The Hartal Way to ease your traffic woes

Happy New Year to everyone! Let me begin 2007 in the true expat whining spirit.

My hopes of having a dubai-less holiday did not start on the right note after I found the UAE Labour Minister in my home town back in India.

The minister expressed his pleasant surprise at the sparse and orderly traffic over there (just like Dubai he said - pleasant, orderly traffic without a hint of irony. Good for him that the Dubai traffic situation is not front page news around the world), only to be wryly informed by an official that there was a 'hartal' in the city and drivers were wary of being pelted with stones by the protesters; black-tinted glasses being their obvious favourites.

Meanwhile, the possibilities of seeing free-flowing traffic in Sheikh Zayed Rd will remain as remote as a hartal organised by UAE's disgruntled labourers.