The Boat that Rocked... Rocked

 Its an awesomely cool movie. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10

What’s with the Moon?

Lunatics, werewolves, tidal waves, eclipses, Armstrongs, Chandrayaans... All of them are related to moon in someway or the other. Writing this entry on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to moon, it just amazes me of how much impact the white dotted satellite has on the human history.

Been around since the creation/evolution of man (err... and woman), the moon has never ceased to inspire and confuse us. For all the things that the moon can change, it is pretty funny to imagine an earth without it. An earth without the Chinese Lunar Calendar. An earth without its monthly periods of tidal waves (Wow... that's quite a metaphor... :)). The scores and scores of text written by astrologers missing a large chunk. The millions of poems inspired by the moon... all vanished. No Solar or Lunar Eclipses to link Doomsday to. Billions and trillions of dollars to buy weapons instead of spending it on spacecraft and research. And lots and lot more many things that would never exist, if not for the moon. It is pretty convenient and easy to imagine about the things that would not be there if the moon never existed. But it really takes a creative mind to think of the things that would have been there, if there was no moon. Probably a giant reflective mirror to make the night sky bright? Well, who knows...? If you've got some thoughts please do comment in.

Another thing that I have been totally amazed about, are the moon landings of Apollo. We all know that there are numerous conspiracy theories questioning the events that lead to the man-on-moon incident. Keeping all of those aside, I have just one question... rather a few of them... Why has USA never sent a manned mission to moon for the past 36 years? Why has no other country ever been able to replicate the event? 3 years is a long time... we have come eons from the B&W TV to HDTV and to IPTV. The average size of a computer has shrunk from being measured in Sq Meters to sq inches, and there have been much unimaginable advancement in material technology since 1969. Am sure many of us would think it probably was not worth spending so much money to send people to moon. In that case we Indians should be branded fools and idiots to be lagging behind US in space technology by 50 years (first planned manned moon mission for India is in 2020). Agreed that when the Americans had sent men and chimps and dogs to space, we were just launching our first rocket from Thumba. But still things have changed now, we are so connected and well informed, that it should seem possible to work out something. Okay... if u think India is lagging, leave it aside. What about USSR/Russia? They were right there shoulder to shoulder with US. Why didn't they ever succeed, even after 40 years? If you've got any thoughts on it, please do share it.

Forced to break my Silence..

It is the longest 'silent period' in the short history of my blog :) But then am forced to break it, cos of this totally whacky... weird.... no-words-to-describe-it newspaper snippet.

check out the attached image.

A thousand elephants

Long long time since I typed in a blog.. So here goes my thoughts on the latest tamil hit movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". First of all, this movie should not be considered a mainstream commercial movie cos it lacks comedy, a climax or even a villain for that matter. But all said, its a great movie. 

The movie is a very casual recollection of all the events in a mans life. The thought process starts with the demise of Suriya's father. I found many people feeling the movie had very little entertainment value and that there were many scenes in it that need not have been there. But then I say, the movie is a great walkthru of another persons life. Of his ups and downs. So the guy gets the liberty to chose what the milestones of his life is. 

Now what makes the movie intresting is, for one Sameera reddy.. Her mesmerising smile is a heart stealer. And next the make up for Suriya (not the old one, the new one). He acts as a teenager, College student, young adult, drug addict, responsible son, army man, father, a sober lover. And each of these roles that he adorns have been aptly set with costume hairstyle and make up. Splendid job on that front. And how can I miss the 6-pack show off. That really inspired me to shape up. Keeping up with the North Indian actors, Suriya shows off his 6 packs, bisceps, trisceps and whatever else is there to show off. Divyas' role though vital to show the completion of his story, has been given very little empahsis. Nothing in particular to tell about Simrans role. Dance moves are great. Music is fantastic. There were few loopholes here and there, but that doesnt take anything off of the movie's essence.

