I was finally able to take a trip to the land called Dubai which people like to call a mirage. Believe me....Dubai exists!!
It was the right time to get out of Canada and warm up a bit ... and so I took this trip in December last year when everyone was freezing in Canada. Hurray... no snow for sometime!!
Dubai is so totally different than here in Canada in every way that it cannot be compared at all. The air , the feeling around you, the life, the life-style, the fashions, the culture, the malls, the men, the women, the way people dress up... and it's not just referring to the Emiratis how they wear their ' kandooras' or 'thobs' or 'abayas' and the 'veils', even the expatriates have a strange style. Something not too easy to describe....it's just too confusing, one's left to wonder.....'are they in westernized clothes, or, is this the new-age way of dressing up?' it's actually a mix of east and west cultures and ofcourse western dominating but whatever it is, everyone fills up the backdrop in a unique style and that makes Dubai special....it's neither purely middle-eastern nor totally western, you wear what you want but nothing 'offensive'......topless, bottomless can take one to jail for a lifetime!!It was the right time to get out of Canada and warm up a bit ... and so I took this trip in December last year when everyone was freezing in Canada. Hurray... no snow for sometime!!
Three weeks being too short for me to understand the landscape and life of Dubai, my impressions about this place are still in a formative stage but I can say for sure that Dubai is a modernized and globalized version of a desert now, with SUVs and porches running on the highways instead of camels in it and the highways reading signs just like anywhere in Canada.
The population well it's a strange sort of a mix again....... a mix in which you can still see the two different and distinct shades of the fabric or the mosaic of the culture. While the aura is all multicultural, segregation overpowers integration.
I shudder to the sudden feeling of being apart, and the non inclusiveness of this land..... distanced intentionally by the locals, a distance that is keeping the ex-patriates on toes and Emiratis laid back...... you wonder where and how to sneak inside the inner core....integrate?
Well, that's not going to happen... so, the mystery key to break open the core remains unfound.
The uncomfortable distancing is reflective everywhere..... the feeling of being the 'other' hits you from the moment you touchdown the airport. Inspite of the hot temperatures of the land there's a coldness all over... can't just be the air-conditioning...the behaviour of the arabic speaking immigration officer who checks your passport, makes sure that's your picture on the passport......no smiles please!! You wonder they must be instructed to behave like that... and move on.
You ponder.... am I in the right place?? but then, he wasn't supposed to show hospitality anyways!!
You get out of the airport and the steamy, humid air changes your mood...... it slaps your face and you're compelled to switch over the channel of your thoughts to the world right infront of you..... the real city...Dubai.
Later, after dumping your bags in the hotel, you get out to see ...what is Dubai"?? you hear the words ringing in your ears 'all that glitters is not gold".........then what could it be....after observing the bling, bling of the tall structures, the sky scraping modern architectural murals of concrete designed in steel and glass, decorated like christmas trees....you sing in your heart.... all that glitters is Dubai!!
To confirm this, step into the Dubai Mall, or Mall of the Emirates, or Ibne Batuta Mall, or Festival City Mall.... each offers more than the other...... glitter, glamour, fashion, decor, anything!! Malls are the year round in things and hangouts for the whole population there. Rich, poor, wealthy, an average guy, men, boys, women, families, friends meeting up to shop together, tourists, locals or foreigners all find the malls of Dubai interesting and addictive. One can shop till one drops.You get dizzy eyed, your head hurts, you're speechless, but you don't want to go home.
Think of a store of the world and it's there. And as money has made this a brand conscious society so even designers and businesses, who went bankrupt in Europe recently, found a way to stay afloat and make a big buck in Dubai. It's all about making money, money and more money here.
Ahhhh....the malls make you stay there forever... however hard your feet hurt and the ankles break, you scrape out all your money that you exchanged, but the greed keeps sucking you in it.. deeper and deeper in to the mall. But the hunger for buying is finally overpowered by your hunger for food and you rush looking for a food court.
