Dusty Days

It's the third day since Kuwait played host to the dusts storms (well not dust storms but dusty conditions). The country was basically covered with dust since the last 3 days, The cars parked by the buildings looked like they have not been driven for a year or so. As said in the radio today morning, there were 70 ( I don't think she said 17) accidents (major and minor accidents). The major accident was the one early in the morning in the Gazelle Bridge, wherein a truck rammed into another vehicle and security personnel had to cut through the truck to free the driver. Hospitals all over Kuwait are also said to be filled with people affected by the dusty conditions (Asthma and Bronchitis being the main conditions). Kuwait airways also is said to have diverted more than 7 of its flights as a result of poor visibility.

If you guys saw the last two blog pictures (i.e. the pulsar bike and the Joop perfume) you can see the extent of the dusty conditions. The Joop advertisement picture was taken day before yesterday while the bike picture was taken last week.

Coming to office today saw labourers cleaning up the streets and cutting the scenaric plants strategically located around Kuwait. Do they have to work under these dusty conditions? Its still dusty outside and whatever they do to clean it up will be undone in a matter of minutes. The effort they put in is wasted not to mention the future health risks they ignore. Someone ought to put s0me sense into employers who send them to work in these dusty conditions. Atleast if they were provided a safety mask would be good enough. I am also pretty much sure that there would be a good bunch of people who work in offices who won't show up for work today.

The dust storms should be over in a few days. The kids will begin their summer vacations (3 months, how I miss them :) ) in a few days. All preceeding the hottest three months of the year in Kuwait i.e. June July and August.

Pulsar in Kuwait

Although I saw many Indian bikes on the road, was not able to catch a pic of any of them. Few days back on heavy traffic got this pulsar in front of me driving with full confidence. :) Although I would love to have a pulsar in India, In Kuwait it would be nothing less than a suzuki Hayabousa :) yesterday while checking out the Suzuki showroom, Saw the Maruthi Swifts in India as Suzuki swifts in Kuwait and the Hayabousa bike for 4,000 KD.

Here's a pic,




Hmm Hayabousa, suddenly feeling an anfinity towards it. :) Should I or should I not?:) hehehe

Joop Perfume

Yesterday went to look out for perfumes in Mubarakiya, Perfumes over there are the cheapest around. The number of perfumes shops replaced by grocery shops were much higher than last time. Barely saw more than 4 perfume shops onthe same lane where there used to be some 20 sperfume shops. But anyway went to one and within ten minutes of deciding took a Joop perfume. If you do watch MBC channels, You would see their ad once in a while. It has kinda a soft fruity flavour to it.

That was an ad I took of a bus

Cinabon

Yesterday got cake from Cinabon,Of all the cakes I tasted inn my life, Cinabon's coffee based cake beats them all :). Here are the pics taken,

It sure tastes better than it looks :) and it sure is expensive for a piece of cake, 1.400 KD!!!

:) but its worth the pay :)

Amnesty

Interesting...

The government of Kuwait as per the usual practice every year , grants amnesty for a certain period of time to those individuals in Kuwait, who have either stayed beyond their residence permit or have entered the country illegally. Well everyone in Kuwait knows a large number of individuals come to Kuwait to look for a better life. But alas, the life does not end up the way they expected and they are stuck behind the country as a result of either not been able to afford their tickets back(90% of the reasons) or have expired residence permits which would cause a problem if they would try to leave in normal circumstances.

There are many such individuals in Kuwait, half of whom were promised of a better future in comparison to their native countries and the other half just desperate for a chance in life.

The government in providing amnesty to such individuals thereby giving them chance to leave the country without been fined or persecuted is a good thing.

But there is just one problem!!!, The amnesty period comes at the time when you got all the flights in the middle of rush season with the fare been the highest for the year. People who would want to go back to their native countries are first going to face problems getting a ticket, and second not been in a position to pay for their ticket.

So would the amnesty provided fulfill its purpose?

If nothing else is done, I don't think so.

Accident!!!

Prado was hit from behind yesterday.

