Deja vu in Dubai
On the two occasions I had been to USA (once each to San Jose and Atlanta), I was left asking the question "Where the hell are the Americans?". Now in Dubai, I am forced to ask the question, "Where the hell are the Arabs?". I know that the city of Dubai survives off immigrants, but this is too much. I didn't come all this way to Dubai to go to "Perumal Pookadai(Flower Shop)" or Ambal hair Saloon, I could have done this back home in Chennai. Wherever one goes in Dubai, you see only Indians. Same was the situation in San Jose or Atlanta. Somebody, please convey this to the census department on India. India is proclaiming happily that we are only 1.2 billion strong, but who is counting the millions of Indians overseas. Here in Dubai, it is yet another India. Everything is the Indian way, except maybe the restrooms!
Look at the following cycle of events:
In the morning, I speak to a Tamil guy in Ponnusamy Restaurant for a home delivery of Idli-Sambhar. Then, I give a call to my in-laws' Mallu Driver to take us to Meena Bazaar to have a look at the famous Rajasthani Textile showroom there. After shopping, we go for lunch to an Andhra Restaurant, Nandinis to have a spicy Andhra meal. After lunch, we wait for a taxi and a Mumbaikar, Rohan comes over in his taxi and drops us off at our next destination, The Shiva Temple. Then, we sign up for a walking tour of Old Dubai and guess what, our guide is from Goa. Oops, I forgot the Big Bus Tour (ya, the same company from London), whose driver was a pucca tamilian and the guide, for a change, a filipino! At the end, I am here typing this in a browsing restaurant, run by a Mallu whose only English I have heard is "halooo sir" in a mallu accent. And, I am supposed to be in Dubai, a city in a country of Arabs! The Indian government should have used Dubai to portray "Unity in Diversity" of Indians!
Look at the following cycle of events:
In the morning, I speak to a Tamil guy in Ponnusamy Restaurant for a home delivery of Idli-Sambhar. Then, I give a call to my in-laws' Mallu Driver to take us to Meena Bazaar to have a look at the famous Rajasthani Textile showroom there. After shopping, we go for lunch to an Andhra Restaurant, Nandinis to have a spicy Andhra meal. After lunch, we wait for a taxi and a Mumbaikar, Rohan comes over in his taxi and drops us off at our next destination, The Shiva Temple. Then, we sign up for a walking tour of Old Dubai and guess what, our guide is from Goa. Oops, I forgot the Big Bus Tour (ya, the same company from London), whose driver was a pucca tamilian and the guide, for a change, a filipino! At the end, I am here typing this in a browsing restaurant, run by a Mallu whose only English I have heard is "halooo sir" in a mallu accent. And, I am supposed to be in Dubai, a city in a country of Arabs! The Indian government should have used Dubai to portray "Unity in Diversity" of Indians!
One of the things on my trip agenda was to dress up like an Arab (that white dress), but all I see here are shops selling Kurtas and Dhotis! Maybe, I gotta go to Saudi Arabia. Maybe, all the Indian immigrants flooded Dubai and forced all the local Arabs to Saudi.
Long Live the Indian proliferation!
posted by Rajaram S | 11:16 PM
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