Dravid Breaks Outfield Catch Record; Overtakes Mark Waugh's 181

Though he's broken the Test record with his work in the slips, the one that stands out for me is a catch from an ODI Down Under in 2000 when we played and eventually lost to Pakistan. They say catches win matches and it's efforts like these that give you hope when all seems lost. Another feather in the cap of an Indian cricketing legend. Good one son, now focus on yet another double hundred!

BBC Panorama Investigation - Slumdogs & Millionaires

It is well-known that the blue-collar workers in the Arabian Gulf, the majority of whom hail from the Indian subcontinent, work and live in poor conditions. But little has been done to highlight their plight and therefore improve it. In light of this, the Panorama team went undercover into Dubai's sub-contracted labour camps, whose construction workers are involved in luxury developments counting among them: Andrew Flintoff, Michael Owen and Jamie Oliver as their brand ambassadors, to bring the 'slave-like' injustices into the open. Naturally, the real-estate developers who sub-contracted the blue-collar labour to third parties have denied the allegations, but have said they will investigate the claims 'thoroughly'. It's hard to say what impact the publicity gained by this broadcast will have on worker's conditions not just in Dubai, but throughout the Arab world, but at least I hope it will make Brits who see/hear about the programme, think twice about buying into the Dubai glamour story. The broadcast reiterates my negative view of Dubai and one that influenced a boycott for any future visit till conditions and attitudes towards Indians (and other South Asians) changed significantly.

KEY FACTS & FIGURES:
- There are more than a million immigrant workers in the UAE.
- Average blue-collar salaries = £120/month, for a six-day week and twelve-hour shifts.
- One company pays approximately 30 PENCE an hour for overtime.
- In one camp 7,500 labourers were sharing 1,248 rooms with poor ventilation. Upto 9 labourers in a room for three of four.
- Many workers pay upto £2,000 in middle-men transit fees to get a job and assume they can pay it back within 18 months.
- In one camp, sewage had leaked so workers created a network of stepping stones to get back to their accommodation blocks.
- In the same camp, one toilet block had no water supply and the latrines were filled with piles of raw faeces.

The list goes on. I hope something will be done about it. It is certainly something I will try to fight against when I become a lawyer.