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In accordance with the major economic indicators of Abu Dhabi is currently enjoying a favorable economic conditions, which accelerated the pace of economic growth and have an average per capita income is among the highest in the world, along with the standard of living and health of citizens and residents in Abu Dhabi is better than it was at any time in the past, which is behind This is all that oil - as the main export commodity of the Principality - is a period of strong demand and growing, achieving high prices and providing more ways of development and progress of the emirate, and provide the conditions for Abu Dhabi, the opportunity to ensure prosperity in the long term through the use of existing resources to build a stable and sustainable economy, and Abu Dhabi this regard need to evaluate the structure of its economy and identify the modifications and improvements that can be created.

Coupled with economic growth at the present time oil prices more closely, while access to sustainable development requires non-oil sectors to stimulate and diversify the range and depth of economic activities in the emirate, as well as work to increase productivity by focusing on the competitive advantages enjoyed by Abu Dhabi.

The trend towards diversification

Since the sixties of the last century represented the oil industry the main engine of development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the emirate hosting the sixth largest oil reserves in the world, certainly, and about 98 billion barrels, which is ranked tenth in the list of the largest producers of oil by about 2,5 million barrels per day, mostly for export is estimated to This provides more of the Principality of 90 billion dollars annually from the current rates of income.

The emirate has invested in the development of this income key areas of the economy and the provision of services required by the pattern of modern life, so the crude oil plays a key role in the development of the local economy, and also contribute to the vital role played by the emirate's global economy, and as a result of this oil wealth, the Abu Dhabi one of the largest world exporters of goods and services, which make it the largest global economies are linked through trade, and the United Arab Emirates is one of the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and is therefore an effective role in maintaining security and stability of oil supplies and prices in world markets.

Abu Dhabi has become over the past decade one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the growth rate of GDP in 2006, about 12? After he was promoted to 19,4? In .2004

Despite the strong population growth resulting from the influx of foreign labor and birth rates across the high among the citizens, the per-capita gross domestic product at a remarkable pace, has seen per capita real GDP growth rate of 20 large? Within four years only, up to 55,066 dollars in 2005, which made the emirate in the higher-income economies in the world.

As a result, only become citizens and residents in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with one of the highest living standards in the region, and, if evaluated separately, the emirate will be in place within thirty human development index of the development program of the United Nations, noted that the indicator is the quality of living conditions in 178 countries , on the basis of life expectancy, educational attainment, and the illiteracy rate and purchasing power, despite these promising trends, economic growth is suffering from a high degree of volatility, and that volatility seems to be significantly higher when compared to the Abu Dhabi Group of Seven countries and countries with emerging economies, and even the countries of the Council GCC and it is not surprising that the key role played by oil in the economy means that the GDP growth is highly sensitive to fluctuations in oil prices.

However, the economy is now less susceptible to fluctuations than it was two decades ago, when the percentage of fluctuation of up to 31? In any case, despite the decline in the proportion of volatility to 8? During the past decade, economic planners, however, they do not have enough tools or indicators for the formulation of optimal policies for the market, while Abu Dhabi is currently enjoying high growth rates, it is still not possible to guarantee the continuation of the active growth from year to year, that is, There are guaranteed to reduce the volatility, with the result, it is necessary to develop the Emirate of Abu Dhabi patterns of growth is much higher than that of sustainability, and the Principality of which can guarantee the economic development of the successive periods of prolonged, allowing the possibility of mitigating the effects of external shocks such as fluctuations in the prices of oil and other emergency trauma, and has contributed to the sectors of mining, quarrying and energy, particularly the oil and gas extraction, by increasing the gross domestic product of the emirate over the past decade, rising from 44? In 1995 (the period which witnessed a decline in oil prices relatively) to 59% in the year 2005, the economy has become more dependent necessarily on the rise in oil prices in global markets, and in fact, the high proportion of the oil sector in GDP means that Abu Dhabi is one of the most highly concentrated in the GCC countries, while it appears that the economy of the State of Qatar is the only least diversified.

The need for a more sustainable economy

To bring the picture, Norway - which produces similar quantities of oil to those produced by the Abu Dhabi - no more than the contribution of the sectors of mining, minerals and energy in the gross domestic product to 24? Although the oil sector is the largest contributor to the economic activity in both Norway and Abu Dhabi, but his dominance of the economy in Norway, much lower than in Abu Dhabi.

