Defining our Identity.
Growing up in a great city, where you can never really belong.
It was another normal morning, i had woken up at around 8, was having breakfast before heading to University.
Now breakfast, lunch and dinner are the only times, i actually read a physical newspaper. Because otherwise, i have my phone, my laptop, twitter feed, Instagram feed, Facebook feed, YouTube and what not to get me more current information and entertain me.
Gulf News was running a special report about Dubai’s Expo 2020 bid, and how mind-blowing and amazing the whole setup bid was, from solar power farms, to an underground logistic transportation system. Reading all this, i asked my mom, a question i haven’t really heard anyone ask in quite a while, or maybe ever.
“After all this publicity, planning, and hard work, what if, Dubai doesn't win the bid?”
She replied,
“You’re taking this too personally, this isn't your country”
Well she was right, this isn't my country. Well that’s what my passport tells me. My first language is Malayalam, and i can only stay until they renew my residency Visa, which after i turned 18, has to be renewed every year.
I was born here, did my schooling here, and now i go to university here. But this is not my country. My country, is where i go once a year for a month. It’s funny really all of this.
Recently there were calls to offer expatriates citizenship in the emirates. But i don’t know, that doesn’t seem practical. Nor am i sure if i want UAE citizenship. I don’t speak Arabic either. Thanks to a stupid Arabic education system in Indian schools, which had me learning Arabic for 10 years, almost everyday in the week, and left me barely able to read and write. I’ll elaborate on that later.
So what is my point?
I love Dubai. I’ve spent almost all my life here. My parents came to this land chasing a dream, better living conditions, a tax free open marketplace. They live the Dubai dream, every single day. From being a labourer, my dad today runs his own SME. My mom, hailing from a village, in the South Indian state of Kerala, came to Dubai, and worked for the Dubai Municipality in it’s Quality Control Lab in it’s Computer Department.
Like every other expatriate and migrant labourer coming to Dubai, or elsewhere in the region thinks, they thought that too, ‘This is going to be temporary, and i’m going to leave after a few years making some money”. Then the few years becomes decades.
Dubai is home for me. I don’t really deserve a citizenship. I don’t speak Arabic, nor do i know much of the Emirati culture. It would be wrong to ask for citizenship, as Emiratis already make only around 10% of the population, and it would be like, pushing their welcome a bit too much.
But maybe something can be done about the Visa situation? Maybe a more longer term Visa, for those who are born here, and have stayed more than 20 years? A 50 years validity or something? I don’t have all the answers. This is indeed a vexing issue.
I love you Dubai.
P.S. I’m pretty sure that Dubai will win the Expo 2020 bid. Like that’s impossible for us.
