Merry New Year...!

Best wishes for a marvellous 2009!

Meilleurs voeux pour une excellente année 2009!

أطيب التمنيات للعام 2009 ممتازة

最良好的祝愿一个极好2009年

Beste wensen voor een uitstekend 2009

Beste Wünsche für einen ausgezeichneten 2009

Semoga yang baik 2009

I migliori auguri per un ottimo 2009

Brrrr DoBuy

Methinks Ski Dubai has been extended to cover the less-fortunate areas of DoBuy! Bur Dobuy is cold, windy, and grey. Not to mention like a pond thanks to the heavy rain (all of 5 mm) over the last 3 days.

Funny to see monkey caps, blazers, cardigans in sunny (?) DoBuy. This place can be quirky sometimes. Hailstorms in DoBuy!!

This kind of weather wont last. So we shall soak it in and store memories for oven-like days when we realise what a tandoori chicken feels like!

The redemption of advertising...

The profession actually has a patron saint!! Saint Bernardine of Siena: patron saint of advertisers; advertising; gambling addicts; public relations personnel; public relations work.

Now we know that the halo on our heads is not a targa file but the real McCoy!

Though not many people may know that advertising is actually spelt with an 'h' which is silent, so a saint is required to protect us from the curses of the hads.

Lest we forget...

Illuminatus

for the light has come back into our life...

are there bad beard days?

blogeance

thats blogging with a vengeance...

a bit of self-adulation

feels good to be a pioneer. some people pioneer peanuts in coke. some pioneer kayak racing. some pioneer eating contests. we pioneered street plays in the UAE.
yes its official. our street plays campaign for Dubai Municipality in October-November has been recognised as the first such initiative in the UAE. check it out:
http://www.xpress4me.com/news/uae/dubai/20010166.html

and yes, do go to naif road in dubai - its clean!

(and now you know why the blog has been silent...!)

the light has gone out of our lives

which is what happens when the electricity bills arent paid. like a flash the flow is cut off and you are left standing in the darkness and feeling rather silly.
thank god for cousins down the road...

been a while

We are back. Words dry up in andropausal situations. But that's all in the mind. So never mind.

Clash of civilisations…

Car explodes after colliding with donkey.

The collision killed the animal, but the driver was unhurt

 

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/524610-car-explodes-after-colliding-with-donkey?ln=en

For thee…!

And now a few thoughts and some random pensées on the FIRST day of one's 40s…:

• Like happy birthday to me!
  
• Like happy birthday also to Naomi Campbell whose temper matches mine but who looks good enough to eat! (I look eaten…)
  
• Like today was a blast in more ways than one – got promoted too!
  
• Like virginity at 40 is like CEO at 20 – the possibilities are enormous!
  
• Like its funny to hear scarface talking about child management – his bairn runs circles around him! Way to go bráthair!
  
• Like, thank you london, paris, washington, dubai and bombay for birthday wishes. Lets party!
  

And finally

• Like lets spare a thought for the many millions who have their birthdays today but cannot celebrate for divers reasons. Let them all know that they have a place in our thoughts.
  

A rolling stone gathers some moss…

A few thoughts and some random pensées on the last day of one's 30s…:

• Like on the last day of my 20s I was in Calcutta.
  
• Like the last 10 years have gone in the proverbial blink of an eye.
  
• Like the girls that I thought I was in love with then are long gone to other men. But bless them for they brought moments of great joy to my life.
  
• Like all the girls I have been in love with have pushed me to introspect and make me a better man. And for that I salute them.
  
• Like in spite of all the introspection I still cant figure out how to woo a girl! That's why a certain angora is still free and unattached!
  
• Like the Great Zorba, to whose dictates I acquiesce unreservedly, should know that she has a very special place in the baxi pantheon. Right up there. For tolerating this weird guy for a quarter of a century!
  
