There is always this electricity in city.
For me, because of the way my family was, there was always a cultural atmosphere around life. The tamil community never stagnated, socially. I guess my parents were young then. Young in a vibrant town, you do things right? Culture here had much more meaning than in India. I mean, no huge intricately sculpted temples, or 18 century palaces. But tamilians would get together and sing bhajans. They would have trips around the Emirates, and laugh and sing songs they heard on AIR. The Indian community will never die of boredom. Too much to celebrate.
My memories of youthful exuberance was in the backyard of the building i lived in. Vast expanses of nothing but sand. Grounds that called to be played in. There was a rock there that we found. Big rock. It had no earthly reason to be there. It stood out, like a piece of hair in your food. We called it pride rock. Us kids used to hold daily meetings there. Our own little parliament.
What a world. A dreamscape of memories, that building.
When you think back to happy childhood memories, it always feels like an eternity of time. There were so many things, that you fail to remember now, that gives it the fabric of stretching for ages.
As I grew, the city grew with me. Well, I like to think so.
Skyscrapers popped up like pimples on a teenagers cheek. I mean, if you slept for a week, and then wandered out, you wouldn't recognize your surroundings.
When I went to college and came back in my first year, I was in awe. It felt like the city had jet-propelled itself in a direction it didn't really understand. 7 star hotels in the middle of the ocean. Malls that stretched until the horizon. Metro-trains moving along with the clouds. Roads that followed curvature of the earth, that greeted the sun in the morning and bid him good night in the evening.
It's so easy to get lost here, just from the sheer exhaustive lavishness. This is, of course, the city of opulence. The City of lakshmi.
After coming here after the peak recession, it felt like the city had the wind knocked out of it. Like the electricity that used to surge through here is now trickling into a fading lightbulb.
Friends here who used to spend like sheikhs, now curtailed themselves. Only the cheap whiskey for me, please.
The city hasn't changed since I was here 6 months ago. It seems like an outrageous expectation, but really, it's not. I half-expected it to become an aquatic city, or people moving in suction tubes, or anti-gravity hotels that float in the sky. But, nothing has changed. Like a bright, questioning, creative kid who got sent to engineering college. In Trichy. Not really maturity. Just, lack of ideas.
I'm not even sure this city will be here for much longer. I'm not sure how much the world needs fancy address for their head office anymore. It's a disappointment.But I'm sure the city wont go down without a fight. I expect that much. I hope it does. For the sake of my memories.
Cue,Thomas Newman-Any Other name.
