Entries Tagged 'My Days in Dubai' ↓

..but just to ensure you that I didn’t get drunk.

We had our Annual Party and any such parties are synonymous with alcohol. I never really tried out anything like this before but today it was the day when I tasted them. We got one coupon each to have ’something’ in the bar at the club. You can naturally imagine the value of these coupons.

Cocktails!

I never planned to taste (or drink) but when many of my colleagues were drinking, I was curious to know how it tasted. So I started off with Vodka. Then Red Label Whisky. Both tasted like shit. It was bitter and little ‘warm’. Ok, I was fed up with this things as I didn’t like the taste. Then after some time I tried Carlsberg Beer. Even that was shit. Then time passed and then I tried this Bacardi White Rum with spirit. That was ok and tasted like soda only. Would have had that for 4-5 times in small quantities.

All this things, I never really got for myself, but had some small quantities when my friends were having those. Today I got to drink Red Bull (’energy’ drink) also. Nothing like any energy boost happened.

So nothing really happened, no kick, no high but little (very mild actually) unsteadiness. But I was told that this happens if you drink for the first time or drinking after a long time.

I never smoke (never even tried it) and drink. Or even plan to do them. I’m going to live for one time only. I don’t want to spoil my health on these things.

I don’t know why people like to drink something that is seriously tasting like shit.

Last Friday I watched Dhoom 2 at the Grand Cinemas at Al Ghurair City, Dubai. We had a good time and I can’ forget that night as it was my first movie at Dubai.

The Midnight Show!

We went to the 12 midnight show (it was a holiday on Saturday)! For the first time, I’ve watched a movie so late, taking into the account, the innumerable movie I watched in my PC as well. We wanted to have a ride and roam around the place, and we started by 10:30 PM. We had tea in a restaurant at Bur Dubai (no where near to the Cinema).

Then we headed to the mall. That place has many things like Apartments, a shopping mall, Cinemas etc. The cinemas is in the 2nd floor of the building. It has a “floor type” car parking, where we park cars in “various levels”. I have read about this concept many times and is planned in Chennai also, but this was the time where I experienced it. I always thought it would be how difficult it would be for the cars to “navigate” around, but the system worked like a charm.

Other than that, the Cinemas are like our Cinemas back home only. Only that they have a four LCD TVs for the trailers of the movies that’ re showing / coming soon at the cinemas. The ticket price ranges from Dhs 20 to Dhs 30 in Dubai Cinemas. That’s around Rs. 250 to Rs. 365. It’s an irony that I felt that paying anything more than Rs. 50 for a movie is not worth when I was in Chennai. Of course, once if I get my lappy and net connection, then can watch movies and have DVDs for free.

Dhoom 2 Disappoints

Dhoom 2 was a big let down for me. I expected so much from movie was desperate to watch it. They’ve paid more attention to cheap publicity, costumes and girls. There’re are so much goofs in the movie. Most of them could have been avoided. The double role of Bipasa can’t be explained in any possible way. I still have no clue what was the purpose in that move. None of the scenes in the movie has any logic.. and don’t get carried away by the action scenes that you see in the trailers.. they look childish in the movie.

What did Aishwarya do?

All that she did worth talking about is that she’s a great ramp walker. I can still remember those two scenes. Other than that..this is the worst performance by Aishwarya. Period. I admit I like drooling over girls, but not everyone can look good glamourous. Looking good and being glamorous is totally different. People like Catherine Zeta-Jones can be glamorous and she’s great normally as well. Others like Penelope Cruz & Aiswarya are beautiful but they wont look good in half naked costumes. Aiswarya seemed take on this role as a change from those period movie types and try to show others that she can be glamorous and cool in modern roles too. Sadly, it just backfired and her ventures at trying to be hot were just pathetic. She seemed not to be interested in kissing also!

An interview with the cast!

I saw this review at IMDb and likked it very much. So thought of sharing it here.

