarathri was the best festival, since there is no reading & no books on the 9th day... !
Today – Celebrations are scaled down & do not precisely follow the traditions...

The fun filled, big family gatherings ahead of weddings & other family events...
Today - Busy with work... cannot attend the function...

Friends from the locality used to meet at the street corner or at wicket gate of the house for a long chit-chat...
Today friends meet in chatrooms & Facebook...

You knew who your neighbour was...
Today you meet your next door neighbour more often at the super market than on the street or corridor...

Fond memories from the past...

Like the line from the popular song by Bryan Adams "...those were the best days of my life..."

V-Day

It is the month of February. Valentine's Day has come & gone.

Where were all these 'days' a few years back? Since the late nineties, there has been a deluge of such special 'days' - Valentine's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Friendship Day, Hugging Day & many more...

The question is - do we need to earmark a day in an year for love, to remember friends & dear ones? Is it conditional & timed? Is it not perpetual & unconditional?

It is purely a marketing gimmick. Just look at the amount of money spent on gifts 'for her' & 'for him'. During the countdown for these 'days', the market is flooded with various bespoke gift ideas - from cards to diamond studded pendants to expensive pens to holiday packages. It is indeed a clever marketing manoeuvre.

The story does not end here. Now comes the discussion & comparison on the gifts given & received. If one has been drawn into this vortex of various 'days', you will be forced by circumstances to give something better next time.

Valentine's Day has come & gone. And it will come back again, next year with more hype & fervour.

Endangered Species

Hobbies are activities that one gets engaged during spare time.

It was not so long ago that hobbies like stamp & coin collection, playing a musical instrument, gardening, reading were the actively pursued & popular hobbies. But today, many of these activities are on the verge of extinction & hobbies per se, are going into oblivion.

This can be imputed to modernisation, changing priorities & a lack of time. Other priorities have taken precedence over hobbies, in that little spare time if at all available.

In school & college it is the demanding rigour of the academic curriculum, competition, the pressure to be the 'topper’, additional coaching, entrance-coaching...

The pressure does not end with school & college. The travail of securing a good job comes next. And once you start your career, the rat race begins, intense pressure to perform better & better, office politics, survival of the fittest, long working hours, daily commuting...

When you assume that you have settled (???) in your job & leave a sigh of relief, comes the decree from the parents - start a family ! Priorities change, once again...

Indeed it is the pressure of modern times, which has made time the biggest luxury of the century.

In this modern world there still exist some weird & sedentary activities which people who purse, term as hobbies & some even include them in their CV ! - surfing the net, shopping, sleeping...

Kudos to all those who are still engaged in a creative & productive activity based hobby.

Time to Reflect

It was late evening on Wed 26th Nov, when the breaking news of multiple terror attack in Mumbai flashed on the TV screen. I had a feeling of anger & frustration. Anger – since there was yet another terror attack in India & frustrated due to the callousness & inaction of the authorities against terror attacks in general. There were a series of attacks in the recent past.

In the beginning, nobody had a clue of how different & grave this attack was from the previous ones. As the gruesome battle continued & went on (for almost three days), people & stories started emerging. Some were fortunate & some were not. Their chronicles were heart-breaking & sorrowful.

These are people who saw people being massacred in front of their eyes, people who had near-death experience, people who miraculously escaped a bullet by a whisker, people who heard gun shots & grenade explosions outside their door, people who were petrified when there was a knock on the door – is it the terrorist or the police or a person from the next room who needs help?. The trauma of the people who went through this ordeal is beyond comprehension & imagination.

It is a matter of shame that even at this crucial juncture of national importance the political parties & politicians could not stand united & were involved in bickering & mudslinging. They politicised the attack & used it as a marketing tool for image building. Some were busy campaigning for elections hence could not attend important crisis meetings. Some were announcing compensation packages for the dead, some were busy attending funerals. Some responsible persons had to pay a price for their irresponsibleness & for making preposterous statements.