Vaaranam aayiram (A thousand elephants) - 8.5/10

Trash and Trash

I have always been a bit picky about wasting energy and water. More cos back home in India these two things hit real hard. I also loathed the site of plastic trash sliding down the cliff, which is a common sight in most of the hill stations in India. so is the case with trash thrown out of the trains and busses in public places.
But then after coming to the US, I find that the Americans for sure have to be generating more trash than India per year, though India boasts of a population 3.7 times that of the US.
Everywhere you find paper disposal kits, plastic spoons, forks, bags, paper and still lot more. US is bestowed with so much natural beauty and so many natural resources, that it doesn’t take satellite imagery and advanced studies to figure that out. But still it is pretty sad to see that there is hardly any effort taken by people to save on paper. Many a times its cos they have got so very much used to consuming things that saving for later and regulating supply seems like alien technology. To my surprise, I was even once asked why I print papers on both sides, cos it is supposedly difficult for the readers to turn the papers over to read!!!! Thats something you would not expect an Indian to say or at least I have never heard anyone speaking that way. Even the way the buildings are constructed here seem to be consuming so much energy, with heavily tinted windows blocking natural sunlight to enter the office space. Instead they prefer lighting up the interiors. And in India I would assume most of the places have either tube lights and affluent sections might use the CFL bulbs, but here most of the people still use the conventional amber coloured light bulb which is supposed to gobble up power. And I don’t need to mention how fuel is consumed here... not literally... but by the vehicles. The number of 4-wheelers is astounding. I would hope if it was India, the people would have started a road roko bandh to ask the govt. for providing public transportation. But here traveling in public transportation apart from aircrafts is almost like a taboo. Leaving apart the long distance railway system which is priced at par with flight services. There are certain cites in this country, like Boston, New York, Chicago where public transportation is pretty much the bloodline, but majority of it still lacks the basic thought. And the sight of streaked lines of the gases left behind by the aircraft up above in the sky is not a rare event... The sky is generally cris-crossed with it, (read as ripping apart the ozone).
I came across this article few hours back. Am just amazed by how much damage we cause to our own planet. A person would India would consider India filthy and trashy. But I believe we live with less, we have got in our way of living to consume and use less and save. But in America, it hardly pinches anyone when they use rolls of paper to clean their kitchen or paper towels to wipe of their hands or dispose off all their flatware after use. No hard feelings against the Americans, but lets practice before we preach. This is not just with the trash, but also with nuclear weapons, politics, war, environment, fuel consumption and lots more. There is a lot that this civilized and developed country needs to learn, starting with living SIMPLE.

PS: Punctuation marks are not my forte.

When Evil meets insanity

The Dark Knight instantly managed to graviate me towards the screen after it received rating that even surpassed Godfather in the top 250 movies in IMDB. The movie's unpredictable nature keeps everyone enthralled. The Joker(Heath Ledger) with his exemplary performance shouts out for an Oscar, unfortunately from his grave. The Graphics were amazing. The two faced Harvey Dent must be an epitome of the CG in movies - Exemplary. All said and done, though the movie is a good entertainer and might even hold lots of nuances that a novice movie relisher like me might not be able to critic on "The Dark Knight" fails to deliver the entertainment value in some aspects which I feel that either Spiderman-1 or X-Men had to offer. A well deserved 9/10.

Wall-E - Sheer Brilliance

The movie gets the highest rating by far on my scale in the animated category. the movie surpasses the best contendor "Finding Nemo", "Ice Age" and "The incredibles". The character sketches of each of the robots in the movie is very well articulated. Andrew Stanton (director) has made it possible with animation, what might not be possible with a non-animated movie. This has to be his best movie till date. Wall-E's curiosity and perseverence is commendable. But somehow he reminds me of No.5 in "Short Circuit". Short circuit incidentally is the first English movie that I can remember seeing. Have been a Sci-fi movie fan since then.Wall-E - 9.5/10. There is no reason why I would reduce 0.5, but then I believe there is always something better to come, so I need to have the 10/10 for future. :)

Untraceable - Ingenuity

The movie is gripping right since the title pops up until the credits roll up. A very gripping script. Prescribed watch for all thriller/action fans.

Untraceable - 7/10

Whats up???.. With me

Long time since I actually blogged about what I have been upto, apart from movies. First of all am currently 'stationed' at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA. Its a real small town(or city as the americans call it). Its been almost 2 months now since I came here. and I guess this time my halt is gonna be longer than ever. Had come here when the winter was receding and the spring ready to bare its chest. There is stark diffeerence in how things work here based on the seasons, starting from office timings, store timings, sunlight timings and few more I cant think of right now.

Apart from few trips to New Jersey to Pradeep's place and a trip to Jyothi's place, I have not been upto too many activities. the first one that I can think of that I did was to stroll around this place called Joe's Rock. Its like a mini forest(conservation park, actually) and a beautiful pond/lake/bog. Not very big, but really nice. The view from the cliff is pretty comforting (except the numeroues streaks of 'cloud' trails left behind by the ever polluting aircrafts). It was a solo trip so ended up making few acquintances there.