Hritik:- I’m a clever thief Mr. A, who always love to steel priceless things around the world, though neither do I know nor does the director know what I do with those loot. I love to use futuristic sci-fi gadgets in all my operations, But please don’t sit and wonder where I get funded for it. Well the story of the movie is “Humnnnn……AAAAAAA…Actually it’s……..Humnnnnn……….Wait I’ll ask the director, probably he would be knowing it”

Abhishek:- Well I loved the movie, Coz Ash loved it. As far as my role goes, I’m a intelligent cop whose job is to stop Mr. A and arrest him. I have some super natural powers where in I can stay for hours together under water in a Water glider and then pop out of water from no where and kill all the Roughs. I also have to take care of my pregnant wife, Oh no, I’m not speaking of Ash, it’s too early to think of that, Rather I was speaking of Rimi sen who plays the role of exasperating spouse of mine in the movie.

Uday Chopra:- I’m a portraying a role of a assistant cop who is guaranteed to irk you with his deadly PJ’s and broken English. I have put every effort to act well, and I have faith that one day I’ll act like Sharukh Khan (The Interviewer Faints). Till then daddy please give me roles in your movies. Bolo Papaji Ki Jai.

Aishwarya:- So like I play the role of Sunaihri, a supposedly wise and ultra sexy thief to whom even a stud like Hritik can drool for. Like, I loved acting with Abhishek. Like I wear all this micro mini skirts, long enough to cover my overacting and short enough to avoid obstructing you guys perverted views. Like, you guys will forget your popcorn looking at my Ultra gorgeous 36-24-36 curves, just the way I forgot how to act, in this movie. Also I smooch in the movie along with Hrithik, to check out how much green Abhishek can get.

Bipasha:- Hi I’m Bipasha Basu. Bule tho Nahin Mujhe. Nobody has a clue what I’m doing in this movie. Even John Abraham is trying to figure it out, and in the process of finding it out he’s losing all his Hairs. My role in the movie is to wear a two piece (Bikini) and walk along the shores of Brazilian Sea, and make Uday dream of him having kids with me.

You can see the full review by Sreeraj Arasa here: Waste some buck only if you are a avid Hritik Fan or if you want to see the sexy Aish.

It’s a pity that I saw the movie in the 12 midnight show spoiling my sleep patterns.. even though the time other than the movie was well spent.

All that Dhoom has is good acting and dancing by Hrithik, 2-3 action sequence (which didn’t impress me, Dhoom action sequences was way better), no plot whatsoever, Aishwarya - Hrithik kissing scene (which is lame), 2X zoom on Bipasha’s bikini, Uday’s boring and irritating one liners (how can anyone find it funny?), good locales at the Brazil and Namibia Desert. Hrithik Roshan is the only good thing in this movie… I was disappointed. After seeing the trailers, I thought it would match up to the standards set up Dhoom.

6/10
Dhoom 2 @ IMDb

We’re planning to see Kabul Express on December, 15th at Ajman (35-40 Kms from Dubai). I’ll write about the movie and our visit if it’s worth your time.

GITEX, Gulf Info Tech Exhibition is one of the top 3 major IT expo in the world. Even though the entry is Dhs 25 (Dhs15 for GITEX Shopper), it attracts over 1.2 mn visitors.

Shoppers get a good deal, Business soars at this point of time, the “IT section” of this region get bustling with activity. Although I didn’t go to the GulfComms Expo at the Dubai World Trade Center, I was there at the GITEX Shopper at Dubai Airport Expo grounds. It was a fun filled day which I won’t forget as it was my first big outing here in the UAE and I’m a sort of geek and we all like to get pampered to good IT products.

Microsoft announced it’s LOVE (Launch of Office, Vista and Exchange), Sony launched it’s PS3 gaming console, HP announced it’s new range of laptops, etc… We get to see Laptops, Desktops, LCD & Plasma TVs, Digicams, Cell phones, Music Players, etc. under a single roof at a discounted rates.

How to get a good deal at GITEX?

The best possible deal that you can hope to get in GITEX will be on the last day, last hour of the GITEX Shopper expo. You get the so called “Last Day Price” and the deal of the day. Within minutes exhibitors reduce the price of the products. Myself and my friend was rooming around to buy a Nokia N 70 mobile phone. It was costing around Dhs 1170 (~ Rs 14,200) and the N 70 Music Edition was costing around Dhs 1280 (~ Rs 15,500). Then in the last hour of the day, one exhibitor reduced the price of N 70 to just Dhs 999 (~ 12,100)!

