Washing your feet in the sink......

I recently visited the Indian operations of software company in Whitefield, Bangalore. Its office was *huge* and very well decorated. To visit the rest room one had to navigate miles of corridor (just kidding! May have been only a mile or two at most).

In the rest room, I noticed a sign that read "Please do not wash your feet in the sink,"......a perfectly normal request, don;t you think?

An image of hordes of software engineers with dirty feet queuing to wash their dirty feet sprang to mind. However, the explanation is quite innocuous.

If one has visited the Middle East, it is quite a common sight to see swarthy Arabs with one leg hoisted at an alarming 45 degrees into the sink and vigorously scrubbing the foot. Islam demands that one be clean before the prayer and hence this practice.

Back in the meeting room, I casually asked whether the company had a Middle Eastern connection.

"Oh yes!" was the reply. "We are one of the largest companies in that region."

Clearly this company had Middle Eastern senior management who washed their feet in the sink much to the irritation of the Indian employees who must have put up the notice!

Robotic Camel Jockeys

The UAE has banned child jockeys and instead robotic camel jockeys are used.

The robots are very cute and colourful to look at!

Take a look at a robotic camel jockey on the below page:

http://www.gr8dubai.com/camel-races.htm

Cheers,

Gr8Dubai Team

For everything you wanted to know about Dubai but didn't know whom to ask.......visit http://www.gr8dubai.com

Chaos on the roads

There is already a lot of chaos on Dubai roads with bumper-to-bumper traffic, irritable motorists, a high incidence of road rage and what have you and now it looks like Sharjah is trying to compete!

In a sudden burst of enthusiasm regarding the "road improvements project", Sharjah began work on all the three major roads leading to Dubai. The Sharjah Municipality thought their initiative would be praised by the Ruler instead they may have been on the receiving end of the Ruler's wrath. Reason? The Sharjah Municipality blissfully forgot to tell anyone that they would be working on all the major exit roads simultaneously. The result? Traffic came to a standstill.

The Sharjah Police are upset too.

Apparently these road works will go on for several years (three years is what they are currently estimating) and the motorists are beginning to tear their hair out in frustration.