Buses In Dubai.

The bus transport facility in Dubai is very good. Now Dubai Govt. decided to buy another 600 buses more to increase their bus transport facility. The fare also reasonable. Few days back one day I was going back to my place from my work place in a Pubic transport bus. Suddenly the AC system of my bus (sorry not mine the bus I was traveling,) got failed and it was really difficult to sit after the AC failure. Because we could not open any of the windows other than one or two. The bus manufactured by Benz. But after 30 minutes the spare bus came from Depo and all passengers moved to the spare bus. The interesting part is even f

ailure the board will display “Out of Service”. There is only driver work as employee in a Bus. The driver itself will give ticket when we get in and the doors also oeprated by him.

Family Meet (01 Jun 2007).

Bur Dubai Bus Stand -Rush In Fridays
It was a wonderful occasion. We arranged a family get together in Dubai.
Mrs. Fathimakkutty, Wife of Late. Umer Moulavi, 84* was one among the chief guests including me. :-). People from different emirates (Abudabi, Ajman, Dubai and Sharjah participated). Guests from India and US. After lunch there was a meeting-discussion mixed function till 5 o clock in the evening.

Venue: Hotel Calicut Sagar
Place: Near Bus Stand Bur Dubai
Time: 2.30 PM.
Main attraction: People from 4 generation.
Total participants: More than 50 including children.
Food Items: Buffet (Chicken Biriyani, Mutton Biriyani, Fish Fry etc.)

Highest Tallest

BurjDubai - Day and Night
I think the Dubai people are affected by ‘st mania. They want everything highest, widest, largest etc. The Burj Dubai building is the highest building in the world now. Still the construction is not completed. This building is on the way to my office so I can watch the progress daily. I heard that the basement of this building was they constructed with high capacity to make the tallest building for any time. So if Dubai people hear that any body is thinking to beat the height of this building by constructing another one, these
people will take a helicopter and ‘randu nila koodi mukalil panithittu thirichu varum’.. See their official site for the comparison of the height with other big buildings like Petronas Tower. http://www.burjdubai.com/

Now they are planning to build the biggest airport also.

Abraa.

Abraa from Dubai Side View
Daily morning I will walk to the place Abraa which is around 10 minute’s walk able distance from my accommodation (Naif). Currently I am staying to the very next flat to my Sister Sumayya. The bachelors from her clinic are staying with me. (Please note that here bachelors doesn’t mean unmarried men- may be I can call ‘pravasikal’). Here bachelor accommodation means bed space. Like train cabin I am staying in down birth of a double ducker bed. J . There are 5 people staying in my room which is a bigger room compared to normal rooms. First few days it was difficult for me to breath inside the room. But when I came to know if people from some other country (I don’t want to name the country name), they will stay minimum 3 families inside such a big room with separate curtains for each families.

Sorry I was talking about Abraa. It is a small river side (corniche?) separating two main areas of the Dubai town. Dubai and Bur Dubai. There are almost 24 hour boat service in between Dubai and Bur Dubai (A traditional old model boat, the boat also called Abraa).

Passenger Boat(Ordinary and A/C).

Few weeks before Dubai Water Authority announced new AC passenger boat in Abra. Normal boat cost 1 Dirham only for a single journey. But the new AC boat cost 4 Dirham!. So I can see most of the time 2 people are traveling in this boat. (Driver and Helper)

Abraa Owner

The interesting part of my understanding is the investigation about owner of Abraa. Initially I thought Dubai Govt is the owner. But I found an Old man who is living in Abraa cornice side he care Abraa just like his own property. He won’t allow people to park their cars near his surrounding area. I usually watch his actions when I wait for my morning pickup to my office. When he wakes up if he saw any car parked some where near his bed he will shout very loudly.

Etisalat – Telecom Kuthaka!

Etisalat Office - The Globe is the
trade mark for thier buildings
Etisalat was the only telecom service here in UAE. So the charges are also little high. For a new connection I paid 165 Dirham (around 2000 Rupees!). And the call charges also costly. But the local call service is absolutely free (local land line- local land line).
Recently a new Mobile Service (Du) got the permission to do some restricted mobile service here. There is a rumor that more than 50% of the share holders of the new Company are from Etisalat-people. And one day Etisalathine Du 'Vizhungum' ennum kettu.

So the VOIP (Voice-Over-Internet Protocol) were very famous in UAE. But the Etisalat people blocked all such service providers. Here you can not access sites like Skype. I tried many sites all are blocked. But you can call me in +971 501906022 :) .

Thanks Mehfil :)

Let me publish comment of Mr. Mehfil. Who got more experience in UAE than me :)...

