Category: UAE News
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DID YOU TAKE THE RIGHT ROAD?
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Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra It doesn’t matter how wealthy, healthy, successful or on top of the heap you are. In all our lives there was one turning we did not take, one that would have changed our lives completely. I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t come to that crossroad and made that…
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THE GREEK JUSTICE
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It sounds like Greek to you but it doesn’t sound like that to the Greeks. To them this is justice. Never have the scales of justice been so blindsided as they were yesterday when a Greek court set free four countrymen who were accused of shooting (with real guns) 28 Bangladeshi workers who were protesting…
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THE AFTER PARTY AFTERMATH
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra See that car. At the STOP light. Next to yours. With the man and the woman in it. She is leaning to the left. He to the right like disjointed windshield wipers. They are a husband and wife and they are returning from a party. You can see the ice…
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Cotton-wool Children
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra This is the world we live in. A woman sent her 7-year-old son to the nearby park to play and because he was ‘unsupervised’ adults at the park called the police and the mother has been arrested in the USA. She is fighting back and saying, “We pay enough taxes…
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Daily Dose – INTIMIDATED
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DAILY DOSE by Bikram Vohra I am so totally intimidated by certain things. Cutlery and sit down dinners. Five star hotel staff who have that supercilious sneer. Expensive stores like you know where they sell their cheapest watch for $5000. A gold shop because they know you are the disco necklace type what are you…
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PEACE IN PLASTER
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra This is just the sort of stuff nobody reads because nobody wants to face their role (or complete lack of it) in doing nothing to make the world a better place…ergo ,the satire sails into the distant horizon unnoticed and unsung. Went visit Peace in the ICU. He was all…
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WHEN TV FEEDS INDIA’S FOOLS
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra I have come to a conclusion. Indian TV provides a platform for crackpots and encourages them to bask in 15 minutes of fame, however sour the limelight. Take that BJP twit in Telengana, Dr K.Laxman who made some absurd remarks about Sania Mirza being a Pakistani daughter in law and,…
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DON’T BLAME THE WIFE
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Why is it when a young man marries a woman and stops stepping up to the plate as a son and brother everyone in the family blames the minted wife. A distant relative of mine has done the dirty to his aging parents and being a complete pratt which is…
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DOWN WITH ENGLISH!
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Now that we have this hostility to English as a language in India, soon, very soon, English will be a mark against you socially and we will explode our bridges over the rivers of the world and isolate ourselves because, like it or not, English as we have reworked it…
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HEY, WHERE ARE THERE?
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Every now and then I get a little bit angry. But it is not because of an eclipse of the heart. More because I feel like that guy in the boat who was left stranded midstream. That is what Indian media does, they leave you grasping for oars to get…
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WAIT TILL DAD GETS HOME
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra When we were kids and we misbehaved my Mum would say, wait till your father gets home. It was like the biggest threat going, the sharpest knife in the toolbox and we would then sit in delicious dread waiting for the Man to come home and set us right.It counted.…
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Mosque Offers One Million Iftars
The Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre in Abu Dhabi has hosted around 515,000 people who are fasting in the first half of the Holy Month of Ramadan, WAM reported. The mosque is providing Iftar meals in tents located in the grounds of the mosque, including 350,000 through the “Guests for Iftar” project which is held…
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FRIGHTFUL STUFF
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra So I am catching up with my email having left it all unplugged these past four days and there is the usual dross and spam and I notice that my old friend Joanna who wants to meet me terribly has been joined by Esmerelda and Ibo, both of whom share…
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BACK TO NORMAL…WELL, ALMOST
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra You know the part about being ill is that you get well and then all the sympathy you have been garnering disappears like a mist. Zip, gone. Misery is addictive. You were wallowing in it. Everyone was at your beck and call. They asked you what you felt like eating.…
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HOW TO STEM SPORTS DEPRESSION?
