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It's Good to Be King!

Friday, November 26, 2010
One thing about living in the Emirates that is not commonplace in the West is the ubiquitous royalty.  In America, we eschewed our monarch in 1776.  Royalty in Europe where it still exists only surfaces on certain occasions including birth, nuptials, death, and scandal.

The seven Emirates are ruled by the royal families who have controlled them for centuries.  Individual sheikdoms range in size from Abu Dhabi with several million inhabitants to tiny Umm Al Quain with a population of only 65,000.  Primogeniture is the rule of the day, so the crown princes inherit the thrones.  With polygamy, there are a whole lot of princes and princesses in the families.

There is no national congress.  The control of the nation is wielded by the family leaders.  Until 1971 this part of the Middle East was known as the Trucial States of Oman.  With Bedouin ancestry, this worked for a long time but they decided that it would serve their interests to join together as the United Arab Emirates. The sheik of Abu Dhabi is the president and the leader of Dubai is the vice president of the United Arab Emirates.  The other emirs contribute to the direction of the nation; however, in their own sheikdoms they are truly kings.

With the rigidity of Islamic law and benign monarchs, everything works very well.  It is a very safe place to live.  From time-to-time, stories emerge about how the kings exhibit their power.  With delays for an appointment, a friend-of-a-friend who was conducting business with one of His Highness-es indicated that he had to depart to catch his flight.  The ruler signaled to an aid for the phone and instructed the tower to hold the plane on the tarmac until this gentlemen arrived.  Whether or not this really happened, it makes for great urban legend.

The royals are housed in sumptuous palaces.  The two companies with which I have worked have contributed to the appointments of several of these.  I have seen many from the air and from the road but I cannot share any images, since it is against the law to photograph these abodes.  In a later installment, I shall post a few pictures of a palace of Sheik Zayed in Al Ain.  This home is now a national museum since Sheik Zayed was the George Washington of the Emirates.

Unless there is a pre-arranged event, the closest that most persons come to the royals is watching them fly overhead.  Most travel by helicopter for security and since it is the fastest way to get around.  This is the same for heads of state everywhere.  It is a spectacle seeing the big choppers chugging away in the sky as they barely manage to stay aloft in the high density altitudes of the hot Arabian summers.

Occasionally, royals travel by car.  Yesterday while commuting to work, I came upon a big new BMW sedan with special plates doing 50 kph on Sheik Zayed Road.  This is the main freeway through Dubai and the slowest vehicles move along at 80 kph.  At the wheel was an elderly gentlemen in a dishdasha (shirt dress), keffiyeh (headress), and agal (holds the keffiyeh in place).  He was gesturing wildly to the other occupant of the vehicle and not paying attention to the road.  I imagined a conversation like, "Abdul, no helicopter today. Let's drive."  Of course Abdul thought that he would be driving.  All other drivers gave the big black car wide berth.

In the words of Mel Brooks, "It is good to be king!"

The Muezzin

Saturday, November 20, 2010
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Islam, salah or daily prayer is part of practicing the faith.  Sunni Muslims, who are the predominant sect in the Emirates, participate in prayer five times each day.  The first prayer is Fajr, which starts at ten to fifteen minutes before sunrise.  Dhuhr is recited at celestial noon.  Asr is remembered in mid-afternoon.  Maghrib is prayed just after sunset.  Isha'a is the last prayer and takes place during the early evening.

The faithful are called to prayer at the appointed times by the muezzin.  This gentleman sings the salahs.  His chants are broadcast from the minarets of the mosques.


This is the mosque that is across the street from my flat.  The minarets are the two towers to the left of the dome.  For a long time, the muezzin had to be a hearty soul who climbed to the top of the towers and called the believers to prayer with his own powerful voice.



As you can see, the minarets are quite tall and offer a good platform for projecting the voice.  I indicated that this practice had gone on for a long time.  Specifically, it occurred from the time of the Prophet until the end of World War II.  After the end of hostilities, there were surplus public-address speakers available.  Many found their way into the tops of the minarets.  Now the muezzin was spared from his climbs five times each day. Furthermore, he acquired this great and powerful electronic voice to summon the faithful.  This was a good acquisition from the modern world for ancient Islam.

Ex-patriots living in the Emirates are swept along by the Islamic culture.  If you live in a proximity to a mosque, prayer becomes a part of your life.  The photos were taken from the balcony of my first floor flat.  (If you are an American, that means a second floor apartment.)  I am separated from the church by 200 meters of desert air.  Needless to say, Islamic prayer is an intimate part of my life.

I have no issue with any salah, except Fajr.  Fajr occurs just before sunrise.  Since it follows the sun, this means that the faithful are called to prayer at around 4:00 AM on mid-summer's day.  By the time of the winter solstice, the prayer begins at around 5:45 AM.  Even for me that is very early to be roused from sleep.  Sometimes I am able to fall back to sleep, but that is not a given.