Even the PM’s address to the nation lacked that special power to motivate & elevate our spirits at a time of distress. It had the usual wordings ‘condemn’, ‘dastardly act’ etc etc.

Unlike previous attacks, this time the public outcry & anger was heard & also aired by media without restraint. There was anger, frustration & questions of accountability towards politicians & the Government. Levels of nationalism & patriotism were very high. We were pointing fingers at our neighbours as the epicentre of this attack. There was a mood of a looming war. Will there be an attack or not? Candle lit gatherings & a minute of silence were held. Eventually all of this jingoism tapered off.

While we are blaming our neighbours for the attack, why are we not looking inwards – as to what have we as a nation (Government) done so as to curb such attacks? How can we & what are we as citizens contributing to this? Are we as citizens ready to forfeit some of our liberty & freedom?

Why was the public emotion so high this time? It was seen, mostly, in the urban middle class & the elite. Is it because the financial capital, Mumbai was attacked? It is no longer suburban trains & stations but also 5 star hotels & pubs. Though the causalities’ were higher at the CST, the focus of the media was more on the hotels. Is it because the elite are no longer safe? Is it because the mode of attack this time is different? Sociologists will take some time to unravel the reason behind this.

Gloom & Doom

Media these days is abuzz with news of the global financial crisis. Job cuts, recession, bankruptcies of banks, manufacturers & even countries, financial ‘tsunami’, credit crunch, worst performing stock market... index down by 50%, plummeting real estate prices are the most common headlines. Reading newspaper or watching news channel makes you feel dispirited & dejected.

Parallels are drawn to the Great Depression of the 1930s & the economists, who still do not know whether the worse is over yet, predict that the present situation is supposed to be worse than the former. Since none of us have experienced or know how bad the 1930 situation actually was, the gravity of the issue can not be comprehended.

On a positive note, I also learnt some heavy-duty economic-financial theories & phrases (since I come from a non-financial background) – importance of certain figures like industrial output data, consumer spending & US unemployment figures; leveraging, filing for bankruptcy, Govt bailout packages, significance of central bank injecting liquidity into the ‘system’, cut-down or freeze on ‘capex’, how the “wall-street” impacts the “main street”, Repo Rate. The list of jargons goes on & possibly they have now become common household phrases. You can hear them in the office corridors & party gatherings. Many a layman would have transformed in to econo-financial experts by now.

It is, in fact bewildering, how the loans extended by various institutions to consumers in the US (misdeeds of a single country) can push the whole world into a major financial crisis. This is a part of ‘globalisation’ & the ‘world becoming flatter’! The US was not only exporting its nuclear technology, software, fast food, coke etc but also its toxic debts. Every country (except Antartica!), every industry, every person is paying a heavy price for this today. We now look at this unregulated financial system with scorn. When the bubble is big, the crash is also steep.

Today, we are all paying a price for - somebody living miles away from us could get easy money & could not repay it back. So let us be sensible to take debts judiciously & live within our means.

Go Green – 2

Some suggestions that can make a positive difference to the environment:

The first thing I do when I pick up the morning newspaper (Gulf News) everyday is to throw away the supplementary publications – properties, freehold & classifieds section. This is a practise with many of my acquaintances. All these publications put together must be weighing at least 2kilograms. What are the contents? 95% of these publications cover property (rent, sale) & automobile (used cars for sale). If these were sold separately, for a few dirhams, I don’t think people would object. Since, if somebody is interested in buying or renting a property or buying a vehicle worth thousands of dirhams, they would not mind spending a couple of dirhams to buy these publications. Gulf News, who is taking a lead on the ‘Go Green’ campaign, could have saved a number of trees & not to forget the ink.