Similarly you get good offers on Laptops, Digicams, LCD and Plasma TVs, and other computer peripherals and accessories. So just make sure that you’re in the last day of the GITEX expo to get the best possible deal.

Of Planes Landing in your Dinner Table and Chicks!

After finishing our work there, we all went to have our dinner in a Restaurant near our place at 1 am. We then decided to have it outside the Restaurant (I mean in the pavements). That places is near to the airport. It was great feeling to see Planes come to land (in peak time, there’ll be a plane landing/taking off once in ever 3-4 minutes and you can see upto 5 planes in the sky at a time!). The planes were flying low and it seems as though they’re landing in our tables!

Before I wind up this post, I must say that Dubai’s Exhibitions, Expo and Fairs attract chicks of all kinds. Right from the Desi chicks to Filipino chicks to European chicks to African chicks (!) to American chicks. Most of the saleswomen also look stunning. Perfect sleek look to sex bait! You have to come and see to believe it!

My next stop is the Dubai Shopping Festival to be held for 45 days from December 20th till February 2nd. So long till then…

The largest man-made island and only the second structure that can be seen from the space (The Palm Islands), a plane landing/taking off once in every 3-4 minutes, the world’s tallest tower, roads controlled by radar ….Welcome to Dubai!

It’s almost one month that I’ve been in Dubai. so, how have things been?

I’m not going to repeat thing that you might be aware of them before like roads are good, right hand drive, Fridays are holidays, etc…., but some of the things that you might have know before.

India and Dubai

• There are many Indian (South Indian in particular) restaurants here. Some of them are Saravana Bhavan, Kerala Bhavan, Annaporna, Upidi restaurants, etc.. I don’t know the situation in the other place, but in Deira itself, there are so many Indian restaurants.
• The crowd in these restaurants are more than those in the other restaurants!
• As far as I’ve noticed, things are atleast 2-3 times costly as there in India. We can tell anything is cheap, when the prices are same as in India!
• This place (Dubai) is like India only. There are so many Indians who here wandering, wearing the desi lungis in streets - only that I can’t come to India whenever I wish.

Roads

• 85% of the Dubai roads is ruled by cars only. There are hardly any two wheelers. They say that it’s difficult to get license, and only organizations like Courier firm, restaurants get them as they might need it for logistics.
• The motorist “respect” the pedestrians. They give way whenever the pedestrians want to cross the road.
• The roads (Highways) here controlled by Radar. So need for police/highway patrols.
• The petrol/deisel is measured in Gallons unlike Litres as in India.

Telecom and Internet

• There is only one Telecom company - Etisalat (Govt. owned).
• The signal strength is good and the network strength bar is always full anywhere you’re in UAE.

Miscellaneous

• Many people have the perception that electronic goods are cheap here. I have gone to couple to places here, it’s selling at the same rate as we might buy them in India. Only TVs have noteable price difference. But things can get cheap at this Year End Dubai Shopping festival.
• There are no stray (or even pet) dogs that I have seen. There seem to be only cats straying around in the streets.
• In all this time, I have seen only one Beggar. That he came to the restaurant. He was not persistent as our desi beggars! Really I have not noticed any vagabonds or beggars here.

No place like Home

Have you ever thought why our Bharat Army or members in Discussion boards like BwTorrents BwTorrents are so patriotic? Even if their coutry doesn’t do well, they defend and still support their team?

Only if you’re away from your country, you’ll realize how important our motherland is. You’ll miss your country. The same thing happened to me also. I how good my Broadband connection (BSNL Dataone) was (no fun here!), my parents advice/words, my PC (al though it was old, I had no complaints), my Chennai, everything.

The freedom (that you get in your motherland) is something that’s a luxury once you’re out of your country. Once such simple thing to explain this on the occasion of Diwali. People here were afraid to burst crackers, as there was a fear that it’s not welcome (and in worst case, you might be deported), but the local people were bursting crackers that too in a public place.

Not that I’m homesick (I know people who are homesick even after staying away from home over 6-8 months), but I really miss everything that I used to enjoy and not enjoyed. On the other side, I’m now more independent and do things which I never thought I’ll again in my life. Some example is that I eat Curd Rice and drink Butter Milk which I never did before in my 22 years. After my mother came to know about this, she was really happy!!