In the same way, the employment in Abu Dhabi was also suffering from the global concentration in certain sectors, where the sector contributes to the construction and government services to more than half of the posts available, and works for about 13? Of the labor force in the trade sector, restaurants and hotels, while these sectors are also showing high levels of volatility in the growth, the concentration of double GDP and employment in certain sectors of Abu Dhabi makes the risk of economic fluctuations, in short, the focus of this type of employment and economic vulnerability to the vagaries of the economy through Dubai is vulnerable to the impact of shocks that could be exacerbated by such a concentration.

There is a clear link between the obvious and economic diversification and sustainability, and therefore the road towards sustainability begins with the diversification and, in fact, as soon as Abu Dhabi is to achieve greater diversification by stimulating non-oil sectors, especially export-oriented business, the volatility in economic growth will begin to back down .

However, the diversification of sectors alone is not necessarily sufficient, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the non-oil sectors are also reveals the sensitivity to oil prices, because they tend towards their home and went to the local economy, making them dependent on domestic liquidity, when oil prices are high, increasing the availability of funds that support the growth in these sectors, but when prices are low and moderate financial liquidity, we find that the non-oil sectors growing at rates slow.

Perhaps this is what explains the excessive sensitivity of Abu Dhabi, compared to their fluctuations, and therefore should be directed towards economic diversification of the export sectors to the overall growth of the separation of volatile oil prices, the objective is, is looking forward to Abu Dhabi to stimulate non-oil sectors, rather than reducing the activity in the oil sector and as one a major producer of crude oil, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is committed to supporting the global economy through its role to play in ensuring the stability of oil prices and supply, and therefore the oil sector will continue to grow rapidly, and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi will continue to use oil wealth to support local economic growth and to move it, and assuming the continuation of the oil sector growth, according to historical growth rates, the Abu Dhabi by the year 2030 aims to raise the contribution of non-oil sectors - including the petrochemical sector - in the gross domestic product to 64?, and to fully transform the current structure of the contribution of the sectors in the gross domestic product .

Broaden the base of enterprise

Analysis reveal about the emerging private sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi for a reasonable proportion between the large and small enterprises, and the disproportionate distribution of employment, and vary the proportion of large to small projects in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, to some extent on the rate prevailing in the economies of comparison, in particular Ireland and Norway.

In the same vein, the distribution of posts within the institutions of all sizes is similar to that in these economies, despite the fact that large enterprises have gained an increasing share of human capital since .1995

In any case there is a weakness in the economic balance between the production of small and large institutions, which is largely related to the dominance of the oil sector, focused contribution to the gross domestic product in more large-scale enterprises, which indicates the existence of the possibility to enhance the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises, and in most Group of Seven economies attract small and medium enterprises on a larger share of the gross domestic product compared with the capture by large enterprises.

In this context, the development of the SME sector would provide a place for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, similar to the status of the countries of comparison, and at the same time to reduce the vulnerability of the economy at risk, and to promote innovation as well as providing new jobs.

To achieve maximum competitive

Despite the substantial increase (40%) in per capita gross domestic output over the past decade, but this figure does not reveal all the details of an image, productivity of work - represented in the share of income per employee - has grown significantly in the oil sector, thanks to high prices, and within the manufacturing sector, but these gains are concealed behind a decline in the productivity of other sectors, and in fact, the decline in the productivity of other non-oil sectors, reversed some of the gains made by oil and manufacturing industries, where the productivity of these sectors witnessed a combined increase by 60? Over the past decade, in addition to that there is a wide gap in productivity between the small and medium-sized and large enterprises on the other hand, once again, this is due mainly to the contribution of the oil sector, which is dominated by large enterprises, making the labor productivity in this sector reported the highest than in large enterprises in most other countries, but at the same time, the low labor productivity appears to a large extent in the sector of small and medium enterprises, suggesting that the smaller enterprises in Abu Dhabi do not have the same degree of competitiveness of the counterparts in other countries.

