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Dil, diversity, Dubai
Updated On: 22 May, 2022 02:36 PM IST | Mumbai | Sukanya Datta
Behind the emirate’s towering cityscape are millions of expats who call the megalopolis home. Traipsing around the Dubai Food Festival, mid-day discovers how this multicultural identity flavours its culinary landscape
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The Burj Khalifa
Your neck’s likely to hurt if you’re a wide-eyed first-timer in Dubai. Forget the Burj Khalifa (2,717 ft); malls and offices, even supermarkets, have their heads buried in the clouds. As we struggle to fit the tip of the Khalifa in a frame, Kishore, who has been driving us around the city, reveals that the tallest tower in the world came up as recently as 2009. In fact, much of the glittering New York-meets-Hong Kong cityscape has mushroomed in the last few decades, spurred by the discovery of oil, a real estate boom, ease of doing business, trade and tourism.
Guarding these swanky skyscrapers, shepherding tourists around town, leading strategy in boardrooms, and building the city brick by brick are expats, like Kishore from Kerala. From Kenya to The Philippines, and UK to Iran, expats comprise about 85 per cent of Dubai’s population. Whether it’s jazzy Downtown Dubai or the historical Al Fahidi, this multiculturalism follows us around — in a chatty bonhomie with a Tamilian cabbie, while bargaining with a Pakistani souvenir vendor, and in our Georgian tour guide’s stories.
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