The Infernal Diurnal Journal

  May 10 2023 As I drove back from the DHA clinic following my umpteenth blood and x-ray test for yet another Emirates ID card, I was reflecting on the day that had passed. A lot of meetings with a whole bunch of people from Finance- thanks to Meshal. And several points were brought to my attention. And almost everyone hinted to me that I had my task cut out. They did not envy me. And I had a lot of problems to deal with- particularly an overworked and disgruntled team. I had received some criticism in one form or another of both my reports- Hesham and Aftab. I had to first verify some of these points and also dig deep to seek the truth. As I was new, it is obvious there were many people who would like to color my lens to suit their agenda. Both within and outside my team. This stuff never changes wherever you go. I quite began to see that the basic design of the problem was similar to my BGC assignment. A lot of non-performing locals, a very few expats- and even these had been str...

My first day at my new job. I had fitful sleep- awoke a few times to get a drink of water. This Monday morning was like no other in a very long time. It was one where my wife’s 5 AM alarm was a universal slumber-ender for the entire household. Not just her. She had to leave at 6.50 AM. My boys had to leave for school at 7.15 AM and I- after such a long time- was going to have a normal life- and leave for work at 7.30 AM- by car rather than airplane. My wife drove off first but had to return shortly thereafter to bring back my set of keys which she had placed in her handbag the evening before and forgotten to take them out. I was going to need these today. I had to lock the Master bedroom and also drive my car to work. I took a shower, got ready, and left.  As I cruised down Sheikh Zayed Road towards Abu Dhabi, I remember the song that was playing on spotify.  It was “California girls”- not the classic Beach boys version but the even better David Lee Roth version. It took all o...

 Leaving Singapore is not quite leaving Las Vegas- even though Singapore has recently tried to reinvent itself as a paradise for the entertainment-seeking- much like Vegas. Except that Vegas caters to people from many walks of life while Singapore has no such luxury- it always has and always will continue to cater only to the rich and famous. I am not even sure why you have that expression- "Rich and Famous". Rich will do you know. If you are famous, you are automatically rich. The more people know you, the more you can hold sway over large and hitherto disconnected swathes of people. Now we have the terminology to articulate the economic value proposition of such fame. The picture becomes amply clear when you replace the word "people" with " consumers" and the word "famous" with the more far more pragmatic  "influencer". The issue with Singapore is that it is increasingly pricing out its humdrum citizenry in favor of a group of interna...

It happens to be the 6th of May today- it has been 5 months since I penned an entry. As with most resolutions, this one too has died a natural death. It lasted all of 7 days. However I beg to claim extenuating circumstances. At the last time of writing I was situated in a serviced apartment in Manila- whereas now I am ensconced in my white sofa near the piano- in my home in Dubai. How this came to be deserves a mention but not via one big entry all of a sudden today but rather via several entries- and hence I am planning to resume the journal on Jan 8th rather than May 6th. In terms of cosmic time passages the anachronism is not material so it should be ok. Back in August, I had a reach out by an HR lady from a local conpany in dubai via linkedin. She wanted to know if I would be willing to explore an opportunity. Now this had happened a few times before- however the reach out would usually be engendered via a recruiter rather than the HR department of the concern itself. I had not eve...