India/Dubai wrap-up

I've ignored this blog and all its readers (yes, both of you) for quite some time. Apologies! I'm currently in China, but I'll finish my posts on India and Dubai.

Dubai on-the-surface is fantastic. It has excellent food and all the decadence that the cocktail of oil, money, and business provide. And even if you don't partake in the decadence, you can reap the benefits as an observer. I was in Dubai to attend the wedding of one of a very close friend. It was also the first time in 6 years when all 4 of my close friends from school could all be together.

I'll let the pictures talk.

3 of my friends and I stayed at the somewhat seedy Hotel Jonrad. But at approx. 100 Dirhams, I wasn't complaining!

Dubai Spice Market

I love drinking coconut water and then scooping out and eating the inner white flesh
Think of him the next time you wanna whine about how bad you got it.

I thought he made quite the picture

The "Arba" that ferries you across the river (and at only 0.5 dirhams it is the cheapest entertainment in the city)

A Mosque

We went wadi bashing i.e. ridding up and down the sand dunes in a SUV.

Taken during the dessert safari

Hackneyed entertainment provided for us during the dessert safari

The entrance to the Dubai museum (a converted fort)

Fast Food - - Duba style

Shawarma on the road - -Yummy!

Why I wouldn't stay in Dubai - - Discrimination (racial and gender-based) is fairly common.

A mosque behind one of the wedding reception(s)

Sign in the Mall of the Emirates. Not the sign for "Ski Dubai" the indoor ski lodge in the DESERT.

My friend's wedding reception. (I'm not posting more pictures b/c that would comprimise my covert status)

An arba in the Dubai river

Mumbai - Day 2 (December 17, 2006)

Before I left the US for India, I had tried to schedule time in advance to meet my friends. But that didn't work out. Having grown-up in India I should have known better, but I didn't. The only person with whom I was able to schedule time in advance was with my Dad and my uncle.

Ever since his divorce, my dad has been gorging himself with food and has started to collect (fairly hideous) Chinese vases. Oh well, our family is completely dysfunctional and eccentric so no worries! In any case, he kept on looking at me askance every time I took a picture of what we were eating! I love eating at my Dad's house because he has a fantastic cook. The cook is from Goa and she cooks fantastic food. Really thin prawn curries, masalla pomfrets, and fried prawns. The food is absolutely divine. I was really looking forward to soaking my rice with curry, putting some kachumbar (sliced onions, tomatoes, and coriander) on top and squeezing lime juice on the top top.

Fried prawns and kachumbar

White prawn curry and rice

Vases

And more vases...

After lunch, we chatted for a bit and I shared my MBA plans and career goals with my dad in greater detail. He was very supportive of them, but my uncle was skeptical of my return. He pointed to the complacency, corruption, and the dysfunction of India and said that I wouldn't be able to adapt back to life in India. He's got a point to a certain extent. I'm considered impatient by US standards, which signals a very high level of impatience and that would be a fairly accurate assessment. But I really want to go back and try to work over there, and maybe, just maybe try to change things.

For far too long, we (as a country) have taken things as they are handed to us. We criticise a lot, but we don't try to change things. That is changing slowly, people are protesting miscarriages of justice, and patently unfair happenings, but we have a long distance to travel. I know it will be frustrating, but it's something I have to try to do. I'm getting bored out of my mind in my current location.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk by the Cusruw Baug agiary (Fire Temple). Fire Temples are the places where Zoroastrians worship. My family is Parsi i.e. a very small (about 100,000) strong community of Persian Zoroastrians who fled to India a long time ago.

Parsi's are very eccentric. In fact, that's our defining characteristic together with our love for food and drink (eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die out as someone said).

Picture of Cusrow Baug Aigiary

At night I went with my mom to a Parsi wedding. I was a little irritated to answer all those questions as to why I'm still single, but *sigh* it's one of those things that family/friends are pretty nosy about. And one Aunt tried her best to "introduce" me to all the "available" girls out there. I avoided her (the aunt) like the plague for the entire evening.


People attend Parsi weddings primarily for the food. The food is served on banana leaves and it's one of the few places where you can have a "Raspberry" drink.

Patra ni Macchi (Fish in leaves)

After the wedding, I went out to Geoffrey's (a pub) and chatted some more with friends.

I'm back

I'm back from my holiday in India and Dubai. Over the last two weeks, I've had an absolutely wonderful time meeting old friends, family, stray dogs and cats, eating good food, watching a close friend get married, and -- after a long, long time --getting a tingling feeling while talking with a friend's friend at a nightclub (for the record, I hate nightclubs) in Mumbai! Oh, and not to forget the girl who came up to me at the airport, sat on my lap, and typed her name and number on my laptop.

Weekend in Chicago

Quaint Bookshop in Evanston

Pussy and PumkinMy first pumking carving session!

What you all deserve!

I spent the last 4 days in Chicago with OFC, his lovely belle, and assorted friends. A detailed debrief and pictures will follow (or at least that's the plan).

A friend of mine forwarded me the following link. PLEASE click on it!

The Flatterer

It flows quite nicely from the previous topic that we discussed, though it may be a tad bit too sweet for daily consumption...but everyone deserves a hug!