The Land Of No Corruption! Unbelievable To Us, Indians!

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It is more than 4-5 months since I had visited this place, Dubai! We stayed there for 4 days.  The trip was arranged from home.  We visited this place on our way back from the U.S. Let me write about some interesting anecdotes I heard and saw over there.

We could see many many Indians everywhere, esp. Malayalees! Hindi is enough to roam around here! The driver cum guide told me many things about Dubai.  They are very well paid.  But everything from home rent to food, is expensive.  He was a Pakistani.  He had been working here for the past 8 years and had visited his family in Pakistan only twice.  He had 4 children(!).  Two were in college.  He said that though the work was tough, long hours, money was good.  We had 3 drivers for 4 days and all of them said that the country is free of thieves and no teasing or harming women, no corruption and NO INCOME TAX! Whatever you earn, you keep!

I thought that Dubai was a desert and so I won't find any trees except Palm trees.  No, many areas were covered by trees and we saw very well maintained lawns.

The UAE was created by their late King Zayed (whose photo was found everywhere!) which had made it one of the richest countries in the world.  More than Oil money, they are targeting on 'Tourism' money.  So many world class resorts, hotels etc. are found here.  I could hear Bollywood and Arabian music throughout the night from our hotel...night life for the tourists! Bollywood films are famous and music, more famous! They have started encroaching the sea also.  Filling the sea bed with rocks and mud and building houses and resorts there, it seems! Again, tourism is the main aim. 

I saw one music reality show like ours in their TV.  Girls were dressed up well, with modern dresses. They were either sitting or just standing while singing...middle aged men were sitting, many were there, opposite them and when the girl started singing, these men got up and started dancing...just rotating themselves with their Arabian dresses! Funny.  No girls or women danced!

I loved the desert safari ride! The vehicle was a land rover and the driver was a Malayalee (!).  3 other passengers (again Malayalees!), apart from me and my husband were sitting with our belts tied and hands holding the handles above our head.  These 3 people knew somebody and had hired this particular driver who drove us recklessly on top of the high mounds of sands and brought down as if the van would roll over...like head over heals! You know me well by now, I was laughing and my husband was glaring at me! But after getting down, he appreciated the driver for his control over the vehicle! We had never expected this ride to be like this! The height of thrills, really!

One more thing I noticed was, most of the buildings were painted in beige colour as if they were built by the govt., even the independent houses in posh localities.  The driver said that they were painted in sand colour because they got sand storms often and the sand dust covered everything, even the huge buildings, with sand.  It was tough to clean them all the time.  So this colour, which blends with the sand! What an idea, Sirji!

Apart from gold, which is famous and sounds cheaper than our country, tourists bring home badam, dates and saffron. Gold is purer, we were told.  2 Gold Souks (markets) are there with hundreds of gold/jewellery shops!  We paid one dirham, crossed the waterway by a boat and reached the market place, first the old one.  Small small shops with lots of local curios which were quite interesting and then to shops like the ones we see in our country.  We had a cup of local chai from a small tea shop and it was very good. Again, nobody glares at tourists! We had lunch at Sangeetha restaurant! Many Indian restaurants were there.  On one day, lunch was at a Gujarathi restaurant!

Now, to the pictures:

We went across the waterway just for one dirham to the market in this beautiful boat.

Independent houses in a posh area.  Only locals can buy property here.  Others can take houses on lease.  For starting a business here, it can only be with a local partner's collaborations, it seems.  Is it so?

The sand was beautiful, which is strange! Nothing else! I remember this safari even now than anything else about Dubai! We nearly touched the stars and tumbled down! Such high dunes!

Desert Safari...we had Indian Vegetarian food here and tender coconut too!  When we were returning from the desert at about 11 pm by the Land Rover, the whole area was dark until we reached the main road after driving for nearly an hour.  The only light we saw on the way was from a small hut, which was, you won't believe, a Keralaite's tea shop! If I had known earlier, I would have been prepared to take a snap!

Desert Safari...a girl dancing with serial bulbs on her dress to Arabian music.  The music was good! Camel rides were there and I rode one!

