Dubai & Taxis & People
The other day I got into a Dubai Taxi to head down to work. My destination was Dubai Sports City, an enticing option for any taxi driver looking for customers somewhere in Deira. This taxi-driver was an old man, balding from the top with furrows on the side and with large oval spectacles belittling his eyes. I sat down comfortably in the front seat, instructing the taxi driver to head on to our wonderful destination. I pulled over my seat belt and buckled in. I took a deep breath and realized that I was listening to melodious, typical Hindu Bhajans. Not too excited with the melody, I moved my right hand towards the "Radio" button, when I heard the Taxi driver utter, "Aap kya kar rahe ho?" (which is "what are you doing, sir?" in Hindi). I said I am putting on 104.4 FM to listen to some music that I liked. He argued, "It's early in the morning. Shouldn't we be listening to melodious Bhajans?"
I was like, "Umm, no. It's early morning and I am just about to embark on a thirty minute journey, I do NOT want to listen to anything Bhajan-like." A sudden look disgust developed on the taxi-driver's face. He was visibly affected by my desires. He then turned towards his steering wheel and mumbled, "That is not right." Unfazed by his reaction, I boldly switched on what I, the customer, wanted to listen to. Thirty seconds later he asked me, "Are you Muslim?"
"No," I replied. This seemed to shock him even more, happily assuming that I am some Hindu boy who is going against his religion. I bet his mind was complaining "What has become of the Hindu youth of today?" or something of that sort in some complex Hindi. His facial expressions begged me to answer the obviously lucid question, "Why are you betraying your religion?" (slightly exaggerated for dramatic effect.)
So I did him a favor and said, "I just feel like listening to what I want to, in a cab-ride I am paying for. I am not that religious anyway." That shut him up for a bit, but he was visibly disturbed. I enjoyed the remainder of the ride to work besides, of course, the sporadic "If You Seek Amy" runs and other similar rot. We reached our destination and I gave him his whopping eighty bucks. As his right hand received the money, his left hand reached towards the "TAPE" button and the bhajans were on again. I laughed, marveled, was amused and entertained at the same time. The expression on my face was well, pretty indescribable.
I have nothing against Hinduism or Bhajans. But when I, the customer, am paying a shit load of money for a friggin' long cab ride to work, I can very much listen to exactly what I want to, at any (sane) volume I feel like. This idea of putting religion before everything else, even before the taxi-driver's business, is amusing indeed, but borders ridiculousness. God is great and all, but I really don't need to listen to "melodious" Bhajans early in the morning if I don't want to.
Are any of you Dubai taxi-drivers listening? While I am at it, I might as well tell you the following:
- It's your job to take us paying customers where we want to go.
- It's NOT cool to say that you need to go pray AFTER asking us where we want to go.
- It's rude to talk loudly and make conversation on the phone for more than a minute when your damned customer is sitting right next to you.
- Don't be disgusted at our demands to travel short distances. It's friggin' hot in Dubai and you're getting paid anyway.
- Don't ask us questions you don't need to.
- Make sure the cab smells okay.
P.S. On the same day, Jason, Ishika and I saw a 6ft 4inch-ish tall girl where 3-inch high heels. Again, I just don't get it. Jason and Ishika thought I was overthinking things and was getting bothered by something that shouldn't affect me. They are right of course, it's her life and all, but I just don't get it.
U.A.E. Germanified & The Mini-Pitch Invasion
So, Romit, Bharath, Jason and I went and watched the Germany v/s U.A.E. friendly at Al Nasr Stadium in Dubai yesterday. I had forgotten my spectacles so the faces weren't as clear as they should have been, but it was still a worthwhile experience. U.A.E were pretty much massacred by Germany and a pathetic Gomez who somehow, despite his shizer-ness, still managed to manifiest four less-that magical goals. Here's the thing about the U.A.E. team - they are real good going up front but somehow cannot get their act together in defense despite their relatively large sizes. Oh deceptive physiques, I tell you! The problem is, I think, that the entire of the U.A.E. population (that plays football) just seems to want to attack all the time. The defence gets forgotten somewhere amidst that desire for glory.
