The catch of the day were Sherry, Black Pomphret and Jhinga(Prawns). Two fish and one Crustacean napped in Malabari/Kerala Spices all ready to be fried. We stood in queue in the small portacabin and waited patiently for our turn. You need to point out the fish and quantity in terms of the metric weight system and then patiently wait outside.
The tables are arranged for you on the sand. The cool sea breeze, the Burj Al Arab view and the hot fish…feels and sounds good. We were five of us and everybody enjoyed their fill.
My take was as follows:
a) The oil was toxic after repeated use and that’s an issue.
b) The fish were over fried and therefore became burnt and carcinogenic.
c) The spice was not spicy in terms of flavor and hotness.
d) Salt was not adequate.
If you really insist, I might take you there or accompany you but would like to try some excuses to avoid the sojourn. A lot of people do come to this extremely popular joint and who am I to judge their preference; but then I have some reservations as mentioned above. My ranking would be a 5 on 10. Suggestions could work wonders for this place but I might charge some consultancy. Till such an event I reckon you are on your own as far as Bu Qtair is concerned.
Sphere: Related Content
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Driving License in Dubai or Luck by Chance?
When I came to Dubai the most difficult task explained to me was of getting my driving license. For any resident in Dubai this is so very true. This is the toughest accomplishment you would perhaps achieve and that too, a lot without you having too much of control.
To start from the beginning, one of the first tasks would be for you to enroll into one of those Govt recognized driving schools. You would find that when you take a normal membership your turn for classes would not occur before 3-6 months!! Sp now they would try to sell you their VIP package where you spent a substantially higher amount. This ensures that you get your classes and instructor assigned. Whether you get a good instructor or not is entirely your luck and I have know people where midway even instructors change. The worst part is there are instructors who contradict on concepts and if you happen to be one of the guinea pigs, it’s better to watch out and clarify.
There are these signal and assessment tests that you should pass easily. The former is conducted by the RTA while the ;latter would be conducted by one of the School Inspectors. Once you are done with these and your quota of classes you happily wait for the D-DAY that is the Final Road Test DAY.
You are hardly asked to drive for 2 minutes or less and that too none of the road skills would have got tested. I have seen people go for multiple tests and fail each time without understanding what better to do next time. In my case in my first test where I failed the evaluation sheet talked about me not negotiating a roundabout properly. The fact was that I never drive past a roundabout!!
So my suggestion is, ensure that you pray to the almighty for a favourable result and hope that works out and if you are an atheist let me do the praying for you.
Dubai Taxis: The UGLY, THE BAD and THE GOOD
The Ugly:
1. Empty Taxis refusing to STOP and pick up passengers.
2. Taxi Drivers not picking up passengers on a destination intent mismatch.
3. Taxi Drivers preferring females over males as passengers, especially single females.
4. Dirty Taxis with tattered seats and seat covers.
5. Rude Drivers
The Bad:
1. Rates are still high compared to the world prices given the cost of fuel and car prices.
2. Uneducated taxi drivers, not knowing roads and destinations.
3. Shortage of Taxis during peak hours and tendency to Taxi Drivers to concentrate only in the Jumeirah area.
4. The concept of multi emirates taxi where they cannot pick up passengers from a different emirate.
5. The messaging system is a luck based system rather than a good process. (Will elaborate on this later).
The Good:
1. There are individual sparks of goodness and that’s really dependent on the individual person than the process.
2. Dubai Taxis comparatively are better off than the Sharjah or Abu Dhabi ones.
3. The Bad and the Ugly are not applicable to say 50% of the vehicles running.
Will somebody explain this one to me?
I was waiting for a Taxi in Qusais. A taxi stops. When I get in the driver informs me that the starting fare should be 6 AED instead of 3 AED because he has a message flashing for a pick up. I look at the meter monitor and find that the pickup is for a passenger beckoning a cab from emirates hills a place about 35 kms from where I was.
I got irritated with this weird request from the driver and declined the ride. I fail to understand the technology and process behind. There was more to this.
Then I called up Dubai Taxi so that the call center could flash my requirement. I stood there for 20 minutes with empty taxis refusing me and then finally a decent fellow stopped. No he was not carrying my message. I ignored the whole process of calling up the Call Centre and got into this one. The one that Dubai Taxi call center was supposed to have organized---that did not materialize at all!! What happened to my call?
