Are they still riding camel tops??

It is quite sometime since I put pen on paper or rather fingers on keyboard. One way it gives me great pleasure coming back to my olden ways, writing about some stuff.

Well having said that, it has been about a month or two since I came here to the United Arab Emirates. I have been fascinated by the way this country looks, the people, their attitude, the music, fast cars, super mega malls, good looking women of all nationalities, escalator for walking… hey what do they call it propellator or something because it propels you forward?

It has been a fantastic experience. And not forgetting about the place I work, fabulous place with some great people, really helpful and wonderful. But the one thing which fascinated me more than anything else is the road sense or civic sense of the people out here… there still are some Mallu, Tamil, Paki brethren who play spoilsports, would talk about this unique gang later…

Now talking about the road sense…

Rule one – The pedestrian is king, this doesn’t mean that this country is full of jaywalkers like what we find opposite Spencer plaza in Chennai. Everyone knows his limits and entitlements and does things accordingly. Leave alone the three distinct species of human race mentioned earlier.

Rule two – Follow strict lane discipline, else get fined. Heavily sometimes. Forget about the three distinct species mentioned.

Rule three – Ran out of petrol in the middle of a busy road pay a hefty fine. The distinct species not spared here, a rule is a rule… The rule of Sheik Hamdan (yes… he’s the king of Dubai)

Rule four – Not driving fast enough??? Which is doing a cool 30 Kmph when you are supposed to cruise at 100… get honked off by fellow drivers and sometimes you get fined by the traffic cops.

The list would go on and on if I started elaborating on each of these… Now for the best practice, about accidents. Which actually are a plenty here because of the traffic and the way it moves…

You banged on another car??

Check on two things first… How huge was the impact?? Injuries to you, the other guy and to the cars… Next check if both the cars could be moved off road as to not obstruct the traffic. If they could be moved, first move them off. Else you would have to ask your company to transfer your salaries next month directly to the police department account… yes you would pay a hefty fine for obstructing the traffic.

Now call the police and wait for them… there absolutely are no fights between the parties involved, no arguments as to who was right and who was wrong… I would illustrate a typical accident scene here…

My friend Krish whom I consider one of the safest drivers in town and me were going down the Sheikh Zayed road one of the most busy thoroughfares in Dubai. As we took a right turn one Mallu friend overshot his lane came into ours, we swerved to left to avoid kissing his car. In turn we hit a brand new car to our left driven by an young local. It was our mistake we couldn’t have done that. The best we could have done was to have allowed the Mallu’s car hit us and then blame it on him because he overshot his limits. We didn’t do that and therefore the fault was ours, we thought.

And now for the action…

The guy gets down to survey the damage… A deep dent and three scratches for him and two in our car. Looks at us gives an apologetic smile, I asked Krish “is he feeling sorry about what he did or is he trying to say I’m sorry you need to pay up for this?”. A moment after this the guy suggests that we move the cars ahead to a safer place as we wait for the police… We take off first and he follows, travel roughly a kilometer before we find a parking. As we were waiting for the police the guy comes to us says “Do you have full insurance?” We say yes… He says “I have called the police they should be here anytime, they said they are round the corner”.

Now the police comes in… two bearded gentlemen… one old and another middle aged… “Whose fault?” says the policeman. “It is ours” Krish… Police man surveys the damage… “Give me your licence and the vehicles registration”, he takes the paper from both the parties. Fills in a form, draws a diagram as to how the accident would have happened, signs it, asks us to sign it, gives the red copy to us, the green to the other guy and says “No fine for you this time because of the circumstance, but please be careful… Saalam Alaikum” and he is gone…

And now for the guy who got hit “Sorry for keeping you waiting and thanks for the cooperation…. Saalam Alaikum” and this guy is also gone.

Now I ask Krish ‘Aren’t we supposed to leave the vehicles as is, meaning as the collided and leave it as evidence for the police and wait for them to arrive? Aren’t we guys supposed to fight with the other one on whose fault it was? Aren’t the policemen supposed to seize the vehicle take it to the station and demand some bribes? At least the policemen are supposed to be rude right?”

Krish had a simple answer “This is Dubai”

Yes, this is Dubai and I’m starting to like this place and this life…