Another publication that could help save trees & chemicals is the annual report of the companies listed on the stock market. I am a micro-micro-micro share holder in some leading companies. Though I have only a few (<200) shares, I still get the annual report by mail every year without fail. These detailed reports are over 200-300 pages & definitely weigh a lot. It is mandatory, by the regulatory authorities that these reports be sent no matter how big or small the shareholder is, which is good. The companies/ authorities should allow the shareholder to choose between – an e-version (pdf) to be emailed or downloaded and a detailed printed version for the serious shareholder. They could even explore at a mini report (<10page) as another alternative. These actions can show allegiance to CSR.

Closed until 6pm

During the fasting hours of Ramadan, eating & drinking in public is a taboo in Dubai.

Restaurants are prohibited from serving food during fasting hours. However, they can serve food as “take-away” after getting permission from the authorities, for which there is a fee. Business in these restaurants resumes as normal after “ifthar” (breaking of fast).

Super markets operate as usual selling all kinds of food – vegetables, fruits, baked products etc throughout the day.

In certain offices pantry is closed for a month, in certain others eating & drinking should be behind the closed doors of the pantry.

But the most interesting are the convenience stores located at petrol stations. In addition to consumables like batteries, important medicines, news papers etc, these stores also sell food. The most intriguing thing, however, is that – while these stores sell from fruits to sandwiches, packaged juice to bottled water, biscuits to chocolates, during Ramadan – only on the coffee/tea machine a board is hung which says – “closed till 6pm”.

Any answers?

Go Green

Recently, there are numerous initiatives & actions, taken globally, on protecting the environment. The underlying ulterior motive, eventually, is to protect ourselves. The list of initiatives are long… from organic food to organic software!, from using bicycles to hybrid & electric vehicles, from carbon foot print to green buildings, from “think of the environment before you print” to “say no to plastic”, from biodegrable plastic to edible cutlery.

It is indeed interesting to observe that – first man, indulge in activities in harming the environment, without thinking, without using the intellect. Later, after causing much damage engages in remedial actions, only to realise that some of those damages that has been caused are irreversible.

It is mans action without thinking, excessive greed for wealth & his constant relentless pursuit of materialistic wants (hyperconsumerism) is the cause of the situation today, which will have a severe & detrimental effect on the future generations.

Social Responsibility

In a country (India) where media influences the masses, news is like Bollywood 'hit' songs. When one good song is released the previous song goes into oblivion. People start listening & humming the new track & the old ones, even if it was a 'super-hit' song, fades from memory. So is the case with news on TV, print or any media.

As far as my memory goes - these were the headlines that were in the limelight of the varios media - the shocking murder of Arushi & who did it? - an eye opener for parents, the plight of Gujjars & their fight, followed by the CBI's startling revealations of Arushi's murder. Then we were busy talking about the Ino-US nuclear deal, what is it, who will benefit and so on which led to the Left's threat & finally the withdrawal of support to the UPA government. Will the UPA govt survive or is it election time? No, it was the time for horse trading which eventually culminated in the survival of UPA govt & disgraceful cash-in-parliament episode.

Before the culprits of the scam could be collared, the horrific serial bomb blasts in Bangalore & Ahmedabad & the hunt for the terrorists sweeped the attaention. This took a back stage once the Amarnath land dispute erupted & the agitation that paralysed normal life to thousands of people. Then came the Singur farmers land compensation issue & the Nano-Mamta stand off in West Bengal and also the Bihar floods where over 2.5million people were affected - homeless, marooned & many dead. The rescue operations were nowhere near enough.

When a news gathers momentum- we talk about it, discuss about it, argue & debate on it... They invariably take a place in social gatherings, office corridors... Watch lengthy debates & discussion programmes on TV channels with immense interest...

But the point, is we never go to the root of these issues or problems trying to find solutions & implement them, so that they do not occur again. We follow these issue or events for a short span of time & then the trail goes cold, never finding the culprits. Adding to this is the media who is busy with latest & 'breaking news', that the old ones gather dust. So, should the media have a bigger & better social responsibility?

Have we become a callous society of extremely self centric people. As some body said the other day - a dead people walking society...