Fortunately it happened while I was waiting at the signal to take a U Turn. Poor guy behind must have mistakenly pressed on his accelerator and bang. At first when I felt it, I was like shits not again!!! ( I thought I banged the car in front ) Then realized that it was the guy behind who banged into me. For a minute I was like great, Not even one year since I drove the vehicle and my bad luck :). Well as expected, I get out of the vehicle to give the faulting driver a piece of my mind and watch a pale looking old man behind a kinda new Camry. He looked more like some driver for a Kuwaiti (I felt so because of the scare in his face, he looked more worried not about me but on what's gona happen to him later) anyway my heart was in no mood to fire him, Went on and checked the extent of the damage and walla not a scratch on my vehicle. Thanks to the hook behind my vehicle, the pale old man's car who banged me got damaged pretty bad and the Prado never suffered a single scratch. Seeing the kinda comical situation, I looked at the old man and shout "Hey your car is damaged"!!! Kinda funny, I was more worried for his car (after I knew nothing happened to mine of course) :)

Well the signal turned green by the time all this happened and I didn't want to prolong when my vehicle suffered no damage. and went on my way home. :)

I hope the old guy did'nt continue to have a bad day..... :)

Job Hopping :)

Every country talks about their employment problems be it a developed country like the United States or an underdeveloped economy like Africa. But in Kuwait, at least among the Indian people I know, employment is not an issue anymore. I know a lot of guys who love to challenge authority to get what they desire (working conditions and remunerations). This seems to be a good shift from the day and age where Indians were struggling to find jobs and had to struggle hard. Although the fact still remains that a number of Indians are still struggling to get jobs, it is only astonishing to find a rising number actually enjoy job hopping for better prospects :).

Can job hopping be a good thing? Well I know guys who are proud job jumpers and those boasting of not staying for more than a few months in the same company. Mind you, these are not guys who are kicked out of their jobs, but guys who have the capability to play their employers in their court. The BPO industry in India further gave rise to this trend with the industry recording one of the highest attrition rates.

Job attrition affects all levels of the business organization and is not linked to just any one job category. The level of expatriate population has increased in the past few years. But I doubt if this will sustain in the near future. The mentality and options of employees are slowly changing, better options in home countries and elsewhere pulls them out. Many of my friends left the country for better prospects. I suspect, others will be soon follow.

In general, the tide of change has begun; now employees with more options and better understanding of markets are challenging employer’s importance. Employees have reached the point where they won’t take disrespect and non -professional attitudes from employers lightly.


Times are changing :)

Climate Change

The Heattttttttttttttttttttttttt

Kuwait getting way too hot alreadyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

and its not yet June :)

International Calls

I will never finish my loans... ask me why.. I say thanx to the international telephone system in Kuwait. I meam paying 350 fils per minute for a call to India is crap. I mean even from India its cheaper to call International.

This is cause I would say no competition or proberly fixed gameplay. I would rather go for an illegal international caller. But alas, convinience is not my option nor the fact that searching for guys who are lately been hunted down by the the telecommmunications Ministry any easy.

So that's one of my loans, my mobile bills.. average is 60 Kd for a month. Rather high for a guy who used to survive with 500 rupees card in my college days :)

For me well I can manage and continue to survive somehow...I just feel sad for those who can't afford to make a call to their loved ones atleast once a month. Esp. those who left their family behind and come to make whatever merge earnings they can. Its just not fairr.

I hope the Kuwait Telecom Industry starts playing on level ground as per international standards sooner. Again ITS JUST NOT FAIR!!!

Vavavoom Store in Avenues

This is the second continous week of hearing the "vavavoom store" advertisement on the radio. Its supposed to be a really big fashion store in the Avenues which not only caters to women fashion needs but also to men!!!.. I mena like pedicure and manicure for men!!! Bahh.. are men really turning out to be the metrosexual beings (men who concern themselves at fashion). I for sure know men need to look neat and polished.. but paedicure and manicure??

Anyway Radio host Dr. Laboosh has got it covered everyday on the radio and the life she brings to the advertisement is simply amazing, The first time u hear it ...okie fine. second time ...../okie still fine... but u hear it every morning for two weeeks!!!! thats a limit. Right now I would prefer hearing any ad except the va va voom ad. I guess the doc would have got some big promotion pakage for making them look good the whole two weeks!!! :)

I wonder how many people out there actually feels the same way:)

Birds acting strange

Since the last few days, the birds around Kuwait.. am talking about the small ones which you would usually see around the palm trees and grass lawns.. well these birds seem to be always flying in front of my vehicle..It has been three days now since I am dodging these birds now and then. Hope I dont accidently strike them while driving.

Looks like the birds got a major problem in flying directions or could it be the effects of the BIRD FLU or the HEAT or the changing climates of Kuwait turning them mad :)!!!

Lulu Supermarket in Kuwait

Finally Lulu supermarket has opened in Kuwait and was it a grand affair!

Well the affair was grand of course, looking at the scale of operations and the prices been offered for their products. It always used to be like, when you hear 'Lulu' my mind goes to Dubai, but now anymore I guess.

Well to talk about it, I guess all the mallu's must have been there atleast once now, since it opened about a month back :) The place is huge, got items from the likes of food items to electronics to perfume shops to gym equipments to Costa Coffee to exchanges to jewellery shops to departmental stores. Max showroom, from where I get most of my shirts are also just a block away from Lulu.

