What to say about Dubai. I could talk about the crazy clubs and bottle service (yes sparklers are included in your vintage Dom). I could talk about the largest mall in the world, Dubai Mall. It has everything (except a pinkish bridesmaid's dress fyi). I could even talk about the Burj Khalifa (it comes out as Burn al Arabe on an iPhone...and that's when I accuse friends of being racist). But instead, I think I'll talk about what seems to be a new obsession of mine: Drivers.
Taking a taxi in Dubai is like night and day or day and night with the experience in India.
India: Black and Yellow no a/c taxis dominate the street. The little Fiat taxis are way too small for people who sit up tall. They have cute little meters outside of the left hand front window - a sort of opposite mailbox. A passenger is inside? Flag gets swung down. Shock absorbers? What are those? However, there are many springy springs in the cushions of the backseat; think astro bouncy castle. Did I mention that many are non a/c...and that's it's getting hot in Mumbai?
The drivers of this taxis possess the most impressive skill of squeezing between two cars, the public bus and the center divide (and you wondered why the side view mirrors have been taken off all the taxis!). There were only two times so far that I thought I was a goner (a private car started edging into our non-existent lane. It was then that I really wished there were seat bents in the back seat. Did I mention the decoration? India drivers know how to decorate their cars, from the paintings and stickers on the exterior to orange tiger print or flowers in the interior. I actually happened across a great little article about just this topic.
Incense is sometimes burned, a little disco ganesha might be on the dashboard, and most likely than not, some type of Indian music is blasting on the radio, only to be rivaled by the incessant honking of the driver's and his compatriots' horns. And it was only today that it hit me: damn Dubai really is soulless in so many ways (I really must take the time right now to say how much I enjoyed meeting the people I met while I was there. THEY were great, Dubai...well I still can't imagine how I'd ever fit in).
Dubai: these cabs are clean, sleek, with blasting a/c. If I were a guy I could probably tell you the make and model of the car (it wasn't so impressive. I get the impression that it was a Toyota of some sorts though - not at all competing with the porches, Ferraris, and Bentleys I saw line the streets). All the taxis come with fancy touch screen meters (but no cc accepted either fyi). And fast. Traffic is fast, drivers are fast, zooming across stretches of never-ending highways, not a single sidewalk in sight many times. Yes, perhaps drivers do follow the 'guidelines' of the street lines more often than in India; but most of them driver with the wheel in one hand, cellphone in the other it seems.
These drivers are Indian (I can't get away), Pakistani, and I'm sure a lot of other. One thing to be sure, none of them are Emirati, as they get paid way too much by the government every year to have to be a driver (yay Oil). It's actually quite pleasant to be zoomed along going from one large building to the next; you certainly don't come out dripping with sweat.
But as I said. Today it hit me. The biggest, glaring difference for me between these two driving experiences, the biggest 'tell' into Dubai city living and culture, is every time I got into a cab, I'd be asked if I like music. The driver would then turn on the radio to what is probably the most popular radio station in Dubai - Top (American) 40s with a some house thrown in. I think I experienced the biggest culture shock or reverse culture shock or however you want to define it from the radio, the type of music the driver chose. Top 40s? Perhaps it makes sense: why would an Indian driver in Dubai play traditional Arab music or Arab pop? But reeeeelly? I just don't know. I really just don't know.
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