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra All this hype about sports has a downside. For the past three months it has been running our lives, isolating the men and some of the women, the whole texture of normal family life disrupted, even socializing predicated to the timing. IPL. Wimbledon. The World Cup. Suddenly, it is all…
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FAMILY WARS – Indian Style
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Daily Dose BY BIKRAM VOHRA Have you noticed how we spend most of our children’s early years teaching them to walk and talk and then the rest of it telling them to shut up and sit down. In thousands of home these wars are fought every day. Why? Why what? Why should I sit down.…
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FINDING NAMO – An Open Letter to Modi
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Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra I remember the good old days in Ahmedabad when I was editor of Indian Express and Narendra Modi was a fledgling politician and we were old buddies and we would meet and chew the fat and eat dhoklas and bhajiyas and go to the club to play tennis and all…
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MIDDLE AGED SWINGER
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Have you noticed how when wives say I don’t want to upset you to their husbands that is precisely what they intend to do. I don’t want to upset you, says my wife, but I have something to say. Go ahead, I say, I won’t be upset. You have become…
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TROUBLE IN THE TOILET
DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Most men have five or six items in their bathrooms. Toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving foam, a razor and a ragged towel and maybe a talc and a cologne. These could all fit into a travel bag. The stuff women have could fit into a tent and still there’d be some sans…
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UAE pledges $25 mn aid for Gaza
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Thursday announced 25 million dollars aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, state media reported. The UAE president was donating the money as urgent humanitarian aid to support the Palestinian people, “who are exposed to the latest brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip”, reported Xinhua citing an official…
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THE BIG SLEEP OH DON’T BE FATUOUS
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DAILY DOSE BY Bikram Vohra You’d think it was the betrayal of the state, that India had been sabotaged because Rahul Gandhi closed his eyes for 22 seconds during the price line debate in parliament. The way the TV channels have blasted into him you’d think he’d led an attack on the house. Arnab Goswami,…
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THE GREAT INDIAN PROBLEM IS US
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Everyone in India is either a philosopher, a mentor, a critic, a cynic or an opinionated twit. The last come on TV in panels where they are royally screwed over by the anchor or so called mediator and yet they keep on coming and making fools of themselves and being…
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WHAT A COWARDLY THING
DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra So I am reading this book in which the hero is being given a lie detector test before he joins the FBI or the CIA and the question is: have you ever been a coward? And I think to myself, hmmm, interesting, have I ever been one? Not in the…
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MIXING WITH THE MONEY MANDARINS
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DAILY DOSE BY Bikram Vohra I wasn’t very good at money matters when I was a youngster. And I wasn’t very good with money matters when I was middle aged. Now, as I totter into antiquity I am still not very good with money matters. Guess I am constant. In fact, I was well into…
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MEMSAHIBS AND MANNERS
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It is one of those ‘we live abroad so when we visit we notice it’ things for which us NRIs get a lot of stick. But some things do sort of hit us differently. Like whenever I come home to Delhi I am appalled at the way people speak to domestic help, part time, full…
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NOT READY FOR DEPARTURE
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra So we are in the holding area and the boarding for the flight is announced and the disembodied voice says rows 15 to 30 please board first, the rest please await the next announcement.Naturally, this is ignored. What part of that do passengers fail to understand? It is 15 to…
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Masala Library arrives in Dubai
Venkatachari Jagannathan says Masala Library is opening branches in Dubai, London and New York Come August and Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra, the legendary Indian foodie’s maiden foray overseas, is set to begin commercial operations at Dubai’s Radisson Royal Hotel, a top company official said. It’ll serve up pan-Indian food with an Arabic twist. Zorawar Kalra,…
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DON’T GET EVEN, GET SMART
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra A friend of mine wants revenge. Someone he trusted has done the dirty on him and he is hoping mad because he feels cheated, betrayed, let down and that is just for starters. Told him, waste of time and energy, enjoy the scenarios but don’t carry them out. Why not,…
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HEAVY STUFF FOR A MONDAY MORNING
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Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra “Leave the ones going away from the wicket,’ said this famous cricketer, “And just block the ones that are coming on the stumps.” Every now and again he would repeat the advisory. Don’t knock it till you have tried it. Not just good advice for cricket but also for life.…
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HOW TO WRECK A CAREER ? Indian Style
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra This is the recording of a meeting between a corporate boss and two of his lieutenants held to discuss the probable promotion of a Manager to their level. The boss is very much in favour of upgrading the wunderkind but the two top executives are evidently not keen on getting…
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HR & HATCHET JOBS,THE BIG CON GAME
DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra The big bully in the corporate world today is HR. Where did this lot come from? Knowing very little about the job and functions of the staff there they are pruning and cutting and snipping away at the bottom line like berserk gardeners bent on destruction. Their only aim is…
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WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra This is a slightly sensitive subject. But we will truly become civilized when we get over the social hang up of keeping silent over two conditions. Bad breath and body odour. I have never understood why we have to tolerate it or not mention it. The other party is not…
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AND ANOTHER STAR IS BORN
