The Infernal Diurnal Journal

  A quiet day at work. Something brewing with one of my direct reports. I found out via the grapevine that he was in the GCEO’s office for 2 hours yesterday- unbeknownst to me. I wonder what the discussion was and why I was not involved first. Anyway, perhaps I am overthinking it. I will ask tomorrow in my regular catch up.  Meanwhile, I submitted a business case proposal for a bit of a mini re-org I am proposing in my shop. I don’t know how much of it will fly with HR-and going by recent experience, I will not be surprised if there is pushback-  atleast  partially.  If it does go through as proposed, it will mean I really need to hire one  particular role  as soon as possible- who has to be a UAE national in the first instance. I saw some resumes earlier, and  I did shortlist  one decent resume for an interview. Hopefully, will receive some more. Ducab has most of the senior management positions filled-  with the exception of  the ...

A bit more sleep after a dinner and chat at Tilo’s Greens apartment- which I had visited 3 times in the last 5 days for one reason or other. I felt hungry when I got back home around 11 PM and committed dietary hara-kiri by consuming some Ujjala’s chanachur while watching Netflix. It is something I tended to do all too often. Munch moments before hitting the sack. Deplorable habit- but atleast I didn’t smoke anymore! What I was watching on Netflix was captivating- It was a documentary on WHAM!- the original boy band form the early 80s. It is the first non-ABBA or BoneyM oriented pop music I had ever heard. “Wake me up before you go go” would play everywhere in 1984-85 in Jamshedpur. Particularly at the Club Fetes of which there were a few each year.  I liked the song but it was also a fashion statement to listen to Wham! Normally for young women but I think little boys qualified as well. George Michael and Andrew Ridgely were a familiar sight – not only on the album covers. There w...

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?...

  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...