1. Empty Taxis refusing to STOP and pick up passengers.
2. Taxi Drivers not picking up passengers on a destination intent mismatch.
3. Taxi Drivers preferring females over males as passengers, especially single females.
4. Dirty Taxis with tattered seats and seat covers.
5. Rude Drivers
The Bad:
1. Rates are still high compared to the world prices given the cost of fuel and car prices.
2. Uneducated taxi drivers, not knowing roads and destinations.
3. Shortage of Taxis during peak hours and tendency to Taxi Drivers to concentrate only in the Jumeirah area.
4. The concept of multi emirates taxi where they cannot pick up passengers from a different emirate.
5. The messaging system is a luck based system rather than a good process. (Will elaborate on this later).
The Good:
1. There are individual sparks of goodness and that’s really dependent on the individual person than the process.
2. Dubai Taxis comparatively are better off than the Sharjah or Abu Dhabi ones.
3. The Bad and the Ugly are not applicable to say 50% of the vehicles running.
Will somebody explain this one to me?
I was waiting for a Taxi in Qusais. A taxi stops. When I get in the driver informs me that the starting fare should be 6 AED instead of 3 AED because he has a message flashing for a pick up. I look at the meter monitor and find that the pickup is for a passenger beckoning a cab from emirates hills a place about 35 kms from where I was.
I got irritated with this weird request from the driver and declined the ride. I fail to understand the technology and process behind. There was more to this.
Then I called up Dubai Taxi so that the call center could flash my requirement. I stood there for 20 minutes with empty taxis refusing me and then finally a decent fellow stopped. No he was not carrying my message. I ignored the whole process of calling up the Call Centre and got into this one. The one that Dubai Taxi call center was supposed to have organized---that did not materialize at all!! What happened to my call?
Ranking:
I have ranked Taxis of different cities as per the places I have visited. They are given below for you to agree or disagree!!
Kolkata, India 4/10
Delhi, India 4/10
Mumbai, india 6/10
Tokyo, Japan 9/10
Seoul Korea 8/10
Oslo, Norway 6/10
Dublin, Ireland 7/10
London, UK 7/10
Singapore 8.5/10
KualaLampur 8/10
Dubai 6/10
Paris 8/10
The RTA, Dubai better take steps to improve them rather than protecting the Taxi companies by banning car lifts!!!
Sphere: Related ContentWednesday, January 28, 2009
Dog's Day Out
It happened earlier too. When Satyajit Ray made his films and certain sections of Middle and Upper Class Indians commented adversely on his depicting poverty. A percentage of people in these segments of society just cannot bear the sight of poverty and dirt and gloom. I remember somebody commenting negatively when a foreigner was clicking a photograph of a beggar in Park Street, Kolkata. He rather clicks Victoria Memorial. Maybe he has? And what stopped my friend from visiting Ethiopia and clicking some shots of the hapless victims of famine?
So when educated (sic) India comments about Slumdog Millionaire being opportunistic it’s a sad commentary of the mental state of those people. We at our cushy homes forget that the rural uneducated India is still waiting to catch up. They want to catch up in terms of prejudices, rituals, bad traditions and they want exposure. So let’s show it. The maid servant working in Arindam Chaudhuri’s house perhaps stays in a slum that the latter never visited or would dare not look at.
The morning view from a high rise building in Mumbai is terrible where you see hoards of people on a field for the morning natural needs. They don’t have a place to go. We of course take refuge in the ostrich like behavior of closing the window. So when Danny Boyle exposes the slum, suddenly people are busy denouncing him. I for one don’t want to be always fed with lies on the big screen. It’s not always a fairy tale that we are running after. So, what's wrong with a realistic fairy tale?
We are sometimes so small that a journalist asked Danny Boyle as to what did he do for the slum actors that acted in the films? His answer his immaterial for my piece, but that’s what the media is all about. But then that’s another topic. Sphere: Related Content
So when educated (sic) India comments about Slumdog Millionaire being opportunistic it’s a sad commentary of the mental state of those people. We at our cushy homes forget that the rural uneducated India is still waiting to catch up. They want to catch up in terms of prejudices, rituals, bad traditions and they want exposure. So let’s show it. The maid servant working in Arindam Chaudhuri’s house perhaps stays in a slum that the latter never visited or would dare not look at.
The morning view from a high rise building in Mumbai is terrible where you see hoards of people on a field for the morning natural needs. They don’t have a place to go. We of course take refuge in the ostrich like behavior of closing the window. So when Danny Boyle exposes the slum, suddenly people are busy denouncing him. I for one don’t want to be always fed with lies on the big screen. It’s not always a fairy tale that we are running after. So, what's wrong with a realistic fairy tale?
We are sometimes so small that a journalist asked Danny Boyle as to what did he do for the slum actors that acted in the films? His answer his immaterial for my piece, but that’s what the media is all about. But then that’s another topic. Sphere: Related Content
Bait Al Mandi, Dubai
This is in AL Rigga Street. Try out the Chicken Mandi. Its excellent. The mutton one is not all that good. The rice in the Chicken version is better too.
