Culture Vultures

Dubai, my hometown has often been referred to as the "city without soul;" and being from India, a place so full of soul there isn't room for any more, Dubai could seem less culturally effervescent, and often times like a big transit airport, populated with people waiting for the call of departure, with lots of baggage, uncomfortable shoes and tired perspectives. Ex'patriot' haven, the city sure sees its fair share of the ever-complaining, ever-dissatisfied dubai-bashers. But for someone who grew up here, from the age of 7, this whole bitch fest "I live in a high-rise on Sheikh Zayed Road, wear designer clothes, drive a fast car and travel all the time, but Dubai doesn't do much for me and who I am" routine is just getting a bit old. In no way, shape or form, am I romanticizing the city, but over the last few years, upon my return from Pune (India - where I went to college,) something has shifted in this affair with Dubai. It went from being the vessel that holds my adolescent memories to a terminus a quo, which then became, and is still, the start of conscious living, where in, I was no longer just as an extension of a family or a friend circle, but had managed to grow into a self-sufficient structure attuned to ambition, a certain character, inner monologues and some anecdotes where I, and not a sibling, parent or friend, was the hero of the story. 

And this is basically the bottom line of the city for me - somewhere within the act of seeking external luxuries and fulfillment, and sometimes finding them, and sometimes feeling the absence of a "culture," you get to access internal truths - you get thinking about things you're interested in, things you don't care for, the things you'll buy, the things you won't buy into and the people you'll invest in; for me, the lack of the simple pleasure of having "something new and interesting to do" has always led to one thing - creativity. Idle "nothing to do" time was a playmate that never disappointed in this city of mine. Don't see any of my favourite artists and bands playing - start songwriting and start performing myself; miss photographing the streets of India - start photographing the people of my life; missing going to watch plays on a weekly basis - start writing my own play by plays in magazines and newspapers. Being and being all I can has become very simple in this city. Such were and are the possibilities I have chanced upon in Dubai. And much like many of us, she grows or at least tries to, everyday - somewhere within a new bridge between the highway and the old way, a new art gallery, a maiden music festival, vertical records and simulated snow - a city full of seekers are free to be.