Its lucky to be a man...

Men Are Just Happier People - What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth.

The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $500 0. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time. !

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your cl0thes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes. One color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

(Text courtesy: A forward from a female friend)

Saga de Dubai

It was Tuesday 11pm when my Emirates flight from Nairobi landed at Dubai. Luggage arrived very quick and so quick was immigration check. I was out of airport in 20 minutes. My hosts Sarju and Jayesh came to pick me up. Sarju (nicknamed "Chewing Gum") and Akshar grew up together in Bhavnagar under Shilpa's loving care. When she came to know that I am coming to Dubai, she just ruled a decision that I will be staying at her place. She lives in Sharjah which is just a bridge apart from Dubai.

We talked talked that night for quite late as we were meeting each other almost after 15 years. First time when I met her was back in 1989 when she was 2 years old. Now she is 21 and married...!

Next day afternoon, Chewing Gum and me went to Dubai's famous Desert Safari. We returned late night. Below are some of the pictures of this Safari...

Road to Safari reminded me of our drive to Grand Canyon...

Sarju with Land Cruiser V8... It was manual drive and only manual one would be able to drive through sand.

The driver released almost half of the wheel air pressure to make them flat for sand driving.

Bunch of drivers... The center one with glasses looked so mean :)...

Sand dunes... They looked so beautiful...

There were two desert bikers doing different stunts...

The driving in sand was very exciting...

It is said that woman's brain (intelligence) resides in her feet... For her, its in sand now... :)

After few stops in desert, we ended up at the camp site.

Camel ride was one of the attractions there but they were so stinky...

It was nice walking uphill  in the sand...

Camp side and our vehicles... from the uphill.

In the camp, there were different stalls for entertainment, photography in Arabic costumes and some bird show.. Hawk is Dubai's National bird but here, it was tied and looked very tired...

Next day was a shopping day and Piyush - a long time friend of RG and now a very devote family member came to pick me up from Sarju's place. We went to couple of electronics mega stores to look for some land line phones for the office. Unfortunately, none of the models were available. I found that Dubai is way behind Singapore for such electronics items and its expensive too. Piyush wanted me to stay at his place all the time but he understood my situation. He wanted me to spend a night at his place before I flew back to Ahmedabad but since Sarju would not give up that easily, we had to find out a way for that. Before dropping me at her place, we decided that he would come in evening to attend the assembly and then take me to his place...

Later in the evening, Piyush sent his assistant Vivian to bring me to different shops for those phones I was looking for. None of the shops in Sharjah had those ones and we ended up going Dubai to check few outlets there. We managed to get one of the phones from Carrefour.

That night, in the assembly, I met many devotees and was touched by their dedication and devotion for Satsang. They are so brave to do satsang even in such staunch Islamic country. The gathering continued till 2am!

Later, seeing my need to stay with Piyush, Jayesh convinced Sarju about it and I moved to Piyush's place which is one of the posh locations of Dubai. We reached his place at 2:30am and then talked talked talked long way.

Next morning, Sudhanshu - Piyush's son became a cool friend with me and he showed me all his toys.
His trampoline jumps tempted me to do few but I am now too old for that...

Just outside Piyush's house, one can see Al-Burg.. World's tallest tower under construction...

I had to catch a flight at 3pm and thus, we left for airport at 12:30pm. Immigration check and other formalities were over in few minutes and I was again at the same place I was few days back... I found other phone in one of the shops there and though it was expensive, I was advised to bring it with me.

At the gate, I met this little nice Roohi... She was throwing similes all around but when she found me pointing the camera at her, she became a bit shy...

The flight was boring with nothing much to do. It landed five minutes before time. When I reached at the immigration counter, another familiar face there and he too asked me nothing... So last hurdle of Yellow Fever Vaccination got over without any problems...

I ended up this trip with a very firm conclusion that if He wants me to get something done, He would ensure I face no problems. If He does not want something to happen, no matter how hard I will try - for days, months or years, nothing will happen.

