:: Hikmah @ Ekhwan.Com :: » The Emirates

The Book Shelter

Juzar Noorani — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 06:17:12 +0000

The year 2011 has been quite dull in terms of writing good blog posts and now as the year 2012 rises bright and shiny, I just look forward to punching up some material on my blog. Thoughts come and fly by but when reduced to writing are saved for a lifetime.

A few days back I stumbled on a twitter account thebookshelter and found that two young ladies in the Emirates have literally started and orphanage for BOOKS!! There are so many good things you could do one might wonder and better buy a new one rather then hording old stuff and also spending on the maintenance of the so called Book Shelter. Apart from that, since the flow of eBooks have begun people have just begun to forget the touch, feel and scent of paper. These are the first few thoughts that same up my mind.

Being a book lover with so many sitting on my bookshelf, personally I would not even think of parting with my books with any one. I love them. Just looking at the shelves filled with them makes me feel my hunger for learning. I took a breath and emailed thebookshelter.ae that I would like to donate. They replied promptly and had the few books that were ready with me, picked-up.

I started surfing their website and found a book that I had been wanting to have a glimpse at since some time but had not dared buy it for the simple reason that time would not permit to go through it.

People who love the written word would not part for it even though the digital world grows faster and feel of paper, its wonderful smell that one breathes in being engrossed in the book opens the doors of imagination, creativity and knowledge. Homes are growing smaller, and the price that once pays per square feet nowadays its much larger for someone to actually fall in love with having a library at home but then I would not dare speak the same having more then 150 books lying on my bookshelf and having known people who have collected newspapers and weeklys over years. The lust and hunger for knowledge in these people cannot be explain in words, for the written word would fall short of it.

For those who would like to know more about the work done by the two Emarati ladies or even have a book for yourself visit http://thebookshelter.ae

Hoping to write more blog posts then the past in 2012.

MAF Najmcard Irony

Juzar Noorani — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:28:25 +0000

MAF, one of the most reputable group of companies launched credit cards a few years back with staunch terms and conditions in store for applicants. The credit card is basically issued by MAF Finance and the initial card they launched was the JCB card while the Visa was added to their range later on.

These cards were initially promoted by the MAF group hyper mart, Carrefoure by adding discounts almost every other thing available off the self there. In addition to this the NajmCard boasts upto 4% cash back in all promotional material including the website and all other printed materials. They also have “Free for life” cards with a lower cash back value which is by all means acceptable.

So far so good. The surprises are yet to come, just like most banks that astonish the consumer with finer prints rarely readable, known as, terms and conditions apply. However, these terms and conditions are rarely mentioned in promotional material which lure consumers into a trap of so called loyalty shopping at times, turning it into tied up and bound to shopping.

What a cash back means in Najm Card language is accumulation of points that can later be converted to Carrefoure Vouchers that can be redeemed to pay ones carrefoure bills.

The Najm Card cash back system is not a cash back system but its a holding back customer for myself system. Such promotional material cannot be deemed as accurate and in consumer interests, rather it is misleading to those who have to offer a blank dated and signed cheque to MAF Finance, have a large salary and other such conditions to apply for the so called Cash Back credit card.

Unless you are willing to pay a good amount of fee for the Najm Card, just forget getting one with an adjustable cash back system. Except for the priority counter benefit at carrefoure nothing is so attractive about the Najmcard. The special discounts that were initially offered also do not exist any longer.

Thrust to the Economy

Juzar Noorani — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:48:53 +0000

It has been almost two years since the start of the recession and the slump in the market all over the world. Trade around the world diminishing to minimal while prices of necessities rising sharply. The recent turmoil and political upheaval in the MENA region has caused more concerns over the recovery of the economy on a macro level. Though analysts might see a growth in the market looking at the indexes of trade houses but it does not really expose the reality and the ground level scenario where most of the people are not even aware of what a stock exchange is.

Oil prices have hiked to record highs in the history of mankind and as the MENA region, especially countries like Libya still having political constrains it cannot be predicted to what, highest peak the oil price finally reach. That said, most of our economical situation are now relying on oil as an energy source, the fossil fuel has caught human kind into a tight glitch.