"The comments on Dubai is not completely right. My vote is always on Dubai compared to Abudhabi.Abu Dhabi contributes about 59 per cent of the GDP, Dubai's share is around 29 per cent. Dubai has become a major trade hub, re-exporting goods through its free zones. Retail tourism has made Dubai a shopping paradise for millions of people coming from around the globe. In the realm of real estate, Dubai government's freehold property law promulgated early this year paved the way for increasing investments from abroad. Abu Dhabi and the other emirates, following Dubai's lead, are diversifying their economies in a similar way. Today, the other emirates get to pick and choose development projects and avoid some of the pressures on infrastructure that have been the flipside of Dubai's success story. Courtsey - Economic strategy portal! "- Mehfil

Trip to Abudabi

08 May 2007

Naji in Abudabi
The next sheduled meeting with my consultant Mr. Musthafa was on 12 May 2007, which is around 4 more days to wait. So when the beta of Database design was ready, I suggested to come and meet him from Abudabi if he got enough time to spend. Which gave me a chance to visit another emirate. The trip was nice. I went by line bus. Around 160 KM far from Dubai. First 30 km took 1 hour and remining 130 Km took another hour for my travel.

Abudabi junction :)
Abudabi is a planned city compared to Dubai. All buildings and roads are in order and structured. And the taxi rate is almost half of Dubai taxi rate which is an added advantage. :).

In UAE, Abudabi is the wealthy and rich emirate. Normally they will pump money for other emirates like Dubai. Dubai is spending the money of Abudabi banks and doing the role as a 'Show case' to the UAE.

GPS in Cars.

06 May 2007

I had a chance to travel in a Car which got the Global Positioning System (GPS) facility. It will show the route as well as tell like ‘Turn Right, Turn Left’ if we set our destination. It is really helpful for new comers to the country to drive to the destination easily. But the GPS software in the Car was not updated after 2005. So when it tell ‘Turn Left’ some time we can see there is a 40+ floor building!. And we can not see any 'Left' there. he..he.. The latest model cars from BENZ have the in-built GPS facility here. And it will automatically synchronize with satellite (Geosynchronous satellite) every month.

Now there are Satellite Telephones with the GPS facility like Thuraya which will cost approximately 1 dollar per call. http://www.mackaysatellite.com/ppf/shopByType/Service/catTypeID/15/SatProdlist.asp.

Friday - The Only Holiday at Al Ahli

05 May 2007

I have holiday only on Fridays. Actually there is no any particular restriction for me, but I would like to follow the company rule till I am here. In this Company some employees are working 7 days per week. I read in notice board a circular that “No vocation or leave allowed for the employees till the end of year 2007!”.

I submitted the requirement study for the first phase of my project to the management. Seems to be everybody is impressed my work so far. Thank god!.

There were around 250 driving schools in Dubai till the last year. But the Dubai government announced some strict rule and cancelled the license of majority of driving schools. So I found some drivers are working here were running their own driving schools earlier. Now only 5 authorized driving schools are existing in Dubai including Al Ahli. http://www.dubai.ae/en.portal?topic,drivlicense,1,&_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home

Sincere People In Road!

03 May 2007

I missed my favorite driver Sardar Hussain. :( . The transportation department assigned a new person Mr. Zayed (who works in Transportation Dept.) to drop and pick me. Today morning the miss communication with new person made me to wait 45 minutes and for him 3 times rounding in another junction by searching me. He mistaken the stop that he told me to stand. And we can not stop the car where ever we want.

Most of the people obey the traffic rule very strictly here. Today one pick-up van was overtaken our Car through 'yellow line'. Actually he should not overtake in that area, but it was OK. Unfortunately the back side of that Van they wrote a line like this "If you found this Van not obeying traffic rules, Please Contact ....". Mr. Zayed took his phone and called to that number and reported the Vehicle Number and added a comment that 'The driver is not good, not driving properly!” :( . I was really shocked. The other end they were asking more details also. It means surely that driver will get punishment from his company.

No Horn Cars!

02 May 2007

Thank God!, I don't have license here to drive. Because normally I used to press 'Horn' always. But here in Dubai even if there is a big traffic jam nobody will press Horn. In fact I think I heard only two times the sound of Horn. Or I don’t know whether the Car manufactures producing the car without Horn in Dubai!.

Most of the Cars are here is with Auto Gear for normal driving.
But there are options in gear box for Parking, Reverse and steep driving (4X4).

Al Ahli - Memorable Day for Them!

28 Apr 2007
Al Ahli Driving Center
Al Ahli - Reception Desk
Al Ahli driving Center is a driving school started 1 year back. But their growth should be appreciated. Now they have 5 braches and around more than 100 vehicles. They run 6 types of courses. Light Motor Vehicle, Heavy Motor Vehicle, Mini Bus, Heavy Bus, Heavy Truck, Light Forklift and Heavy Forklift. Total 7000 student already completed their course from this institute and currently 2000 students are studying.. Here they use to teach driving TOYOTA COROLLA!.


