Thursday, April 19, 2007

AUS & Dubai & My Weird Way Of Connecting The Two

UAE and Universities don’t make sense to me. I thought UAE could not have a good university, or rather does not have a good university. American University of Dubai seems to have a decent campus, but somehow the people and the atmosphere just exude negative vibes. The Knowledge Village is not appealing at all (maybe Dubai Academic City will be, but I won’t be here). Skyline, ACD and others just seem to have a blah feel. I don’t know how and why I have reached such un-researched and arrogant conclusions, but I just don’t like the idea of studying here.

American University of Sharjah changed that a little (we [Redial Entertainment] had a show there). The University is beautiful. The humongous-ly huge campus, the 1000-seater-state-of-the-art Auditorium, the Pizza-Hut-Burger-King food court, the spacious areas where you can just sit and the artistic dome-like structures [buildings] just blew my wits away. Finally, a university in the UAE almost seemed worthwhile to study in. Almost.

No doubt I was impressed by AUS, but I still can’t ever imagine studying in this country. It’s not like I hate Dubai, or this country, I just seem to be sick of it. I hate the restrictions. I hate how our Indian school segregates boys and girls (now how does something like that not promote homosexuality?). I hate how the Dubai Police once ordered us to go to our houses and get some sleep when they saw us outside our houses with a camera at 3:00 AM in the night. I hate how spoilt we are with everything being available to us at the snap of our fingers, I hate how superficial people here can be. I hate the local taxis. I hate the Dubai Public Transport (the other emirates almost seem to be public-transport-less), Dubai Shopping Festival is the most traffic-filled pain-in-the-ass ever. Basically I need to get out of here. Yeah, some of the above generalizations can be viewed as “unfair” and “arrogant” and “debatable” to the random reader, yeah, some of the above statements can be applied to any place, and yeah, right now a lot of negative energy is flowing through my veins, but I can’t help but get annoyed with Dubai & UAE.

It’s not that I hate everything about Dubai – the tax-free life rocks. Dubai has 6 months of gorgeous weather. We do get spoilt by watching big names perform live in Dubai with ease and at a relatively low price. I love my friends here in Dubai and will miss them loads once I leave. But all that’s not good enough right now.

I am really excited about Texas-Ausin.

P.S. Wow, this was supposed to be more of a AUS-related post. Please forgive the arrogance and the over-use of “I”.

16 comments:

ug said...

i feel exactly the same about studying here. About the colleges, well almost anyone can get in, so youre obviously not an asset to the univ, except perhaps to fill their pockets. and about getting out, well after having lived here for, what, fourteen years now, i feel i'm limiting myself, restricting my views and opinions, and hence i need a new atmosphere...i guess its pretty much the same with a lot of people here

ug said...

you know, more than anything else i think being in the comfort zone doesnt matter anymore. Especially since so much of that comfort zone is being destroyed anyway, theres a passion for new challenges

Anonymous said...

Yeah I agree - Im looking forward to college!. No doubt we are going to miss the relative comfort of Dubai but 'New Horizons' is what we look to.

You really seem to come off quite hateful in that post. Dubai's much better than what you make it out to be:P.

You were blown away by the AUS campus:S????? Dude. You should visit Michigan , Ann Arbor :P.( I just joined a soccer club there:D! And a Cricket one too:S)

Go Blue!

Romit said...

for some of the same reason u mentioned...i really dun feel like comin back to dubai.......India rocks wen u look like that...yea the friends thing, the only reason i have. In india 2 many f***** insects and people here man..only that problem ..otherwise its kool
Goa rocks!!! must visit place..been 4 parasailing and jet skiiing and shit ...g8 fun

nice post... have fun with redial

The Ego said...

Some of us don't have a choice but to stay here... I wonder if you've realized that.
I couldn't imagine studying here either. Look where I ended up through no choice of my own.

The Ego said...

Ah, and I'm not sad I stayed although I know I might've been better off elsewhere. Staying here has given me stuff that going elsewhere would not have provided me. Even though I didn't want to stay here... hmmm...

Abha Malpani said...

I can't wait for you to get out of Dubai; just to see you experience a whole world change which I know you will make the best of.

Btw you can text me now!

alex said...

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...

Udai Kapila said...

i would rather be in dubai than any other place in the world right now... who cares about the place... the amount ive learnt while ive been here makes me feel so much better about myself as a person... everything happens for a reason... i was brought here for a reason, and even though i dont know that reason, i dont care, because i have accepted that. screw the taxis, screw the cops.. screw the school system


- just my take on things... to each his own... -

- udai

Nishant said...

The security and the restrictions imposed upon us are only for the better. You don't see the same murder rates as in US, or other places. The taxis are a pain, yes, but so are they in other countries. They charge way more. To think of it, the foreign countries have lesser traffic problems mainly because of a highly developed railway, and Dubai is going to have one too. The best universities are arriving in Dubai, in Dubai Academic City. Overall, I don't think Dubai is THAT bad a place, I don't think it is bad at all. Maybe we do have more freedom elsewhere, but so does everyone else. That can be dangerous sometimes.

Amna_a said...

Yeah, some of the above generalizations can be viewed as “unfair” and “arrogant” and “debatable”

Not really, what you said was spot on. Those are most of the problems of this place. I think many people (me included) are sick of it.

And about the unis over here, that's exactly why I'm leaving for uni and why my mom isn't letting me stay. No matter how great the campus might be, the spoilt kids of Dubai ruin it. The atmosphere sucks.

I'm excited about UT too ;)

Anonymous said...

dont bother to reply but toll systems are about to be established in Dubai.so you might want to reconsider what you wrote.

Anonymous said...

You'r hate local taxi here! compare that of Mumbai's taxis. Tired of public transport here! how about Pune public transport system?

I am not surprized to see Anish excited about Austin-Texas cuz these kind of people are always blindly excited about anything white; so submissive to anything western; have no self pride; so denying and unappreciating of circumstances that made them what they are!

so nothing here is postive except the campus of AUS!

I wonder if u would be able to go to Austin if ur parents had not migrated to Dubai.

And finally you wont be missed here since u r so much annoyed with Dubai and UAE.

Anonymous said...

AUS is a non - profit university...

Anonymous said...

AUS is a non - profit university...

Manderr said...

Everything you said in this blog is true. Every single word. But you missed out one thing. UAE is home. Whether you like it or not, you cannot deny the cozy feeling it has. Believe me, I left in the Fall to go to a uni abroad, and I ended up missing the UAE like hell. Which is why I decided to come back and go to AUS. :)