During these though times it is the government’s role to ease and promote small scale industries and small businesses rather then trying to bail out giants on the costs of the near to getting unemployed common citizens. It would be more wiser for any government to ease the process of setting up small businesses and helping it reduce over heads in terms of fees and certification processes and so on, let the business create further employment opportunities and wider get more market share. It would be more wiser for the authorities to back businesses that grow and develop on non-borrowed capital rather then depend on banks and financial institutions for liquidity. Such borrowing would not only rise overheads and add to costs of commodities but add uncertainty in the stagnant market.

There are times when businesses can afford perfection and there are times when costs need be considered for the growth of an economy from a macro level.

How unwise would it be for authorities to simply issue fines and levy illogical fees and charges to fulfill their extravagant needs and expenses. If businesses are hit by fee hypes in accomplishing the legal aspects of running it, they will either pass-on the costs to the end user or cut down on operations by simply shifting to more preferable places. The most annoying of any additional overhead that a business could bare is the implementation of hidden charges which are levied every now and then. If the authorities do not consider setting up proper measures to its own act of ignorance, it would result in hurting the economy of the country at the end of the day.

The problem with the world is that there are too many damned foreigners in it.

Juzar Noorani — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 03:21:11 +0000

Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin TUS, the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community is celebrating his 100th birthday this year. Personally being a strong follower and a passionate lover of all his instructions, I believe that “loyalty to a country to dwell in is a part of faith”. Loyalty in simple terms is to respect its laws, culture, tradition and economic values.

Have lived in the UAE for many years, right from schooling to adulthood and even being married here makes the country my home away from my birthplace which I haven’t even known for a tenth of my age. Indians in this country have really played a role in the socio-economic development of the nation and we do really feel to be proud of the fact. During childhood, I used to have Emarati friends and go to their homes, play Attari and stuff even. I remember my father’s sponsor and a friend rather, would insist him to visit often when we used to greet him on Eid. He was an old gentleman and we used to know of him as a distant relative and an uncle as kids rather then an Emarati who was our sponsor. Another Emarati uncle I remember from those days was a neighbor who used to help us with water during the hot summer days when it was scarcity. Those days were so peaceful and calm. We used to walk home from school 3 Kms away, play cricket and football but today at the same age my kids would never think of putting a foot out of the home due to the heavy traffic.

I remember seeing the then Ruler of Ajman, a simple and elderly figure sit in public and meet everyone with a friendly gesture. Today is an altogether different story, though having met the now Ruler several times during Eid and other occasions the protocol is different. He is down to Earth and have seen him drive his own car once as he waved from his Merc on a Red Signal stopping on our side.

We have always believed that this country has given us a different view of life, a different dimension to it and a life of prosperity and happiness.

Today as the country marches towards Emiratization in the private sector, I believe that best way to create a better workforce out of the countries youth is, not only to give them opportunities and security of job but also train them for dignity of labor. Uplift them to mingle freely within the corporate culture while not being foreigners in their own land. A skilled, learned, trained and hardworking employee is a corporation’s asset and such human resource are valuable for the entire nation as well as the community. I think the country should encourage the youth to work and have pride in doing so, as well as provide encourage the institutes that want to play a role in this endeavor. Together with all the love that the people here have for this land and nation, everyone can put their piece of brick as we grow.

Poor Cutomer Service

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:56:17 +0000

When it comes to a monopolistic market trend it is the customer or the end user at that end who suffers the most. Poor competitions is not only far from being a consumers market but rather far from being productive and quality conscience as well, with the woes of the quality not ending an limiting to the sale or production of the product but also deepening up to the customer care and support as well.

Recently I had been to India where you can get a 128 kbps broadband connection on your mobile phone with a limit of 2 MB per month for less then a 100 INR or say 2 USD. The connection would be off course over the 3G and can be used on a laptop provided your phone has the proper supports. The other mobile services are so cheap with a second wise pulse billing going down to a paisa per second, the Indian market is booming with so much competition around.