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra I am very impressed with myself. Right through yesterday till late in the evening when Nandini’s baby girl was born making us grandparents for the third time I was strong and commanding and so much ‘all there.’ It is a rare talent. You see men like us are made of…
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Emiratis urged to leave Lebanon
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised citizens not to travel to Lebanon at this time due to the the unstable security situation there. UAE’s Charge D’Affaires in Lebanon Hamad Mohammed Al Junaibi urged the Emirati citizens who are in Lebanon to leave the country immediately and to coordinate with the UAE embassy in…
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THE BITTER FRUIT OF TOTAL NONSENSE
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So much for the arrogance of power. This government promised Indians a service for the people. Less government, more governance. Reflect that sentiment in a nine strong police force that has gathered in the home of Janata Dal (United) MP Mahendra Prasad in upscale New Delhi. When he went to sleep the night before there…
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Monica crowned in Dubai
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Monica Gill from US is Miss India Worldwide 2014 Miss India US Monica Gill was crowned Miss India Worldwide 2014 here Friday night. The second place went to Miss India Switzerland and third to Miss India Bahrain. More than 40 contestants of Indian origin settled in various countries across the globe between the age…
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PICS: Lanka violence
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The attacks on Muslims in Lanka came after the Bodu Bala Sena were allowed to hold a rally in the town despite warnings by one of the government’s own ministers that it would likely turn violent. Even after the disturbances erupted and authorities imposed a curfew on the affected areas the police did little to…
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GET ON YOUR BIKE, SIR
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra So, what do you think? Should the woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Union Minister of State Nihal Chand get to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has asked for just such a meeting and wants to prove to him there are grounds for which to sack her…
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SULLEN IN THE SHOP
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra Every owner of every retail store or supermarket knows they are on the staff. The sulky, sullen, indifferent salesperson who makes for such an unpleasant shopping experience. If you hate your job so much leave it, find another one. But if you come to a service industry and retail is…
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THE GREAT INDIAN HANG UP WITH FOOD
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DAILY DOES by Bikram Vohra Our fascination with food reaches unchallenged heights when it comes to ‘enjoying’ other people’s hospitality. They call you for dinner, you scarf down a solid meal then you spend the ride back home breaking apart each dish and the knocking the caterer or the home-cooked meal or the dessert and…
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LET’S RUIN YOUR MOOD
Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra So, I am standing at this party like one of those shabby relatives at a rich man’s wedding, a little out of place, a little awed by the opulence and wondering why I can’t be home reading a book when this half stranger, like most people in our lives, walks…
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THE NOT SO FINE ART OF MOLESTATION
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra The fact is a complaint has been made to the police and they will have to act on it. This is not some village woman they can ignore (or rape while she is waiting) this is a high profile film actress accusing a high profile boyfriend in a very public…
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UAE Exchange organises parenting session
As a part of their employee engagement program, UAE Exchange had organized a ‘Right Parenting Lifestyle Guidance’ session at their headquarters in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The two hour session was conducted by a well-known pediatrician, author , columnist and public speaker Dr. Mandar V. Bichu. Explaining the vision of these sessions, Dr. Bichu told Asian…
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The Strong Silent PMs
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DAILY DOSE by Bikram Vohra I think it is a great idea that Prime Minister Modi is spring-cleaning the corridors of power and their fusty, musty, dusty cupboards full of red tape. About time this was done. However, when you are new and people expect you to climb mountains without oxygen and perform mini-miracles before…
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Iraqi foreign minister in London
Middle East Minister Hugh Robertson met Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in London on Thursday. Mr Robertson strongly condemned the actions of the terrorist group, ISIL, and made clear that the Iraqi government has the United Kingdom’s full support in its efforts to bring security to Iraq. Mr Robertson urged Iraqi leaders to work together to unite the…
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Etihad may invest EUR1.25bn in Alitalia
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Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is prepared to invest up to 1.25 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in Alitalia over the next four years under a possible tie-up between the two carriers, says Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi , according to a Reuters report. Of that, 560 million euros would be used to buy new shares in…
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Emirates introduces world’s first ”Pele-ane”
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Emirates, an Official FIFA Worldwide Partner, has unveiled the first Boeing 777-300ER to feature the distinguishable signature of Emirates Global Ambassador and three times World Cup winner, Pele, just hours before the first World Cup match kicks off in Brazil. The first Emirates ”Pele-ane” will be connecting football fans with the action this summer on…
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CHANGE OF PACE:Animal Farm
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DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra I love animal parables. That’s because animals are smarter than most of the people I know. I always recall a sign on the table at an airline executive’s office. It read: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or…
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Louvre Abu Dhabi in Paris
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Louvre Abu Dhabi will present a collection of its exceptional works as part of a new exhibition, entitled: Birth of a Museum, for the first time in Paris. More than 160 works acquired by Louvre Abu Dhabi – never seen before in France – will go on show till July 28. This collection celebrates the…
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Dubai house prices to spike
However, the 18 per cent surge in rents on two-bedroom apartments in the first quarter reported by Asteco on the back of lower than expected new property completions is a reason to think again. Asteco said that 14,000 new units were delivered compared with a forecast 40,000, and thought the situation might improve later in…