Better Customer Service

One of our passports is due for renewal & had to visit the Indian Consulate last week. We had two options to do this. One – was to complete the various application forms, take a token & wait for the electronic lady to call your token number. This could easily take a good three hours.

The second – was to go the online way – register at the consulate website, complete & submit the required application online. Once this is done, you will get an email indicating – when you should visit the consulate with a hard copy of the applicataion that was completed online, photographs etc.

Obviously we decided for the online option.

Two days later we received an email confirming receipt of the online application & a date for the appointment to visit the consulate & submit the application (hard copy). So far… so good…

So we reached the consulate on the said date with all the documents & met the person concerned. To our dismay the documents which we had printed & carried with us were not the correct one. The rules & method had changed & since it was mentioned neither on the website nor on the email, no body was aware of it. Moreover, to our surprise, the rules had changed a month back & still it was not indicated on the website.

Most of the online applicants who were there that day were in an agitated mood. They were asked to go back & resubmit the application on a later day. Some were rushing to the nearest internet café. Those who were successful were the second timers.

A visit to the Indian Consulate is an extremely difficult & gruelling task. People have to leave home very early ( 5:30 or 6am) to avoid traffic & the queue, take a day off from work, parking is a nightmare, extreme procedures & numerous applications, long waiting time & the worst of all the attitude of the staff – appalling.

So, I then wonder –

1) A very large Indian population resides in Dubai – from blue collared to white collared workers & from entrepreneurs to business tycoons. The number probably could be the highest outside India & not to forget the revenue. So why can’t they offer a better service & facilities?

2) India Shining, Brand India etc etc – At a time when India is emerging as an economic giant, is this the image we would like to portray visitors coming to India for business or pleasure?

3) A visit to a private sector organisation, for example a bank, can prove what customer service is all about. So why can’t the government service improve? Is it lack of accountability & decision making?

4) India has plenty of world renowned IT companies who are developing software for various organisations locally & globally, but our consulate can not have a good & proper system in place. Why?

An Attitude of Gratitude

There was a nice article titled “Being Thankful” in the weekend magazine. It was written by a career expert Daniel Ough, who had also taken some points from R.T. Kendall.

A lot of people fail to see the wood for the tree, when it comes to their jobs. They conveniently forget about the benefits & instead choose to moan about their problems like work pressure, unreasonable boss, irritating colleagues, work too hard & paid too little, office politics etc etc.

There are thousands of people out there who do not have a job and would like to have one… Then there are scores of people whose working conditions & environments are worse than what one can imagine… So think of all the good & positive aspects & this will help us to like our jobs & perform better.

While as children, we are taught to be polite & say “please” & “thank you” on the appropriate occasion, we are not specifically taught to be thankful, thankful to life. The key is to develop a sense of gratitude towards life, to be thankful to life for giving whatever it has given each of us…

Have an “attitude of gratitude” in life.

Hanging 'Meals' & Life’s toil…

Some time back I had to visit a construction site coming up at the ‘Downtown Dubai’. ‘Downtown Dubai’ is a concept similar to that of ‘downtown’ New York or London. In a period of 2~3 years it will become the central business hub of Dubai. The visit was a part of my job to resolve certain technical snags. The project is a huge apartment complex with over 600 apartments & other modern amenities.

During the visit, I happened to pass by a makeshift wooden stand, on which some polythene bags were hanging. This was in the in the basement parking area & the palce was already in a mess, strewn with construction waste, equipments, material etc. Since these bags were of different colours it attracted my attention from far. It made me inquisitive & on closer look, I realised that these were the food parcelled & brought by the workers on site. This sight made me really heavy-hearted. Reason…

The working conditions of these workers are terrible. They work in the scorching heat, where temperature in summer hover around 50-55’C & with high humidity. They are poorly paid ($250p.m) & rarely on time. They have long working hours & very few holidays. They also work on holidays so as to earn ‘OT’.

