The day before

The day before

28 October 2018

Courtesy deviantart.com

 

The news kept coming in, one recount more alarming and shocking than the other. It had all started the day before in Kerman in Iran where an Earthquake with the magnitude of 7.7 had caused several thousands of deaths and several thousands were left injured. Shortly after that followed an Earthquake with the magnitude of 9.3 in Shiraz, the deadliest ever in Iran, taking the death tolls to several hundreds of thousands. The Earth had opened up at Sabzposhan and severe landslides together with the Earthquake had taken their toll on the region. The Earthquake then hit the region of Bandar Abbas, causing tidal waves along the coast.

In Dubai, the tremors were felt by the inhabitants although the radio signaled that there was nothing to fear. Shortly after this news came out, Dubai residents felt tremors shake the city. It seemed like the Earthquake that had started in Kerman was following a zig-zag pattern as the radio announced that another Earthquake had occurred in the capital, Abu Dhabi. The tremors were slight at first with perhaps a magnitude of less than 4 but soon the Dubai residents felt the city shaking with increasing tremors building up another larger Earthquake.

Slowly but surely the tremors increased. It all seemed as if the fault that had opened up in Iran was now continuing its way under the sea. The Dubai residents had run out of their homes as the tremors increased but with the havoc happening outside they wondered if they should go back to the safety of their homes. The skies were filled with helicopters that were taking the ruling family to safety. One wondered where that would be however as everywhere in the city there were recounts of buildings collapsing and the Earth opening up.

A news crew was busy filming the disaster in the air using a helicopter they had hired for the occasion. The level of destruction caused by the Earthquake was unimaginable. Several towers had simply caved in, some others had tilted over and some were split in the middle with the top parts falling off like a peeled orange. Several fires had been ignited everywhere as a result of the falling buildings and badly protected wirings. As the journalists watched, the beautiful Burj Khalifa’s external glass structure shattered into thousands of shards before the top of the building started toppling over.

It seemed like this was not the last of the problems though as they could see a tidal wave forming at the coastline. They watched horror-struck as residents across the coastline clambered to the top of their houses in a desperate move to be saved from the oncoming wave. Some of the journalists shut their eyes in prayer as the wave crashed on the shore, wiping out the entire areas of Jumeirah, Um Suqueim and Dubai Marina as it swept along the coast and made its way to the middle of Sheikh Zayed road. Hundreds of cars that had been jammed in the residents’ desperate attempt to flee the area were soon overpowered by the seething water that rocked them to and fro before casting them against the buildings that were toppling over.

The journalists in the helicopter cried helplessly although they were normally hardened men. They thought of some of their relatives down there whom they would never see again. Some had wives and children who had surely perished, if not drowning in the waters then probably under the falling towers as so many of them had fallen like a series of lego. They thought of how they had come up here to report on what they expected to be minor issues and get at least some sensationalist recounts. Nothing had prepared them for the extent of the disaster which had ensued.

When the tremors of the Earthquake and its aftershock had finally subsided, the center of the city was a lagoon with portions of buildings protruding here and there. The outskirts were reduced to a pile of rubble and in between lay a slushy landscape of debris. The towers had disappeared and the Burj Al Arab structure was leaning more than the tower of Pisa, with only its top part emerging from the waters. The Burj Khalifa looked similar to what it had looked like during its construction several years ago. The top of the building had fallen to the ground, a large part of the middle had caved in and all the glass windows had been shattered leaving it akin to a giant colosseum…

Earthquake – Labrinth ft -Tinie Tempah

 

 

The Shaman tales 1: No rain

The Shaman tales 1: No rain

29 January 2018

Courtesy Christian Schloe on pinterest.com

She paused and looked at the clouds forming. They had been seeding them in hope of getting rain but she planned otherwise. Using the old conjuring of spirits of dry, she danced wildly invoking desert drought and parched lands. The land was cool from the winter winds but the skies grew clear of clouds and the dust flew in the air filling people’s chests. After all they had done to her, she vowed to not let the rains bless their lands until she received what they had taken away from her. They had thought her to be a mere vessel that they could lull back to sleep, not realising that within her the powers of the Shamans of old were reignited. She had rediscovered within her the spirits of the lineage of Shamans that went back to time immemorial when she had danced in Machu Pichu her senses blazing from the Ayahuasca brew.

Every time the clouds gathered she willed the weather back to that of dried lands. She had been in public once though and could not stop the rains from falling as she could not break into the dance of flames. As soon as she could, that one time it had rained, she had hurried back home and willed the rain to stop. Her eyes blazed with the fire of the phoenix rising within her and scorching the pelting rain to vapour before it had stilled it and reduced the clouds to small cotton balls in the sky. Hers was not a mere revenge but a mission she embarked upon with all the vigor and will of those who had been coarsely and negligently wronged.

During the nights, she spoke to the spirits of the rain and pacified them, letting them know that they could visit sites nearby where they could flow all their ardour into the lands. In her altered state she took them by the hand and guided them to locations that would either benefit from rain or where she wanted to wreck havoc in vengeance, taking them far away from where her physical body was lying. They danced through the desert skies, high above the clouds and making sure not to come into contact with these latter so that they would not be charged and wet the lands with their content. Every time she danced with those spirits, her astral body sizzled with the intermingling of the flames of the phoenix and the waters of the spirits of the rain. The result was a trail of mist and steam that onlookers identified in the sky as a streak similar to that of a wishing star. Together they danced right over Paris and other European cities before returning to the place where her body dwelt. Once the dances over, she resettled back into her body and slept a sleep riddled with dreams of the Mother.

