NOTE FROM JOHN: My good friend Bicyclemark is on his way back to Afghanistan, and I've asked him to blog his experience, as best he can. Here's his second installment, from Dubai, in transit to Kabul.
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"21 years ago, when I came to this country, there was nothing like this," the mild mannered Pakistani taxi driver explains. "All this construction, all these shopping malls. It was a different world."
Living in Dubai for over two decades must feel like living through some psychedelic metamorphosis. And never being allowed to have citizenship keeps you an outsider, a great advantage when trying to critically observe the world and society you live in.
I ask him about his family, has he brought them over? "Oh no, it's impossible," he says. "Even paying the rent for just myself in a small apartment in this city, almost unaffordable. A whole family, I cannot manage it on a taxi drivers salary." He goes on to explain the silver lining -- back in Peshawar, Pakistan, he is able to afford a good home for his family. He even has enough to own a second building which he rents out. Not bad for a guy who drives a cab in a city where his salary isn't worth much.
The names, accents, and personal details differ as I hop in different cars in Dubai, but the underlying story remains the same: This is not a place where you come to build a new life. The best one can hope for is to get a decent job in the massive service or tourism industry, take the little earnings you make and send them home. The goal down the road is to make enough so that you can go home, or somehow set up something so you can earn enough to live back home with your loved ones. Three years, 6 years, 21 years... every time I step into a cab I ask, "How long have you been here, sir?" and just like that the story begins again.
My last evening in town I'm searching for a piece of equipment that leads me to one of the many mega-malls of Dubai. As I say goodbye to yet another cab driver with stories of his wife and children back in India, I gaze upon a building that is more than a building. Spanning an untold number of city blocks, it seems this structure has no end to it. Inside, you would think you were in any mall anywhere in the world... except that here in Dubai there is this incredible noise. People, walking, talking, crowding onto escalators and into big brand name shops. Some women completely covered from head to toe, only with their eyes visible. Others wearing shorts and a tight t-shirt, like they're off to the beach. The languages are hard to decipher from one another, as are all the nationalities. Many push a baby stroller or one of those double seat baby strollers. The men are also as diverse in their wardrobe, leading their families with big shopping bags in either hands. This is also Dubai.
Looking around and watching all this nonstop activity which goes on until late in the night, a question comes to mind. Will this still be here in 20 years? Is this lifestyle at all sustainable? Are these people now better off because such places exist? Many would point to it as a sign of progress... the good life. Maybe this is the Dubai dream.
