For the past few days i have killed nearly 5! I am not writing from jail and certainly I am not wanted by the police! It’s mosquitoes that were killed! 5! Is that even a count? I’ve been in Sharjah, UAE for nearly 6 years and haven’t seen any mosquitoes!… until now that is. The favourite pet pest in the UAE is the famous bachelors bug or the bed bug. It thrives oh heat and of course blood! It likes bachelor pads for the single reason because they are very clean and hygienic! If you kill one you bring 100’s more. Only a few ways to get rid of them, drown them in water, scotch tape them, bomb them (they have a special bomb where you place the bomb in the room and seal the room so that no air escapes…it works – be gone for 24 hrs, else you go with the bugs!), or leave the country! We have come to live with them, drowning, taping and bombing them frequently.

The recent rain has brought a new pe(s)t – Mosquitoes! I don’t think they will last the summer but the point is- they have arrived! Brings back memories of home – nets, good night liquid, tortoise coils…

Welcome my friends. Have a great summer!

Before you get any funny ideas let’s get to know what it exactly is!

What is Toastmasters?

From a humble beginning in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, Toastmasters International has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. The nonprofit organization now has nearly 235,000 members in 12,036 clubs in 106 countries, offering a proven – and enjoyable! – way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian.

There is no instructor; instead, each speech and meeting is critiqued by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved.

Good communicators tend to be good leaders. (http://www.toastmasters.org/)

I have been with Toastmasters since 2004 and it has been a fantastic time. I found out about Toastmasters from a friend of mine, Zaheer who attended one in Saudi Arabia. I immediately searched for it, found out what it was and attended a meeting near my house in Sharjah.

I didn’t know what to expect, so I just went ahead and played along. It was a group of roughly 15-20 like minded people gathered for a sole reason. To develop their personal speaking and leadership skills by helping each other.

The mission of a Toastmasters Club is as follows:

The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.

There were  engineers, accountants, businessmen, students and even housewifes. These people wanted to develop their speaking skills and to develop self confidence. Self confidence is something most of us lack in. This is mainly due to fear. Fear of what people think of us, how we are performing, fear of the unknown and a whole lot of fears. We now live in a world where people see us by the way we communicate. Communication plays a major role in our homes as well as the work place.

I went that day expecting it to be just another useless meeting trying to lure people into something. This was a club called Lagoon Toastmasters Club (http://lagoontoastmasters.com/). This club is based in Sharjah, UAE. Everyone I met there were very friendly and were constantly encouraging one another. Every small effort was appreciated by all. Speaking in front of many people is not a joke. Some literally wet their pants! I was asked to introduce myself in front of all and I did it with a little difficulty. A lot of things crossed my mind – what will they say, think, am I talking nonsense etc. I don’t know what I said. But in the end, everyone just clapped and made me feel that I had achieved something great. One thing led to another and in the end I ended up joining the club as a member. There are so many experiences which have had an effect on me after I became a regular.

The best way is for you to find out yourself. So go to a club near you and make use of this wonderful organization to help yourself to overcome fear and develop self confidence.

To find the nearest club in your area please click this link – http://www.toastmasters.org/find/

Toastmaster Clubs in Sharjah, Toastmaster Clubs in Dubai, Toastmaster Clubs in Abu Dhabi

We all miss the rains here in UAE. It’s because being from the subcontinent, we are used to the rain. Riding on bikes, with no helmet on, crossing puddles of water, surviving open drainage, with buses happily spaying us with a mixture of rain water, sewage, mud, rose petals, jasmine (the rose and jasmine – leftovers from a funeral procession of course!), it is so much fun and excitement. Getting fully soaked is a good feeling. The ultimate part is when the water starts to flow from the shirt into the pants! What a feeling! lol

The rain brings us back to all our childhood memories and the fun we all had together as children. Rain is beautiful. The first raindrops on the dry earth brings our an aroma that cannot be described! What a smell! Like the famous Titanic phrase there is a similar one… It’s been 84 months and I can still smell the wonderful smell of rain on soil! I know it sounds horrible.. but who cares! It’s just to say rain bring in a lot of pleasant memories.

Rain in UAE. Now that is a total different thing. First of all it is a desert and rain is not there in the UAE dictionary. Or so it seemed to be until a few years ago. Now it is becoming a regular event! Here a slight rain clogs up the roads. What else would you expect when throughout the year you have sand blowing everywhere and filling up every drainage hole. Now here rain water and fine sand is not good. Slush! Luckily over here most of us drive around in cars. Bikes are not common because of the heat. The only thing we experience here from the rain is – TRAFFIC JAMS!

Recently in the past few days we have had heavy rain, hail stones as big as marbles and SNOW also! You can view more of this in the Gulf News. This climate change surely has something to do with global warming. UAE cannot withstand rain like this. Let’s hope everything is back to normal soon. Certainly this rain does not bring any memories back but only fear – fear of traffic jams! …especially driving to and fro between Dubai and Sharjah.

Rain rain go away, little johnny wants to go to work!

This is very disturbing news. Every now and then we find people taking advantage of people’s misfortunes. The same is happening now when a lot of people are losing their jobs and are suffering. Quite a few job recruitment companies have sprouted in UAE and playing with people’s life. Desperate job seekers are the target now and it is a sad thing.

This is how some work. They place an ad in the newspaper or an online ad and set the trap. You call they tell you the location for the interview. When you go there there are many waiting like you. You are then called for the interview. In the room you are faced with 3-4 pretty girls who “Interview” you. They ask for all your details, employment status, salary, expected salary etc. Then they tell you that next week you will have to go to their office taking all the documents and start work immediately or something like that. When you tell them your salary, they tell you that even though it is recession they will be offering a good salary with all the benefits! Just imagine all the innocent people who fall for this. Then when it is over they ask you fill in a form after which they ask you to PAY around 100 Dirhams! Why would you ask money from everyone you interview for YOUR company?

A friend of mine had an incident similar to this. He asked why he should pay when job offer is for their own company. They said that that was nothing considering the fact that he was getting a good offer! After a little argument he said he didn’t have the money. So they asked how much he has. He said he had only 10 dirhams for the taxi. They said ok no problem give that. He refused and said thanks but no thanks for the offer and left.

Just imagine the countless number of people who have lost their jobs and are going to these people and getting cheated. Such people who cheat and take such advantage of others misfortunes should be put behind bars. Job seekers please be on high alert when approaching such companies.

The company my friend went to is called Al Qabas International which is located in Sharjah.

Please post incidents if you have come across any.

“Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me.” — Chinese Proverb