Praveen earns 4000 USD in a month. He gets 21 days break after 100 Days of work. He has to start work at 7 in the morning. There is no specific time for returning to the cell after the work. It may be 7, 8 or even 9 in the night. He has to take all tension of the work, coordinate with several people in the project and run against time to meet the target. It takes to strain every nerve of his to see that at the end of the day his bank balance is fatter than yesterday’s.
Here everyone is counting down days from 100 to the day of departure. But still, there is uncertainties about availing the deserved break after the job. Boss always wants to prove that he can overrule anything. So, as is his wont, he straight away rejects the leave application. Then after much begging and convincing he signs on the dotted line.
Praveen is at this stage now. His 100 days reaches by the end of November. He has to obtain the approval of the boss one moth before going on leave. He is not sure if the boss will allow him to go. So, he decided that he will resign and go if boss refuses the approval. He may not keep his words but he needs to go, somehow. He consoles himself, if not this job, there are many other jobs. He is not willing to sacrifice his holidays for the project. I too consoled him, telling that this company is not the ultimate. Opportunities are in plenty in Gulf. Even if he goes back to India and does not work, still, he can live happily. Even if he does not work, he will be a rich man. Perhaps, one among a small percentage of people in India who can afford to have food for 4 times in a day.
There are crores and crores of people in our country who are not even sure if they will get a square meal tomorrow. Whenever I type crore, MS word says it is a wrong word. In MS Word dictionary they use only millions. Though MS Word insists I am wrong, I like to live with this wrong, for, we learnt it since childhood. For the sake of Micro Soft I need not change the way I think
In Syria, they keep right and we keep left. I do not know why the Britishers taught us to keep left though they have nothing to do with the Left. Even Chinese keep right.
Syrians keep right even when they walk. I don’t think we have any definite rule in India about sides while walking. We walk as we like. It is dance of democracy all the way there you see. So here too we walk the way we like. But these Syrians don’t follow the rules like us- the rules of democracy. So while walking in the corridors of our office here, several occasions I had to make way to the natives. I used to wonder why I make way always. My ego hurts occasionally. But then it is their style. They keep right. We are wrong. So, now when I come across any Syrian, I give way to them. Matter is simple. Let them follow the laws and let us follow our lawlessness.
My Syrian friends started calling me Abu Govind, and I am pleased about it. Abu Govind means, father of Govind. There is a story behind the practice of addressing others by the name of their kids. There lived a great warrior called Khalid Ebn. He fought many a war and won all of them. He is a widely respected soldier in the Arab world. So, in the olden days, if anyone had name Khalid, his father was affectionately called father of Khalid or Abu Khalid. Down the generations, they keep the memory of their brave soldier alive. Calling by the name of the son/daughter shows more respect and affection towards the person. But, please take note, if there are boys and girls as children, they invoke the boy’s name! Quite natural in this man centric world.
Khaled is noted for his military prowess, commanding the forces of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and those of his immediate successors of the Rashidun Caliphate; Abu Bakr and Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab).[1] He has the distinction of being undefeated in over a hundred battles, against the numerically superior forces of the Byzantine Roman Empire, Sassanid Persian Empire, and their allies. His strategic achievements include the conquest of the Persian Empire's Iraq and Roman Syria within three years from 633 to 636. He is also remembered for his decisive victories at Yamamah, Ullais and Yarmouk. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid) - ( courtesy Wikipedea)
There are several words in Arabic and Hindi. Zyada, kalam, majbooth, kursi, mushkil are a few words that have the same meaning.
People wish each other whenever they meet No matter how many times and how frequently they come across in a day. “Salamu alaikum” by one person raises a chorus in reply –“va alaikum salam”. Exchange of greetings takes a few seconds as they recite some verses from their religious texts too. Everything is connected to their religion and god. Nothing happens without god wills (insha allah). They invoke His name several times in a day. People take off their hard hat and the trade mark black goggles and pray at the site itself. Safety takes a back seat for a while that time. After all what saftey has to do while the soul is in direct contact with the God?
Talking about safety, there are dedicated safety departments with the client, contractor and the sub contractor. If anyone has to get a job, it must be a safety personnel’s job. Look at the Safety Person’s job on the client side. The client’s employees here enjoy job-holiday cycle on 28 days basis. If they work for 28 days, they can go home for 28 days. All expenses for the journey are borne by the company, although they may not be getting salary for the break time.