And the next best thing that I can think of is what I did today.. Dave, my client side Project Manager took me and Murugan on for some target practice. He also brought his son Brandon along. It was like a dream come true, to look through the scope of a rifle and finally fire it. Missed the Bulls' eye by an inch. am pretty impressed at myself :) . and firing it is no childrens' play. I didnt bother ask what the make of the rifle was. But then Dave did have one which looked like the ones used by Cowboys in old western movies. So I got the chance to try three rifles - Semi Automatic, Lever action and Bolt action. I liked the Lever action for its style, the Semi automatic for its obvious ease of use and the Bolt action for its precision. So managed to try out Ammo of 22mm, 30mm and the massive 270mm. Pretty cool stuff they were. By the end of it, I understood that rifle firing probably was not my cup of tea. the handgun, on the other side was definitely something that I was really comfortable with. I wouldnt say I fared better, but then it felt good to hold it. And the sense of power in my hands was Orgasmic (PS: not to be taken literally :) ). Did three full rounds of ammo on to the targets. All 45 mm bolts. Really really cool stuff. Must thank Dave for the chance given.

Oh yea, forgot to mention I got a new car for myself. Its a Volkswagen Passat 1.8T, 2001 model. Neat car. Just that it guzzles up gas. But then no complains as am pretty happy with it. so thats what I have been upto. Will keep the blog posted when there is something worthwhile that I can mention.

August Rush - Interesting???

August rush - the movie name keeps us clueless of whats to come, until u actually watch the movie. Set with a decent pace, the movie talks about a boy who is in search of his parents, with nothing but Music!!! Yeah.. I know it sounds weird.. But then the director did manage to convey the message, that weird is possible. It kind of feels very silly. I remember when i read the book called "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, I felt so stupid reading the part where the boy starts to speak to the wind, and to the sun, to the dessert, to the clouds, and finally to God. the feeling when i watched this movie was no different. But then as I said, the director did manage to drive home the point.

Augush Rush - 6.5/10

The Bucket List - In the list

Been a long time since I saw a movie that made me laugh, gaze, wonder, think and grieve at the same time. This is surely one. The movie talks about how life changes for two old men when they come to know that their last day in this world is not very far away. They try to make the best out of the time they have. and I guess they did.
The Bucket List - 7/10

Music... Never left behind

I always felt that the Tamil music had hit a pitstop which stopped changing since the days of MS Viswanathan, Illayaraja, A R Rehman, and likes.. But then I just came across this band after Gopal told me about it. This is a new wave of music in the Tamil music industry. The new style comes in from Yogi B and his associated band Natchatra, all Malaysian Tamils. The Lyrics are clean and at times manage to make sense too. Its based on a song from the movie "Nizhalgal" in the early 80s. I noticed from the song and the words they use that the Malaysian Tamils are still very much attached to their mother tongue compared to their counterparts in South Africa. I guess the reason can be attributed to the proximity of the regions or the number of generations that they have been there, but then cant be sure.
Without much ado, I would let you hear the song. But then the music has nothing much to do with Tamil as such so others too can enjoy it. You would love it... For sure.



Update: Arun let me know that this song has been around for quite some time now. Guess I was left behind. :) thanks Arun

"Thank You For Smoking" - Smart!!!

Got the chance to watch the movie "Thank You for Smoking". The movie is quick paced, smart and SMART... Aaron Eckart does a brilliant job acting as a Lobbyist for Tobacco usage. The movie talks about how he works around his career, family and life. A born 'talker' he carries the flag of victoy for the ciggerate companies lobby. 

