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Old 12th January 2010, 00:13   #1
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The Dark Side of Dubai

The dark side of Dubai - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

Why do people still keep going to Dubai for work/to work if all of this is happening? Isnt like half of Kerala pretty much over there

Last edited by Samurai : 12th January 2010 at 01:00. Reason: extra smiley
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Old 12th January 2010, 01:35   #2
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Oh, terrible. Thanks for the libk buddy!
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Old 12th January 2010, 01:46   #3
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Shocking to say the least.There's always a difference is what is seen, than what's experienced. I've been to Dubai just once (10 years ago) and I didn't quite like it.There was something about the city that kept stressed on the fact of 'man-made'. A little too drastic, IMO. No offense meant to anyone.
God help all these 'slaves'. I hope justice is meted out at the earliest.
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Old 12th January 2010, 01:55   #4
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They say if it looks too good to be true, maybe it really is. Shocking is too mild a word for whats going on in there.

I guess the only justice that can be hoped for these workers is that they actually get help from their governments in getting them back home.
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Old 12th January 2010, 09:36   #5
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I always advise my friends and family against going to dubai. Dubai is one of the only places in the world where the natives are a minority. Th laws are exteamly skewed there. Your visa is attached to your job, no job means your visa is cancelled immediately. I know many haunting stories especially about dubai, here is one of them, I have an uncle who morgaged his wife's jewelry and his ancestral property to go to dubai in the 80s, he was taken as a driver. He reached there and for weeks there was no job at the place where he was promissed a job and finnaly he was given some labor work and his passport was confescated. There was a day on which he was seriously down with fever and he did not show up at work. The emarati who hired him came to his room, blasted the living daylights out of him and asked him to kneeldown in the hot sun for the entire afternoon. He underwent all this crap for 3 years because of the financial burden back home. After three years he had enough money to pay off his dues and then he started cultivating on the property he had. Now he is decently surviving. He tells me during this three years he was not able to touch a single vehicle and all he was asked to do is labour work. Dubai is a rage even today. I hear a lot of people going there on visiting visas and finding jobs there. But life there still worst than the life in india.

I have heard people have to carry their sal slips in pubs/bars and the amount of drinks they will get depends upon their sal, I dont know how far this is true.

Pramod
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Old 12th January 2010, 10:09   #6
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What I want is this : Desert eating up Dubai.

In my society, a young person, around 27 has sufficient money to buy a Rs. 17 lakh Tenament, break it down and construct a three storey house. Imagine this happening in India.
Dubai has money, but again, is life good ?
He said that its almost impossible to take women out without male escorts. Well and many more things.

Dubai is still the place to go if you want money, that is what people think. I was against that and still against it.

But again, have a look at India. We have to fight for days to get LPG cylinders. Those who have agencies are corrupt, cant fight them. We pay very high amount of direct and indirect tax, still what we get. Ok, freedom of speech, but what use is that and what difference it makes ?

What is state of women in India ? Dowry cases are still there as they were around 500 years ago. And that Ruchika case is still going on. Arushi murder case and wonderfully parents are booked. China is taking in land and ministers are still writing letters.

If Dubai is hypocrisy, what is India then ? I think we can beat down Dubai when it comes to Hypocrisy. Be it status of women in Indian society or honesty or work culture. We too are fake, so I dont think we have right to talk about Dubai being fake.
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Old 12th January 2010, 10:49   #7
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For the very short periods of time, I have been to this place. It looked like a mirror facade showing me what is around me but not what is behind it.

My friends have their own groups among the same nationals. They do earn quite well and that i guess is all that is to it.
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Old 12th January 2010, 11:21   #8
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@ aaggoswami
tell me which country is not corrupted.. you have to live there to understand what it is .
i accept Indian agencies are corrupted.. it is better to be a begger in your country than a king in an alien land.
At least the cases are in court. if this would have been in DUBAI.... i think you know what the would have happened.

i know people, who earned enough to make a fake passport to run away from Dubai.
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Old 12th January 2010, 11:55   #9
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Having spent 18 years of my life in Dubai, i have seen how it has metamorphised to its current state. I left the country in 1999 to pursue my bachelors in India although i did visit the place 3 times since. Each time i was left gaping as to how much the city has moved on, and i already felt like an outcast.

Laws are submissive and yes freedom of expression and speech is curtailed. My wife totally detested the place with just one visit. However, all said and done, it's the city of my birth, and something about it still tells me, "This is home".
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Old 12th January 2010, 12:10   #10
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Are DXB bhpians listening? Love to see inputs from your side.

@CaliAtenza: Yea, many people from Kerala are there, but not only from Kerala. There are equal or more from states like AP and all.
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Old 12th January 2010, 13:41   #11
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Dunno how much truth in that article but it sounds horrible. specially the slaves and environment bit ....
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Old 12th January 2010, 13:57   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rahulkool View Post
Dunno how much truth in that article but it sounds horrible. specially the slaves and environment bit ....
Same thoughts. If true, its absolutely terrible.
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Old 12th January 2010, 13:59   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pramodkumar View Post
I have heard people have to carry their sal slips in pubs/bars and the amount of drinks they will get depends upon their sal, I dont know how far this is true.
You can buy liquor worth 10% of your salary. There is no cap on how much you can drink in pubs.

Baaki, there are "other (read better)" ways.
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Old 12th January 2010, 14:00   #14
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aaggoswami boss: when you speak about Dubai, you speak about Dubai. Don't clutter each and every topic by bringing India into it and then making some skewed comparison depending upon your mood on the day. (I am not referring to you in each case but somebody almost always has to do an 'India comparison' in any bad incident anywhere in the world)

there may be some defects in India, and everyone is well aware of it. Your gas connection is managed by corrupt folks. Tough luck. Mine is not. I have it better in that regard. But does that make India perfect. No.

No country in the world is perfect. Every place has to make some compromises to survive.

But is Dubai more imperfect than India. Yes.

Dubai is policed not by emiratis or their own citizens but by somalis, Sudanese, yemeni etc who probably do not even have the faintest exposure to policing in their own societies. So obviously they are kept as guard dogs by the powerful in that society and so that they can bark down the orders to someone more backward and rural than themselves and do not question them back about laws and ethics. Anyone else would have thrown away their hats far earlier.

the emiratis or whoever it is that rules that place has decided that human values take a second place to what little social morals and ethics that they had.

they had their chance.

but they used up that chance to mistreat people lower down the scale. And by doing that they have reduced themselves to mere pliagiarists and parasites.

Last edited by lurker : 12th January 2010 at 14:02.
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Old 12th January 2010, 14:03   #15
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Its true that the state of labour in the construction industry in Dubai is bad, but its not to say that they are better off in India.

Well, the thing about Dubai is its all fake, all man made. But I am still in awe of what they have made out of the dessert and that too in a very short time frame.

Agreed the laws are ridiculous and you really need to be earning well before you can enjoy what Dubai has to offer.

I was working in Dubai for a very brief time but I was there on my own will, my passport was not with my employer and I could quit when I wanted.

If given a choice I would want to get back there but then jobs in the IT industry are very difficult to come by.

Anyways that was my 2 cents.

cheers
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