Mandi by the way is a sort of Pilaf that I am told originated in Yemen. It's a base of flavoured rice with nuts and spices and chunks of meat. The chicken is served whole.
Try it. You will like it. If you want the chicken a bit more spicy, then at home you coud fry up the chicken in ghee with some more red chilly or black pepper and dash of lime would do good. Sphere: Related Content
Mandi by the way is a sort of Pilaf that I am told originated in Yemen. It's a base of flavoured rice with nuts and spices and chunks of meat. The chicken is served whole.
Try it. You will like it. If you want the chicken a bit more spicy, then at home you coud fry up the chicken in ghee with some more red chilly or black pepper and dash of lime would do good. Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Shameless Truth
Indian companies are prone to fraud and do succumb to unethical practices at different levels. So when Narayan Murthy said that it was a shameful affair referring to the Satyam case, I was not really amused. Either NM lived in a world of his own or perhaps I am plain stupid. The latter perhaps is not so true.
By the way, and why should I pin point only Indian Companies. This is a global phenomenon. Frauds are invented and implemented by intelligent people whether company executives, owners or bankers or the small trader down the lane. What about us? We are also into it. That extra bribe to get a passport quicker, Mr. Devil is ever ready to extend his hands and we gladly embrace them.
I am not sure what dawned on Mr. Raju to confess his deeds. Was he threatened by somebody? Did God appear in his dreams? Was he in the brink of a mental breakdown? The answer to these question can be answered by none other than him and no amount of investigations would able to resolve the questions we have in mind.
Do we expect more such confessions? Who knows? Till such time we will keep exclaiming about the blunder Raju has made.
My question is - When will YOU the reader, confess about your own sins? Or perhaps resolve to be truthful and act where there is no shame attached. Sphere: Related Content
By the way, and why should I pin point only Indian Companies. This is a global phenomenon. Frauds are invented and implemented by intelligent people whether company executives, owners or bankers or the small trader down the lane. What about us? We are also into it. That extra bribe to get a passport quicker, Mr. Devil is ever ready to extend his hands and we gladly embrace them.
I am not sure what dawned on Mr. Raju to confess his deeds. Was he threatened by somebody? Did God appear in his dreams? Was he in the brink of a mental breakdown? The answer to these question can be answered by none other than him and no amount of investigations would able to resolve the questions we have in mind.
Do we expect more such confessions? Who knows? Till such time we will keep exclaiming about the blunder Raju has made.
My question is - When will YOU the reader, confess about your own sins? Or perhaps resolve to be truthful and act where there is no shame attached. Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Rolls - Dubai
The pronunciation is quite the same as the much renowned car but here we are talking about food. I am talking about Kabab Rolls a small nice humble dine in cum take away joint off Al Wasl Road. Gourav from eatingoutdubai.com would direct you like this:
Heading towards Bur Dubai on Al Wasl Road cross the Safa Park Signal and you would come across the Emarat Petrol Station on your right. Take the next right (Emirates Post Office at the other side when you turn) and then again take the first right. Carry on and you would come across a small market place amongst the villas on your left. The joint is on the behind. Instead of stopping here you could also go along further on the road, the road curves left and then you take the first left and you are at the back of the market.
Try the Bihari Rolls or the other varieties. The Biryani is good, the sheekh kabas(ask them not to burn them up) are nice, the keema very good and so on and so forth. Try it. You will come back for more for sure. 7.5 out of 10!!
(A Parantha is wheat flour dough flattened (round shape) and pan fried before roasting them a bit. Place the kebabs and some onions, lime juice, small shredded green chillies on the parantha and roll up into a cylindrical shape). Sphere: Related Content
Heading towards Bur Dubai on Al Wasl Road cross the Safa Park Signal and you would come across the Emarat Petrol Station on your right. Take the next right (Emirates Post Office at the other side when you turn) and then again take the first right. Carry on and you would come across a small market place amongst the villas on your left. The joint is on the behind. Instead of stopping here you could also go along further on the road, the road curves left and then you take the first left and you are at the back of the market.
Try the Bihari Rolls or the other varieties. The Biryani is good, the sheekh kabas(ask them not to burn them up) are nice, the keema very good and so on and so forth. Try it. You will come back for more for sure. 7.5 out of 10!!
(A Parantha is wheat flour dough flattened (round shape) and pan fried before roasting them a bit. Place the kebabs and some onions, lime juice, small shredded green chillies on the parantha and roll up into a cylindrical shape). Sphere: Related Content
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