Autograph - Footprints

This Tamil movie is something I have been waiting to watch for very long. Its a brilliant piece of story and script, though some might defer the opinion. I personally feel the movie is just great. The way it talks about the past of person. Not of a super hero, not of a super sized muscled fight machine, neither of an aspiring cop. Its set like a story of just another one of us. The commoners. Mud blooded. :) The story is walk through the past of Senthil, an executive in an advertising firm. Its a blend of his present with his past. Its about his wish to call all those people who mattered to him, to attend his wedding. this list includes 2 of his ex interests and good friend. In the flashback mode the movie tells us about how Senthil felt and fell for his first love, Kamala. the flashback brilliantly set in a village of rural Tamil Nadu manages to express the young innocent love of two teens and very little about their separation. Kamalas' expressions when she meets Senthil after all those years is priceless. The next flashback set in a village of rural Kerala is very mediocre and commercial in nature. But still it manages to rightly express the emotions that would run in the late teens. Lathika his new interest is daughter of a keralite landlord. And as we would expect, things do not go well and she is forced to get married to someone else. The turmoil Senthil goes through has been well portrayed, though I have doubts about the extent to which it has been. Senthil visits her to call he for his marriage only to find her widowed and lonely with no family support. He takes a decision to call off his scheduled marriage. Lathikas' words about what he feels for her now is not Love but mere Sympathy is accepted by him and with some encouragement from his friend he goes ahead with his planned marriage. The next flashback is about his friend Divya, who has been inspiration and mentor through his unemployed and confused past. Divya has been well portrayed for her confidence though she carries not a very pleasant past. She turns Senthils' life into a meaningful one.And the final ending or climax is when his wedding is to happen. Will he marry his fiance? Will his past haunt him again? Will they all come to his marriage?
Autograph - 8/10
Cheran(Actor & Director) - 9/10

Roman Holiday - Joy

The classic movie keeps up to its expectations. A Sheer Romantic comedy. The movie deserves the adoration that it very well enjoys. The movie gives a clear perspective into the life in 50s to some extent and very well is able to communicate the kind of bounds and turmoils a royal family member would have. Gregory Peck performs well. Audrey Hepburn is brilliant in her first Hollywood movie. Pssst... She is my latest crush. :) Elegant, Charming and Cute. Except for her extra bold eyebrows, which i presume must have been in style those days, she is fantabulous.
Set in the 50s in Rome the movie talks about the escapade of Anya, the Royal princess of some European country where she meets up with an equally handsome, but broke American Newspaper, Mr. Bradley. She tries to hide her identity and so does he. She lives and does all that she wanted to ever do in her life. And he rides the chariot hoping to make a quick buck with an exclusive write-up about the princess. As anyone can guess the get close to each other in that one day and they have to return to their own lives. But how it changes them and what happens to the write up is something you gotta see for yourself.
Roman Holiday - 8/10
Audrey Hepburn - 9/10
PS: The DVD version of the movie has just been released.

Freedom, Democracy & Racism - 1

In Continuum to my thoughts and opinions about multiple cities and countries comes yet another blog. But this time its more on a serious note. Am not much of a serious blogger and this is my first effort to express about something that is so deeply riveted among us, yet we comfortably try to keep under wraps.
I've been to 4 countries now, apart from India. And each of them have a different way of handling things. I would not talk much about Scotland cos I didn't spend as much time there to understand the place even wee bit. In simple terms Racism is explained as thought or opinion and discrimination on the basis of it, that one race, based upon ethnicity, region, language, religion or any such thing, is superior or inferior to another. Now that sounds stupid right? Just cos a person is India makes him dumber or smarter than one from say Europe? Or that an Japanese guy will do better origami than an African? Or that a farmer in India would do better cultivation than a lawyer in New York? Am turning around the plate now.. :) Imagine how is it possible not to discriminate between two people? Imagine, you are in a lonely island and there are just two more people - One Indian and one African. who would you prefer or tend to attach to at first glance? does that account for racism? In actual terms - YES.. You are discriminating the person based on ethnic grounds. But is it wrong? WELL... its just a comfort factor. Now modify the scenario, just two people in the island - one of them from your own city and another from a village in the other end of country of which you have never heard. Now is this Racism? In actual terms YES - your are discriminating on the basis of origin. Taking it further down, you got your own sibling and some person whom you have seen but never spoken to from the next street. You would tend to prefer your sibling. Racial Discrimination? No WAY.
Am not trying to justify Racism here. But just thinking aloud of what exactly defines it. Would you call the stance of the British Govt not to give equal rights till now to Indian doctors in UK as Racism? Would you call a Tamil politician ripped off of his opportunity to become a Sri Lankan head of state as Racism? Would you call preferential salaries being given for Nationals and expatriates in a Dubai as Racism?
I have been a victim of racism myself in UK when some Brit Teen screamed something at me, for no fault of mine. I never understood what he said though. Good for me. Or another instance when the door keeper of Harrods subtly made a comment like "People who are standing in the way, Please leave". That statement does not account for a racist statement, but am pretty sure he would not have told it if it was for a white skinned person standing in my position, neither would the waiter denied serving the meal on the basis of not ordering the minimum bill amount. It made me loathe that country. thankfully I didn't have any such experiences when i went to Scotland. they seemed lot more humble and soft compared to their counterparts in England. though, I hear off late that the Scotsmen are angry over Indians for the Glasgow blast.
South Africa is a totally different playground. The natives(blacks) were in control after a long time and making sure that the Blacks regain what they had lost by implementing the Black empowerment Programme. Nothing wrong in it. But then this is causing a serious crunch and shortage of jobs for the Resident Afrikaans and Englishmen. They have started to leave South Africa to reach countries like UAE where their colour of skin is much more appreciated. No offense meant here to anyone. Doesn't that account to Racial Discrimination. Of course we need not forget the way the white skinned govt. of SA had oppressed and slaughtered the natives for more than a century. Can u imagine, a situation where you are in your country, but are banned from being in public places after 6pm and not allowed to be at beaches. thats like really heartless. Cape Town is beautiful city as I have mentioned earlier and its beaches are the best I have seen till date. To ban someone to not go there is like starving a kid to death.
Now talking about Dubai and UAE. They are pretty plain in what they do. Not unlike UK or SA where they say everyone is equal and then award preferential treatment. UAE is not a democracy, it is a autocratic kind of setup. they don't claim to treat everyone equally and they don't. There is a clear preferential treatment given in the same order - Nationals(Emiratis), GCC countries, Non-GCC Arabs, Whites, Moslems, Others. It was pretty funny when i came to know that there have been CEOs and CIOs of companies in Dubai, obviously white skinned, who were chucked out of the country, when they came to know that these guys were mere school dropouts, after 15years of staying in that role. For that matter even in a country as strict as Saudi Arabia where Alcohol is banned there are sections of cities allocated for the fair skinned people were women walk around with swimsuit, men drink and merry. Does that account to Racism?
I would like to continue in this blog, but then it would get too long and boring. So rest in Next.

