Our second attempt today, to get Keshav’s passport renewal process initiated. The last time we had an appointment, we ran into the biggest storm in a couple of years, so had to reschedule.
Today, as we sat in the car, we heard a few massive interception bangs, and then it started raining again, for good measure. Nevertheless, we braved missiles and torrents and reached the passport center, only to run into the archaic forms and procedures that (ironically so in the light of what we went through to reach the place), became our nemesis.
I for one, had to sign the form 10 times, because the officer there thought that my signature didn’t match the one on the passport, never mind that I was sitting in front of her, passport, Emirates ID, personality and all, and signing it. Apparently nothing counts as much as a little twist in the ‘h’ of the Ghai, that I was unfortunately unable to recreate at will.
Keshav, on the other hand, was all over the place, peeking into iPads of more digitally inclined kids, rolling on the sofa, narrating his soupy stories and running around, all at once. He did have an important thumb to play, which he did after a few ‘I want to do it myself’ and gentle admonition by all around him. Glad to see that the school that we are sending him to, has finally brought out the ‘angootha chaap’ in him.
Anyways, was finally done, and we hungry souls trudged down to Bukhara, a nice little restaurant nearby that we wanted to try. Portion sizes were a bit too generous, and they took forever to come, but the food was tasty and we couldn’t complain. That there was a 25% discount was never a factor of consideration (of course it was).
We also learned that petrol prices are 30% up this month, and all you folks in India who complain about high prices, well, the UAE has price-matched. An upside is that all those ‘free petrol’ jokes may subside for a while. Everything else is a potential downside though, given that diesel rose by (gasp) 72%. Starting to budget more tightly – no more eating out (aforementioned obscene discounts are excluded from this statement), no more movies (we don’t go anyway) and no more buying stuff we don’t need (unless Bloomingdales also comes up with the aforementioned obscene discount).
After all, we are in Dubai, and so our budget measures have to be Dubai-style, don’t they?
See you tomorrow!