• Like in the last 10 years I have managed to spend time in the 4 cities I always dreamed about as a boy – London, Paris, Amsterdam and Calcutta. Not to mention the others.
  
• Like when I look back, life was never the same after 1992. For me because I went to France (thank you mum and dad). And for Europe because the EU AND baxi happened together! I know I changed after Europe. Has Europe changed after me?
  
• Like DoBuy needs to shake itself and get real. Its too nice a place to go the American way!
  
• Like globe trotting has its charms but I prefer to go to known places. And know them intimately. So wind and weather willing its more of Hendon, Quartier Latin and perhaps the Brink in Laren.
  
• Like I can get terribly blasé about it but living a few miles from the world's tallest building is extremely boast-worthy!
  
• Like I need to get into shape fast to get back to the kebabs, steaks, lambs et al which I have been denying myself over the past year and more. Not to mention the G & Ts
  
• Like the last few months have been more emotionally draining than any so far.
  
• Like I will never come to terms with PMB. Khub tatari chole gaalo dada.
  
• Like it was thrilling to know that 3 lovely nieces and one cool nephew think the world of me!
  
• Like life has so far been good to me. And I hope it continues to be so. Perhaps better but lets not get greedy.
  

And finally

• Like Mum and Dad and S & S get a huge hug from me. For all the usual reasons – being there for me, coping with tempers, educational foul-ups, career blahs and lately marital woes. But also for one very unique reason – for always putting me before them and not expecting anything back. Love you all!
  

Mus(h)ic!!

Apologies to a very respected and well-loved 'kaka' [that's swahili btw not hindi] – the news that he gave a while ago should have been posted tout de suite. But well, the sands control us…! The stupendous news is that President Musharraf of Pakistan has been introduced to this 'kaka' [a member of this author's clan] through the medium of music! The Nine Moods of mankind can now include mushy, since that's what he felt when he heard some CDs gifted to him by Navras Music. He also called the éminence musicale of Navras and spoke to him at length.

Music obviously knows no boundaries!

Some more things we love hearing after a heavy lunch!

Since the gravitational force of a body on itself, at the surface of a body of any shape, increases in inverse proportion to its characteristic lengthscale squared (as volume^-2/3 )

The BBC’s idea of a decent nosh

The BBC describing the menu at the state dinner for French President Nicholas Sarkozy on 26 March 2008: 'A bit of fish, a bit of lamb and lots of French wine'. Indeed…!

The French, ‘e speak the english!

Mr Sarkozy breaks into English! Standing up to loud applause, he waves it away and says "Thank you, thank you, but waiting for my speech."

One of life’s oldest mysteries…

How does a guy understand a woman? Never mind disparate planetary origins, abundant and ambitious theories on demystifying this mystery, etc. Am driven to write this thanks to a weekend during which fondly held theories on woman, lovely woman have been overturned. But the nature of developments coming on the spring equinox convinces me that stormy clouds have withdrawn and happy days are nigh!!

 

If a certain girl is reading this she will know what I mean…!

Plumbing new lows in trivia!!!

 

read in The Times, London: Most toilets flush in the key of E flat

 

go figure...!

so musicians should feel flushed with success each time they loose themselves in micturation!

The Dhow Jones Index

The world's tallest building just might become the worlds SECOND tallest building!


That incredible man of money, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has announced plans for a MILE-high tower in Saudi Arabia.


Osteopaths and spacetourism companies, ready get set...!

It's a month today...

Did you know that...

Mastodons were browsers, while mammoths were grazers.
Thus proving that new-age diets didnt work even in the pleistocene era...!

humpty humpty

08022008: the camels have survived baxi for two years! always knew they were tough animals. this blog also celebrates 2 years. am off for some chardonnay...

Am Bushed!!!!

Do Buy's economy could be facing losses of around 432 million dirhams ($117.6 million) following the city's complete shutdown on Monday 14 January 2008 for the visit of US president George W. Bush.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/508197-dubai-economy-suffers-1bn-hit-