The Jazzy Connection !!!

The greatest Jazz Pianist, Duke Ellington, once quoted - “By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with.”  Till the last sunset of 2009, I completely agreed to it, because as every common music lover who has grown up on the fodder of rock, hip-hop or even love songs, Jazz music can seriously sound very boring. Until, I was part of the recent Jazz Music Festival organized in Dubai, which touched such chords of my mind that Jazz now, has become on my list of favorites, at least some!

The festival flagged off from the 10^th of February 2010 till the 19^th and although I was slogging my backside off while the commoners enjoyed the mesmerizing tunes and pianos, the whole ambience was just magical. Long palm tress swaying with the wind, people sipping their martinis and Heineken’s and Honey Kumar, standing at the gates and checking people’s tickets! A total testing time of my valor.

I have always loved saxophones. The seductive lucidity that they lay bare has always managed to trap me and this time, I had the privilege to listen on to, one of the western world’s most renounced saxophonist – Marion Meadows. With his braided jet brown hair, and striking costumes, he could have easily passed off as a junior version of Bob Marley, at least in personality. But when, he starts playing, Bob might just start     

ball-dancing in his grave, the effect is so profound.  The very way that he holds the saxophone, reminds you of a man, when he first falls in love…

James Morrison. Period. Which jazz lover or admirer would overlook this new age musician who has carved a niche and is indeed known so as a modern day Stevie Wonder. With the likes of his first solo hit, “You give me something” and his suttle French avant-garde looks, any lady would swoon over him. So did I. His soulful voice together with his modern day comprehension just blew me off the top. Hearing this man on the radio is a random routine but watching him perform live in front of a romance hungry horde (you could see some ravenous lovers seizing the moment) was untainted enchantment!!

The most musical 3 days of my life introduce me not only to a breathtaking American harmonious creation but also gave me a start in this not-so-friendly city of mine…Dubai.

The Mall Culture...

I visited the so very affluent Dubai Mall today for some unusual purpose (don’t ask what) and was I taken aback to see how mammoth and so vacant it was. The shopping precinct was spread over some huge 3 levels of pure retail therapy and that too, for the well heeled class, which also houses an Olympic sized ice rink! That’s when something just dawned on me, the reality that unlike what people say, the city that was once called the “City of Dreams,” is now segregated. Divided.

On one hand of this Dubai, you have the rolling middle class that gleefully drives a Toyota or a Honda and chomps on the Indian and Lebanese street cafes and restaurants, on the other hand, you have the ones who lazily stroll in the so called imitations of French cafes, spend their evenings in the arms of Chanel bags, Jimmy Choo shoes or Cavalli gowns (sarcastic).The loaded class I call them!!

I often muse at the times spent at the very famous and old, Deira City Center or DCC as we call it now. The unbearable shrill of claustrophobic people walking all over ,the shops abuzz with activity and the variedness of men and women in the food courts & now, the only thing I sense or come across are cafes or lounges with names never heard before, weird seating arrangements and even more weirder dish names, stores boasting of humongous bill boards but zilch crowd and most importantly, the gigantic ,but empty parking lots which make you realize you’ve entered some eerie old building rather than a shopping mall!!

Simpler and easier were those times, when shopping just meant a trip to the local mall with family or close friends and hanging around at the food courts within one’s reach. The sudden paradoxical shift of this word’s meaning has put me in a dilemma. I often think twice now, before going to a shopping mall, not for the fear that I might not get what I want but for the thought that I would bring back home a body full of tired and aching legs ,which I absolutely don’t want…

An Indian's Musings on UAE

It’s strange but true that even in an age when we can easily stalk someone, thanks to Google maps, there are instances, which baffle our mind completely. On my two-year study escapade to India, I remember being in the forefront of situations, which made me juggle around with my views about the Internet and it’s being the information super-highway.


My first day of class in India was full of unwanted surprises and at that very moment, I wondered, whether I am the only foreigner in the world who faces such kind of culture shocks and lack of information among her peers. When they did realize I was from Dubai, not UAE (People somehow recognize that more easily), the flurry of questions that came through my way were appalling. So, it reined upon me as a citizen of this desert, to clarify myths that people coupled with this country back home.



Myth 1

- If you stay in UAE, you are robotically named a SHEIKH.

I have been living here for the past 16 years and trust me; I haven’t got the S of this word till now. Sheikh is a honorific term in Arabic that means "elder". It is commonly used to designate an elder of a tribe, a revered wise man, or an Islamic scholar. Although the title generally refers to a male person, there existed in history also a very small number of female sheikhs.

