When the Shine Wears Off

When the Shine Wears Off

📌📌📌 Our global community has evolved through the years.  Ever since the communist walls crumbled in that old U.S.S.R and everywhere else in Eastern Europe, even borders across countries have become so porous and permeable.  And capitalist economies suddenly boomed beyond the roof.  Let's look at Dubai.  While its oil output is approximately 3% of the Persian Gulf economy, its accelerated development has been more anchored on revenues from trade, tourism, travel, real estate and the regional financial services, thanks to its very aggressive yet successful campaign to become the undisputed regional financial hub in the Middle East.

Where's the rub then ?  It is when the 'shine wears off', when we have 'overstayed the welcome'.  Dubai is a classic example wherein Indians comprise approximately less than 30% of the UAE population. And while Arab culture still prevails, the element of the South Asian culture is everywhere.  That book by SocioCultural Anthropologist Neha Vora in ['Impossible Citizens"  Dubai's Indian Diaspora'] gives us both the head and tail of 

the Indian Diaspora.  In Zia Salim's piece @ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2325548X.2015.1050765, she dissects Neha Vora's book as she 'highlights the paradoxical, contradictory logics faced by Indians who by themselves are non-citizens yet very much considered as 'locals' in the UAE. 

Swing that narrative over to a Southeast Asian country whose 15% of the population are also in their own version of diaspora, albeit in a smaller scale compared to India [legitimately, it's 12% but factor-in those who sneak below the radar,  Kaboom, you got 15% of the population spread across the globe].  And when Simon Cowell sneers and asks you 'WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE ?', where does that leave the millions of citizens now in diaspora ?  Hmmmm, your guess is as good as mine.  The more they will dig up for the 'long haul', stretching the welcome which has really been over-stretched to say the least.  Unfortunately, when you are awash with financial resources, you never thought that one day, the well will eventually dry up.  It will, it will.

When we are a part of that diaspora [and indeed, I was very much part of that temporary migration more than a decade back], right from Day-1, I knew that I was there in another foreign land for reasons of the paycheck and NOT for the security that citizenship gives [fortunately, I was blessed to receive my naturalization citizenship and really enjoyed the fringe benefits that goes 

with it, e.g. flying off to U.S. elsewhere literally 'on the fly' and visa-free.  But I was never remiss in constantly reminding myself that, that was only a pitstop for me [despite the fact I was carrying and enjoying all the benefits of that very respected orange/tangerine passport].  So, if you come across job posts for high-paying jobs, it's very likely because the 

work sites are somewhere in remote or inhospitable regions. The 'crappier' the nature of the work, the higher the pay and you will be compensated for not even taking your family with you [because that's just not feasible].  As the old cliche goes, all good things don't last forever.  That's when reality hits the mirage and all that is left [after the sandstorm] will be the sand 
and camels.  What do we do next ?  Let's stop the bleeding and have that 'quick fix'.  But again, don't lose sight that the best fishermen go where the fish are.  As long as you remain to be that kind of fisherman, you'll be fine.💊💊💊