Whats in the Tongue - II

Being around in many cities and roaming about, tends to give so much understanding about each of them that cant be explained but only can be experienced. Every city, town, state, country has a flavour of its own. very similar to a person, an aura that it carries. This aura is predominantly made up by the people who live there. and being in such places you also come to notice certain aspects which are distinct. One example that i can think about is the way we explain junction points in a city which are controlled by traffic signal.
In Chennai this point is called as "Signal". Colloquially, "Ingernthu rendavauthu signallae left eduthaa kadaisi building". In Mumbai it is generally referred to as "Naaka". Naaka actually means a junction point of 4 roads and not a traffic signal controlled road, but I have noticed it is used that way none the less. In Calcutta, the same is called an "Island". U can imagine the reaction of a person who wishes to go to a place called Salt Lake in Kolkata and when asked for directions has been told to cross two islands, take left and take right on the third island. In New Delhi this junction is referred to as "Red Light". they could have called it "Green Light" or "Orange Light", but they chose to call it "Red Light" for some reason. I really was surprised the first time someone told me, "Bridge ke neeche se jao toh teesre red light mein left lena". I knew that Delhi didn't have a good repute in terms of how safe it was for the fairer sex, but imagining a how "Red Light Areas" could be so openly discussed about was kind of startling, until i came to know what it really meant, that is.
In Dubai the same junction is called as an "Ishaara". Its origins are thought to be from the vast expat population of Pakistanis that this country seems to attract.

Language is just one of those things that makes a city keep its aura.

I look like Brad Pitt

I look like Brad Pitt. :) Now funny can it get? I got this site from a friend of mine long time back. I was just perusing through the old mails and thought will check on it.
Incidentally, this is what the site had to say.
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Khor Fakkan Travelogue

