Keeping in touch

It has been over nine months since I left KSA. In these nine odd months, a lot of changes have happened globally, and many in the Kingdom as well. Their strategy of undercutting international oil prices has backfired on them so badly that the country is reeling under losses and has moved on from a budget with profit to a budget with deficit. Petroleum prices have been raised, a lot of expatriates are being sent back home or are languishing in the Kingdom without wages or without a job, and the monarchy is considering other ways of raising capital and doing business with the world. 

In such circumstances, many doctors are also reconsidering their options. Those from India and other upcoming nations are already contemplating return to their homeland. In the construction industry, people are in so much trouble that some are left to fend for themselves by resorting to begging. There is a sense that Saudi Arabia may be in more trouble in the years to come. The Nitaqat movement started by King Abdullah has urged companies to substitute expatriates with Saudi citizens. Many thousands of semi-skilled and unskilled workers have been issued exit visas and have been and are being deported.

Doctors' jobs are, for the time being, secure as Saudi doctors are few and far between, but it is estimated that their numbers will grow as more and more Saudis graduate from medical schools. The coming decade may see many Saudis displacing general practitioners and resident doctors in the hospitals. Over the ensuing few decades, there will be a run on posts of specialists as well. Saudi Arabian tertiary medical centres will, however, need super-specialists for a long, long time to come.

The writing is on the wall. Beware.

Random thoughts about what is going on

It may seem to my dear readers that I have lost interest in writing this blog as I am arriving at the fag end of my career here in Saudi Arabia. However, that is only partially true. The real reason is that I am doing a lot of other things to keep myself occupied. Currently, I am doing an online course (on www.coursera.org) on "Contemporary India". It is being taught by the faculty of Indian studies in the University of Melbourne. It was a pleasant surprise to hear the lectures given by Australian teachers who knew so much about India, its history, its culture and its people. Two weeks into the course, I am also surprised by the level of interest among non-Indian students - all 4000+ of them from all parts of the world. They have so much knowledge of India! I have met students who desire to visit India, and I have also met some who have been to India more than a dozen times in the last decade. Isn't that astonishing?

I am also trying to get writing jobs from www.freelancer.com.  

My visiting card for my writing jobs

I got my first job yesterday, when a Bangalore-based cardiologist hired me to prepare brochures for his practice. This will probably be an easy task to handle, but it will also get me more jobs as my profile will show a satisfied client who got what they wanted.

I am also busy looking after my own health. A few days ago, I came down with a severe backache. Today, it became almost unbearable, and I had to take many tablets and an injection of diclofenac (a pain-killer, commonly known as Voveran in India) to be able to work. I went to the medical director and urged him to find a replacement for me for some days so that I can rest. I also went to the physiotherapy department, but the Saudi technician working there was completely ignorant on how to use the different treatment modalities and ended up giving me a hot water bag only! (The Indian female physiotherapist Dr. Sumitra is on leave.) I am hoping that the Muderiya arranges for someone to come and relieve me tomorrow (I am writing this on the night of Monday, 3rd August 2015).

I have been following the antics of the Parliamentarians in India on Times Now on my idiot box and find that the way Congress M.P.s have behaved in the last ten days - disrupting the work of the Monsoon session of the Parliament - is really shameful. It was a good thing that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha finally suspended 25 Congress M.P.s from the legislature for five days. Hopefully, this implies that business will be conducted from tomorrow, at least in the lower House.

Finally, I will end this entry by thanking my readers. We have 367 posts in the near-four years I have been in Saudi Arabia, and over 40000 views of my blog. I hope and pray that my readers, i.e. you, will continue to follow me and my writing in the months to come, when I will probably change the title of this blog - or start a new one when I start working from a new location.

Thank you for being with me till here. Cya, bye.