1. Chaos theory
I would have loved to be a mathematician, or math- magician, or whatever they are called today, those
who can prepare a mathematical formula to solve any problem in life. Now I am having two problems
only.
Problem one: this is not my problem really but it does affect me directly, nevertheless the time wasted
this morning is my time, so I am affected in one or the other. Picture this, a country with 95% of its
population as foreigners, who all require visas, medical checkup, labour cards, labour regulations, etc,
guess what we have to do to complete a person’s entry and legalise his or her stay? Long process, first a
visa renewal form, or visa entry form, to be typed by a bunch of Indians who either have a license or just
whisper in your ears, as they are doing it illegally; then we have to type a medical checkup form, after
that we take all of these forms, to the naturalization and immigration, and they stamp it in the passport
of the person who is to be employed in this country. Similarly on renewal of the visa, we repeat the
same process.
The choice of hospital or form to be printed for the medical would depend on which side of the bed that
person woke up from; hence my blog. I need to renew my housekeeper’s visa. So the form was typed,
and the money was paid. I went on Saturday, to the main clinic, it was closed, and then I went to the
other clinic my daughter went to, it was closed as well. This morning, we went first to the one my
daughter went to and after finding a car park, and walking in all of the hospital’s corridors, they tell me
that this form is for another clinic. Okay! Which one? The person at the counter tries to explain the
location, which I vaguely recognize, and I know that there is no parking there at all; Bugger, I thought.
Drove all the way there, found the place buzzing with activities, so many people were sitting, at least a
hundred, and another 50 were standing. The token was provided; there are 40 in front of us. No
worries, I thought, sat to do some work on my laptop, then, our number came up, went to the counter,
they took more money, then we had to go to another waiting area. The counter that took our papers
had one guy sorting out the paperwork, and few men who check behind him, and then a final guy to
check on the rest. Few layers of checkers! I must admit, if I had this level of responsibilities I my office, I
think my students would have gone to their destination after 20 years!!
My point here is that, this is a country that is highly dependent on foreign manpower, or shall I say
womenpawer just to be cheeky, a simple process would have saved every one heaps of time, and would
have made those men that are checking after the clerk would have been in a more creative or could
have discovered a new rocket or something. Okay, time to be serious now, my suggestion is that when a
visa is to be renewed, then the clinic should be attached to the same place, and the person, types
her/his paperwork, goes directly to the medical checkup, then takes the stamped paper to the
immigration (all in the same place) stamps the passport, get the ID all at once. No time wasted and no
traffic jams. Of course while I am typing this my car got a fine as I didn’t realize how long I have been
sitting here.

2. The second problem is generated from the first problem. Most of us work really hard to guarantee our
families and kids a good life. I wrote down the other day how much money is dispersed on stuff that are
not necessary, or created by bureaucracy. Just an example will amplify the issue; I was busy yesterday,
visiting friends who were ill and were hospitalized, or just been discharged and so on, it was my hospital
day (I guess today is going to be a hospital day too) so when I found that the clinics I talked about above
were closed!! I gave the housekeeper a 100 buck to take a taxi home; you know the temperature that
we endure over here, so I don’t want her to e dehydrated. Then today again, my time and some other
bits and pieces were spent, and that too is relating to bureaucracy, which could have been avoided if we
applied common sense in our organizations.
I need to nag a bit more, when I returned back to Dubai, and wanted to establish this little consultancy, I
noticed that there are few things that I could change which will make work smoother. My master’s
thesis uses a theory called the theory of constraints, and it basically let you find out where the probels
are just from the bottlenecks. So I wrote to the head of the licensing organization and told him that I
could rectify the problems very swiftly. Guess what, it has been 9 years now, the problem is not
rectified, and surprise, surprise!!!! No one replied to my letter.
Why do I bother, not sure, I guess life is such; we need to try to improve things, but if it doesn’t work
out, then fine.