So easy that it's tough!

Work is easy out here in the Gulf. Even more so in Qatar. But it's really not easy when things are so easy. Not for me at least.

I work best under pressure. That's when I produce the maximum results. Most of yall would be with me on this one.

But don't misunderstand... I don't care much for how much profits the company I work for makes coz of me. But I do like looking at what I do, and being happy or satisfied with it. After all, it's what I do. It's what my identity is. It's what makes or breaks my confidence in my everyday life.

Maybe in that sense, work is important to an extent.

There is a lack of motivation here. No one cares what you do. Your boss would maybe once in two years come up to you and say, "Good story". I'm lucky it's happened once in two months for me.

There are no appraisals here. If you've joined at QR 5000, it's what you're gonna continue getting whether you do ten people's work or stop doing even your own. No annual raises.

It is unimaginable how less people care about the media here. Yes, they'd read the papers, they'd watch news channels, but when it comes to reacting to it, they won't. So responses are almost none.

You could probably write the synopsis of Amar Akbar Anthony under the headline 1o77 dead in Antarctica bomb blast and just about be almost sure that you won't be getting any Letters to the Editor by next evening.

All your colleagues mind their own business. What time you come in, what time you go, makes absolutely no difference to them, as long as you finish your work, which you could really finish in about four to five hours, including five cig and coffee breaks.

Moreover, unlike in India, where people literally kill others so that they could appear in newspapers, here no one wants their names to appear anywhere in print. Do you see what I see? It's pretty darn hard to get quotes on any issue whatsoever.

Even if you do manage to finish off a story, which you would probably take two hours to finish in India (including getting the information), in three long days, and you write it absolutely brilliantly, not a soul will care.

It might be worth mentioning, that even if you have to do a feature on the zoo here, you have to take written permission from the government first.

It's one reason why in 64 days here in Qatar I have filed only 15 quality features. Not that I care about the quantity at all... it's just an example.

But even if I had filed two, no one would have said or done anything to me. They don't want to. No one, including the editor, wants to get into any sort of controversy. After all, it's not from their pocket that your salary is coming from.

Yes, it's coming from someone's pocket, and that someone, whoever that is, has too much of it to bother about a few thousand riyals going waste.

So, it's really easy, isn't it? Everything here. Just sit back, do the work you're assigned, don't care about what the results are...

I can't do it. I hate working, but when I work, which is rather rare, I like to do it really well. More so that it makes up for the rarity. Besides, everytime I write, I try to prove a point to myself - that I write well.

But it's tough... Tough for a person who needs to be pushed for him to move his ass.

Tough, because there's nothing here to motivate you - but you.