Come platters from the world.. at your table in minutes...food courts are the more crowded areas than the stores..... maybe recession world over taught everyone how to compromise on cravings. The food choices here.... too many and extremely mind boggling!!
Confused again, as you get at every step being a foreigner here, you don't know what to choose for your meal..... you settle down for the Lebanese kebobs and the grill turns out to be the best and most satisfying. A mouth watering platter of a melange of chicken, beef and lamb skewers topped by 'humus' ( chick pea paste) and 'khubz'( pita) on the side, you attack and.... surrender!!
By the time you realize that you've spent almost a whole day in one mall, the day has reached its sleepy end. Regretting the load you're carrying in your stomach, a buyer's remorse in the heart, loathing both, your feet and greed, you tread back with shopping bags hanging from your neck like a noose, and more of them tied to your arms.
The sudden silence in the car wakes you up as it comes to a halt in the basement parking lot level P...... you wish you could ride on someone's back up to the 35th floor of the building. Your wish comes true and the elevator does the job......you drop dead right infront of your door.
Happy to have a loved one along, a daughter, to rescue and bring you back home safely.
You kiss her on the forehead and say in your heart "God bless her... I owe my life to her....I'm saved!!"
You get out of the airport and the steamy, humid air changes your mood...... it slaps your face and you're compelled to switch over the channel of your thoughts to the world right infront of you..... the real city...Dubai.
Later, after dumping your bags in the hotel, you get out to see ...what is Dubai"?? you hear the words ringing in your ears 'all that glitters is not gold".........then what could it be....after observing the bling, bling of the tall structures, the sky scraping modern architectural murals of concrete designed in steel and glass, decorated like christmas trees....you sing in your heart.... all that glitters is Dubai!!
To confirm this, step into the Dubai Mall, or Mall of the Emirates, or Ibne Batuta Mall, or Festival City Mall.... each offers more than the other...... glitter, glamour, fashion, decor, anything!! Malls are the year round in things and hangouts for the whole population there. Rich, poor, wealthy, an average guy, men, boys, women, families, friends meeting up to shop together, tourists, locals or foreigners all find the malls of Dubai interesting and addictive. One can shop till one drops.You get dizzy eyed, your head hurts, you're speechless, but you don't want to go home.
Think of a store of the world and it's there. And as money has made this a brand conscious society so even designers and businesses, who went bankrupt in Europe recently, found a way to stay afloat and make a big buck in Dubai. It's all about making money, money and more money here.
Ahhhh....the malls make you stay there forever... however hard your feet hurt and the ankles break, you scrape out all your money that you exchanged, but the greed keeps sucking you in it.. deeper and deeper in to the mall. But the hunger for buying is finally overpowered by your hunger for food and you rush looking for a food court.
Come platters from the world.. at your table in minutes...food courts are the more crowded areas than the stores..... maybe recession world over taught everyone how to compromise on cravings. The food choices here.... too many and extremely mind boggling!!
Confused again, as you get at every step being a foreigner here, you don't know what to choose for your meal..... you settle down for the Lebanese kebobs and the grill turns out to be the best and most satisfying. A mouth watering platter of a melange of chicken, beef and lamb skewers topped by 'humus' ( chick pea paste) and 'khubz'( pita) on the side, you attack and.... surrender!!
By the time you realize that you've spent almost a whole day in one mall, the day has reached its sleepy end. Regretting the load you're carrying in your stomach, a buyer's remorse in the heart, loathing both, your feet and greed, you tread back with shopping bags hanging from your neck like a noose, and more of them tied to your arms.
The sudden silence in the car wakes you up as it comes to a halt in the basement parking lot level P...... you wish you could ride on someone's back up to the 35th floor of the building. Your wish comes true and the elevator does the job......you drop dead right infront of your door.
Happy to have a loved one along, a daughter, to rescue and bring you back home safely.
You kiss her on the forehead and say in your heart "God bless her... I owe my life to her....I'm saved!!"
No comments:
Post a Comment