And through the transfer of employment of low-productivity sectors such as the government sector and the construction sector, and guide the work force to the sectors that are much higher than the production industries, such as high-value-added, the total production will witness a growth and improvement, and can also improve labor productivity through investment in the areas of training and technical development and production methods, and the improvement of productivity in other sectors of the economy that would bring great benefits for the competitive capacity of the economy, and enhance economic well-being and reduce the vulnerability of the economy fluctuations in oil prices.

Building a balanced regional economic development and social

Economic success has entailed a strong population growth, and the Abu Dhabi to ensure the participation of all residents of the emirate to take advantage of the benefits of social and economic development.

Kdy of rapid economic growth has led to an unprecedented surge in the size of the population of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and in fact, a doubling of the population in the emirate during the two decades alone, as a result of high birth rates and improve the health conditions of citizens, and also the result of the influx of foreign labor in search of work in an economy growing of the Principality, but the bulk of the population of Abu Dhabi to provide a greater opportunity of providing the necessary manpower to fill the jobs in the economy of the twentieth century and the atheist, and Abu Dhabi plans to ensure their citizens to acquire skills and knowledge necessary tools to meet the challenges of the future.

At the same time, it is important that the government is working to monitor the social impacts arising from the development, the emirate should also seek to ensure that encourage the participation of all sectors of society are not represented sufficiently in the economy - such as women - in the process of economic and social progress, and will be achieved by providing better access to education and employment, along with the various development initiatives aimed at establishing a more balanced development in different parts of the emirate.

The development of national resources in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is the population of citizens - young people who constitute the largest proportion of them - one of the best features available to the Principality, since they represent the wealth of human capital necessary to meet the challenges of the future, and not more than two-thirds of people age 24 years, while under the age of fifty-some of them 15 years , and the proportion of young people is higher than those prevailing in the countries of comparison. We will build these young people the future of the emirate, as they will contribute to more economic power in the future of Abu Dhabi.

The emirate is seeking to ensure the readiness of these young people and the subsequent generation of the entry into the labor force over the next two decades to meet the competitive global economy based on knowledge, in order to contribute actively in the process of economic and social development in the emirate, and to help in advance.

Economic vision

Represent the optimal use

Of oil revenues

Bassam Abdul Samee

ABU DHABI - The price of a member of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Abu Dhabi, Hamad Al-Awadi launch economic vision of the Government of Abu Dhabi, 2030, pointing out that these initiatives put Abu Dhabi on the world map, not only in the political sphere but in all areas, to Abu Dhabi to be a global economic player.

Al-Awadi said that reliance on a single supplier and one representing the greatest challenge for the Gulf states, noting that that vision is a long-term strategy to alleviate the reliance on one source of income is''oil''.

He referred to the initiative of His Highness the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in partnership between the private sector and government, to the private sector in Abu Dhabi Dorkber support economic projects in the side of the government.

He described the economic vision of Abu Dhabi 2030 to represent the optimal use of oil prices in the previous period, indicating that the vision to support the building of alleged knowledge-based economy, sustainability, and the shift from short-term economic plans for long-term plans to guide all sectors of the Emirate of growth

The legislation, which was published in the past few months has created a strong economic institutions that support the strategy, including the Abu Dhabi Economic Council and the Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Planning and Economy. He added that such legislation has led to the availability of a suitable environment to attract foreign investment, emphasizing that such legislation were flexible and appropriate for the economic changes, which provided a business environment capable of integration into the global economy.

She drew to the development of the emirate in the field of infrastructure, which has led to attract more foreign investments to Abu Dhabi, said that under the vision of contributing to the continued development of the economy of the Emirate

For God's sake, we can read the newspaper outselves. Why are you posting every article you find?

How about you just link and article then add some commentary of your own on what you think about it?

bcz it is in arabic and I had translate it throw google.. its a long story.. beside the subjects on board are getting boaring as you can see.

Just because the Israeli invasion of Gaza has grabbed the headlines, the international community has not forgotten about Iran and its alleged nuclear weaponisation. Stephen Hadley, George W. Bush's outgoing National Security Adviser, has made clear that the Bush administration has left a series of pressure points ready for Barack Obama's administration to use.

"The United States would be foolish to talk without leverage, because talking and negotiating without leverage won't get you a deal that will advance your interests," Hadley told AP. No one really disputes this self-evident fact, but the real question is how an Iran going into fiercely contested June election will handle such American leverage. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing serious internal challenges from both liberals and conservatives.