 

The Most Astounding Fact – Nibana

Among Thoughts (Star Paths) – Nibana

I am a Soul – Nibana

A sign of the rampant hypocrisy that plagues our world: unsustainable sustainability

A sign of the rampant hypocrisy that plagues our world: unsustainable sustainability

1 August 2016

Last month, I get a DEWA bill which for water alone shows a consumption of over 45 thousand gallons resulting in a net water bill of circa 3,500 AED which is of course impossible given our very measured consumption. My initial thought is that they have mistaken the neighbouring villa for my meter as that one harbours 70 maids all squeezed in tight into the same kind of villa as the family of my landlord has two identical villas side by side in Um Suqeim.

 

I file a complaint with DEWA considering they profess to be green and saving water and all that jazz. The result of the complaint is that a guy comes checks the meter and goes back to DEWA happy to have done his job. My complaint had however clearly mentioned that it was impossible to have that level of water consumption because we are very careful with water.

 

Parallel to that, just in case, I make sure the landlord’s company is aware that there might be a problem as we also had a shortage of water once or twice. As is usual with local landlords, the Indian staff keep saying that somebody will come but nobody turns up at all so we keep trying to live with the issue of shortage thinking that DEWA will come back with a solution to the issue. Meanwhile we have of course looked absolutely everywhere but cannot identify a leakage to the extent of all those gallons lost.

 

The next month, I get a bill with 69,000 gallons for circa 3,800 AED for water alone!! I don’t know if you understand my shock as it is more than impossible. I complain again saying this is quite impossible and even at the peak of consumption when all my children were here (they are now off for summer holidays with my ex) and we also had guests, the maximum it went to was 1,400 AED or a consumption of less than 20,000 gallons so could they please check properly. I highlight that there is visibly a problem because so much consumption is not possible and clearly water is being lost somewhere. I don’t believe even the 70 maids next doors could be reaching that level of water consumption.

 

Pom popom, the DEWA guy lazily comes in again and checks the water meter and is all set to go. We tell him that it can’t be just that and can he come and have a look inside the premises. After all DEWA is professing to be GREEN and to be saving the environment. I’d think trying to prevent over 40,000 gallons from finding their way to a desert grave would be incentive enough for an entity that professes itself to be GREEN and so connected to saving the environment.

 

The DEWA person assigned to review the complaint matter onsite has a wayward look everywhere, shrugs this thing off and says it is not DEWA’s problem if water is lost (sic!) and it is for the landlord to try to find out what is the matter as it is inside the premises.

 

Ahem, perhaps you want to rephrase that, I think almost aloud. We all know how local landlords are. We’ve been trying to get the landlord to fix the shortage problem. Imagine them thrashing around the place to find a potential leakage of water which is nowhere really to be seen. We venture a feeble “Don’t you think DEWA should be enforcing on landlords to make sure their property is per norms when they are renting to expats like us?” and another feeble “we can’t force these local landlords to do anything” but he is not too concerned. He mumbles that if we are not happy then we can go back to our home country. He is right and I would LOVE to do just that except that I simply cannot do that for now for personal and financial reasons

 

As somewhat of a solution to the whole problem with divine intervention, the pipe actually bursts yesterday night and we are now able to find out where the problem actually lies. As I write, I am sitting here now waiting for the landlord’s company to finally come and repair the whole thing instead of going to work as my helper is on vacation for the whole month. While I have been paying off the small items like issues with the ACs and the toilet blockage etc, I can’t see how a landlord, even local, can expect to see me pay for his whole water pipe system. Then again as the saying goes there is enough for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed. Incidentally, perhaps that is why there are these poor 70 odd maids packed like sardines in the next door villa, which is quite appalling if you think of it. Add to this fact that I have not even received my tenancy agreement as it would seem the landlord is not too keen for me to register it with RERA although he made sure to cash the check.

 

Now I am left wondering who is supposed to pick up that tab of circa 7,300 AED for water alone. Water I have not even got to use because it just seeped back into this empty desert sand. I am afraid the very green DEWA is simply going to wash its hands off the whole issue like they could not care less that a consumption of circa 600 AED monthly jumps all of a sudden to over 3,000 AED month after month. I am afraid the landlord might also attempt to wash his hands off the whole story and try to leave me with the damages to pay. Of course there are no proper consumer protection laws that would allow one to get appropriate compensation.

 

If you think of it, the fact that DEWA could even dismiss the discrepancy in the consumption is the clear proof of that two-tier hypocrisy system. Probably DEWA was under the impression that the landlord must have resorted to renting this villa out as well to another company housing another 70 odd maids within its premises like what he did next doors. Funnily enough this is a practice that is officially not allowed but it is becoming more rampant now in Jumeira and Um Suqeim while it was contained only to Jaffiliya and Bur Dubai before.

 

While I understand the need for two or three families to share a villa given the insane prices we have to pay in Dubai for housing as compared to our home location, the cramping of so many individuals inside the old houses because it is a cheaper option than a labour camp is simply appalling. It would seem that the old houses now are a better option to most companies housing their slightly more senior staff as the newer labour camps with proper arrangements that the government has been supporting are simply considered as too costly by these companies.

 

People only target the government for the problem of the labour camps but suffice to see that it is a matter of greed which goes back to the companies themselves. Indeed,  the new enhanced labour camps and other arrangements for mid-level personnel are available and they simply stay unoccupied as most companies are not willing to pay more to house their personnel under humane and acceptable conditions.

 

It is sad but very much a fact of the human condition that those who can change things fail to recognize that it is only in the establishment of a system that is palatable, steeped in truth and fair to everyone that you can build real sustainability.

Unsustainable – Muse

Second Law, Isolated System – Muse