Anyway, that was NOT what made the night. The game got over and we were ready to tag along towards the exit, when we witnessed a true spectacle of sorts. First, right in front of us, this brother jumped over the nine-feet-high fence-like barrier right on to field and trotted on towards the players and the officials who were busy greeting each other. No security in sight. A minute later, three little dudes, one with a fake-afro-like wig, jumped over on to the pitch from the other side. They trotted towards the German players and started taking pictures with them. No security in sight. They then started walking away, pleased with their achievements, when an epiphany struck the afro-dude. He turned around and starting running towards the German players again. Still, no security in sight. This afro-dude, somehow, managed to get this random German player's jersey to his sheer delight and to our amusement. Then, one of the other two dudes who was with this afro-guy, realized that he could/should do the same. So, he turned around and started running towards Schwinesteiger asking him for his jersey. Still, no security action (busy chattering away). Schwiney refused to give the kid a jersey, so the kid asked for a picture with him instead. Finally, the security officers realized that this dude was not supposed to be there. So, they started making their way towards him, slowly and steadily, to my genuine surprise. This kid, then had the balls to actually ask one of the officers to take a picture for him with Schwiney. At this instant, I was just too amused to react and kept watching in awe. I wish I could tell you that the security officer took the picture for the dude and gave him a big hug, but that, obviously, would have been too good to be true. The police officers finally escorted the dude away and the weird saga ended. We were amused no doubt with the whole thing. That friggin' afro-dude got his sweaty smelly German jersey and put it on instantly to our mediocre disgust. People are fascinating.
So, on a night when the Germans in Dubai had the Schwine Flu and Germany kiled the U.A.E. in a game of football (soccer), a fellow audience member could have quite easily jumped over the fence and killed a German player if he/she wanted to. Security issues, I tell you, made the night for us.
P.S. The internship at Dubai Sports City has begun and work's kinda intense already. It feels good to be useful for free...as off now. :)
Concert Addiction
In my 19 years of existence I have come to realize that the one thing I truly enjoy is a good live concert. To hear artists unleash my favorite tunes almost sends me into semi-delirium. It's just an escape, a way of letting go - good live music is priceless. Matchbox Twenty is the the concert I enjoyed the most, not because they were awesome live, but because I love their music. I knew every song and sung along all night long. Robbie Williams comes a close second. Besides enjoying his music, he knows how to get his crowd going. Iron Maiden rocked Dubai out. Ali can tell you more but we were in the first friggin' row and they just blew us away. Eddie, Maiden's mascot, walked in half way through and that was especially special in addition to the friggin Maiden tank which came on later.
My first ever concert was Bryan Adams. It was seventh grade and knowing his ballads made you cool then. Obviously, going to his concert was a must, and it was definitely worth the cool factor. His music is sing-along personified.
Ali, yet again, inspired me to go watch The Scorpions - the German rock legends that sing the Guitar-Hero-classic "Rock You Like A Hurricane". They, though, rocked us more like a rugged storm than anything else. I also saw Jethro Tull, a contemporary rock band, and Remo, an Indian singer, with Ali. Our stint together of watching concerts was only beginning. Dubai Desert Rock 2005 hit us next. We freaked out over the banshee-like band, The Darkness, and got squeezed to death during Machinehead. We laughed at the fake-Dubai-goths who hustled up in front when Within Temptation came on and laughed even more at a couple of local Dubai bands - Nerve Cell and Juliana Down. I remember one of those local Dubai guitarist tried breaking his guitar after "oh-too-cool" a performance, but the stage people stopped him. Dubai Desert Rock 2006 gave us a Testament to some classic and diverse rock. Junkyard Groove, an Indian band, was the first band to perform and they made me real proud of the music that was coming out of my conutry. Reel Big Fish, a random contemporary band, amused us because of this one visibly fat guy who sat on the stage sipping a drink, expressionless and bored, throughout the concert. They are now, three years later, taking over Harendra's life. Three Doors Down were at DDR 2006 too and that concert will largely be remembered for the on/off stage love affair that existed between their lead singer and my great friend/big three-doors-down-fan Tejas. Stone Sour were pretty awesome too. Corey Taylor is friggin solid. Megadeth headlined DDR 2006 - I don't remember much about them, I kinda slept through most of that. I honestly was exhausted.