The only other prayer that is quite invasive is Dhuhr on Friday.  Friday is the Islamic sabbath.  Life for the faithful does not really start until after Dhuhr on Friday.  Following prayer, the microphone is handed over to the Imam, who is the worship leader of the mosque.  The volume is cranked up and a fire-and-brimstone sermon is then delivered in Arabic.  It can be rather unsettling.

My wife has always told me that I could use a little "churching up", but I never envisioned that it would take place in this way.  Life can be a little crazy.

Good Street Food

Saturday, November 13, 2010
I agree with the sentiment that to really get to know a place, you have to sample the street food.  Those of you who are aficionados of the video journals of Anthony Bourdain will appreciate this.  Dubai has its share of trendy places in the shopping malls and along the promenades and corniches that are frequented by the tourists and yuppie ex-pats.  Those who boast about eating in these places are like people who travel in an RV and tell their friends that they went camping.

Real street food is found in the older parts of the city like Deira, Bur Dubai, and Al Karama.  When walking through these places, it is not unusual to discover that you are the only Anglo-Saxon on the street and that you cannot understand any of the cacophony of languages being spoken.  Dubai is a very safe city so there is little fear of areas that are seldom frequented by tourists.

I live in an old suburb of the city called Al Garhoud.  It is more of a residential area and is not characterized by dozens of small shops with the proprietors living in the flat upstairs. Just down the street from my flat is a little shop called the Eat & Drink.


The restaurant serves a mix of ethnic cuisine including Lebanese, Tandoori, Indian, and Pakistani dishes.  It is something of an icon in Dubai, because it is very popular with the taxi drivers.  I never have any difficulty getting home when I tell the hack that I live next door to the Eat & Drink.

My favorite meal is the Chicken Shwarma, which consists of brazed chicken, lettuce, tomato, and a white sauce wrapped inside a flat bread.  Two of these sandwiches cost seven dirhams (US$1.90).  I have had more than I could count over the last two years.  I walk up to the big guy with his back to us in the photo and say my few words of Malayalam.  I get a big smile while he carves meat for the meal.

Several of my Western friends have looked squeamish when I mention my meals from the Eat & Drink.  To my knowledge, I have never gone away with more beasties in my gut than the chicken or lamb in the meal.  The place is kept very clean.

If you travel, do not miss out on eating with the locals.  It is one of the only ways to truly have a taste of the city.

Happy Diwali

Friday, November 5, 2010
During my weekly visit to my local Indian grocer, Choithram, I became aware of the festival of Diwali.  All of the staff were dressed up and they had a small shrine with gifts below.


Diwali (or Deepvali) is a five-day celebration in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism.  It is known as the "Festival of Lights".  Move over Hannukah.  Suffice to say that it is the only festival of lights celebrated on the Arabian Peninsula.

The word Deepvali translates into a row of lamps in Sanskrit.  Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to celebrate the triumph of good over evil.  Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with Sita and Lakshman from his fourteen year long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana.

While Judeo-Christrian America will be enjoying Thanksgiving turkey with dressing and pie in November, Marcus of Arabia will be having a chapati cooked in ghee with curry rolled inside.  Yummy!  The festival is also marked by the sharing of sweets.  When I offered a Happy Diwali greeting to my Indian friends, several of them offered me candies.

I do not know about the significance of the swastika in the shrine in the photo.  Do you think that the little guy spent some time on the sub-continent before conjuring up the thousand-year reich?

Something to Ponder (STP)

Imagine that you are taking a hypothetical road trip (thanks, Ace Man) on a multi-lane highway.  You suddenly find yourself between two fuel tankers that you know are loaded with high-octane gasoline.  In which of the following scenarios would you feel safer?

Scene 1

You are traveling northbound on I-75 in Tennessee at a speed of 70 MPH.  To your left you see an Exxon tanker being hauled by a Peterbilt tractor.  The driver is wearing a ball cap with a Purina Feed logo on the front and a long mullet in the back.  On the window behind the passenger seat is a full height graphic of a Confederate flag.  The tractor is outfitted with mudflaps with the silhouette of the curvaceous babe with a huge rack and no neck.

On your right is a Shell tanker trailer being towed by a Mack tractor.  Stenciled on the driver's door is a verse from the Bible.  The driver is sporting a ball cap with "Jesus Saves" on the front.  There "Yosemite Sam--Back Off" mud flaps on the truck.

Scene 2

You are traveling northbound on the E311 (Emirates Road) in Sharjah Emirate doing 105 KPH.  To your left you see an Emarat tanker hauled by a Renault tractor.  The driver with a full curly beard is wearing a kurta (pajamas) and a turban.  Tied to the outside of the truck are prayer flags that almost touch the road.

To your right is an Adnoc tanker trailer pulled by a Mercedes truck.  The driver has a short stubbly beard and is wearing a dishdasha (shirt dress) with a taqiyah (skull cap).  Across the top of the windshield in formal Arabic script, the words "God is Great" is emblazoned.

How strong are first impressions?  How much do you stereotype?