after quite a long time staying in this dry(literally) city, I managed to convince Shivram to take me to some place different. We planned to get along with couple few of his friends and go to Fujairah. Then finally decided on Khor Fakkan(I know it sounds like a bad word) :). As i was told by shivram, the place had beautiful beaches and mountains beside it. I surfed through the net and found out a youth hostel where we could crash.
the whole plan was on its verge of crackdown, when Sethu(my ex-boss) said that i will have to work over the weekend as the workload was very high. High..??? where? he seems to think so. Vivek(my current boss) on the other hand is stark opposite of Sethu. He is a pretty cool guy, saying he also would have joined me on the trip if he knew earlier. So finally convincing him that i would work on Sunday i left on friday afternoon.
Shivram with couple of his friends had come over - Sam and Sanjay. We took a real long route and quite lot of time to reach the place. Incidentally we had traveled to 5 out of the 7 emirates in UAE to reach the place. we had taken the wrong route. Sanjay on the other hand who had come from Al Ain had touched all the 7... Phew!! it was a cross country trip. We reached the place when it was almost sunset. The place reminded me of Juhu beach with the swarming crowd all over. It had taken about 20 minutes to find a parking spot for the car.I was disappointed looking at the place, cos it was nothing great as such. The only thing that seemed interesting to me was the Water scooter ride. As we were going to stay there overnight, we decided to take it the next day morning when the beach would be comparatively empty. We took a ride on the big boat for about 10 minutes. We then went back to the hostel, took some rest and then went for a stroll. Went to the little Eid special market that was there. Struggled to get some decent food. Slept well.

Woke up early. went for a early morning tea with shivram. Then took out towels and left for the beach. yooohoooo... the sea was so still, it seemed like a mega swimming pool. there was no crowd there either... very few people who had camped at the beach overnight. I swam in the sea for about 15-20 minutes... then for the most interesting part, the water scooter/jet ski. Sam tried it first, then it was my turn. I took shivram for a ride. then Sanjay took me for a ride. then my turn to go Solo... phew.. I zipped past the non existent waves... must have touched at least 100kmph speed. i went at least 1 km inside the sea.. man.. i loved it. it was real coool. I always got recollected of Akshay Kumar in some movie riding it, and that small jet of water coming from the rear end of the jet ski. not that am Akshay kumar... :) but still got recollected of it. After that we came back to our room packed up and left to see a waterfall.. What a Waterfall midst the desert? well... i dont know, i never believed there could be one. We drove for about an hour or so.. came across some amazing landscape on the way. And reached the 'waterfall'. the waterfall had a cumulative water volume of 5 taps opened together in Chennai. thats how big the water'fall' was.. Ofcourse that didnt deter the 30-40 people who were swimming in that little pool of water. After seeing the unbelievable site of a waterfall in a mountainous desert we turned back to dubai. On our way back we saw the huge line of vehicles from Dubai to Fujairah, it was as long as about 5-6 km. And the long queue was just cos of two speed breakers which were limiting the speed of the cruising vehicles. Returned to room. Took rest.
And come Sunday I was sitting with my boss working.. Of course he cooked me a decent lunch.
Ciao.

Dubai Dreams - 2

Its been like Ages since my last blog.. So here I am back again. did anyone miss me.. apart from me? This blog is dedicated to the Chaetans of Dubai. Cos that is where this blog is coming from. DubaiLand. The land midst the.. err... land... desert. Am still surprised about how this country sustains with almost 83% other nationals. And i think am getting an idea about it. Few of the initiatives taken to make sure that the country stays in the hands of its own nationals are - Immaterial of how long a person says in the UAE he can never become a national here, unless ofcourse he is born of UAE citizens(Emiratis). Expatriates cannot buy or own any business or property in this country. Any business done has to be via a sponsor(who needs to be a Emirati), which means that all the investment and effort and hardwork is done by the expats, and the emirati enjoys 4-5% of the overal revenue from the business just cos he sponsored someone. Cool way of earning lazy money... huh? Of course am sure there would be some clauses on such partnership, none the less it is easy money.
With the exchange rate going down and down agains the indian rupee, I wonder what the expats would do when it is no more advantageous to stay in Dubai. People would start returning to India, hat too after the growth and perks that India has to offer these days, am sure it would not be a very tough decision to make. Am sure the whole country would be in a total shortage of manpower. When i say shortage, really mean it... no one to do the construction labour work, no one to clean the streets, lesser number of taxis on the streets, no more roadside shawama stalls, no more Nair tea kada, no more barber shop, no more store staff, no more employees in office, no more govt offices(half of them are there to serve indians only). Saying all that it doesnt mean indians only do bloe collared jobs. There are plenty ofthem in white collared jobs too... in IT functions, in finance departments, in purchasing departments, in media, in advertising, almost every industry. Its unimagineable what would happen to this country without Indians. When i had the same discussion with Shivram, he said the solution was simple, the salary in UAE would start becoming more lucrative. Well yeah.. thats a simple solution. :) never thought of it.