Anu Prabhakar

'At least 65 million people are affected by long Covid'; however, there is still considerable scepticism around the condition, with experts holding conflicting views on its prevalence.
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Dubai resident Kelly Jenkins contracted Covid towards the end of 2020, when the virus was still mysterious enough to petrify the world. ​Although he had it only for 10 days, he ended up dealing with a debilitating form of long Covid for about nine months.
“My chest felt super tight — I couldn’t really breath...

Shilin Chandran, who once struggled with hair loss, now leads the UAE chapter of Motta Global, a movement challenging stereotypes through confidence, community and clean-shaven heads
Published: Sun 19 Jan 2025, 9:50 PM
Shilin Chandran was in his 20s when he noticed that his hair was falling off at an alarming rate, and it only got progressively worse when he shifted to the UAE about 16 years ago. “I used to have thick hair so when I began to lose it all, people started calling me ‘motta thala...

The record-breaking Burj Khalifa opened its doors on January 4, 2010
Long-time residents of the UAE might still recall the inauguration night of Burj Khalifa on January 4, 2010. Light, fire and water joined forces to help unveil the iconic 2,722-ft skyscraper as the dancing fountain swayed to the music and fireworks erupted everywhere — even sideways from the building — making it look like an impossible Christmas tree that seemed to puncture the sky. Glittering lights, strategically placed, t...

Workaholism or work addiction is not recognised as a formal disorder—meaning, doctors cannot clinically diagnose it. Illustration: Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur
Rahul* had forgotten what it felt like to wake up because he rarely, if ever, truly slept.
When the Bengaluru-based executive coach turned 40 in 2019, he set an unrealistic goal for himself: To become glitteringly successful. To that end, he became an independent consultant and began chasing and closing multiple deals. “I kept pushing mysel...

Teachers across the globe have reported feeling bullied or harassed by students and parents. A few teachers in the UAE share their own experiences
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Last updated: Fri 23 Aug 2024, 9:35 PM
Kindergarten teacher Ruth* belongs to that rare breed of people who truly love their job. The Fujairah resident has spent most of her career working with young children who bring her joy. “When a lesson is going well, it’s such an amazing feeling to see that little light of understanding switch on...

Most firms do not invite confessions of atypicality. It’s time to change that, welcome diversity into the workforce
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Last updated: Sat 3 Aug 2024, 6:17 PM
Nidal Morra realised that he might have Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at an inopportune moment: while skydiving, as he plunged into nothingness.
It was his 33rd jump and until then, the licensed skydiver had found the activity ‘hyper exciting’. “But this time, while I was free falling, I was getting bored,” he ...

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In a world where the only constant is tumultuous change, celebrating festivals can remind us of a simpler past, devoid of the frenetic pace that characterises ...

They decided to not renew their apartment lease in Dubai and instead spend the entire summer travelling on a self-funded trip
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Last updated: Mon 1 Jul 2024, 2:04 PM
Dubai resident Loan Laux is a frequent flyer to France and whenever his plane whizzed past countries like Turkey and Iraq, he would look out of the window for the captivating views. “You think to yourself: what would it be like to actually drive there instead of fly?” he says.
To find out, Loan and his wife Kaouthar Az...

Such platforms help women to re-enter the workforce by equipping them with new-age skills, upskilling, polishing their interviewing skills and revamping their resumes
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Margy Mommertz completed her contract role as an HR Director in a company in October 2023 and wanted to seek greater job stability. “I wanted to find my way into a full-time career with security in a stable company, and not contract work,” she says.
The transition should have been a smooth one — she has, after all, ...

Started for and by fathers, these platforms are for members to connect with one another through activities such as regular meet-ups, talks by experts, and much more
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Last updated: Thu 11 Apr 2024, 11:42 PM
A few months ago, a health specialist delivered some news to Dave Griffin that hit him like ‘a ton of bricks’. “I was told that there is a possibility that I might have breast cancer,” he recalls, as we speak. One of the first people he broke the news to was Billy Garnon, the gr...

Published: Fri 8 Mar 2024, 4:31 PM
It’s probably easier to encounter the elusive snow leopard than find a Gen Zer who is not very active on social media. And what’s even rarer is a Gen Zer who is happy to be off it.
Ahmed Shaikhji belongs to that rare breed. “I use WhatsApp to stay in touch with my friends, and YouTube with a 45-minute timer to watch videos that reflect my hobbies like Minecraft and space. I am not on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or anything,” explains the 14-year-old.
He is f...

Sometime in 2017, Sagar Jamane decided to break his alarm clock. And while that might be the predictable end to alarm clocks that do the job of waking up their owners a bit too well, Sagar’s old clock had actually stopped working years ago. “I got it tested at a lab out of curiosity and learnt that its hands had traces of radium,” said the Nagpur resident.
Jamane, 28, is an element collector: He maintains a private collection of chemical elements as per the periodic table. Most element collec...

Meet the close-knit group of denim heads in Assam who participate in a raw denim fading competition, and go to extreme lengths to keep their jeans as dirty as possible

'Online tools help users connect to ancient wisdom through technology'
In March, a day before Ramadan, Raihan Khan sat in front of his laptop to welcome in the holy month. And he did, in true Gen Z style, by launching his AI chatbot, QuranGPT.
“In the first 36 hours alone, it processed over 60,000 searches from 73 countries,” says the 20-year-old, who lives in Kolkata, India, and developed the AI chatbot. “Apart from India and the US, countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Morocco are in th...

Abhilash Tomy sails on a UAE-registered boat solo, non-stop and unassisted
Eighty two days into the Golden Globe Race in 2018, Abhilash Tomy found himself on the floor of his ship which was struggling to survive a storm that raged across the Indian Ocean.
His boat capsized close to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands and when it straightened, the sailor found himself hanging precariously from the top of the mast which was about 10 meters high. But a moment later, when another wave rocked ...