The UAE will make the perfect venue for IPL.
LETTER FROM DUBAI
By Nasreen Abdulla
DUBAI (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES): March has been quite an exceptional month in the city for various reasons.
For one, the weather has been surprising. At the end of the month, there was a downpour — which is quite unusual in this country. Rain here starts and stops in 5-10 minutes. But on March 25, the rain started well before dawn and didn’t stop until midnight in several parts of the country.
The result? Havoc on the roads. There was an accident every 2 minutes in Dubai and municipality workers spent the entire day pumping out water from different parts of the city. The chaos that a bit of rainfall brings to Dubai is getting a little beyond funny because now it happens so often that the city and its people should be more prepared for it.
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Art has got a big boost in Dubai this month. The ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued a directive to transform the emirate’s metro stations into art museums.
He said metro stations should become the display center for creations from different themes and cultures so that art becomes accessible to as many people as possible in Dubai. The project is expected to be completed within 12 months and will be launched to coincide with the start of Art Dubai 2015. As a frequent user of the metro, I am quite excited about this project. I think it’s such a unique way of getting art to the general masses and will look forward to the day I can enjoy some Dante and Monet while I wait for my metro.
This announcement was made during Art Dubai 2014 which ran through March 19-22. It seemed to delight art experts that the pieces available were modestly priced, despite Dubai’s reputation of flamboyance. Many of the works on sale were priced at under $100,000. The availability of pieces at different price ranges made Art Dubai a destination for both very important collectors, like the ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and Libyan Princess Fatima Al Senussi, and for more modest art collectors looking to expand their collections with exceptional and well-priced pieces.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature also took place this month. The festival, which brought to the UAE more than 160 writers, featured some interesting workshops including a night of poetry and music under the stars and a murder mystery dinner where guests get the chance to test their sleuthing skills as they try to solve a murder with the help of authors. To address the great demand for writing workshops, the Literature Festival this year launched the Festival Prologue, a series of intensive two-day workshops on creative writing, in English and Arabic, script-writing and paper sculptures.
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But a large chunk of the spotlight has been on for the one thing that sports fans from all around the world are waiting for — the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League.
For the uninformed, the first leg of IPL 7 will be played in the UAE because it clashes with the elections in India — making it impossible for the BCCI to get the necessary security. The country has 3 international stadiums — one each in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah — and will make the perfect venue for the tournament.
The presence of a large population from the Indian subcontinent also ensures that the stands will pulsate with energy. This will be a period of great excitement, not just for the cricket lovers but also for the UAE national cricket team who will look forward to closely watching and interacting with star players.
Cricket in the UAE has come a long way since the first ODI was played in Sharjah in 1984. The popularity of the Sharjah cricket stadium soared and the ground witnessed several historic cricketing moments, including Javed Miandad’s famous sixer in the 1986 game where Pakistan needed 4 runs off the last ball to win against India.
But when the match-fixing scandals began to emerge in the late 1990s, Sharjah’s reputation began to wane, and although nothing was ever proved, sides started to move away. In 2001, the Indian government banned the national side from playing there.
Between April 2003 and February 2010, the venue hosted no internationals. But all that soon changed and when Pakistan needing an off-shore venue because of security problems in that country, Sharjah was the first choice. It is also now the home ground for the Afghanistan national team. As an ardent cricket fan, I can’t wait to go watch at least some of these matches.
In conclusion, it’s a very exciting time to be in the UAE. The construction industry is picking up steam after winning the bid to host the Expo 2020. The Al Sufouh Tram project — a first of its kind in the region — will open later this year. The Etihad Rail is also going ahead full steam. Several prestigious projects have either started or resumed.
The job market is getting better. The economy is strengthening. The people here are still cautiously optimistic but there’s a general feeling of resilience and investors are getting more confident. More events, exhibitions and conferences are now being held in the country as Dubai slowly starts to get ready for the Expo 2020.
More musings from the land of gold next month.
Au revoir!
(Nasreen Abdulla is a Dubai-based journalist.)