Good Morning Dubai

Another Dawn -

Leave for work at 5:15 am from Sharjah .... Reach office in Dubai by 7:30 am.
Another 2 hours while going back.

It takes 2 hours everyday to span a distance that will probably take just 20 minutes if there is no traffic.

Dubai is all about the real estate market. One marketing tact they use is giving the time taken to reach the concerned property from Dubai Airport. They come up with figures like 15* minutes and 20* minutes ! 20 minutes !!!!

Its impossible to reach anywhere in less than an hour. Probably they should add an * sign near the statement and add a note "* - Under standard test conditions".

Then they can have Standard Test Conditions like -

• Between 2:30am - 3:30am (because that is the only time there is no trafic - I have witnessed traffic jams at 1:30 am! Between Dubai and Sharjah).
• That too in the months of June, July - the days of Summer Holidays when half of Dubai goes to India, mind well only INDIA for vacations.
• All this provided there is no accident on the concerned road to hold back traffic by upto another 2 hours .

There is a reason for this insanity - The construction boom of 2000 saw a rapid rise expat population. The infrastructure, as good as it was, just wasn't enough to sustain this influx of people (from all over the world and especially from the subcontinent) hence the situation.

All this has led to some some startling facts and statements about this region, most of which are true:

• UAE has the highest growth rate for purchase of new cars in the world.
• 55 % of the population is Indian (so statements like, "Dubai is the best Indian city outside of India" are not completely invalid)
• This is the place where the best banks in the world have the worst reputation for being 'loan sharks' and 'credit card devils'.
• The region has a fetish of world records - Tallest Building, Tallest Hotel, Most Expensive Hotel, Man made structures (palm islands) that can bee seen from space; there is even a World record creating event in Dubai Shopping Festival ....
• UAE has seen the rise of a lifestyle disease which goes by the name of Dubai-Sharjah syndrome caused by spending hours stuck in traffic between Dubai and Sharjah.