A Tale of Beauty - Dubai: Epinephrine for the Mind and Soul

I arrived here yesterday, and am, suprisingly (for me) completely taken by this place (well, Turkey first, then Dubai -I think I'm in love with the Middle East, quite frankly). It is absolutely, utterly, stunningly, floor-me beautiful. The gulf is blue blue. And smack in the middle of a sandy brown desert, lies one of the most architecturally breathtaking cities in the world. It is very very clean, and the sun shines very hot, palm trees line the spacious, beautifully paved streets, with creamy, artfully-fused traditional-modern villas on both sides. The skyline is so perfectly unique to anything I have ever seen. Sure, the economic slow-down has made its mark here -most sky scrapers actually have cranes hanging in suspension, all work suddenly halted as money ran out and people ran away... there is also not a lot of traffic here these days and the streets are rather empty, even for these early holy month of Ramadan days.

Aunty N and Uncle S picked me up from the airport, and on the way to their home in Jumeira, I was pointed out the many gorgeous sanctuaries -the essence of beauty, kind of like seeing the thoughts and ideas that usually just result in something that is beautiful -that were the mosques on every other corner, the businesses, the villas, hotels, restaurants, office buildings, social centres, learning centres, shopping centres. I saw the Burj tower -currently, the tallest building in the world -from afar, and the Burj hotel from relatively close. This is not a land where people dream -this is a land where dreams and creative thought forms can become actual physical masterpieces.

Now I had thought that Dubai was just a ridiculously ostentatious place full of overwhelming materialism, a superficial aristocracy that mistreated and enslaved the lower classes to do their bidding... a place devoid of soul and of anything that could be truly beautiful in that existential, real kind of way. I was right about the materialism, the aristocracy, the social injustice, but utterly misguided about the beauty and soul. It's no Utopia -nowhere is, there's always room for a society to improve and grow, you know, reach its 'full potential'. But do not underestimate the value of a place where dreams become things, where human-made structures, gardens, finely cared for beaches, streets and homes and shrubs are so very beautiful that you feel the power and majesty of God, or the Universe or the Human Spirit, or whatever you believe. If you are atuned to it -this can be a surprisingly spiritually uplifting place. And it was just the kind of 'injection' I needed after the life- and self-changing traumas in Karachi.

I learned a lot in Karachi -and those experiences were absolutely invaluable. But remember how I said that these people in the squatter settlements and urban slums have these existential disturbances -addiction to suffering, inability to really reason and think about thinking, inability to love because they have never been loved. If only they saw any beauty in their physical world though, it would change their whole life. If they could see Dubai -if anyone could really, really, really see what Dubai means -then places like the villages in Thatta and Rehri Goth, Bin Qasim, could just not even exist. That's the trouble though. I think that people who are completely seduced and hypnotized by all the material excess in Dubai don't actually see that deeper, philosophical, existential beauty that is the ideas and thoughts and powerful force of action that these buildings, fountains, silky tents and gardens (thought beautiful) merely represent. And those who feel it's all fake, built on injustice and the misery of others, well, the beauty escapes them too. It doesn't mean nothing should be done about the injustice. Of course something must be done about it. But if you could see and understand the beauty, why not draw inspiration from all that, to drive positive social action? Am I wrong? There's no right and wrong. But you must come here one day.

Now I will tell you about what I've done and seen here so far. The Ismaili Centre Dubai must be the most beautiful building in the world -it was designed by an Egyptian architect couple, in the Fatimid style, built almost entirely of limestone, with marble fountains, Moroccan hand-crafted lantern-chandeliers, a 7-sided dome (heptagon) -the only one in the whole world, sky-lights in many metres-high domes made of brick and limestone, onyx engraved spiritual words that allow only the sunrise's light to bathe a small prayer room, a lovely fusion of beautiful Islamic architectural tradition and modern technology into one seamless whole that took about 25 years to achieve from the time the land was gifted to the Aga Khan to being fully built and functional.

I ran into not-too old friends from Boston who now work here after traveling and working elsewhere, as well as met with almost-long-forgotten (but evidently, not at all forgotten!) acquaintances and kindred spirits who shaped many a childhood memory and lesson.

