Dispatches from Araby, Part 4: Sights, Sounds, Tastes, Smells

I. Old Dubai

The labyrinthine passages that are portals to another world beckons, its charms irresistible. The intricate woodwork that make the walkways of the souks casts patterns of shadows that reveal and hide the secrets that only wait to be discovered. It is a heady mixture of arabesque details and the sheen of polished steel of modernity. It is a place to get lost in, it is a place to be found. It is a place of trade, and it is a place that seemed virtually unchanged since the beginning of the civilization by the serpentine creek. The souks of Old Dubai is where merchants ply a wide array of goods – spices, scents, cloths, ornaments, jewelry, and of course. Gold! In this place, all that glitter is actually gold. Ropes and ropes of it. Tons and tons of it. While a thousand tourists gawk and stare, you will feel that this is not a place made for tourists. It is a vein- a jugular – that beats and throbs with the very life of a people steeped in tradition but with a passion for the newest, the latest and the most advanced. One gets a sense that while some stores have given way to selling tacky souvenir items for tourists, these souks are a latticed window that afford a very brief glimpse to the soul of these people.

The spices and the herbs, the aroma it exudes harkens to an archaic past, where henna-decorated hands deftly scoops and mixes a heady mixture of potions both magical and enchanting. An old Arab man sits by his baskets and sacks of a wide variety of spices - cardamoms, dates, anise, powdered chilis, various seeds, cinnamon, and others, all intriguing and exotic, his image seemingly etched in stone, a visitation from the past. His prayer beads are fingered with a meticulousness and tenderness that is both surprising and charming. Three women completely covered in black look at his wares, scooping and smelling, with his complete encouragement and gentle coaxing. Are they on an errand to prepare for a banquet? What kind of food will they prepare? How will it taste? Very private, these people hardly invite outsiders into their home, and thus the answers will be a mystery.

Outside the air has a crisp feel to it. The soaring temperature (52degrees Celsius at one point) stuns those who brave the heat, the sun shines with a brightness that is harsh and unforgiving. According to a statistics, the city is undergoing the construction of 300 hundred high rises, including what will be touted as the tallest building in the world, changing by sheer force not only the skyline and the face of Dubai, but also its coastlines as islands are birthed through ingenuity and braggadocio of a people who has learned to live with and reign over a ruthless desert. Meanwhile, the perfumed air of the souks continue to exist as if warped in time, ancient and unmindful of the mad dash to recreate and remake the world out there.