Recently visited the Dubai Expo with wife and daughter. Was wonderstruck by the infrastructure developed including the roads, the parking lots, the accessibility to the venue from the parking area, the colossal size of the place and the mammoth crowds thronging the place even on week days. It was a great experience, however, we need to be an early bird, to visit the good pavilions.
We went on the Skygarden which took us some 90m into the sky and gave a helicopter view of the Expo city. The platform rotates so we can see all the countries and their buildings. The irony is that we spent a long time trying to find Hungary, and later on when I viewed the video from the sky garden, I saw Hungary was next door!. We also experienced the waterfall which was really nice and also refreshing. Of course I got my feet wet and it felt great when the moist droplets sprayed all over our skin and I remembered our monsoon rains. Of course that is a deluge, this is spray.
We also visited a couple of countries but nothing special. The queue to get into the popular countries was too much, and I didnt feel like waiting one hour in line to get in. So we mostly walked around and enjoyed the Al Wasl dome and its splendor, as well as some ethnic markets etc.
We spent half a day there and came back in good spirits but painful legs. The walking was too much esp with the temperature picking up. But kudos to the organizers for designing such a spectrum of countries and their culture and offerings. And I could see people of various nationalities among the crowd, which shows that Dubai EXPO is indeed a crowd puller. As part of our marketing strategy, we provide free passes to our passengers travelling into Dubai, and recently it became multiple entry passes.
This year started off on a positive note, with travel demand back to pre-covid levels. Dubai airport retained its title of the airport handling maximum number of passengers, even during these pandemic times. At flydubai, we managed to carry just under 9 million passengers this year, however the yields were high. We posted a good profit and obviously we are all very happy. The organisation took good care of us when things were difficult, and other companies were letting staff go. In return the staff gave their best to the company, and this really helped us come out of the difficult situation of 2020/2021 first half. Hats off to the vision and leadership of our CEO and the rest of the Chiefs.
The year has just begun. The Russia-Ukraine war came out of nowhere, and we have lots of ties to both the countries. We can only pray that the war ends soon. So many people have lost their lives, including children, we can only pray for peace for their departed souls. It has affected so many families and people, it is painful to see the visuals from the war zone. And war affects many more countries, not just the ones in conflict. Millions flee the country, and it brings the neighbouring countries under a lot of pressure to accept them and then rehabilitate them. Prices go up, and trade stops. Share markets tumble, and oil prices reach sky high. Things were just starting to look up, and then this happened. We can only hope the world leaders react in a mature way, and defuse the situation through talks and discussions. I believe that’s the only way to end this.
Personally, I am forced to take more care of my health, because my doctor seriously advised I am over weight, during my post-covid checkup. So I decided to do something about it, and paying heed to my doctors words of advice, started Intermittent Fasting. Also, I have a friend and classmate who is an avid marathon runner and fitness freak. She’s happy to give me all information about IF and encourages me a lot. Special thanks to her, I am slowly getting into the groove. I can see some results, whether it’s due to my morning walks and runs, or due to IF, I am not sure. But as long as its something I can sustain, I am happy. I don’t want to go into a hard diet and then lose weight for two months, then get back into the food world and pile up more weight than I lost. It has happened to me.
My daughter is fully into tuitions and exams, and it pains me seeing her having to study so much. I am also surprised how I never studied so much during my school days. Is it that I didn’t study much, or the portions have really increased? One thing I do know is that I cannot answer any of my daughter’s questions in Maths or Physics. Chemistry I was a flop anyways. It goes on to show that the real education is not in books, it’s through various experiences in life. In another two or three months, we need to find her a good university where she can continue her graduation. That’s the tension now and I hope she gets what she wants.
It’s been a long time since I visited my parents. Last time I planned to do it, I got infected and had to cancel. Hope to go near Easter and see them. There’s nothing like returning to the house you were born and you grew up, and seeing your parents and the love in their eyes. That feeling cannot be explained, and it’s worth cannot be determined as well.
Workwise it has been very challenging, with skilled resources proving very difficult to procure. Like I mentioned earlier in another post, resources will agree to join and then just before day of joining, inform us that they wont be available. This puts into disarray all our plans and there is lot of rework that goes in to get the delivery wheel turning again. However, the factory works tirelessly and somehow will manage to deliver on time. I have that confidence in my team. Running IT systems for an airline is not an easy job, and we all have to rise to the occasion and be innovative to get the results. When I step back and think about it, we have digital touchpoints for our customers and staff, like websites, mobile apps, kiosks, contactless checkin etc. We have back office systems like ERP, Revenue Accounting, Revenue Management. We have reporting systems and platforms like Big Data, BI data marts etc. We have telephony systems like IVR for our call centre. We have lot of Robotic Process Automation running and easing routine jobs. We have logically complex systems like Pricing engines and dynamic pricing strategies. So our technology spectrum consists of front ends, middle ware, apis, microservices, data management solutions, caching solutions, event management platforms, notification engines, queuing solutions and what not. Its a big complex world out there guys. For all the critical system, we have a DR option. We would have close to 100 systems running to keep the airline operating, across various tier levels.