Back in the UAE the monopolistic trend prevails with not much competition to look at when it comes to the Telecom sector and it is far from being a consumer market. I happened to visit the Etisalat Main Branch in Sharjah for registering a few .ae domain names, which cannot be registered other wise, such as over the Internet. There were 12 counters with only 4 of them active and it took me about an hour to get the 2 out of the 3 domains registered. The remaining one was available when checked on the NIC and aeDA websites but could not be registered because of some technical problem in the Etisalat system. For which I had to go to customer service and report the matter so that it could be escalated to the IT Department, which took another hour just to be informed that it would be solved in 3 working days.

On returning home it was discovered that the sales lady over the counter had made a mistake while entering the email address of the Registrar of one of the domains. Therefore I called the NIC helpline to know that they could not help me and that I would have to visit an Etisalat branch physically or send down a fax for the problem to be solved in 3 working days. I chose the first option and visited the branch the next day. 12 counters and 7 of them working. It took me another hour to get the mistake corrected.

On asking about the domain for which I had raised a request, I was told that the issue was still pending to be resolved by the IT department, even after 24 hours. Such is the quality of customer service you get when there is no choice left.

A request for the reader not to mention the so called competitor Du which is not better. Look at its twitter notification service which is dead since a few months and all you find @dutweets are excuses.

For Love of the Written Word

Juzar Noorani — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:33:39 +0000

The Sharjah Book Fair is one massive event “for the love of the written word”, just as the slogan expresses. Visit the event and you would be astonished to the amount of ink mankind has spread of tons of paper full of expression and thoughts.

Since the dawn of civilization man has always been obsessed of communicating his thoughts, the knowledge that he acquire through a long learning process of understanding, experimenting and experiencing. The hunger and thirst for knowledge is what differentiates us humans from all other species that dwell this planet and probably make us feel superior.

The revolutionary age of information has digitized these thoughts and turned the ink into bits and bytes nevertheless the urge for holding a book in ones hand and swallowing the vast knowledge implanted in ink never lessens. The scent of the books its lustful binding and bright pages with shinny ink is what attracts readers to love the hard copies. Mind well that ink is called “rosh’naee” in Urdu because it radiates the light of knowledge and enlightens the soul. Love of books has grown and deepened within my heart and I could hardly resist a wonderful title except when the dept of my pocket is shallower. The Sharjah Book Fair is a place where I find relaxation skimming through pages and titles over the bookshelves and in stalls, and at times the clock stops as I just swallow a finer piece of work rather then just window shopping. The love and passion is never ending.

Though I am a book lover and like spending on a good title but the purse is not quick to open up. Though we are growing in terms of knowledge, education and information which is readily available everyday our lives are becoming shorter and homes smaller, with no spare time nor enough space to store the thought provoking work of authors. Even today books are a luxury for those who could afford to maintain its high costs.

During my recent visit to the Sharjah Book Fair, a thought popped up my mind as I looked up on the large banners that declared “Love for the written word”. The thought of being fortunate to own some of the worlds lovely titles published and happy to have read through the minds of some of the worlds brilliant men time has known was the most prominent. While another thought did sneak in to declare that since the authorities of Sharjah and its leadership are braving such a huge and massive event why not arrange some sort of a pre-owned books fair as well. The reason this thought popped up was seeing the tons and tons of paper displayed at the fair. The rate at which we are producing paper and coping up with demand is growing at such a high pace that I dare to say we might be out of paper in a very near future.

A book fair where people could dispose their pre-owned collection, share, sell, exchange or even give away for recycling would be another such massive event of equivalent impact to the community and our culture as well as our environment. Maybe such a stand alone book fair would not be possible but a well organized section in the International Book Far event could make a huge difference.

To be very much frank and truthful I even do not have an idea of how such an event or a part-event could even be organized but such an initiative would surely be a step forward for the intellectual beings that we humans belong to.