The salesmen at Lulu seem to okay okay, they attend to you when called, I found one sales guy a little prejudice, in a way like he was attending to only the guys in dishdada's and was half bothered when my dad was enquiring about some item. Well that problem was fixed when I started firing away questions about the TV. I don't think I was agressive but I guess he got the point. That brings me to the point that although there are many salesmen all around the place, the salesmen had very little knowledge about electronics (This opinion is based on blank information I derived from 3 employees when asked about TV's and home theaters. they didnt have a clue of the stuff I was looking for in a TV and home theater. But saying this... I can't really blame the sales guys, but in fact the management of Lulu could have trained the guys in the department so they would be able to explain features of different TV's or Home Theaters to the customers better rather than just say, "SONY IS THE BEST" "SONY IS THE BEST" :) But overall the sales guys were attentive in comparison to th Alghanim Electronic Showroom guys.

Alghanim electronic showroom guys have one thing that Lulu salesmen don't have... which is knowledge about the products they sell. But then saying that they have their own weak point which is that they never come forward to help the customer. Its always the customer who got to bring them to explain a product (Most of the times I was in Alghanim this was the case:)).

Well right now the competition is on. We got Alghanim, City Center and Sultan Center, all extra marketing their products and giving incentives to customers to shop at their departments. But looking at the way things are going and the fact that Carrefour, which would open shortly and sell products even cheaper, Lulu and Carrefour in my opinion would soon eat into the market share :). In my opinion, the worst affected would be Sultan Center.

By the way I brought an Samsung LCD from Lulu, It was 270 KD whereas the same LCD from Alghanim was 33o Kd!!! This is with the warranty and the fact that Lulu themselves would come and pick up the LCD if there is any problem(one year period).

Now...you make your choice :)

Work Vacation :)

Okay yahh thanks for reminding me guys.... its been some time since I blogged down, was caught up with work and stuff.....I like to term it as the work vacation (Vacation taken for work)

Well today's topic...hmm... can't think of anything.. oh well...

Things that happened during the time I neva blogged...

• Just found out that I have wasta like anybody else.... well atleast with the coffee guy in office.. nothing better than a good cup of coffee to start your day rite..:)
  
  
• I had checked out the swimming pool complex 4 times in a week before I had changed to the new flat, but since i have shifted to my new place (thats since three weeks ago), I have never been able to check out the sports complex even once!!!
  
• The Climate in Kuwait is getting hmm.. chaotic... you have cloudy, sunny, dusty and rainly seasons all in a week,

• Figured how to connect the lappy to the LCD and enjoyed some time playing games on the big screen,

• After something like 4 years, I get English channels on our LCD, I never had that in my old place, not that i was really concerned but its like i never even had Kuwait TV 2 (national free channel) till now. Isnt that a wonder!!!,

• Remember the earlier blog I wrote about reducing, well I think I am reducing alright, and that's without using the sport facilities,

• I actually actually love veggies.. more like green leaves with cucumber and tomatoes and mayonise in my sandwich.. or for a treat put in some meat. Well the sandwich doesnt sound extraordinary but I guess its mom's way of making it that makes it extra-ordinary ;),

• Baskin Robins milkshakes which consist of two to three scoops of your choice of icecream flavours along with a dash of milk is way better than a cold cup of coffee at Starbucks (Comparison unit being Coffee and Chocolate mix)

• Second Cup and Caribou brand of premium coffee chains actually have delivery services. I don't think Starbucks would have, will try them today :). By the way I had ordered from Caribou yesterday and the cold chocolate drink I had was as good as the ones we get in Starbucks.

• BMW vehicle service station can be comparable to local service station (Bad Service). Of course if u make a hue and cry about it to BMW headquarters, the response can be very positive (free service). (Source:248am.com) Thought: I should have done the same for my Dell lappy

• Today in Kuwait, ITS YET ANOTHER DAY!!! :)

Sandwich Holiday

Got information from the radio on the way to work that Monday the 24th of February would be a public holiday. Since 25th and 26th of February that is Sunday and Monday are the official holidays on the occasion of Independence and the fact that the previous day ..that is Saterday everyone would either bunk or would officially not work in office, the cabinet of Kuwait has announced a holiday on Saterday 24th of february as well. :)

Isn't that convinient :) but considering that the next batch of holidays is coming in much later during the year, It can not be a bad thing.

But then it doesn't really make a difference to me, two days is all we I would get. I would shock myself if i don't show up in office in those two days :)

By the way the 24th February holiday is termed as a sandwich holiday... Nice term :)