These safety personnel roam around the site without any purpose and take some photographs and send mails to all.There ends their job. They pass time for 28 days and just disappear. In fact they enjoy paid holidays on job and unpaid holidays at home. Try getting a job like this. Really it is an enviable job.
Here everyone is counting down days from 100 to the day of departure. But still, there is uncertainties about availing the deserved break after the job. Boss always wants to prove that he can overrule anything. So, as is his wont, he straight away rejects the leave application. Then after much begging and convincing he signs on the dotted line.
Praveen is at this stage now. His 100 days reaches by the end of November. He has to obtain the approval of the boss one moth before going on leave. He is not sure if the boss will allow him to go. So, he decided that he will resign and go if boss refuses the approval. He may not keep his words but he needs to go, somehow. He consoles himself, if not this job, there are many other jobs. He is not willing to sacrifice his holidays for the project. I too consoled him, telling that this company is not the ultimate. Opportunities are in plenty in Gulf. Even if he goes back to India and does not work, still, he can live happily. Even if he does not work, he will be a rich man. Perhaps, one among a small percentage of people in India who can afford to have food for 4 times in a day.
There are crores and crores of people in our country who are not even sure if they will get a square meal tomorrow. Whenever I type crore, MS word says it is a wrong word. In MS Word dictionary they use only millions. Though MS Word insists I am wrong, I like to live with this wrong, for, we learnt it since childhood. For the sake of Micro Soft I need not change the way I think
In Syria, they keep right and we keep left. I do not know why the Britishers taught us to keep left though they have nothing to do with the Left. Even Chinese keep right.
Syrians keep right even when they walk. I don’t think we have any definite rule in India about sides while walking. We walk as we like. It is dance of democracy all the way there you see. So here too we walk the way we like. But these Syrians don’t follow the rules like us- the rules of democracy. So while walking in the corridors of our office here, several occasions I had to make way to the natives. I used to wonder why I make way always. My ego hurts occasionally. But then it is their style. They keep right. We are wrong. So, now when I come across any Syrian, I give way to them. Matter is simple. Let them follow the laws and let us follow our lawlessness.
My Syrian friends started calling me Abu Govind, and I am pleased about it. Abu Govind means, father of Govind. There is a story behind the practice of addressing others by the name of their kids. There lived a great warrior called Khalid Ebn. He fought many a war and won all of them. He is a widely respected soldier in the Arab world. So, in the olden days, if anyone had name Khalid, his father was affectionately called father of Khalid or Abu Khalid. Down the generations, they keep the memory of their brave soldier alive. Calling by the name of the son/daughter shows more respect and affection towards the person. But, please take note, if there are boys and girls as children, they invoke the boy’s name! Quite natural in this man centric world.
Khaled is noted for his military prowess, commanding the forces of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and those of his immediate successors of the Rashidun Caliphate; Abu Bakr and Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab).[1] He has the distinction of being undefeated in over a hundred battles, against the numerically superior forces of the Byzantine Roman Empire, Sassanid Persian Empire, and their allies. His strategic achievements include the conquest of the Persian Empire's Iraq and Roman Syria within three years from 633 to 636. He is also remembered for his decisive victories at Yamamah, Ullais and Yarmouk. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_ibn_al-Walid) - ( courtesy Wikipedea)
There are several words in Arabic and Hindi. Zyada, kalam, majbooth, kursi, mushkil are a few words that have the same meaning.
People wish each other whenever they meet No matter how many times and how frequently they come across in a day. “Salamu alaikum” by one person raises a chorus in reply –“va alaikum salam”. Exchange of greetings takes a few seconds as they recite some verses from their religious texts too. Everything is connected to their religion and god. Nothing happens without god wills (insha allah). They invoke His name several times in a day. People take off their hard hat and the trade mark black goggles and pray at the site itself. Safety takes a back seat for a while that time. After all what saftey has to do while the soul is in direct contact with the God?
Talking about safety, there are dedicated safety departments with the client, contractor and the sub contractor. If anyone has to get a job, it must be a safety personnel’s job. Look at the Safety Person’s job on the client side. The client’s employees here enjoy job-holiday cycle on 28 days basis. If they work for 28 days, they can go home for 28 days. All expenses for the journey are borne by the company, although they may not be getting salary for the break time.
These safety personnel roam around the site without any purpose and take some photographs and send mails to all.There ends their job. They pass time for 28 days and just disappear. In fact they enjoy paid holidays on job and unpaid holidays at home. Try getting a job like this. Really it is an enviable job.
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