The use of plastic cups to serve drinks have been banned by the UAE health ministry due to obvious health reasons.

Any cafe or office still using plastic cups is to be reported to the ministry.

Our office has also discarded all its inventory of plastic cups and replaced them with ‘thermocole’ paper cups.

There is however, one issue here: these paper cups are not a good idea for hot drinks.

Today morning, as I returned to my seat with the morning coffee in the new cup, it ‘melted’ under the hot beverage, ruining my clothes.

Important note: make sure that you use atleast 2 of those cups when using for hot beverages.

Furthering Crawler’s entry about his son’s accident, I would like to comment on the Dubai/Sharjah cab drivers as well.

I believe everyone of us, at one point or another have travelled in a cab and a lot of us would also have had a conversation with the driver.

I have had the chance of having a good conversation with quite a few cab drivers from various nationalities and one thing that all of them complain about their job is the traffic situations.

Most cabbies agree that if the traffic situation was better, their targets would seem justifiable.

A cabby told me that one cab is shared by 2 drivers in a day/night shift, but some drivers do double shifts to meet their targets. Anyone commuting from Sharjah/Dubai to either emirate would be very well aware of the effects it has on your health!

Having said that , there is however, one point worth noting here (A personal experience):

While I was taking my driving test, there was also a “National Taxi” driver taking the test in his uniform.

The way this guy drove, I was pretty sure that he would keep failing the rest of his life.

The guy didnt remember to put on his seat belt till around 5 min on the road, he never gave any signal while turning, took a dangerous U-turn, and changed lanes on a roundabout!!

Yet, he passed!!!! Upon probing further (from other cab drivers), I found out that the cabbies are giving too much of leverage while giving licenses and the general public is advised to watch out for cabs as they are allowed to stop anywhere. Also, these company’s apparently have a setup with the government which would give them very lenient testings for their drivers.

On last wednesday, my three year old son, met a road accident. He was getting off from his school bus when a speeding cab hit him just outside our apartment building in Sharjah.

That happened around 1215 hrs. I rushed from office to home as soon as I heard the news. My wife also reached home from clinic where she works.

My son’s left leg was hurt badly, as it was directly hit by the Sharjah Transport cab, with single spiral fracture, now his left leg is plastered from toes till mid thigh. The Plaster will be taken off on 06th May 2006. For next one month, he will mostly be on bed, which is hard for a three year old boy, specially when he also got another twin brother around.

BUT the main problem is, why that accident happened in first place?
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Recently, all the dhow cruises were restricted from sailing, then they were allowed to cruise, reason for allowing them is still un known, same story was posted by Farrukh on this blog.

May be authorities just wanted to ensure that safety measures are taken care of OR may be some big shots were not able to tolerate hefty daily income loss.

But what about the water taxis (abrahs), does anyone stopped them from ferrying people from Deira to Bur Dubai and back?, no I don’t think so. These abrah masters are not trained sailor, neither they have any safety equipments / measures on board in case of any emergency. Each abrah carry atleast twenty passengers at a time and cross 200 meter wide creek atleast 50 to 76 time a day and there are atleast 15 boats on Dubai creek alone, with only one life guard boat, which has to take care of Jet Ski area near Garhoud.

BUT, still it’s a cheapest way of crossing Dubai Creek and commuting from Deira to Bur Dubai. Sometime, when I don’t have any urgent work at office and want to stretch my legs I go for a round in abrah. It costs me AED 1 but gives me a good 15 minutes refreshing ride, really its good fun, crossing creek with atleast twenty people standing in 20 feet boat. Try it if you dare !!!!!!

When I was coming out from the Emirates’ jet at Dubai Airport, couple of days back, after a month long trip from Neepal, I saw a lady coming out from same plane in which I was traveling.

The lady was in her mid fifties and was of Nepalese origin. She was handicapped and on a wheel chair. As it seemed that she is traveling alone, just out of courtesy I offer to carry a heavy bag she was holding on her lap and accompanied her till cab holding area outside airport.

But those 40 minutes was nothing much than an ordeal for that lady. She faced lots of difficulties during immigration process, to name some.

1) There was not a single booth where she can scan her eye without getting out of wheel chair.

2) The immigration counters are made in such a way that they are suitable for a person standing, not for any handicapped person.

3) The taxi holding area does not have a proper ramp where handicapped person can sit on the cab, neither the buses have a lift which can be used by them.
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According to Gulf News, 42.28% say “It’s my home”, while 57.71% think “I’m here to save money”.

What’s your opinion?

Some points to ponder:
1. The official inflation rate for the UAE last year was 4.1 per cent. Non-governmental sources quote hyper inflationary levels in Dubai of 25 to 40 per cent!
2. Rent rose by up to 50 per cent last year according to the National Bank of Dubai. A recent survey showed that the total cost of educating a child in London to the age of 18 amounted to $81,750 compared to $146,000 in the UAE.

Excerpts and Good read!!
http://www.gulfnews.com/business/Business_Feature/10025007.html