I visited the Dubai Museum, sailed a short distance to the other side of the Dubai Creek in an abra, bought some colourful dark chocolate that I had been told was to-die-for, some dried rosebuds to add to my tea, a couple of postcards and small gifts, and a set of silvery-rose coloured Japanese pearls (yes... the adamant anti-shopper apparently did some serious kind of shopping... but I mean, this is Dubai afterall, so if I was going to do it anywhere, might as well be here... also this pearl-set is probably my first ever real 'set', and I love it and love it more because I bargained so hard for it and probably have the economic crisis to thank for my sweet deal and lovely buy!). We went to Gold Suk for that, then after coming home for a delicious lunch (cannot eat publicly here during Ramadan unless you're looking for trouble), made a little trip out to Emirates Mall, which is a mall that has a ski slope inside of it. Like a real one, kind of big, with skiing and luge. And it's -3-4 degrees Celsius in there for reals! Who would have thought you could go skiing in the freakin' cold in the heart of an Arabian desert!

Then tonight a dear friend from my childhood picked me up and took me to the Palace Hotel for the first Iftar (breaking of the fast feasting) of this holy month, where we met up with a bunch of his friends and had quite the merry and delicious time, sitting in the most luxurious place I have ever been to in my life, architecturally and comfort-wise, with intricate coloured lanterns, antique-style furniture, excellent service, fresh and tender lamb chops, tasty barbeque charred tiger shrimp, tabouleh, eggplant, red pepper and string bean Middle Eastern 'sides', mutton biryani, varieties of olives and ball-cheese, potato and meat fried kibeh-like things, smoked salmon and seasoned fish with mixed greens in a spicey salad, yummy Middle Eastern brown-noodle rice with veggies in a creamy sauce and fish in another kind of creamy sauce, and some kind of lamb or mutton curry-like thing... a lovely, gluttonous time indeed (I know, ironic, if we think about the real purpose of all this 'fasting' -well, what to do)! And then for dessert: rasberry Turkish delight, 3 varieties of baklava, a creamy cheese cake with exotic fruit on top, a dark chocolate covered date, and the best one: Um-Ali (which is a traditional dish here, apparently Hazrat Ali's favourite sweet that his mother used to make or something like that) which is kind of puddingy, but not really, creamy and delicious... a piece of Heaven in your mouth. And then ended it all nicely with a silver pot of Moroccan tea (one of the best teas in the world and it's been such a long time since I've had it!).

Then we left the comfort of AC and sat by a lovely blue blue pool, surrounded with palm trees, inside a white chiffony, silky tent, with comfy seating and strong-supportive-yet-soft cushions to hang out and relax / digest. This meant everyone ordered their own shisha -apple-apple, mint-apple, mint-mint -to wile away a couple of hours, except of course, knowing the harms of smoking any form of tobacco, and having satisfied my curiosity by trying it out a couple of years ago in Turkey, and discovering that I could enjoy just the smell of other people smoking it anyway, I opted for some lemon-water, as I listened to the stories of these mostly-new people I had just met. I was particularly taken with one character -and by 'taken', I don't mean anything silly like crushes or even flirtations (there is nothing wrong with either of these, just I was not going there...), but 'taken' as in I have decided to make one of the characters of my novel be this guy because he is that darn interesting. He's a tall, fair, handsome, wispy-dark haired Kashmiri guy, born in Kashmir but had to leave with the civil war in '89, moved and grew up in Singapore with his family, spent some time in India before moving to London for university and then now working in Dubai. But like many natives of a particular land who don't actually live and grow up there he's fully of a marvellous hopeful idealism about the free Kashmiri, blogging and writing about the necessity of free private economic enterprise in an independent Kashmir, to empower people and promote development and it all sounds like a mad man's talk to everyone else, except that it's most likely true. Not easy, but true. In his life and work, perhaps he's a realist, down-to-Earth kind of man -I wouldn't really know. And yet he talks about the beauty of the Earth of a home that was left inhabited too soon and has become a well of longing.

Then I watched the fountains and light show outside the Dubai Mall right from behind this outdoor swimming pool and tent area. And it was amazing. Like watching fireworks in water, with accompanying music and everything, and jets of misty water shooting up so high, it looked almost like it went half-way up the height of the Burj tower, and right in front of it -spectacular indeed!

But really, I would love to go to Kashmir one day, and to the Northern areas of Pakistan, in the Himalayas. There's a lot of work to be done in this world, but its beauty is infinite, and if we're blessed -which we all are, it's just up to you to see it that way (or for the non-religious, just replace 'blessed' with 'lucky' -luck is about hard work and self-perception and a positive attitude anyway) -then I think we're meant to experience the magic and beauty in our lives and in this world too.

I'm in love with all of it.