Sharjah International Book Fair

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:41:38 +0000

The SIBF is one event that I wait the entire year to happen. It is a place where one can feed his or her intellectual appetite with vast and diverse collection of titles both new and old. There is much to write about on an even as massive and full of words as this one. For now it would be just enough two write about the opening ceremony of this book fair by the Ruler of Sharjah himself. His Highness Sheikh Sultan al-Qasimi a person well learned and well versed with both contemporary knowledge as well as classical is a author of several books himself.

His Highness, the ruler is always present on this spectacular event each year and finds time for it from his busy schedule which indeed reflects his love for education and imparting of knowledge. Personally I have been very lucky and fortunate to be present during the opening and visit of the Ruler. Its his humble self that any person, be it a citizen or an expat, can extend his greetings to the scholarly personality as well as accompany him as he scrolls past the hundreds of stalls erected by the participants from all over the world. His Highness Dr. Shiekh Sultan al-Qasimi, signed the English copy of his book (Sard al-Zatt) as well as the new book (Hadeeth al-Zakirah).

It was an overwhelming occasion as he skimmed through the booths, surfing through the titles exhibited on each stalls.

Personally I find great pleasure even window shopping at such a beautiful place and time passes by in such a way hours just seem to be minutes and there is never enough time to inspect each section of personal interest even let alone adventuring into a new field of growing knowledge.

Being a fan of this yearly event in Sharjah, there are a few critical points at mind do need to be considered by the organisers. On this very first day there were no carry bags with the publishers at the booths provided by the organisers nor were there any invoice books, no trolleys and so on. Buying the books was hard on the first day though its better later on. But the situation is the same year after year on the first day.

Once again all the applaud to this event for the sake of the love of knowledge and books.

National Bonds, its prize money and profits

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 20:37:09 +0000

Believing in luck is a completely different thing and relying on luck for getting rich is another. People who dream and commit to their dreams invest very sensibly and have a passion of taking risks for high returns. Taking risk does not mean gambling with your luck rather it means walking with your luck to fulfill the most passionate of dreams by taking calculated risks.

People are often lured by the current market situation and most service or job minded people people have a very narrow vision of security, which might mean a secure future without involving risks. These are the people who often get lured into the saving schemes legally started by banks, financial institutions, insurance companies or governments and private entities.

Many companies float their stock and go public for liquidation of assets while some issue bonds. Even the government does that to assure the low risk involved and the guarantee of the capital. While most bonds are purely issued by luring people to save a bit of their income for the future and by handing out huge prize money, “The National Bonds Corporation” has gone a step ahead by declaring itself Shariah Compliant and handing out a tiny bit of profit or whatever they might call, on the capital investment. The region where “National Bonds” operate is widely dominated by Muslims who prefer Islamic and Shariah Compliant financial products, which are rare to find even if approved by a council. The complexity of being Shariah Compliant is far more then what could be including in this article and should be left to a future one.

National Bonds are issues by a non-governmental institute and are legal. The company apart from issuing profits on the capital investment also has set aside “if you are lucky” deals which i call gambling and do not believe in. Luck and hard work (which does include financial investment) go hand in hand. The company gives out more than a million UAE Dirhams in prize money to bond holders every month. Which might accumulate into about a 150 Million probably in a Year. The exact amounts are not stated here as it is irrelevant to what the issue with National Bonds is.

More than half a million people have invested in National Bonds due to high expectations of winning these lucrative prizes and advises for saving for a better future.

With inflation on the rise a thousand Dirhams saved today might be worth only a few hundreds in a few years. The case is evident all over the world. The purchasing power of any currency in the world has declined and therefore it is just not sensible to save a commodity or whatever money is called for a far off future. As far as National Bonds is concerned the profits that they declare at the end of each year are just figures without meaning. If on a 1000 AED one is to get only 65 AED or as for 2009′s profit’s about 38 or something after a whole year does it make sense. The value of the amount has already depreciated in terms of what it could buy after a year and the value would be greater then the accumulated profit. Just to cite an example here, in December 2008, 5 KGs of a certain brand of rice at Carrefour was worth AED 16 while the same thing was priced AED 32 in December 2009. It was a tremendous growth in the pricing of all commodity and consumables, while a hand full stayed the same and yet a minor percentage has decreased.

