Dubai.
By Rummuser. Filed in Humor |Tags: Dubai, Indians in Duabi, Kerala, Malayalis, Real Estate
About fifty percent of the population of Dubai would be Indians. The locals account for only about 18%. A left wing politico from Kerala, the state from which the maximum number of Indians go to Dubai, has claimed that since the real estate boom’s collapse, over 100,000 Malayalis have returned to the state! Remember the Malayalis? I had posted about them!
There are other states also affected but the Indian financial sector claims that it is not directly affected though some remittances will stop. Be that as it may, one cannot but feel sad for the returnees and their families.
Not however, as sad as one feels about this local dignitary.
Mayo, after all the snow, you might like to consider buying some property in Dubai for now. Some great bargains are available and I believe that a lot of extras are thrown in free.
Sunday, December 6th 2009 at 19:43 |
very informative post, I will be returning back to this site now and again to see more posts of this quality!! btw does anybody know where i can find a spotify invite?
Sunday, December 6th 2009 at 21:07 |
I thought the dignitary was only permitted 4 wives at one time?
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:27
When you have access to unlimited funds, you can have as many as you wish! Though, why anyone would beats me.
Sunday, December 6th 2009 at 21:16 |
I have a hard time feeling sorry for the country of Dubai. The profligate expansion was outrageous in its conception and implementation, from what little I know of it.
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:26
Mike, I am with you on the rulers and the businessmen of Dubai. The workforce however is a different story.
Mike Goad Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:51
I should have been a little more explicit. I felt sorry for the workforce before the bubble burst. Their plight must be tremendously worse now.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 00:40 |
From what I saw of Dhubai they made great use of Indian and other Asian labour in their construction industry. The standards of living acccomodation for many of these labourers were appalling. Dhubai was trying to build up well-healed tourism but developed an asset bubble which has now burst. Of course the rich in Dhusbai should be best placed to take the hit but it will no doubt be the immigrant labour force who will take the hit first.
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:25
Yes, those barracks are inhuman alright. What all the workers, Indians, Bagladeshis, Pakistanis, some Philipinos etc go through to make a few dollars is heart wrenching but they have less opportunities where they come from for similar remuneration.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 03:55 |
British weekend’s bored sheets (sorry, I couldn’t resist it) are full of Dubai’s faltering promises of riches. Since I have only few and tenuous links with India I can’t possibly comment. Love the cartoon – could have sprung right out of the New Yorker.
Though the ratio of 58 kids to 26 wives is a bit out of kilter – statistically speaking.
U
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:21
The Middle East and India are joined at the hips with many Indians working in all the gulf states. A significant portion of our inward remittances come from there and Kerala’s economy particularly can be seriously affected without that remittance. Our financial sector otherwise is not exposed too much in Dubai and so there is not the same danger that say British Banks face there. In fact many British Bankers based in Dubai have suffered with the fall in real estate prices! Poetic justice?
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 05:09 |
Wow! 26 wives and 56 kids? I wonder why they do that. I can understand if princes or kings did this, but for ordinary man… I don’t know what to say.
Anyway, what keep me from coming back you asked? To be honest, I don’t remember when was the last time I was here, but some of the reasons were, constant traveling that I can barely blog, and we just moved here in Florida 2 months ago… and of course you know how it is being a new transferee from one state to another state. Whew! Stressful but happy!
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:14
The Arabs are all princess now a days. They do not have to work and get plenty of money to throw around.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 07:24 |
Ramana Sir, referring to your previous post on Malayalis, which also had a generous amount of mention about Tea, this link might interest you. It is the website to Essencha Tea House. I was referred to this website by a friend of mine who stays in Cincinnati, Ohio. It apparently belongs to an acquaintance of his. This place is a ‘must visit’ on my list, if and when I manage to save enough money to travel abroad.:D
http://www.essencha.com/
As for this post, from a recent report that I read, Dubai has about 51% Indian population reciding there. Property crash, business slump, oil prices at $35, a sudden fall off in demand for new employees in recruitment companies, slashing employee salary by almost 50%, a serious case of economic downturn this. This is a link to an article that appeared in the front page of The Times Of India, Bangalore Edition dated 3rd Dec 2009.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIBG/2009/12/03&PageLabel=1&EntityId=Ar00102&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:13
The post was inspired by the cartoon. I just used the Kerala angle to introduce the subject to show that it has its darker side too. Essencha seems a nice place. You must have heard of the Nair on the moon with the tea shop!
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 07:33 |
Excuse the spelling mistake. It should have been residing*
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:09
Not to worry. I make them too!
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 08:20 |
Ramana-I learn something new each time I read your posts. I so enjoy learning about people, their country, their trials and most importantly, the insights gained.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 11:02 |
First, you do know your first comment is spam, right?
Second, I have no sympathy for what Dubai has been doing, and I don’t only mean building without any regard for where the money is coming from. They’re literally using slave labor and destroying their beaches with pollution; frankly, they’re proving that what goes around comes around.
Wow, that was opinionated of me, wasn’t it? lol
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:06
I would not quite write off Dubai yet. There are too many vested interests seeing to it that it would recover.
Mitch Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 21:01
Oh, I’m certainly not writing them off; just saying they’re getting a taste of what they probably deserve. Since the guy in charge is also the ruler of the country, and he’s tapping into Abu Dhabi reserves to continue to fund his own company, since he rules them also, I’m sure they’ll figure their way out of it without learning a thing.
Rummuser Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 17:15
It will be a very different Duabai from what it was, after the sand storm abates.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 15:12 |
I’m sure immigrants and low-status employees are being penalised well before the more privileged residents feel any pain, as is always the case. And they were treated appallingly to begin with, as Bunc points out. The whole Dubai project was obviously another construction bubble waiting to burst, and the gormless British banks are heavily exposed once again, in particular the now quasi-nationalised RBS which is owed billions of dollars. The whole artificial utopia is built on sand, literally.
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:07
I would not quite write off Dubai yet. Too many powerful people interested in its recovery.
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 16:10 |
When I think of all the money wasted on such opulence and and carbon footprints involved, it galls me when at every level I am bombarded with requests to catch the bus, turn down the heat and switch off my lights.
26 wives! That guy deserves a leather medal on a wooden chain!
Rummuser Reply:
December 7th, 2009 at 18:04
I would give him something else and would also gift his 26 wives with some other things!
Monday, December 7th 2009 at 18:24 |
The gentleman in your cartoon should get a life, and get up and try to find the 27th wife. What the “hell” is wrong with him!
Tuesday, December 8th 2009 at 10:40 |
It seems to me that the Dubai experience is no more ,nor no less of an example of the economic illness which swept the west during the first decade of this new century. Perhaps one could say that they did it on a grander, more audacious scale, and at a faster clip. What is happening there is only the logical extrapolation of what has already happened in the rest of the industrialized worlds economies. The only surprise I feel is in the delay in covering the story.
Rummuser Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 17:01
Wall, welcome to my blog. I am delighted to have you and hope to see more of you.
I once worked for an entrepreneur based in Dubai. We parted company after one year of sparring with each other on policy. The bone of contention was he wanted to replicate Dubai’s story – Build a jazzy infrastructure and economy will follow. He too fell, unfortunately for many of his employees without paying their last few months’ wages. I feel sad about the employees.