Greetings from Dubai

Hello from Dubai!  With much sadness, we said good-bye to the HSC team as our van departed the office for the final time late Friday night. 4 Mercedes-Benz vehicles arrived at the hotel to take us to the airport, even though we had only booked two cars through Emirates Airlines (complimentary chauffeur service since we are flying business class). We had never seen a Benz in Bangalore until then. Compared to our frightening first experience of driving in India, my driver did not use his horn but instead, he high-beamed people (which is apparently more courteous here) as he quickly weaved his way around cars. For the next hour, I sat in silence as I gazed upon the sights of the city we had come to know well and reflected again upon the past 2 weeks.  There are many things that are inconvenient about travelling to India - remembering to take daily malaria pills, brushing your teeth with bottled water, remembering not to accidentally get any water in your mouth when showering, worrying about whether the food may make you ill, not being able to eat fresh uncooked fruit and vegetables, navigating spicy Indian food, remembering to ask for no ice when ordering a drink, dealing with the hot weather, always spraying mosquito repellent before going outside, dealing with the noise and scary driving, and having to mentally calculate the exchange rate of rupees to USD when purchasing something.  Yet every one of these minor inconveniences was well worth the experience I had in return, and I am glad I came.

HR Shared Services - HR Administration Team, Me & Lisa

Here is a photo of the HSC HR Administration team I worked with.  On the far left is the Team Leader, and my co-worker, who was a great help, is on the far right.

My suitcase and backpack are both much lighter without all of the office supplies, snacks and gifts I brought.  I slept for a couple hours on the 4+ hour flight from Bangalore to Dubai.  The plane landed amidst hazy skies in Dubai at 6:30a.m., and we are currently resting at the hotel.  The disparity strikes you immediately between India where many people live in extreme poverty, and Dubai, some 4 hours away by plane, where many people live in extreme excess. I felt sadness for both. Why you might wonder? Although great wealth may seem to be the answer and panacea to life's problems, we know that stories of former celebrities and some lottery winners prove otherwise.  You can surround yourself with riches & the most expensive of everything and still feel a longing within that cannot be fulfilled through material possessions.  The people here have spent their riches on the tallest building in the world, visually stunning hotels, underwater restaurants, and shopping malls beyond imagination; however, when I think about the impact of what even one-tenth of 1% of the wealth in this country could do elsewhere to help children, widows, orphans, and those in need, I am sad beyond words.

I will share photos following our city tour this afternoon.  Until then...