An Abra Trip

The last time I did this, was when I was not driving a car in Dubai. No means of transport, buses were not my forte, taxis were too dammned expensive for daily use, and public transport in Dubai was and is shit. How do you commute.. Welcome to the life line of Dubai, the Abra.

I had vague memories of the Abra as I used to come to Dubai, once in probably five years. No one from Bahrain is interested to come in regularly, any ways. So what ever little you did, you either managed to see it or ride in it.

Move to Dubai, and with limited options and looking around for a job, with a need to even go to Deira, how best do you do it.. Ahaa.. You take a bus to a central point, walk up about 10 minutes to the creek, sit in an old boat running on a motor that runs under your seat, and with half your heart clutched in your hand (the other half in your mouth), you proceed. Five minutes, and you are on the other side. Finish your work, and back again the same way.

Get your licence a few weeks later, a car a couple of months later and bye bye Abra..  A mode of transport unique to Dubai, not used, simply because the car is so convenient. Flash forward, before you know it, a decade has passed and you have not set foot on it.

How did I land up there, simply because my nieces were in town, and we decided a unique experience would be the Abra.. Land up in Dubai, walk up to the creek and bang on.. there you are.. The same boats the same motor mechanism and off you go.. But differences exist..  You do not have the old stones any more.. I distinctly remember jumpingover stones nearly slipping on the wet rock, having no idea for the life of me, whether I would make it to the boat, or slip into the cold water.

Many a person has slipped, has fallen, however with time you overcome these obstacles and become a Pro.. After all with hundreds of people using this mode, and the error ratio below 1%, people were doing it right.

A trip down the creek, from Bur Dubai to the Deira stop and then onwards towards the Floating Bridge, underneath the Maktoum Bridge, with lights shimmering down the distance, it was a sight to behold. Memories flashed, the wind blew in the air, a cool breeze running through your hair, the water splashing across the sides of the boat, and seeing the fast lane running by, while we were using a transport mechanism at 1/10th the speed of the current day.. What can you say?

Words cannot express the feelings that one got, the time gone would never come back, however the memories remain. The blast of a time my nieces and my son had, has no price. A day of care free abandon, a day in the creek, feeling you are in the middle of the Sea, with no care in the world... Oh Dear, where did those days go??

We and our approach to our religion

I recently had two instances which set me thinking... 1) A community gathering in Dubai for Diwali and 2) A note by Jayant, as to why we go to the Temple.

The Community gathering got me thinking on the speeech by a senior member about the accomplishments of the Bhatia's and how we struggled from our Thatta days, and how the older generations made sacrifices and so on.. Very interesting hearing, however information that a lot of us know about. It is necessary I realize that we have to understand our roots, where we came from, where we are today and where we will be in the next generation.

That was not what got me thinking. What go me thinking was a comment that the people of today's generation are not seen in temples. The Youth are not doing the same that their parents and forefathers did? We do not see that many of our community members as we see from other communities.

Are we really not? As I think in retrospect and link this to Jayant's note, I have one question.... What have we done as a community to preach our religion and our belief in Hinduism to our children? What have our elders done to instill the importance of going to the temple on a regular basis? Why are we so scared to talk freely about our religion and why are our elders not willing to listen to a good debate?

 I may be wrong here, but I believe that it is as much the responsibility of our elders to enforce this into the younger generation so as to have this as part of our routine. Coming to the Temple these days is not for a meeting with God, but more as a chore should be done. I have wondered often.. Why do we see the South Indians coming every week? Why do we see the gurudwaras and the masjids being frequented by their respective communities, week after week. Are we ashamed to go to our place of worship? Or is it simply that we have no time? Or simply cannot make it?

There would be innumerable reasons on this, however the fact remains that we have ourselves to blame, be it the elders, be it the youngsters, or the new generations. It has to be a collective effort spanning across all generations and all have to contribute. The elders need to organize events where the youth come together and meet, have open discussion, debates and the key features on events (more on this on the next post). We as a community that is controlled and dominated by a few select group of houses, need to come out of or cliched viewes and have to learn to change. We need to be more aggressive and open minded to accept change as it comes.

If the change comes with the support of the elders, the community benefits.. If through the youngsters, it may start a revolution.. The worry is if it does not.. Like the Parsis, we too are headed for extinction.

Life With A Metro

One can only imagine the thrill of having a Metro in your town. More so, when the Metro is bang outside your house.

Dubai just went through it's own share of Metro mania when virtually the entire country was looking forward to a great launch. The day, the time, 09.09.09 09:09:09.. Virtually an unforgettable day. Fireworks, the launch by the Royal Family, all the bigwigs of town in one Metro train going from one point to another. The hype, the media frenzy, the countdown, you name it, it was there.

It is not every day that you see the construction of a Metro. More so, when it is done in a little less than three years. The sheer magnitude of the construction, the entire network in the sky, the jazzy stations, the people working day and night to ensure all stations are ready and functional, the drilling, the installation of the tracks, the mess that every conceivable road was in, the hassles and the pain of driving all around your locality just to get around to the other side of the road.. It was a horrible two years.

Come the magic day, people flocked out of nowhere.. Total chaos, pandemonium and the roof fell down. The excitement was unbelievable. Every where that you go, it is only the Metro that was under discussion. It was as if there is nothing else in Dubai... After all, it is not every day that you hear of a train line being set for nearly 50 Kilometers, and running without any drivers.

The ride was worth it.. We spent a Saturday going from Point A to Point B. Excellent infrastructure, lovely trains, an absolute gorgeous view of bulidings that you never see from close or you are above them. The smoothness of the ride, the comfortable rides all across the city, something that one always dreams of.

However behind this one could also see the failures of the system. The overconfidence that came crashing down as people management took a beating, the lack of basic processes, the lack of adequate infrastructure to manage the crowds, the manner in which people were taken for granted, the total ignorance displayed by people when arriving at the station, despite many of them having travelled in Metro's world wide..

A matter of both pros and cons.. The Metro was some thing that the city simply needed, however the total lack of planning and the manner in which Dubai showcases its assets, despite their worth not being what it truly is, boasts of an overconfident mind set, which time and time again comes crashing down. Nothing to take away from a great achivement in such a short span of time, however one could always sense, the hype is simply short lived.

Olden Days, Golden Days

Was discussing an issue with my Dad and Uncle, today and the discussion veered towards, how busy life had become, despite facilities becoming more and more.

A trip down memory lane brought up memories that there were no E_Mails, no Computers, no Mobiles and yet life went on. People worked hard all day, you type a letter, however there was no Tippex invented at the time. There was no concept of working remote, no concept of call forwarding, no concept of Blackberry's and mail forwarding, no concept of electronic house cleaning items, no concepts of digital cameras, or websites, where you could post photographs for all the world to see, no dvd's to watch movies at home, no one for all applications, not every one having cars to go to various places.. and so on..

Yet, there was one thing. Life though hard, did not have the tensions of today. Life though difficult was not a burden to go through the day. Life though simple, and people not having money, was good.

Where has that gone? I doubt it will ever be the same again, as man in his quest to improve, will make life more complicated than before in his quest to make it simple. Will we ever stop. Do we ever want to stop.

Brings back the million Dollar Question again.. Were the simple days the Golden Days for our parents. Are these days for us, our Golden Days 20 years from now?