Adding to this poor plight is their living conditions. They live in dormitories or more popularly called as ‘labour-camps’ located out side the city limits. These labour-camps are crowded & cramped with little ventillation. The trasnsport, to & fro from the site would be on buses with no air conditioning. There families, if they have, would be back home in their native countries.

Now let me move away from this dismal state of affairs. Each of these apartments that were being constructed were being sold at very heavy prices ($400,000 ++) & even higher in the secondary market. Rentals on these apartments were also quite high compared to market standards & were expected to fetch around $40,000 +p.a. To my surprise most of the apartments were ‘sold-out’. At the time of writing this, the above figures, from a Dubai perspective are exorbitantly high. So who are buying these? Indeed Dubai is a place for the rich & famous.

By the time people start living in these apartments enjoying the comfort & luxuries of life, people who built them would have moved on to yet another project continuing a life of hardship.

Moral of the story: The high price paid by the end-user does not percolate down into the system to reach the needy & improve their quality of life.

Vivid Memories

When I go down my memory lane, reminiscencing, a few things have left a lasting impression in my mind. One of them is my days at MIT, Manipal- where I did my bachelors in engineering. It was one of those few good things that happen in life. It was definitely a wonderful experience, which I revere & is full of memories to cherish with.

It was August 1989, the college reopened for the new academic year amid light rain. During the initial days at MIT, I had a mixed feeling. On one side there was a sense of feeling good. I was going to be an engineer soon. New milieu, new friends and distanced from parents. On the other hand the prospect of ‘ragging’ loomed large from day one. It could happen any time and anywhere and this caused fear & uncertainty. You never knew what was in store. I certainly believe that ragging makes you a tougher person as long as there are certain limits. What are the limits & who sets them? Is this act of servitude unwarranted? This can be debated, may be some other time...

Taking a leap into the last few days at MIT- it was busy with project work, graffiti days, farewell parties and pondering about the future. Finally, in June 1993 the exams were over & I said good-bye to MIT. As I boarded the early morning 'Day Express' train back home with a pang of nostalgia, I never knew what the future had in store for me.

Highways or Parking lots ?

Traffic congestion has become a perennial problem in Dubai & Sharjah and has become a topic of conversation with all. The traffic snarls on the Sharjah – Dubai road is the worst, may be diabolical. In a city where car is a compulsion, highways look like long parking lots. Business appointments are no longer at 9:30 or 11. We will meet between 9 & 9:30 !

Just to illustrate the gravity of the problem for those who have not experienced this extreme traffic congestion – it can take over two hours to travel a distance of 15km. Normally it should take only 25min. People spend around 4 to 5 hours commuting to office & back every day. It is a grief that is gripping every individual who is living in Sharjah & working in Dubai.

Traffic congestion causes delays & waste of time. This has an impact on the business & personal life. It is estimated that the loss due to traffic congestion for the business sector is around AED4.6billion, as per the figures from the authorities. On the personal front it causes stress, ill health & less time with the family & for social life. These, however, cannot be quantified.

So what are the causes of this extreme traffic woe? There are many- lack of infrastructure (road networks), unprecedented economic activity and exponential growth in the floating population, lack of public transport, improper town planning, ‘bottle-necks’ on the road, road works, improper driving & accidents.

Just to give some figures (2006) :
Population in Dubai – 1.3m
Number of cars registered – 650,000
Cars per 1000 residents – 541
Estimated economic loss – AED4.6b ($1.25b)

Traffic congestion is a fact of life in modern & busy cities. But an interesting phenomenon in Dubai is the unpredictability of the traffic congestion. Generally in modern cities there is traffic congestion during the peak time, when people go to office or leave office. But in Dubai, often peak time can be the whole day.

People are increasingly becoming despondent & so is there a respite in the near future? The answer is negative! But the good news is that the authorities are making a conscious effort to reduce traffic congestion. Huge investments (25b AED) have been made to improve the road network & also the construction of metro project. The first phase of the metro system is expected to be complete by end of 2009. Until then let patience be a virtue in us all...