Dubai Open Tennis Championships 2008

Before I say anything else, I would like to thank the lord, my wife, parents and Barclays for making sure I and the best players in the Sony Ericsson WTA tour could exist within 15 metres of each other while they grunt away to glory. The atmosphere is chilled out fun… there is pizza, burger, nachos and beer available at the pubs next door to the stadium and you can watch while you eat and drink. What more can a mere mortal from over-crowded/rowdy/barely-legal-to-drink-in-pubs/badly-behaved-shoving-pushing-crowds Delhi want in life… My friends tell me that these privileges would be worth a fortune in many countries and to think that tickets are prices from AED 30 to AED 150-200 for the whole tournament here. I’m happy about being in Dubai!!

Yesterday I saw the matches between Dementieva and Schnyder and Mirza/Schiavone and Kuznetsova/Mauresmo…

The best part is that while watching tennis you feel so close to the players… the court is small and the seating area is even smaller if your last experience has been watching cricket at Eden Gardens. Hopefully I’ll be going again today to watch singles matches involving Sania and well as Sharapova. It’s time to make amends for the mistakes I committed yesterday – had forgotten to take my camera along.  Should put up a couple of the best pictures here soon…. Maybe I’ll get Sania to pose for me 😉

Price of property is too high…. NOO..OOT

The price of property is just never high enough. In my short adult life, I have always thought that the price of property is just too high whenever you find something that you actually want. The first (out of 1.5) apartment I have ever bought was bought at a price of INR 1750 psft. This was to change to 1900 psft the next day itself. Whew, so thankfully I went ahead and booked it and closed that transaction. WOW, I look back at that transaction and wonder why I did not buy 5 of them then. It is another matter that I could not sleep that night and wondered if I had made the right decision. Today, from that price of 1750 in April 2004, the price is roughly 5000 psft. Thats a return of 185% profit in 4 years. And trust me, its not too good if compared to the peak performers.

Looking for property in Dubai, it is impossible to believe that there is nothing to buy that you think is wirth living in for less than INR 20000000, or about AED 2M. And that would be a 1 bedroom. Not so long ago, this was maybe 1M and people thought it was a bubble then!!!

Old age wisdom says – Property seldom lets you down. Of course there can be bubbles, and of course there can be wars or bomb blasts… but in the long run, or on an average – if you can qualify for a loan – then buy a property.

At the same time, unwise and purely speculative positions are something that I would now stay away from. As noted in my post earlier, TDI Kingsbury at Kundli seems right now to be quite an unwise move, especially considering they DID charge quite an amount for the vision they showed. Now god only knows where they will take us, or more importantly – WHEN!!

Dubai Guide, Post #2

After my initial post on getting into Dubai… the next issue to tackle would usually be finding accomodation for yourself. Not to deny that at this stage a number of things start happening simultaneously, almost all of which are also counting on your residence visa to be stamped onto your passport… but let’s deal with finding a house and renting it for now.

The first thing to do is get a number of brokers on the job. Points to be noted:

a) Most brokers hardly have time (circa 2007) and are doing you a huge favour

b) Try to know where you would want your house to be, hopefully even the size and the rent you’re willing to pay

c) Have as many of the papers ready as possible, as the broker and property manager want the deal closed yesterday (when you do find something you like)

– Resident visa/permit

– Cheque book for brokerage/deposit/rent

– Letter from your employer (If I remember correctly)

Once you have all these brokers working for you, it is advisable to see at least 3-4 places everyday till you find the best combination for yourself. Many buildings will be family only, and apparently some areas are best left alone. The thing is, Bur Dubai and Marina etc should be the costliest… I know about Bur Dubai (the golden sands area) and it is so as it’s in the heart of Dubai. Whether you wanna go left or right, you’re in a very central place. Of course, if budgets demand it… you can get a cheaper place in Deira.. lesser in Ghusais and then moving in to Sharjah etc. Also, one has the option of going towards international city or away from Bur dubai in the direction opposite to Deira on Sheikh Zayed road along Al Barsha etc… rents should get cheaper as you go farther away. Obviously localities like Jumeirah, Marina, and the upcoming Downtown Dubai have their own spiralling costs and lifestyles.

Eating in Dubai

I enjoy my food. For me,

Eating is not something you have to do to stay alive.

Eating is not a chore.

Eating does not waste time.

…

Eating is heavenly

Eating is the reason why we live, not the other way round

So… with that in mind, moving to Dubai has been quite a nice move. There is food of all sorts available here… Served, Cooked, Ready-to-cook, Uncooked, Not-to-be-cooked, Indian, Not-at-all-Indian,  sizes, shapes, qualities and much much more. The good parts are:

1 – Lots and lots of variety of everything. Don’t even get me started on “how so?”

2 – Off the shelf and easy availability. Whatever be your palette

3 – Joys of cooking yourself (or be it the wife) and living with your mistakes and your genius

4 – The snacks, an unlimited variety

5 – The price – Food really is as cheap as in India, and for all the varieties that you have access to, those are definitely cheaper than if you were to look for them back home.

YUMMS… I’m having a good time 🙂