As the world passes by ....


 Every evening, on my way back from work, I take the Dubai Metro to the Dubai Marina station - a 35 mins journey in the very comfortable "Gold Class" coach of this very efficient tube service in Dubai. The Dubai Metro runs underground as well as on the surface...actually at a higher than your regular streets level! So what I am treated with, most of the time is a glorious view of this amazing city that has grown up so much before my expat eyes....

 For those of you who want to watch part of this ride, do visit:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=615x7e8wXNU

 But no, this is not an advert for my adopted city or even the spic and span train service we are blessed with here...... this is about what I see almost every evening, or rather what I don't see.... that sometime saddens me! And this could apply almost everywhere....

 As soon as I board the train, I usually switch off my smart-phones (yes, yes, I admit I use not one, but two....and am almost ashamed by this fact!), plug in my iPod, sit back and relax .....and watch the world pass by! 

 It truly calms me down as I watch the old villas in Karama that used to be what  most of Dubai consisted of at one time, the famous Sheikh Zayed road skyline, that resembles Manhattan ( for those who have not yet visited this city ), Burj Khalifa ( the tallest man-made structure on Earth...still ).... I watch the sun set into the Persian Gulf against the backdrop of the grand old majestic Burj Al Arab (an icon of Dubai at one point of time ) or the more recent high profile Atlantis hotel ( the second in the world ) - both hosting almost every world celebrity worth his / her salt at some point or the other....I watch the skydivers leap from 15,000 feet above sea level to "drop" into Dubai Marina with its famous towers that vie with each other, reaching out to to sky as it were! 

 I see all of this everyday and yet, it amazes me each time....and those on my Facebook often have to see repetitive pictures taken during this daily trip!!! Apologies, guys - but I am truly enchanted like a little child!

 However, what I also painfully see during this trip is a breed of Dubai residents (because the tourists obviously behave differently) that come into the coach and .....only look into their smart-phones all the time .....while the world passes by! 

 They very rarely look up or at each other, hardly ever outside the panoramic coach...because they are too busy "connecting" and the irony of it all never fails to sadden me. They are so busy reaching out to those people or things that are far away that they fail to appreciate Life that is happening around them ....or the world that is passing by...

 Yes, today we are always "connected" using technology and media that is bringing the world together....and yet, sometimes putting the world between people! Much has been written and said about this phenomenon - and I don't want to add...but it pains me to see that a lot of us have forgotten to "stand and stare"

 Are we not missing out something here.....something important? Do we not owe it to our kids to teach them to connect by sometimes disconnecting? 

 I am so glad I retain that capability - and I am glad I have taught my daughter to do the same .....as I remember one of my favorite poems by William Henry Davies: 

Leisure


What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes bean.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.


9June ; 99







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