America and its allies believe that Iran is working on the capability to make nuclear weapons, and America has demanded that Iran suspend its enrichment programme. Ahmadinejad insists his government is only interested in nuclear power generation. For many years, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has agreed that Iran's nuclear power programme is peaceful, but even it has got fed up with Ahmadinejad's refusal to allow the IAEA to make the required searches to decisively dismiss charges of weaponising outside the power programme.

In his election manifesto, Obama was clear that he saw Iran as a major problem which had to be dealt with, and he agreed with Bush that Iran could not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. However, he has also said that he would talk to the Iranian administration, so no one knows how the new administration will tackle this very difficult problem. After he won the American election, Obama said that a combination of economic incentives and tighter sanctions might persuade Iran to change its nuclear programme, but Ahmadinejad's government has rejected this, insisting that it has the right to continue with its nuclear programme.

But Ahmadinejad has his own problems. He has enjoyed a long run of popular support helped substantially by the high oil price, but now he is slipping in popularity with the Iranian people. His disastrous management of the economy has begun to hit home to the average Iranian, and now that the oil price has fallen from just below $150 a barrel to just under $50, he does not have the revenues to spend his way out of trouble. This is why he is being forced to run a more rational economic policy, and moved in December to cut the state subsidy on fuel, a deeply unpopular move which is particularly delicate in the run up to the June presidential elections.

In addition, many conservatives who are natural supporters of Ahmadinejad are tired of his endlessly confrontational stance with America. They see little advantage coming out of the government to offset the problems created by deliberately seeking controversy, and no other economic or political success to set against the nuclear controversy.

However, Ahmadinejad is using the Israeli invasion of Gaza as a very useful distraction from domestic issues. He has spoken out frequently against Israel, and has been very supportive of Hamas. Ahmadinejad's ferocious rhetoric against Israel is popular but will only work as an electoral issue for him if the Israeli invasion continues till June. If a ceasefire and withdrawal are agreed in the next few weeks or even months, it will not help the Iranian president win votes.

In Iran's political system, the Guardian Council has the power to refuse candidates it dislikes, and the Council uses this power widely. It has stopped many liberal candidates from standing, and in the conservative camps, the Council has made sure that the final candidate is one which suits its agenda. More liberal elements in the Majlis wanted it to monitor the Guardian Council, but this was halted when the Majlis passed a bill early in December, restricting itself from investigating the Guardian Council.

Unconditional

The constitution gives the Majlis unconditional rights of supervision, but in practice over the years the Guardian Council has bitterly opposed this. This latest bill means that conservative members of the Majlis have ensured that the Guardian Council will continue to vet presidential candidates, and therefore the Majlis has ceded to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei a much stronger hand in controlling who stands for president.

The leading liberal is former president Mohammad Khatami, who has yet to declare if he will run or not. His candidacy might force some of his more conservative supporters to shift to backing Ahmadinejad (or any other conservative) out of fear that the liberal Khatami would not be the right man to handle the confrontation with the US created by Ahmadinejad. From the conservative side, many are preparing to challenge Ahmadinejad, like his successor as mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Ghalibaf, who carries an impressive record of military service and hard line political ideas, combined with practical ability to deliver when in office.

All this internal debate and intense politicking means that Ahmadinejad will continue to defy any initiative from Obama, making it a bad time for the new administration to start a new process. To engage with Iran, the new State Department would have to lay out its ideas and wait for a new Iranian administration.

Fifty years ago, advertisers had three media options: print, radio or television. Today companies have more ways to advertise than they know what to do with - literally.

Unlike previous generations, companies can now choose to advertise on social networking websites, mobiles phones and even in video games. This transition to digital media is forcing advertising agencies to change their ways of doing business.

"It's a very different world in which the business model of advertising has to dramatically change," said Patou Nuytemans, a digital director for the Ogilvy Group, an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency.

In the GCC, advertising agencies have not fully embraced the move to digital media yet, but the region will likely see an increase in online advertising this year, according to Zeid Nasser, founder and CEO of MediaScope, a Jordanian-based advertising company.

"They're going to wise up around the second quarter of 2009 and wake up to the importance of digital media," he said.