Saga de Aapharika

Last Tuesday, I received a call from Nairobi and in just few minutes, it was decided that I should be there during the weekend...

It was tough time getting the ticket but thanks to my travel agent that he got me ticket in time. Since Emirates flight was via Dubai, I planned to stop over Dubai on my way back. I checked on Internet and found that I will need Visa for Dubai and to get it in two days was just impossible. But Emirates' Dubai Stop Over program helped me to opt for it before flying from Ahmedabad and I got the visa before leaving Nairobi.

I was booked on Emirates' Friday early morning flight. That evening, I got a call from Dinesh in Nairobi and he asked me about my Yellow Fever vaccination. It was mandatory for any Indian nationals to have this vaccination if traveling to any African countries. I just did not know about it and when I checked about it with Dr VP, he said that vaccination is available only in Government hospitals and after injected, one has to wait for at least 12 days to get if effective... I had just few hours left for my flight and I planned to take a chance of traveling without this vaccination.

When I reached at the airport, there was a long queue at the entrance. While I was positioning myself in the queue, one of the Emirates girls noticed my Skyward tag on the bag and she pulled me out of the line. She escorted me all the way to Business class counter and hola! I got my boarding card in few minutes. Then, there was a long queue at the immigration check and again, another Emirates girl cut the queue for me and brought me straight to one of the counters. Immigration officer there happened to be familiar face and he just stamped my passport and let me go through!!! Bingo! One hurdle for vaccination was over...

When I entered the plane, I was a bit surprised to end up in a business class...
I first could not believe that I was upgraded to Business class as my boarding card was just ordinary economy class one... But my seat was in Business class and I think it was due to my Skyward miles, I was given a Business class seat...

The seat was very comfortable and had such large leg space...
It had lots of reclining controls that it was almost like a bed when fully reclined.

Since flight to Dubai was just 3 hours, I could not use the best of this Business class travel :(

My connecting flight to Nairobi was five hours later and I loitered in Dubai airport for a while.

This airport is rated as one of the best airports and its just like a shopping mall... Many duty free shops and international brands have their outlets in this airport.

Many promotions were going on and lots of people shopping there... I noticed that everything there was much expensive compared to their street prices.

While at the gate to board Nairobi flight, this little girl was so playful and naughty that it drew attention of many passengers... I liked her hairstyle and I found that it takes around half an hour to make it...

When landed at Nairobi, during immigration check, the officer did not even look at me and stamped my passport. She even did not put how many weeks I can stay in Nairobi... So, final hurdle for vaccination also got over without any problem! Friends at Nairobi were so surprised that I could make it there without Yellow Fever Vaccination...

Last year, almost same time, I was in Nairobi and had made few close friends here. People in Nairobi are very warm and kind. Nairobi resembles very much to Mumbai without Mumbai's humid weather. Each house here needs to have an electrical fence to safeguard it from any robbery. Each building has private (and armed) guards and even during day time, one can easily be robbed if not careful. I remember that in my last trip, we were driving a Corolla to downtown and at a traffic stop, a 10 years boy came and snatched away side mirror...  That's why, all glasses are itched with the vehicle number... So that next day, you go to flea market and pick up your glass by paying good money... :)

Next three days were very busy and we had to finish a lot in between. While all team members were amazingly receptive and active, our team efforts paid up and we finished all tasks beforehand.

One afternoon, we had a chance to have few sips of African coffee at Nairobi Java House - a popular coffee outlet.

One of the friends there is a local reseller for Dell parts and he forced me to upgrade my laptop to 4Gb RAM..

On last day, on the way to airport, I noticed this beautiful blue sky... I wish I had my DReb with me... but iPhone camera did good job in capturing the blue...

It was a five hours flight to Dubai and before boarding, I spent some time at Nairobi Java House in airport...

It was less crowdy and bigger compared to the one we went earlier.

The flight was uneventful except that I had a seat on a right wing... It was 2330HRS when I landed Dubai.

Its 30 minutes to midnight and I have to EOB here to finish my current design before calling a day.