Bubble Art

The little boy looked up in a wonder. “Should I poke it or should I soak in it,” he must have wondered wrapped inside a giant soap bubble standing on stage. ‘Plop’ soon the bubble burst and the audience clapped. The boy still mesmerised by the act enjoyed the attention. As part of Dubai Shopping […]

Our Culinary Adventures: Emirati, Mexican & Greek

The year started with us trying out various international cuisines. On the first day of 2016 itself we found a fabulous Greek restaurant Elia in our own neighbourhood. Located in The Majestic Hotel in Bur Dubai Elia offers a tranquil Greek inspired setting with dim lights, white furniture and striped blue table-clothes. For starters we […]

SIBF 2015

The Sharjah Book Fair 2015, held in November every year, was an event I always looked forward to. Back then I lived in Sharjah and could enjoy browsing the book stalls for hours and could attend author interactive sessions for several days. But now that am based in Dubai driving through the crazy traffic to […]

Kathak dance in Dubai

One of India’s prominent dance forms is Kathak. Derived from the word katha meaning story this dance form is a beautiful blend of story telling and Hindustani classical music. This decades old traditional dance is kept alive in the UAE by Ketaki Hazra. Her Dubai-based dance school presents the yearly musical event — Nrityanjali. The […]

HER – an exhibition by Matilde Gattoni

Gulf Photo Plus, Al Quoz, is showcasing an exhibition of photographs titled HER by award winning photo journalist Matilde Gattoni till Oct 31. Photographer Matilde Gattoni’s career has spanned 15 years in which she has travelled to over 35 countries and four continents. She has encountered and photographed thousands of women from all over the […]

Key to Dubai book launch

Written and illustrated by Dubai resident Liliane van der Hoeven the Key to Dubai book was launched on Saturday, September 12, 2015, at the Dubai International Writer’s Centre in Bur Dubai. The book, an illustrated encyclopedia on the emirates, is packed with fun facts and targeted at children in the age group of 6 to […]

Dubai Butterfly Garden

I am seated on a wooden bench surrounded by bright flowers and green creepers, the chirping of birds in the backdrop is music to my ears. In this natural paradise flutters in a blue butterfly. Her wings, the colour of the sky, settle on a piece of sticky banana slice kept amidst a pot full […]

Malai Ghevar

The months of July and August are monsoon months in India — Sawaan ke mahine as we say in Hindi. Besides the romantic weather that these months bring along there are a wide range of sweet and salty delicacies that one can tuck into. Various parts of India have typical rain weather food. One such […]

Abra ride & Spice Souk

A flock of seagulls and dark clouds accompanied us along the abra ride one evening at Dubai creek. A friend was visiting and we were on a customary souk tour. For me an abra ride is always a refreshing experience, one I never get tired of. Most tourists too seem to enjoy boarding the wooden […]

Meeting author Sophie Hannah

This post was long overdue as I met author Sophie Hannah at the Emirates Lit Fest in March 2015. Being a huge Agatha Christie fan it was an unmissable event as she is the only writer to have brought back the indomitable Hercule Poirot back in action since Agatha Christie’s death. In her latest book The Monogram Murders Sophie gives […]