What would the saving have done, if it was meant for a year? What would the profit that it had generated resulted to? National Bonds are definitely not so beneficial on the whole, even if someone wished to save on it, though I am not against saving totally, but surely the return of profit does not just mean saving only. It has to do with investment where it seems to be a failure. Rather then giving out millions in prize money in a lottery system, it would have been better if it focused more on giving out larger profits to the extent that these huge prize amounts also be distributed in the same way.

All said the verdict is that though the entire corporate and its functionality is legal it still is based on a “life is a gamble” thinking or maybe it just displays or projects such an idea.

All the figures and amounts stated above are just vague examples and not accurate calculations. Exact figures can be found on nationabonds.ae These are totally personal views/suggestions and are not endorsed by any entity.

NRI Banking and Indian Banks

Juzar Noorani — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:06:56 +0000

The Indian Banking sector has loads of services for pulling foreign funds from loyal Indians who have added to the countries growth and foreign currency reserves on a very large scale.

There is something about India and being Indian that keeps all of us attached to the matra bhumi where ever we live. Even if an Indian enjoyed full rights of citizenship in a very developed country he would not be able to keep himself away from India and his relatives back home. Probably this is because of the sanskaar that are embedded in the DNA or something. There is a bond and longing for relatives and family in us Indians that keeps us rejoining ourselves to India. Apart from this which keeps the business society attached to the nation, there are several salaried class people who also form a very huge contributing sector for the nation.

Probably due to these factors the NRI banking sector has been ever thriving especially since the Indian government has started to count in this large community and provide it with benefits and facilities that pull in the resources of all these people.

Indian banks have improved to quite an extent in providing very good services for the NRI sector but there are a few problems that I have faced personally and think they should improve on that front. Banks in India might be having fantastic services but when it comes to NRI services they lack behind their foreign counterparts. HSBC and State Bank, for example, create so much trouble to just reactivate a simple Net Banking account that the customer would finally become frustrated. No service centers in the UAE are equipped to help customers even reset their password or TPIN to a simple extent. One would have to place a long distance call to India just to get that done. Another problem which I have experienced with HSBC is that they would send your new password by snail-mail and how painstaking would that be in today’s speedy world could be understood easily.

On the other hand Citibank, I have no reason to favor it, except for the convenience and ease of the services they provide in the UAE itself. The best of all is their phone banking and net banking services. CitiNRI services have always been very costly and have a lot of various kinds of fees many people would surely not prefer and I think they should work out on it as well.

There are several banks out there for providing NRI services but one should really do a little homework and not get lured by the salesman or sales ladies talks, as India has strict rules on banking. Always study the fee structure, ask for their terms and conditions booklet, look for reviews on the internet and ask relatives and friends about their experience. There is a lot of competition in the sector and that makes it more nicer for the customer while decision making tougher.

Business Ideas and Hurdles

Juzar Noorani — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:32:45 +0000

Almost all business ideas are great and can be prosperous if the idea is properly implemented. It takes a lot of planning and executive work to have the popped up business idea to succeed.

People wonder all the time and think that of America. The American dream is a pursue of many people all over the world. It is the freedom in its economy through which people can grow to higher level both financially and personally. Yes, there may be many that never live a full life even in America, but for those who have a good idea and the perseverance to chase it do succeed at least financially at some level or other. The American dream is nothing but the freedom to grow.

Living in the UAE, I have witnessed that most people who have good business ideas that actually also add to the growth of the country and its people may also be stopped by the several blockades of sponsorship and so on. Simple things create blockades in the way of growth and create a very non-competitive environment all over. The place has become a safe haven for capitalists but the young entrepreneurs can seldom make it to the top.

:: Hikmah @ Ekhwan.Com :: » The Emirates

The Book Shelter

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MAF Najmcard Irony

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Thrust to the Economy

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The problem with the world is that there are too many damned foreigners in it.

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Poor Cutomer Service

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For Love of the Written Word

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Sharjah International Book Fair

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National Bonds, its prize money and profits

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NRI Banking and Indian Banks

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Business Ideas and Hurdles

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