Communicate or Complicate?

I have learned to communicate with people from my failed communications!

There are several such instances which have made me improve my communication skills, or am I being naive to believe so?

When I was in Gujarat, I used to make phone calls to my family after 11 pm so that I make calls for 25% of tariff. When I went a little before 11 pm and found "telecom" center devoid of usual crowd, I remarked to the operator, "Aaj bilkul free laktha hai"(meaning there is no crowd!), for which he replied "No Sir, 50% charge! Period.

I engaged this driver"Pappu" who came from interior part of UP, India. Although he needed a lot of moulding for him to be called a driver, I selected him after a brief interview by my family members, purely for his innocence and to help a man who has come from far flung place to eke out a living.

Within a week of his joining, I took my guest proudly to a meeting venue in my car with Pappu on wheels, telling all the details of my newly acquired driver.

We reached the gate of the venue, when I told him in Hindi, to the effect that "stop near the gate, watch out if some vehicles are coming and then go in".... Pappu carefully followed my instruction by stopping the car near the gate, got out of the car and went inside to find if any vehicle was coming!

Both of us could not control our laughter.

Then I realised my mistake. Like what competent communicators do, I failed to notice the "Entry behaviour" of the receiver.

Both words and silence, can communicate a lot. Think for a while, all of you. Try and stop communicating with your near and dear for more than the usual interval and see what it communicates!

Well readers, use your skills and,be careful as to how you Communicate or else, you will complicate matters!

DSF Indulgence

Wanting to know what DSF has to offer to us this year, I visited some malls with a friend. Finally we went to this popular mall in the heart of Dubai, which was full of shopping enthusiasts.

Whilst we were window shopping, this Nigerian girl with sharp features drew our attention when she waved at us to look at the stuff she was trying to sell. It was like a gift pack. When I went to have closer look,she took my arm and started rubbing my nails with a rectangular eraser like porduct, quickly turning its sides.

After this excercise, she cleaned my nails with a cotton by applying some mineral oil, which came with the pack. Wow! my nail looked like a polished gemstone! Now, I was interested in the product which she said will be for a fixed price of AED80. She explained to me that first I should use the purple surface to rub the nails, then white and, finally the grey surface.

Although I bought it for my daughters, I wanted to do it myself to see how it works. No sooner I reached home,I did this manicure and pedicure excercise as per the instruction of this Nigerian Sales girl. Very next day, I could notice my colleagues and friends giving a closer look at my well groomed nails!

Last week a friend of mine came from Mumbai who offered to carry any thing that I would like to be handed over to my family. I sent with him a few other things that I had purchased but retained this manicure-pedicure set myself!

Yes! with my family away in India, this DSF Indulgence is an exclusive one!

Around the world in 240 minutes!

Last Saturday was particularly a boring one as I kept on doing household chores like washing, cleaning and cooking food for myself, when my friend called up to find if I would be interested in going to Global Village in his company. He also joyfully said that he will take care of the entry permit part and so I need not worry on that count.

I over came the temptation by accepting his offer!

All the way, we were chit chatting about the geographical and political barriers that kept away people in the confines of their boundaries and the sad reality of human beings subject to controls such as Pass port, Visa and Entry permit requirements to go from one country to another.

The discussion moved on to some movies such as 'Around the world in eighty days', and a vernacular movie in Tamil like, "Globe trotting young man"... etc.

We resolved to undertake some planned trips with families to cover various parts of the world.

Then I observed birds don't require any visa or permits to enter any territory and for them the entire globe is like a small village!

My friend said that today we can visit many countries without spending anything for entry permit and we should quickly cover as many contries as possible by 8 pm.

Even as I was pondering what he said, we reached the gate no 4 at Global Village, when my friend flipped the "Complementary Entry Permits" that he had with him!

True to his wish, we criss-crossed many countries, tasted "Molly Thai Fruits", took snaps with Kenyan aborigins, went to see China, joyfully crossed over to Pakistan and purchased few shawls and hob nobbed with our neighbor and even held a prelude to Indo-Pak friendly Talks!

Flavor of city

Every city has its own culture or what I call “Flavor”. When I moved from South of India to Mumbai in the year 1994, I was wonder struck by the unique “Flavor” of Mumbai.
It was very strange for me to watch people jump on to the train when it arrives empty and even when there was no crowd on the platform! Mumbaikars always had this habit of catching the train in a hurry! When I observed the hand bags carried by the public, it struck to me that I am totally out of sync with the rest of the population. Every one carried slender bags or brief cases to fit easily on the attic of the local train and to easily glide past the crowd.
Even the hand carts in Mumbai were of slender type not frequently seen anywhere in India. They are designed to wade through the crowded streets and alleys of Mumbai fort area.
Needless to mention, Mumbai is full of eateries, including restaurants and roadside shops and sandwich wallahs. “Mumbai burger” i.e. the ‘vada pav’ stalls are the higlight of the city. Due to this flavor,life in Mumbai is still orderly amist disorder found every where!
Similarly, when I landed in UAE, here too, a few things struck me; such as the habit of vehicles giving way to pedestrians, especially to ladies, even if they cross the road at undesignated places.
The list continues with, Vacum cleaned roads, parks, neat and clean public conveniences, Restaurants keeping hand washing solution and tissue papers without any limitation, besides provision of special chairs for children.
And, roads designed for differently abled persons, watchman for each building having very important role with respect to the management of the buildings!
Not to mention, Malls, well groomed locals, a number of video and DVD shops, attractive Roastaries, and Pizza corners.
This flavor makes me think that orderly life has become order of the day.

Note: This one appeared in "Gulf Today" 13th february,2010 edition on page 2

Away from home and lonely?

Times of India Sunday edition carried a feature about various celebs and leaders who lead a lonely life at the top. It is said that people who succeed in life or in their career, often find no real friends when they reach a level, when they have to lead a lonely life all by themselves.
I have become one of those thousands of lonely leaders who have left their country to work here in the Gulf, since February,2008.
Like all other expat singles, I have learned to live with this loneliness by thinking about family and friends in the home country.
To beat the boredom of loneliness, I have developed this habit of watching TV, listening to music or singing aloud songs most of the time and looking forward to the company of one or two friends I have managed to acquire here!
Loneliness has its advantages too. When left alone, you tend to focus more on your goals and achieve them. For e.g., if you are a marketing person, you visit a client alone ahead of others so that you get a client! If you are a lone applicant, you get the job! And, in lighter vein, if you are alone you get a proposal!
I have started a blog only after coming to UAE. I have developed interest in buying paintings, potted plants. I have, now, a little aquarium for company!
After a gap of 25 years, I revived my chess game, that I used to play during my high school and college days, took part and won championship in a tournament, thanks to this loneliness!
So all of you expats, who are alone, don’t feel lonely and depressed... you have many opportunities knocking at your doors!

P.Subramanian-Sharjah

Note: This piece appeared in "Gulf Today" 6th february,2010,issue in pg 4 with the title"Beat The Boardom"