The road from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. I saw trees on both sides of the road and platforms like this with small flowering pants in most places. Green lawns were looking fresh, well-maintained by mainly Indian labourers, I was told.  The mud was imported by ship from India, mainly! It has started raining here for a few weeks an year for the past 3-4 years, it seems.

Beautiful sea...clean beach.  It was full of foreigners.  We crossed this area at around 12.30 pm and the sun was burning our skin, still saw many fair skinned people in the beach.  I have to appreciate the local people...nowhere tourists were glared at or harassed.  No muggers or open cheaters, I was told.  Law is very strict here.  I love this aspect of the country.

Clean beaches...Looks beautiful! The whole city is clean!

The latest mosque built in honour of King Zayed, we were told.  I went around wearing an abaya (purdah, long black gown covering women from head to toe...only face was visible!).  Everything is new here, in this mosque.

We were taken to a 'model' village, a village created for the tourists, with narrow streets, wells, small mosque etc. Saw a small hut with cows, sheep, ducks and hens too.  Saw many small birds including many sparrows! This man was making woollen wall hangings.  It was interesting to watch him mix so many colours and bring out images. 

The wall hanging in the shop where the man was knitting. Threads of different colours are knitted together to bring beautiful images.  Amazing!

A well in the 'village'.  I have seen same type of wells in my village too, in Karnataka, India, near farm lands, when I was small!

Dubai 'village' ducks! One is sleepy...it was hot in the afternoon!

Burj Khalifa...the famous, tallest building in the world, a replica inside the Burj Khalifa.  Wiki link is here about this!

Gold Souk (the famous Dubai Gold market). It was very crowded in the morning before lunch.  This photo was taken at lunch time and it was a Friday, namaaz time! Noticed many Indian stores too like Shyam Jewellery, Damas, Joy Alukkas etc.. Wiki says 'By some estimates, approximately 10 tons of gold is present at any given time in the souk.

My memory about Dubai is these concrete buildings in different shapes and sizes and the Sand (desert safari which was beautiful but lasted for half an hour or something, i.e. driving on the sand). (this is wiki picture!)

What Is Happening?

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I called my maid just now.  She had not taken the rice I had kept for her, today. She said that she had taken the rice in a vessel which was kept on the kitchen counter.  I told her that that was yesterday's rice and she had left today's rice here itself.  Since she feeds the rice she takes from our house to her children in the evening at about 7 pm, I felt bad and asked her if the rice was OK.  In our Chennai hot weather, the rice which is cooked in the morning becomes watery by night, if not, the next morning.  We mix water with the remaining cooked rice at night and make curd rice out of it the next morning, sometimes.  It is supposed to be good for health.   The rice which was cooked yesterday morning is still good, she says.  I am scared now! What are we eating nowadays? Just poison, I think.  The situation is worsening day by day. 

Last month the paalak bunches I had bought had chemical stench.  It was so bad that nobody could eat.  We threw away all the paalak paneer subji.  Then the bhendi had the same stench.  I complained to the vendor and he said that it happens sometimes! The vegetables come from the surrounding villages and sometimes the people who grow them, who are illiterate (!), spray more chemicals and it is not easy to check! He laughingly gave me another information.  His father is a farmer.  They have grown rice, this time, it seems.  The agent who bought their rice asked the farmer to add one chemical to the fresh rice grains which will turn the look of the rice from new to old rice! He got Rs.250 per bag extra!  'Chemical illaama yeduvum illamma ippa', he says.  'Nothing is there now without chemicals'!  I just don't go to that shop now.  I don't know which shop is better now. 

One security man who works in a famous vegetable vendor shop, to whom I tip every time I go there (he has got problem with his one foot, so I tip him) asked me not to buy watermelon which is bright red! 'Veluththa pazhama vaangunga' he said (buy a bit colourless melon!).  They inject colour into the fruit, it seems.

I am scared to eat mango.  Got once from an organic shop, that is all.  Scared to eat mangoes now from normal vegetable and fruit shops.  Most of them are ripened with calcium carbide. I get ulcers in my mouth if I eat them.

A few organic shops have opened in our area now and they keep limited vegetables, twice a week.  Everybody seem to run there and buy them.  It is over by 11.30 - 12 pm! I think people are becoming scared slowly.

