I heard a beautiful story about the eyelids of camels.
Ages ago, I came across a picture of some camels with their masters in the desert and they were hit by heavy storm. At the time, I wondered how camels were able to see in such a situation? In the same picture, the masters had wrapped their faces with turbans, leaving only their eyes exposed, obviously, so they could see. I wondered how the camels walked so calmly in such a sandstorm without any struggle to follow in one direction.
This week I was sent on assignment to Gulf Vetcare in Al Wathba to take photographs of camels getting microchips implanted. The idea is to keep track of the camels if they get lost or stolen. I was extremely excited about this assignment because I was curious to see camels' eyes up close.
During the photo shoot, I tried to get tight shots of the camel's eyes. I was absolutely fascinated by its beauty and long eyelashes.
The secret of the camel is its three eyelids. If you look closely, two of the lids have eye lashes, which protects their eyes from the sand. The third is a thin membrane and works like a windshield wiper, cleaning the animal's eyes in a sandstorm. Unlike human eyes, camel eyes work from side to side rather than up and down. God has created the camel in such a special way that its eyelids have a screen that trap sand and drops it down. Amazing!
There was a horse at the farm, too. I have seen horses before but never touched one. I gathered all my courage, and decided to touch the beautiful creature. Horses have such pretty manes – I witnessed it first-hand. The horse's mane reminded me of some family members who spend quite a lot money on shampoos and other hair products to straighten their hair. Although in the end, the humans end up losing their natural hair and their money.
I love my job because I enjoy it. Every day, there is something new to see and learn. I notice my photography skills improving and I feel more confident when taking pictures. There have been instances when people have asked to see the pictures I have taken. My response is always: "We don't show our pictures. I hope you understand." In reality, my pictures were not good enough to show. Either they were too bright or too dark. Fortunately, I got away with that handy phrase, otherwise, I would lose my credibility!
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a+£60,000 watch.
- James+‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
