July 25,2023

I got less than the optimal amount of sleep last night. After a hurried getting-ready routine, I headed out to the office at 8 AM, pulling out of the driveway and on to Sheikh Zayed Road towards Abu dhabi. I did this routinely now for 3 months, enjoying very much the morning 15-minute ride past the imposing Dubai Marina Skyline, flanked by the ever unlikely juxtaposition of giant Aluminium Smelters that were operated by Emirates Global Aluminium. In keeping in lock-step with the visual surrealism, my stereo might on one day be playing Bach on the Classical FM station and on another Badshah on Kadak FM.  Another 5 minutes and one was in Jebel Ali- a very industrial looking area with warehouses and such. Over the course of the previous year, I was often purported to be here masquerading as being in Manila  as I seemed to be around in Dubai for all the important social gatherings. Who would have thought that in a few months I might actually be stationed here. Eery coincidence,eh?

Moments later, I pulled out at Exit 13 towards the Jebel Ali Port when I suddenly remembered that today was payday. I kept checking my phone for the credit message from the bank- which announces the monthly top-up to my Emirates NBD account rather nonchalantly. I was particularly looking for it because I had very large outflows already planned in the subsequent days. We had made a decision to construct a swimming pool in our relatively modest-sized backyard.  This required heavy cash injection. I debated this a lot, because I was reasonably far from being a poster-child of the desi bourgeoisie- or so I claimed. In the end, someone told me that it increases the market value of the property in a merrily disproportionate way. In other words, you could invest 100,000 AED in a pool and it would improve your house price by 200,000 AED. All of this notionally ofcourse. Who really knew. But I thought if I leave the cash in the bank it would fetch me 3%. The example above suggested a notional return of 100%. While the real return might not be as high as 100%, it would be unlikely to be lower than 3%- unless there was a black swan correction to the real-estate market. We were in a rising market post Covid so I figured this was unlikely to happen in the short to medium term. 

The Pool Contractor came recommended by another family in the neighborhood who had just completed their pool weeks ago. We shopped around a bit but settled on this company quickly and in a matter of days, work had begun. I was initially astounded when I saw a group of 6 south Asian men engaging in hard labour in my backyard, braving 45 Degrees Celsius. It did not feel right, but of course this was logically the best time to go for this as there would not be any usual backyard activities owing to the sweltering heat. Fortunately, there was a fridge outdoors that we could load with icy cold water for the workers- and where they could also store their lunch before eating it. I must admit that I was generally surprised with the alacrity with which progress was being made-in spite of the scorching conditions. In a few days now, we could expect water to start filling up.

This ofcourse implied that the payment milestones were also progressing swiftly and they were actually rather rear-loaded. Hence, I awaited the salary credit with some anticipation- I was slightly worried that I may not have registered my entries into the office this month and that may have led to an issue with my salary. I saw a credit message come in and my eyes lit up- only to realise that it was false relief. The amount was a tiny health insurance credit. However, the credit did finally come through around 11 AM in the morning. And I thought to myself, could I even conceive of a life where said recurring credit might never come- ever? It was certainly something I had to plan for in the next stage of my life. I had had a lot of criticism from very close friends and well-wishers that I should step out of my comfort zone- and be more of a risk taker. In all aspects of life. This has too many connotations that I won’t go into but generally speaking, it bears some merit.  I did recently quit my big oil sinecure of 16 years for a riskier option- and with returns that were of a purely non-economic in nature. But somehow I don’t think I had done enough to change this perception of myself. I would have to do something more daring, and with a lot more to lose. I get it. But I don’t get it. If a lower risk option gets you where need to go, why take a higher risk action?

Speaking of above, while scrolling mindlessly on my FB reels one morning while still in bed, I chanced upon a video where Nawazuddin Siddiqui was doing an interview in a car. While the car was speeding down the Western expressway in Mumbai, Nawaz was saying that he had no investments- just cash in the bank. He did not want to invest stocks, bonds, not real estate. He did not even want to increase his wealth. He had enough for his needs and could not be bothered to make more. It was better for the world at large if people who needed it more than him, made more. Very simply put but almost impossible to navigate the psychological quagmire required to actually execute. But he seemed to be doing it- which was somewhat inspiring.

Of all the things occupying my mind these days, increasingly a lion’s share was going in to developing the idea of a potential retirement-mode and then consciously creating certain conditions that would usher this in- sooner rather than later. Retirement-mode is a precursor to retirement. Here one is still gainfully employed and willfully working (as opposed to the much-vaunted recent post-covid phenomenon of “Quiet -quitting”) but not aspiring for any greatness on the professional front. One is aspiring for greatness on pretty much every other front that one is interested in.  One is willing to make atleast as serious an effort as was made when tasked to do so in the days of yore by the invisible twin-hands of pragmatism and circumstance.  And for me this was to be on very many fronts indeed. So many threads to progress, so many rabbit holes to traverse- I was already way out of time.