How much can the govt. prevent this? People who do not have conscience are just after money.  This is going to affect the coming generations too.  The ground itself has become poisonous.  I have started roof top gardening.  But we get very limited vegetables.  All of us should join together, I feel, to do something.
Milk also doesn't get spoiled even by 11 am even if it is not kept in the fridge.

Hmmm...what can we do?


P.S.: I have started buying organic pulses now.  I keep the unopened packets in the fridge.  After opening, I store the remaining pulses in Tupperware boxes.  Still, I see worms and insects within a week (this shows they are really organic!).  What to do? I remember keeping dried neem leaves in the rice boxes, before Tupperware came home.  Should I start using that method now, for these pulses?

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Glimpses Of Our U.S.Trip! The University Of Berkeley, California!

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I had already started writing about this trip and am continuing now! This post is about the University of California, Berkeley! There are so many things to write about this place...maybe later! First, the Clock tower!

Sather Tower (Bell & Clock Tower), sort of a symbol for UC Berkeley! The booming sound of the bells are lovely!

One more picture of the Clock tower.

The Carillon, an instrument, which the students play at 12pm and 6 pm everyday. Evening sunlight is reflecting here...The room is closed and I took this picture through the glass.

I saw these huge bells on the 7th floor, I think and it is not easy to stand nearby when it starts ringing I was told. (Link) By the time I reached this place, the music and the ringing of the bells were over:(

Hear the music now.  I heard it from outside and it was over when I reached the lift to reach the tower! Pleasing music! I got a clip from 'you tube'. Thank you, children! It is awesome!



 One more link of the Carillon music!

We visited this campus 2-3 times when we were there at Berkeley.  Every time we visited, I used to notice this tall tower.  I went inside once and saw the famous musical instrument.  The students play the organ twice a day, once at 12 pm and then at 6 pm.  No, once more in the early morning, it seems! I missed it by a few minutes but still went up and viewed the surrounding areas through the top floor (7th floor) of this tower.  We have to climb a few steps to reach the top after going by the lift upto the 7th floor, if I remember correctly. Some interesting details of the tower:

It was completed in 1914 and first opened to the public in 1917. The tower stands 307 feet (93.6 m) tall, making it the third tallest bell and clock-tower in the world. It was designed by John Galen Howard, founder of the College of Environmental Design and it marks a secondary axis in his original Beaux-Arts   campus plan. Since then, it has been a major point of orientation in almost every campus master plan. The tower has seven floors, with an observation deck on the eighth floor. Some floors are used to store fossils.
For more details, read the wiki link here.

Very old type of machine for the clock which is still going strong!

I was fascinated by this clock tower and so more details for you!

View from the tower!

I think I will write about the very old sculpture of the Football players which attracted our attention, as soon as we entered the University.  This post is about the view of the parent.  Everything was new for us! Children who are studying here are very lucky! My son and now my grand niece are among them!

More than 100 year old sculpture which is called 'Football players'

The Wiki says: "The Football Players" was created in the mid-1890s by Douglas Tilden, a prominent artist with many connections to Berkeley. Tilden was deaf and, as a child, came to live at the California School for the Deaf, which used to be located on the grounds where the Clark Kerr Campus stands today.

One more attraction here was the famous Berkeley University squirrels! We went inside the campus and were waiting for my grand niece.  Suddenly I heard some sound from behind us...we were sitting on a tree trunk.  We turned around and saw one man making sounds with his lips and talking to someone in a false voice or say, like we talk to our children! We saw that nobody was there.  Then he asked us to turn around...we did so reluctantly and then we saw them...the squirrels! They were climbing up his body and were perching on his shoulders and taking something from his fingers! As you know we are hard core animal lovers.  When I saw him for the first time, I told my husband that he is talking like Robin Williams  who is a very good mimic (my favourite).  He gave us some almond bars and asked us to feed them.  The bars were organic, he said.  I decided then and there that I would bring the bars next time and feed them and did so later.  He loved his squirrel babies, I could see! He must be doing this everyday, I felt.  

Now, to the squirrels:

Husband is feeding the famous Berkeley squirrel! This one was sitting on his lap and eating, later! They are used to humans, I am sure!