My Work


In My Seat
I have to automate and modify their existing Software modules for Registration and Scheduling as first phase. Currently there is only one employee in IT department (Mr. Hany from Egypt, he mainly work as a Network Administrator). I have to do my work with the remote help of the consultant Mr. Musthafa and this boy. The main responsibility is with me for completing the project on time (Requirement gathering to implementation).




The development platform: Windows, Visual Studio 2005, Dot Net 2.0, C#, SQL 2005.
The architecture: IIS Web Services-SOAP Protocol-Thin and Thick Clients

My First Day
Today I joined for the work which I committed to do within 5 months, Insha Allah.
For the being I am staying in Naif with my Sister Mrs. Sumayya which is around 25 KM away from Al Ahli Head Office- Al Qouz. Mr. Musthafa (My consultant) picked me from Naif today.


Mr. Hany
Mr Musthafa introduced me to
Mr. Adil (An Arab- the managing Partner to the Company)
Mr. Musthafa (Egyptian- the Finance and Accounting Manager)
Mr Shahul Hameed (Malayalee – The Sales and Marketing Manager)
Mr. Hany (Egyptian – The only one who works in IT department)

We had many discussions with the above people regarding the project.
Mr. Adil talk very little but repeating the same word!!!, he. he..
He was telling me “No excuse, No excuse, No Excuse for anything, and I can call him even at midnight 2 o’ clock! Bla..bla..”.

Office Time
My office time is from 8.00 AM to 5.30 PM. But I can sit overtime. J . The advantage is if I sit overtime they don’t need to pay extra but they have to pay for all other employees. As far as I work as a consultant I don’t have to report to anyone particularly.

Transportation

The Car - usually i go to office
The only extra benefit for me other than salary is Transportation. They will pick and drop if I stay in Dubai or surroundings. Mr. Sardar Hussain from Tamilnadu is the driver for me for the time being. He is an ld man hardly 50s and very nice to me. He was here for the past 25 years!. I have to decide my return journey according to his departure time. Because normally his duty will finish at 5 o’ clock. But most of the day he will get overtime till 7 o’ clock which is OK with me.

Traffic in Dubai

Sheik Zyed Road - The busiest road in Dubai
The traffic is horrible in Dubai. Depending upon the traffic the time for my journey to the office will vary from 25 minutes to 3 hours!. So I am planning to find out a bachelor accommodation near my work place, Insha Allah. The accommodation is also little expensive. A reasonable bachelor BED space may cost approximately 10 K! In Dubai. Lot of different Cars are here. Mainly the TAXI cars are TOYOTA CAMRY.

29 Apr 2007
The current IT department was a small room with servers. So they provided a new room for the development. So for the being I use Mr. Hany’s computer. Today I was doing the requirement gathering from Registration Department. Mr. Musthafa (A mallu from Kottakkal and Mrs. Sameera an Iranian Citizen are helped me by explaining the existing system and its draw backs). The existing system they use is not complete software and the contract terminated with the developers in a half way.

In Fujaira

26 APR 2007

Fujairah - View from Uncle's balcony
Morning I called the consultant Mr. Musthafa Sir, one who I committed to work for next 5 months, Insha Allah. To execute a project within that period that he committed to Al Ahli Group - driving school chain.
I need to join only on 28th morning.

So today I went to Fujaira around 130 KM away from Dubai with my uncle Mr. Abdulla and family. My mother and grand ma also joined us.


He got a big old car manufactured by a US company 'Mercury'.
I had little pain for right eye. May be because of less sleep. So I took a full day rest. Evening it was OK, Al-lillah(Thank god).

Dubai is happy, Kochi is sad.

25 APR 2007

Chennai Airport
Hi All., Welcome to my blog.

I reached here in Dubai on 25th evening 6.56 PM (UAE time).
My flight(sorry not mine, Air India Express) from Chennai to Dubai was exactly 3 hours late. But the flight was a good flight.

My Brother-In-Law Mr. Anees was there in Airport to recieve the 'the pearl of Kochi'!.
Within 2 minutes I could clear all imigration formalities, eye test and baggage collection and come out with the help of Aneeska.

Jaleelka, Friend of my another B-In-Law Mr. Babu was also there to pick me. It is around 15 KM distance to my elder sister Mrs. Sumayya's flat. But because of the heavy trafiic it took around 45 minute to reach her place.
Naif Police Station, Family Super Market are the land marks to her place.

My Mother, Grand ma, my another sister Mrs. Shammeema was also there in her flat. Both sisters are working in a Clinic named Habeeb Clinic, which is the next door to Sumayya's flat.

I visited Shameema's flat also which is around 3 minute walkable distance from Sumayya's flat.

Night, one of my uncle Mr. Abdulla who works in Ettisalath-Fujaira also joined us.

Regards,
Naji.