Indiscriminate pricing

Cost of living rises in UAE Capital – The caption and the news published in today’s GN daily (Tuesday, 20th March, 2012),  are points worthy to be noted and treated with utmost seriousness.

The gullible public is taken to task by the intelligent shop owners.

Price of 120 grams of Close Up toothpaste varies from  6.50 to 7.25 to 8.50 in three different shops -all in the close vicinity. 700 gm of Milk Powder costs 42.50 in one shop and in the near- by shop ( in the very)next building is it 45.75!  NIDO milk powder has 5 different prices in 5 different shops all in close quarters. 5 Kgs of Wheat Flour was sold at 10 and within one week, the price was increased to
12, first after creating artificial scarcity. A cake is sold for 6 and in the nearby shop it is  is 5.50 and on another it is only 5 – all made in the same company. Chicken Biriyani is sold from 08.50 to 9,
9.50 and 10 dirhams in similarly furnished hotels. A lunch costs 5 in one restaurant and in the neighbor-hood it is almost double. And both are of same standards as far as seating and other arrangements are concerned. Same is the case with snacks – South Indian delicacies like
Iddli, Dosa, Masala Dosa all have different prices in different hotels.

Trimming of beard was earlier AED.5 / and all on a sudden it went up to AED. 10  - 100% increase . Reason was because of the rise in rent. Well, the rent has come down but not the increased rare in the saloon!

Electronics goods, Textiles – not spared.   And so it goes and on –  the indiscriminate pricing of products.

What makes them tax the public so? Is there a pricing policy in the Super/Hyper Market and cafetarias /Restaurants, with Land Lords!

Who can and will bell those cats – so poor public are not cheated so blatantly. Seems Public has to be more active, vigilant to confront the misdeeds. As long as we are unaware, or aware and simply passive they can go on with their misdeeds.

Media Hype

Media Hype

More than 48 hours passed since a famous film actor met with an accident in the state of Kerala. All types of media – numerous TV Channels, umpteen number of news papers, Radio Stations including that in the Middle East were busy with reporting the sensational news. An array of Doctors were in attendance for the single soul, conducting heated discussions,  having board meeting to discuss the situation, improvements etc. Reports were made of the family visiting the celebrity. Many were shocked, some saw dooms day for the film industry.

There were two passengers in the car – the celebrity and his driver. Only few words were there to report the state of the driver – that he had serious injuries and had fracture on the leg – that is all. Nothing else is mentioned – for he is no one according to the media.  What happened to him? What about his injuries, treatment? What about his family? None was keen to spend few seconds on him nor an iota of sympathy to the poor chap.

What harm it causes to report honestly – about the complete incidents?

Where are the genuine journalists; and an honest, compassionate media, media persons???

And this happens everywhere, every time. The unsung heroes are buried in the abysmal depth of oblivion

How to let one go….

How to let one go….

The last sentence of an article captioned “Hazards of Romance”, prompted me to ruminate on the point: “they are working out in the office in your absence how to let you go.

After 15 long years of tension filled service one is forced to leave suddenly – reason is simple, “they were working out” in his presence and absence to see he  is out. The long years ended up in forced resignation and when the letter was tendered the CEO did not have the courtesy to ask/find out the how and why of it.

One who used to claim “service charges’ from his colleagues was ousted and “they gave him a sent off with gifts. His colleague who rendered selfless service when resigned,  “they” did not have few nice words to wish him a farewell.

A lady was subjected to office politics, non-cooperation, gossip – since she was the only fair sex and was more educated. "They"succeeded in “letting her go” as they worked out so forcefully; and the poor lady had a disgraceful exit.

National, regional sexual discriminations are rampant in majority of the offices. After many years of services one is forced to leave all on a sudden for no major reason – the only valid one is that “they” did not like you and worked out to let you go.

The trait of Iago- Shakespeare’s villain in the drama Othello is said to be “motiveless malignity”.  Are the Iagos of our offices having motiveless or motiveFULL of malignity??

Arabic Teaching/Learning

Arabic Teaching/Learning

In the report based o the inspection of Indian & Pakistan schools by the Knowledge & Human development Authority(KHDA), “poor teaching and assessment of Arabic” was identified as one of the shortcomings. And this is thought  provoking.

Majority of expatriates in any GCC country are from the above mentioned two nations and many of them have spent years here. Many  of  their children are borne and brought up here. Yet when coming to the learning of the language they are not very active; do not make an earnest attempt to learn the official language, language of the region.

What makes the subject tough and hence a dreaded one – the authorities have rightly observed of “poor teaching”. Arbic like Mathematics is made a nightmare by the teachers who are not professionals nor dedicated to their noble mission. The teachinques used by such individuals are that of cercion which does not deliver the desired result. Any subject becomes tough or easy, interesting or difficult depending on the teachers, their teaching techniques. When professionals, dedicated teachers teach, the subject becomes easily comprehendible, graspable-intereting too. And so teachers play a prominent part in this process. 

While the major step is to select such dedicated, professionals, the “not my father’s language, mother’s language” attitude nurtured should also be changed, done away with. Maximum encouragement should be made, even campaigns conducted so all can learn the language, communicate easily and a more friendly society can be developed – without much communication gap and embarrassment from the ignorance of the language. I wish all concerned will give an earnest try for this.