The height of enjoyment on that day was, my grand niece's thayir saadam (curd rice) which we had missed during our trip!

She had prepared the curd rice not only with curd but with lots of love, we could feel/taste it!

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Shorthand, A Boon In Typewriting Days But Now, Both Are Nearly 'No More'!

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ON THE WANE:N. Ramachandran, who set up a short-hand and typewriting institute in 1963, says that the demand for professionals has come down drastically, especially in Chennai.

I read this article in 'The Hindu' just now, about the usage of 'shorthand' which is slowly dying now. The article took me down my memory lane, to the early 70's, when I was a student of Shorthand and Typewriting!

Learning typewriting and shorthand was the 'in-thing' in those days.  I had finished my school just then and in the summer holidays, my mother joined me to a typewriting class where shorthand also was taught.  It was the norm in those days.  Most of my classmates had joined.  Every area had these typewriting institutes where shorthand also was taught.  You won't believe, the fee was Rs.10 per month for typewriting and another Rs.10 for shorthand, which were 1hour classes each! The class looked like the one in the above picture! The owner cum typewriting teacher of the class lived upstairs.  He was in his 40's I think.  He was monitoring from 5 am to 9 am (god, I still remember!) and then from 6 to 10 pm.  Students or working people came to the early morning or late evening/night classes.  It was strictly only 1 hour class at these periods.  In day time we can sit there and practice as much as we wanted if the typewriters were free. We had to take the plain papers with us and type on both sides.  We had to show him whatever we had typed while leaving the class.  Typewriter ribbon cost was not charged separately...it was covered in the Rs.10 fee! God, our fingers and shoulders used to ache in the early days hitting the keys...

asdf fdsa on left hand fingers
jkl; ;lkj  on right hand fingers

We were asked to type this sentence many times.  'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'  which uses every letter in the English language.

Got this 'fingering' picture from this link 

I remembered the name of the typewriter also, which I used, Remington! Thanks to google

I got 'Higher' exam certificate for typewriting.  The typewriting classes and the examination centres (Govt. Schools) used to be very crowded.  The Hindu article says how it is now, very deserted. 40 words per minute for 'Lower' exam and 100 words per minute (wpm) for 'Higher' exam, I think. My sons and husband use the computer keyboard in their own type/style of fingering now! I got the Pitman book and fingering book for my elder son...I must ask him if he is using the old fingering method for typing in his computer! He didn't learn shorthand though!

An old gentleman was taking shorthand classes (Pitman method) in the intstitute.  I still remember him...he used to chew paan! But his English Accent and booming voice were superb.  Words were very clear...he used to read texts (books were there especially for this purpose with marks/lines after every 40 words (40 wpm) for lower speed and 100 for higher exam speed).  The tone should change when the next sentence starts. Concentration is very very important while dictating or while taking notes. We took notes in shorthand in a ruled note book, which looked like it is shown below.  Lines have more gaps in between for writing 'on top of the line, on line and across the line' strokes with PENCILS!

Shorthand note books (link)

Students/people who went to colleges and offices, used to take shorthand notes in the morning, transcribe it in daytime, come back in the evening or the next morning and get corrected.  After I wrote Lower shorthand exam, I started assisting our teacher in the evenings with dictations.  Clarity in words is important for shorthand.  The strokes are written according to the phonetic sound.  Our grammar should be good because when we write strokes we skip the strokes for some words/grammar etc.  My language improved because of my shorthand learning, at least to some extent!  Now, to some strokes:

The two pictures show the shorthand strokes clearly (link)

You can notice that the strokes are written above the line, on the line and some reach below the line.  The strokes will be thick or thin and the meaning changes accordingly.  After a lot of practice, we can start using our own shortest strokes.  I used to dream about new strokes in my dreams in those days! I was really obsessed with shorthand!

I wrote the higher exam also in shorthand and I was the only person who passed from the exam centre, I remember (the centre was some Govt. school in Kodambakkam, Chennai).  I don't remember the marks or class! The certificate is somewhere with my old papers now!

Our Institute teacher gave me a thick ink pen as a prize! I had it for many years!

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P.S.: Thank you google for the above link!

Foto Friday!

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Sunrise at Elliots beach (Chennai)! Click on the picture for a better view pl.

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