Tomorrow we plan to go to EXPO from office, it will be a different experience than with family. Now wearing masks outdoors is optional, so it’s a bit of a relief to be able to remove it when too many people are not around us. I have all these N95 masks my sister sent across, and while it is of high quality, it’s also very tight and suffocating.
Recently I found the WORDLE game out there, and now play it daily. I like it refreshing and engaging. I expect you also to try it out, if you read this. After the EXPO visit, I hope to add on more to this page. Ciao.
Unfortunately, the visit from office to Expo didn’t materialize because of some work reasons. While many staff visited, I couldn’t. But it’s ok, since I had visited earlier. And work always comes first. Talking about work, I wanted to share a great view from my seat.
From our old office, I had a great view of flights coming in for landing and take off, and sometimes even parking very close to our office. This office, the view is slightly different, but nonetheless spectacular. Seeing this, you might think the office is near the desert or something like that. That’s not the case. There’s the 611 highway near our office, and this is a vast open area to the other side of the highway. Occasionally I can see cars and pickups race by, raising clouds and clouds of dust as they speed through the sandy road. This leads me to believe that maybe there’s a farm nearby and these animals might be from there.
Today had lunch with some colleagues and tried out the Mint Leaf restaurant. I have been there before but today was purely vegetarian. The food was nice, and lot more variety than I expected. It has nice views, esp at night of the bay and Burj Khalifa towering near by.
One of our critical systems has been having some trouble recently, with unplanned downtimes and impact on operations. We are trying to apply an Oracle patch that should hopefully solve the issue, but it’s taking a while. When I think about this, supporting systems in production is a job in itself. Every week there are patches on various software and OS, and if we don’t patch regularly, we fall behind. That’s not a good place to be, because the vendors can stop support, or stop providing new features on these obsolete versions. We take production support for granted, but it’s very serious business. I hope the production issues go away!
A trip to India is on the cards soon. There is a lot I want to take care of, during this trip. First, see my parents and close family. It’s been a while. Then, friends and finally a long overdue visit to a church in the next state. However, it’s been a religious passion to visit this church every three years and due to the pandemic it couldn’t happen. But now that things are opening up in India as well, it’s the right time. I also need to visit my daughter’s tuition teacher and gift him a nice pen, for teaching Joanna so well. I think because of that, while most students found Physics very difficult, she managed to perform well. Always, the fundamentals are important and a good teacher starts with that. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, i was tablet fed regularly academic medicine, without any idea how or where to use it. Listening to her teacher, he explains practical uses of various theorems and formula, and it sticks in their minds.
Then, there is a plot in Trivandrum that I have been trying to sell for some time now. This time I hope to advertise and finalise it when I am there.
Recently watched some of the newly released Malayalam movies. Most of them are average and I believe due to the lock down and general feeling of being constrained, people watch everything now in theatres and make it a hit! In normal times, most of these would have been average films. I haven’t seen a truly intense or strong movie in a long time now, in any language. I also don’t get much recommendations from friends on movies, since they are mostly fans of Mamootty or Mohan lal and blindly follow their movies irrespective of whether they are good or bad. I am all for good movies.
Today it was very cold in the morning and it felt nice going to mamzar beach and having a run. The track there is good compared to other places, thought it might need to be maintained soon. However, the view is spectacular and exercising there with the wind on my back and a good song in my ears and so many others running and walking and working out in some way, really invigorates me. I forget my tiredness and give it that extra effort which normally I find it difficult. My daily morning walks combined with the Intermittent Fasting is starting to have an impact. I am now at 87Kgs and my target is 80Kg which is a long way away. However, I have given time till June to achieve that, and take stock. Let’s see. It is finally going to be a long journey to sustain it, and I would rather lose it slowly and steadily and maintain it likewise, than lose rapidly and gain rapidly.
Another week is starting, and will bring with it its own lessons and learnings and experience. However, as I believe, whatever you feel, however you feel, get up in the morning and do your bit. If the day is bad, hang on there. If the day is good, enjoy it. One lesson I want to exercise more in daily life, is to ensure completion of activities. Often, what happens is that I point of some tasks or strategies to team mates, and then expect them to complete it. However, now a days I am seeing that it doesn’t work that way and it just remains incomplete. So, it’s my new mantra – “If you want it to be done, do it yourself”. I don’t mean all the regular paraphernalia which will get done routinely. I mean the special and important things which will count in the long term, and which gets overlooked due to daily operational things. And if I can complete even one such task in a week, it’s worth it.