Downturn impact

According to Nasser, the amount spent on digital advertising in the GCC in 2007 was estimated at $45 million (Dh165.15 million), which is less than 1 per cent of the total spent on advertising in the region.

"The only way for digital advertising to go is up," he said.

The reasons, in his view, for the region to increase online advertising include the global recession, which will make companies try to increase efficiency, and that digital media offers more accountability.

Unlike billboards, online advertising can keep track of how often an advertisement is viewed, and those advertisements can also be designed to be interactive.

The only thing keeping online advertising from growing regionally is a lack of understanding about digital media in the industry.

"[Advertising agencies] understand newspapers. They understand billboards. They understand radio. But they don't know or understand [online] media, even though they use it."

However, the GCC market is more prepared for the rise of the digital media, at least according to Google.

"The UAE is the one of the better [places] in the region," according to Yasmina Brihi, Google's marketing manager for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The online market is not new. People know about online marketing and use it." She said that during a technology show in October, Google received significant response to its online advertising programs.

Google up until recently did not work with advertising agencies. Instead, the company offered advertising programmes called AdSense and AdWords.

AdWords allows advertisers to create text-based advertisements which can be placed on any website that belongs to Google's advertising network.

Unlike with traditional media, advertisers bid for prime placements on the websites and only pay when someone clicks on their advertisement.

AdSense allows webmasters to place advertisements from Google's network on their own sites. AdSense attempts to match the advertisements to the site's content and audience.

But Google has recently switched gears and begun to work with advertising agencies directly. However, there is some trepidation on the part of the agencies.

"Google is scary, not to the advertisers, but for us as agencies, it's incredibly scary. But it's also a tremendous opportunity," Nuytemans said. "Google ... gives us a great opportunity to drive people to brands."

Additionally, understanding how to reach an audience with a search engine is different from creating a media campaign.

"It takes a good understanding of how to make sure that when people search for things, your clients' brands come up. That's a whole business for us and a major shift."

The technology that comes with digital media has also made it easier for consumers to avoid - or just ignore - advertising, she said.

In the US, 40 per cent of TV viewers are expected to skip 70 per cent of advertising. Figures like those are forcing advertising agencies to find innovative ways of presenting advertisements.

Instead of the old "interruptive" advertisements, agencies are moving more towards interactive content.

"You have to provide [the consumer] with some content that he actually wants to spend time with," she said.

A prime example of that, she said, is a series of movies produced by BMW for the Internet in 2001 and 2002. BMW said the films were viewed over 100 million times, despite the fact that the movies took a considerable time to download, often as long as 45 minutes for a two-minutes movie. Not only were the movies popular, but 60 per cent of viewers left contact details and 94 per cent of those who viewed the movies sent the link to a friend.

"They weren't commercials," Nuytemans said. "They were movies, but they were all about the car. So they found a great way to make something that people actually wanted to spend time with."

Integration

The advertisements are also a move away from traditional product placement, the practice of having advertisers place their products in movies and television shows.

"People hate that because they're in an entertaining experience and they suddenly feel that they're advertised to."

Companies today have picked up on the model, she said, but have also integrated other modern technology.

Nike, one of the world's largest manufacturers of workout gear, has moved towards interactive advertising with an iPod system that plugs into social networks, as well as providing workout advice online. Even toy companies have joined in, with a Barbiegirls.com website that ties into its traditional products of dolls. Three million girls joined the website in the first 60 days, Nuytemans said.

"Creating experiences for consumers is what we want to be about, rather than a nicely wrapped commercial message of what our brand is and ... repeating the message again, in the hopes that consumers will notice us."

This new interactive connect is also being used extensively on social networks, an area Nuytemans said advertisers need to be in.

She said the popularity of social networks recently came to light during the US presidential election. Barack Obama made use of sites such as MySpace, Flickr and Facebook, and all his sites included multimedia.

But interactive advertisements on such sites are critical, says Nasser, who points out that banner advertisements on social networks have a relatively low "click-though rate," which is how the industry defines the number of times a specific advertisement is clicked.

But for now, Nuytemans said, you are still going to see a lot of advertisers using static advertisements.

"You'll still see a lot of that because for 40 years that's our model. It's hard to let that go."

