01-24-2009, 09:13 PM
Rabia,
No offense taken, perhaps we all get worked up some time. So let's end it there.
Well the same city, jewel of the Gulf,.. Dubai and what you have in your post is exactly how it is. Only things have gone from bad to worst. The older generation of Local Arabs (who spoke Urdu) having worked with and seen Pakistanis build this city from a few camps to what it is today are gone. The new generation thinks that all expatriates are there paid slaves (except the Goras who are paid servants) and nothing more.
A funny incident that happened to one of my colleagues in Dubai, he is an Indian Passport holder who'd been educated and worked in UK, moved back to Dubai (to his family) he had a UK Driving license, so e calls the Traffic police and in his English accents, asks them what would be required for him to get a Dubai lic., they tell him all he has to do is come down with his UK Lic and get photographed. Now listen to this, when he goes there in person, seeing he's a brown (and not a gora)they insist he must sit for the road test !! Ofcourse a few days later and a few 'wastas' later he did get his Dubai lic.!! I have never seen any thing like this. This is some thing of a policy matter and not just random racism. A local with Dubai lic can swap it for a UK lic. (only if you are a local UAE Citizen, no expatriates allowed)
I hope that with time some of these issues will improve as more of their people get educated but I won't hold my breath on it.
Despite all that, Dubai is like a second home,. its the place I was born, went to school so I still love the place with all its positives and negatives.
No offense taken, perhaps we all get worked up some time. So let's end it there.
Well the same city, jewel of the Gulf,.. Dubai and what you have in your post is exactly how it is. Only things have gone from bad to worst. The older generation of Local Arabs (who spoke Urdu) having worked with and seen Pakistanis build this city from a few camps to what it is today are gone. The new generation thinks that all expatriates are there paid slaves (except the Goras who are paid servants) and nothing more.
A funny incident that happened to one of my colleagues in Dubai, he is an Indian Passport holder who'd been educated and worked in UK, moved back to Dubai (to his family) he had a UK Driving license, so e calls the Traffic police and in his English accents, asks them what would be required for him to get a Dubai lic., they tell him all he has to do is come down with his UK Lic and get photographed. Now listen to this, when he goes there in person, seeing he's a brown (and not a gora)they insist he must sit for the road test !! Ofcourse a few days later and a few 'wastas' later he did get his Dubai lic.!! I have never seen any thing like this. This is some thing of a policy matter and not just random racism. A local with Dubai lic can swap it for a UK lic. (only if you are a local UAE Citizen, no expatriates allowed)
I hope that with time some of these issues will improve as more of their people get educated but I won't hold my breath on it.
Despite all that, Dubai is like a second home,. its the place I was born, went to school so I still love the place with all its positives and negatives.
