Everything is blank. I have no idea if my house is still existing there. I lost everything. Now my job is at stake. Once i am asked to go, my visa gets cancelled and I have to leave this country. Where shall I go? This is one of the soul stirring account of one ageing man's present situation. His country is burning. Houses are bombarded. Communication channels are totally destroyed. He has no contact with his own people residing in his country. We hear news about suicide bombing, killing of people using AK47s, mortars and knifes on a daily news. No single day passes without a news about death of at least 50 people in terrorist attacks -all in the name of religion and god
No wonder this man's plight is just an outcome of religious intolerance the civic society is staring at in the modern days. All disputes, diversity in opinions, dissent and non following of religion are all set right with guns. The terms like Satyagraha, Non violence or tolerance are not included in their dictionaries. We are lucky. We can come back home and enjoy the ultimate freedom whenever we face trouble in any corner of this world. We keep the slogans like "loka samstho sukhino bhavanthu" and "live and let live" very close to our hearts
On last two occasions, I vacated my porto-cabins with great relief and happiness but this time I felt so sad about it. This time it was a different situation. As the projects got finished, all the curry leaves were to be thrown out. One among those leaves was me! Every project site has such similar stories to tell. So many people, that may run to thousands sometimes, work from dawn to dusk to complete the project. Big bosses to the labourers sweat it out in the arena. Himalayan egos shout at each other. Frayed tempers raise blood pressure and adrenaline flow to unhealthy levels. Behind the back of everyone, people murmur "that fellow does not know anything". I put it in a very refined way, but every word in this sentence is punctuated by very bad and filthy words. In the end of those nerve wracking process of project execution, some people gain hugely in terms of money and positions and many others lose out. Then, there will be desperate moves and counter moves by a few people to hang on to the project till the last man is demobilised. For that, these guys go to any length.
From the crescendo to the lull, there is a wild rhythm in the project execution. As the project reaches its peak and the commissioning and hand over stage reaches, the commonly heard word in the corridors of power is 'demob'. The powerfulls and their "chamchas" make the list for demobilising the people associated with the project. At last, the "demobed" write a heavily cliched goodbye message marked to one and all associated with the project and wait for replies from the recipients, especially some words of appreciation from the bosses
I am 'demobed' and I am heading to my country. So, this time my exit from the porto cabin was on a sad note. I liked to work at Das Island. Though it was like an open jail, the stay there was enjoyable. Distance from my dweling cubicle to the office and the mess was just 100 meters. Food provided in the mess was fairly good including the avial in the menu. Above all, after every 29 days of work, there was guaranteed departure to home. Almost three years passed just like waking up after an owvernight's sleep.
After typing this much, I took a break to watch Premam, a quintessential Malayalam movie. In Abu Dhabi city, there are three cinema theatres in the radius of around 100 meters. In all these theatres, Premam is screened at present. One thing we all need to know, it is worthless to download movies from the web sites and watch at home. Go to the theatres and feel the movie. In this movie, when the rain scenes were shown, I really felt, it was raining outside the thearte. For a moment, I thought I was sitting in my Olavaipe home in a monsoon night. The sound of rain drops falling on the tiled roof and the water falling off the roof like a water fall are to be experienced in a good cine theatre. Heavy rains along with gusty winds and frightening lightnings mark monsoon in Kerala. As a child, heavy winds and lightnings used to send chill in my spine. Till fury of a session of rain ends, I hardly breathed properly. So, do watch movies in theatres, they have potential to take us to some nostalgic trips.
"Malar" steals the heart. The only image one will carry home will be hers. Like a fully blossomed rose, she spreads fragrance in our minds and her matured mannerisms make a riveting impression in the audience. Finally, Premam gives a message too. Love failures need to be taken in our stride. No stalking, no acid attacks, no self killings...only look out for another one, just look out and move on
Road users in Abu Dhabi are a disciplined lot. They stop their cars at least 2 meters away from the "stop" line. No force on this universe can move their vehicle even an inch till the green signal turns on. Meanwhile, the pedestrians wait patiently on both ends of the zebra line for their signal to turn on. Everything is systematic. On unmarked crossings, cars are stopped for the pedestrians to move on first. The surprising thing about all this is that almost eight out of the ten road users are Indians, Pakistanis or Bangladeshis. There are hardly seen a policeman on the road, still the people from the Indian subcontinent fear this unseen super power more than the God they swear by. Punishment for traffic violation is of course severe but it is the certainty that makes the people fall in line. Will there be such endearing behaviour on their home turf too? Hope has no place in this line of thinking...sadly sure
From the crescendo to the lull, there is a wild rhythm in the project execution. As the project reaches its peak and the commissioning and hand over stage reaches, the commonly heard word in the corridors of power is 'demob'. The powerfulls and their "chamchas" make the list for demobilising the people associated with the project. At last, the "demobed" write a heavily cliched goodbye message marked to one and all associated with the project and wait for replies from the recipients, especially some words of appreciation from the bosses
I am 'demobed' and I am heading to my country. So, this time my exit from the porto cabin was on a sad note. I liked to work at Das Island. Though it was like an open jail, the stay there was enjoyable. Distance from my dweling cubicle to the office and the mess was just 100 meters. Food provided in the mess was fairly good including the avial in the menu. Above all, after every 29 days of work, there was guaranteed departure to home. Almost three years passed just like waking up after an owvernight's sleep.
After typing this much, I took a break to watch Premam, a quintessential Malayalam movie. In Abu Dhabi city, there are three cinema theatres in the radius of around 100 meters. In all these theatres, Premam is screened at present. One thing we all need to know, it is worthless to download movies from the web sites and watch at home. Go to the theatres and feel the movie. In this movie, when the rain scenes were shown, I really felt, it was raining outside the thearte. For a moment, I thought I was sitting in my Olavaipe home in a monsoon night. The sound of rain drops falling on the tiled roof and the water falling off the roof like a water fall are to be experienced in a good cine theatre. Heavy rains along with gusty winds and frightening lightnings mark monsoon in Kerala. As a child, heavy winds and lightnings used to send chill in my spine. Till fury of a session of rain ends, I hardly breathed properly. So, do watch movies in theatres, they have potential to take us to some nostalgic trips."Malar" steals the heart. The only image one will carry home will be hers. Like a fully blossomed rose, she spreads fragrance in our minds and her matured mannerisms make a riveting impression in the audience. Finally, Premam gives a message too. Love failures need to be taken in our stride. No stalking, no acid attacks, no self killings...only look out for another one, just look out and move on
Road users in Abu Dhabi are a disciplined lot. They stop their cars at least 2 meters away from the "stop" line. No force on this universe can move their vehicle even an inch till the green signal turns on. Meanwhile, the pedestrians wait patiently on both ends of the zebra line for their signal to turn on. Everything is systematic. On unmarked crossings, cars are stopped for the pedestrians to move on first. The surprising thing about all this is that almost eight out of the ten road users are Indians, Pakistanis or Bangladeshis. There are hardly seen a policeman on the road, still the people from the Indian subcontinent fear this unseen super power more than the God they swear by. Punishment for traffic violation is of course severe but it is the certainty that makes the people fall in line. Will there be such endearing behaviour on their home turf too? Hope has no place in this line of thinking...sadly sure