The growing demand for digital media has not only changed how Western newspapers do business. In November 2007, Gulf News launched a website that brings its advertisements from the printed page onto the Internet.

In November 2007, the newspaper launched GNAds4U.com, a site that contains searchable lists of all the classified advertisement products that appear in the daily print edition.

The decision to take the paper's advertisements online, according to V. Ramakrishnan, the marketing services manager for Gulf News, was the opportunity that the online market place presented.

"Online has certain features that are not available in other media," he said.

Prior to the launch of GNAds4U.com, Gulf News had been limited in what advertisements it could present online. Those advertisements were located at GulfNews.com, but only line advertisements - advertisements that are text only - could be displayed, leaving the full display advertisements confined to the print edition.

Searching the advertisements was not possible.

"This is a real step forward for us," Ramakrishnan said.

The site offers a number of features including the ability to search for specific advertisements, filter out older advertisements, and get additional information, such as allowing people looking for jobs to link to the website of a potential employer. The site also allows users to save searches and receive email notifications when new advertisements which match their search criteria appear online.

The website has also allowed the newspaper to increase the number of advertisements that it can place online. Prior to the launch of the advertising site, GulfNews.com had only about 4,000 advertisements online on average. GNAds4U.com hosts over 30,000 advertisements on a daily basis.

Traffic to the site has almost doubled since the start of 2007, when the site saw 17.3 million page views. In August, the site saw 29.8 million page views.

Remember the story of Bachcha Saqqa who used to serve water from a leather bag made of goat's skin? According to a legend, he used it as a life jacket to rescue Emperor Humayun from drowning.

Bachcha was rewarded with an opportunity to function as the Emperor for three days. And during that short period, he issued coins made out of leather to commemorate the big occasion.

The story led to the coining of a proverb about "leather coins".

Several years ago, I encountered a clone of Bachcha Saqqa - one Mr BPS who was a member of a boy's marriage party in north India that had come from Gwalior to Orai in south UP.

I was on the bride's side in Orai. Like others, I was also looking after the arrangements for the visiting party.

As if it is a tradition, there is invariably some person (often more than one) in a bridegroom's marriage party who would throw his weight around. He would expect special treatment for himself, unnecessarily create problems and even issue diktats to the hosts on the bride's side.

Even though the duration of stay for such a person lasts a few hours to a day or two, he thinks he is the monarch of all that he surveys on the occasion.

He would like to make the best of that short period. After all, marriages do not take place every day. So, why not enjoy yourself to the hilt whenever there is an opportunity?

How some people in the marriage procession disrupt and regulate road traffic according to their whims is a common sight in the Indian subcontinent. Nobody can confront them, particularly if they are in an inebriated state.

BPS seemed to be too conscious of the fact of holding a privileged position and special status by virtue of being the son-in-law of the bridegroom's family.

He had started asserting himself right from the moment the barat (marriage party) arrived. Assuming the role of the marriage party's spokesman, BPS was too demanding and critical of the arrangements throughout that otherwise beautiful evening. Nevertheless, all possible efforts were made to satisfy him.

Even if this son-in-law of the bridegroom's father had not asked for it, arrangements had been made to serve bed tea in the early morning of that cold December morning. And tea was duly served.

Lamented

However, at one stage, the bride's brother came to me lamenting that at least five rounds of tea had been served. But every time the group led by BPS, after consuming some of it would complain that it was "cold" and ask for another cup of "piping hot tea".

I looked at the partially filled cups of the last round that had come back and then made a visual assessment of the group.

The cups were emptied of their content that had got cold by now. I placed all the porcelain cups upside down on the mud-plastered periphery of the big hearth inside which coal was burning in full fury.

Within minutes, the cups became extremely hot. I poured the rejected cold tea in the cups and redistributed them to BPS and his group. BPS picked up one and as it touched his lips, he cried out "Ooh".

Hurriedly, he put it back on the table. He could not sip even a drop of the tea.

Yet, when I asked him meekly, "Is the tea piping hot?" BPS replied without batting his eyelids, "Yes. Yes".

I asked him, "Do you need more?"

"No. No. Thanks. This was enough", BPS replied licking his singed lips.

The "cold tea" session had thus come to an end!

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.

Wow look, I can post random articles from the newspaper too!

You're an idiot.