Log on here for more info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh



Myth 2

- If you stay in Dubai, you are thought of a filthy rich person.


Well NO! We Indians , somehow always this inferiority complex in ourself that anybody who stays abroad has lots of moolah to spare. What we don’t realise is the fact that India alone itself has so much money. But nahhh, the tag abroad leads to being rich. PERIOD.

Well, people like my father, who slog their asses off, can be put in that category but , not me, souls like us live on meagre income and happily lead a life on inherited wealth..


Myth 3

- UAE has Indian Schools and that too, CBSE!!!

According to reports, over 40% of UAE’s population is made up of Indians . So, some educated Indian must have felt the need to start CBSE schools here and yes, I am one of the pass-outs . You are bound to find indians(especially keralites) in every corner of UAE, so we do need to some place to study right??? Hence, Indian schools , thanks to Ashok Ganguly…


Myth 4

- How come you know Hindi so well???

Now that was the most bizarre question, I ever answered. I am Indian by birth, my parents are Indians by birth, so I am bound to speak the NATIONAL language of India. I mean, you’d be surprised to hear that the language is so common here that even arab nationals turn up to see Hindi movies and even understand it pretty well( although you do have arabic subtitles below) . Hindi was my second language in school…so JAI HINDI!!


Myth 5

- Women in UAE are so ill-treated , abused and still follow the purdah system

Does it look like I wear the burqah and roam around the city??That apparently is still followed in the holy Saudia Arabia. Infact , UAE is one of the most metropolitan countries in the Middle East which equally respects rights of both men and women. Yes, there are stringent rules for muslim women in some households but then, if the wife of Dubai’s Ruler can wear formal shirt and trousers, so can we. However, its not as free-spirited as the west where you can make out on the beaches and not get caught…. Lolz


Myth 6

- Dubai – The House of the D company

Alas, the Hindi films get full credit for this. They have seem to stamp this place as the house of goons and underworld mafia. Yes, I agree ,the presence is there , but not so wild as potrayed in the cinema houses and so called realistic films!! Probably, that’s where so much money comes from…ummmm(Pondering). I rather not write anything more...because I fear my life!!



Guys, UAE has achieved so much in so less of a time and yes, created the world’s tallest building but that is no excuse for being so uninformed about it. Go out and Google it… and see for yourself -Mutthaida Al Arab Emarat….

The Weather Phenomenon...

I have just returned from my much-needed holiday in Europe's most scintillating countries ever - Switzerland, Paris and Germany and the very first thing that hit me, when I landed in this Rose of the Desert was its WEATHER!! Oh Lord, the signs had started again- Fog clouding all over my glasses, humidity clinging to my skin like a body fit t-shirt and my breath suddenly had this weird smell to it, as if I hadn’t taken a bath for time unlimited… and yes, that is when it dawned on me that I was back, back in DUBAIIIII. The land of gold and yes, the place where the weather is never cold AAARRGHHH!

Every other day I hear the climate report on radio and somehow it always thwarts me. The word HUMIDITY is so deeply immersed in the UAE weather that it never leaves it. Even the winter gods never descend fully on this God Forsaken Place. They just make –do with some days of chilly winds and there they go holidaying in the Alps once again…

Look at the configuration of the monsoons here. Almost the whole earth system receives the monsoon showers between May- July (pardoning London which is forever soaked and some parts of Europe) but, UAE, receives its rains during November- December, which, in turn makes the weather so chilly, and Sharjah, being UAE’S Delhi gets so sapped in the whole process. Although, I have to admit that these rains do make the weather and UAE look, oooohh! So damn mushy and romantic, making it the perfect setting for hopeless cupid cohorts like us!!

The Air-Conditioners. My favorite piece of inventions these days, really. If they weren’t available in this part of the world, trust me, my soul would have been served to the eagles by now out of heat strokes!!

As I strut down the streets sometimes during the daytime when the heat is at its worst and I peep through my car windows at these construction workers, toiling their hearts out for completing, what people like us would utilize for our comforts, I literally feel like a vamp. Here are people who sacrifice their so called simple pleasures for us and work in a horrible weather like this and we, working in our AC offices still complain!! But anyways, the weather still needs IMPROVEMENTTTTTT…

On an ending note, I think, I have whined enough to let the UAE MET office take notice. Yes, I realize that they plant trees, start green revolutions here, but Mr. Sheikh Mohammed, what we need to do is build less buildings everywhere and ACTUALLY plant. We have a flower center here, we have nurseries here, but hey, is that affecting?????

I just hope this grilling torture turns into a relaxing warm weather soon… :)