So I was thinking that I haven’t really had a post where I am adding value. So I am going to try to state the obvious and make a post about what I think is going to be up in 2014 for Dubai (Or UAE in general).

1) Rents Go UP UP UP: The Expo 2020 has kick started the same vicious loop of 2008. The landlords have just got the opportunity to increase the rent by 20-30% citing the huge increase in demand due to Expo 2020. Its all Bull Shit. It will go up further next year as construction starts and the construction hiring really kicks in.

2) More People Will Move Away From Dubai: People living in Dubai will go Sharjah, People living in Sharjah will go to deeper Sharjah, People living in deeper Sharjah will go to Ajman. Everyone is going to trade down just to keep the rents in check and survive through this bubble.

3) More Highway Traffic: All inter-Emirates road should see even higher rush as a lot of people have moved away from Dubai but still work there. Say Hello to Early Mornings and Shitty ‘Stuck-in-the-Traffic’ Evenings. Its just going to get worse from here.

4) Government Fees will go Up: All this constructions need to be funded from somewhere. They are going to try to source it from internal revenue. The government fees have already increased a lot year on year. Now, its just going to go BOOM. Anything & Everything is going to cost you.

5) More Radars, More Fines : Going along the point 4, RTA being the biggest revenue generator will try to maximize income by placing more radars and asking cops to be more strict with their fines.

6) Higher Cost of Living: With rents and other operating expenses going up companies will increase their margins to cope with the pressure which will lead to further increase of overall cost of living. Say Bye Bye to savings.

7) Self Serve Petrol Stations: They’ve been trying to introduce this since forever. I strongly feel they’ll try to roll out phase by phase this year.

8) More & Better E-commerce: Increase in operating costs for offline retailers will prompt the online competition to be even more aggressive. More and more companies will identify opportunities in the online space and startup.

9) Telecom will get cheaper: With the Number Portability kicking in both Du and Etisalat will try its best to acquire as many customers as possible from each other as possible which will initiate a price/value war for various packages. This will be interesting.

I really tried making the post look good with having the conventional 10 points. But 2014 is time to break the norms and I am going to go ahead and end it with the odd 9 points. Do drop in comments if you have some more predictions

My vehicle registration recently expired and I had to head to RTA to get the stupid vehicle inspection done. They pointed out my tyres needed replacement. I don’t know much about cars but my dad said they were fine and could do another year. I kind of don’t believe him because the tired has cracks all over. Nevertheless, we got it replaced.

Tires are expensive. Car registration is expensive. Insurance is expensive. Everything is expensive when you don’t make money.

Ok, Enough of the rant. Basically, renew your vehicle now and get 5 sim cards for every transaction. The sim cards come with a pre load of 20 AED. Plus, they give you a coupon to some sort of raffle draw sponsored by ENOC. Do check it out.

5 Free simcards and raffle draw coupon never hurt anyone !

PS: Don’t forget to take your emirates id photo copy.

I am of the strong opinion that the annual gitex is over rated. I understand you get discounts and stuff but I have found the market rates to be almost the same.  I mean, I never buy my mobiles or laptops from big stores like E-max or Sharaf DG because the items there are always over priced. I have managed to get the same items for at least 20% cheaper in market.

You need to know where to buy what in Dubai. I buy my mobile from Mobile round about in Sharjah. I have always got the best rate in market from there. I buy my laptops from Bur Dubai. So on.

That is why I would like to point out, all big electronics store are always more expensive than the market. So don’t be duped.

Here it is, Just like I promised. I know it looks like facebook and that is how it is supposed to look. I really like the theme but I think I could use some more personalization. You’d probably be seeing my avatar there and better cover image.

I am not sure how I am going to implement the ads though. But I am sure something can be worked out. Where there is a will, there is a way. So yes, do expect to see some ads on the post. It wouldn’t really hurt if you wanted to check out the advertisers you know.

If you have some suggestions regarding the new theme, do let me know. I could really use some suggestions.

With every passing year, the men and women on this planet tend to get more selfish and less grateful. One of the principle blocks to happiness is to appreciate what you have around you and be grateful for everything.Unfortunately, a lot of people are just too busy and full of themselves to notice it.

A Mercedes is appreciated all over the world because it doesn’t come easy. The bigger the price tag more its appreciated. That is a wrong mindset and a completely wrong state of mind. I am not saying, don’t buy expensive things. What I am saying is just because the thing is not too expensive doesn’t mean its of no good.

This is also applicable in our day to day lives. Just because you are available for them whenever they ask, your time goes unappreciated. They take you and your time for granted.  Dealing with such ungrateful fucks is always a pain.

Make it count. Be grateful for everything. Be grateful for things that came easy and the things you struggled for. There is nothing wrong in being humble.