There is one condition that needs to fulfilled in order for me to enjoy a concert - I need to know at least some of their music. I would have enjoyed The Prodigy, Mastadon, At The Gates and In Flames if I knew their music. I doubt I would ever have enjoyed Lauren Harris though. Anyway, there have only been two exceptions to that condition to date - Sepultura and Naturally Seven. Sepultura is a heavy-rock Brazilian band that I had never really listened to. But they were so energetic and powerful live, that I will never forget how they sweeped me into their world for a good hour. Naturally Seven opened for Michael Buble in Austin and their a capella talents just bedazzled us into a burst of appreciation. Buble, himself, was quite the entertainer. I saw Matchbox Twenty, Alanis Morrisette and Mutemath the day after Buble in Houston and Bon Jovi and Daughtry a month later in April in Dallas. Chris Daughtry had a bad throat so that kinda messed up his performance. Maroon 5 and Simple Plan were next in line in May. The former kicked ass and the latter weren't as bad as I thought they would be. Oh and I helped organize and watched Penn Masala peform at our univerisity in March too. Spring 2008 was truly a concert-filled semester.
I don't know if this is coincidence, but I always try catching a concert when I travel. I saw Keane in Bangkok and "Bedshaped", their greatest song, did officially send me into a delirium. I was super-lucky to catch Metallica in Madrid and this past winter '09 and I got squashed at an Arctic Monkeys concert in Wellington, New Zealand. It's awesome observing different crowds. From Spaniards singing Metallica songs with the weirdest accents/word-formations to the ridiculous knowledge that some Thai people possess about Keane, concerts are truly memorable in some way or the other. One real bad experience was when I tried to watch a concert intoxicated. I was buzzed and it seemed all okay until my bladder betrayed me. Friggin' alcohol triggers the bladder to the extent you just cannot hold it in, especially when your standing in the first row, constantly hitting the railing. I think the Metallica concert is the biggest one I have been too - nearly 40,000 people gathered to witness the metal legends. James Hetfield was brilliant.
On the other hand, Rap concerts don't work - not because I don't enjoy rap, but because there have to be "live" instruments at a "live" concert, not some DJ booth that generates all them louder-than-loud beats. I rather stick to my headphones-rap rather than some loud and obnoxious c-rap. Flo Rida was pretty pathetic. It was all about him ripping his shirt off, shagging champagne onto the largely naive audience, screaming rather than rapping and making a fool of himself. Cherish, who performed at the same show as Flo Rida, were even more disgraceful. They were hot, but a bunch of pretty girls singing their only "good"/popular song in a ridiculous fashion isn't really a turn-on or a source of entertainment.
I saw The Killers this last Tuesday and Coldplay back this last November. Coldplay were awesome, as expected.
>The Killers were umm, mehh. Mr Brightside, (my and many of my friends' high-school song) was good - that's about it though. They could have done so much more with their stuff. It was a good concert, but not great. Nickelback are coming to Texas soon but we felt guilty buying tickets to yet another concert, how much ever I was so ready to. Anyway, next time.
All this concert-watching has put me on the cover of one documentary - Global Metal. Oh and I also play a 0.76 second cameo in it. That's where the picture is from, try spotting me. So yes, the one thing I truly, truly enjoy with all my heart is a live concert. I will keep watching them as long as I can afford to watch them. You should try it too.
P.S. Have you been counting how many concerts I have watched? 40, if you were curious :).