AN EXTRACT OF HAPPINESS

"A short story about the time I lived in a little neighbourhood in the middle of nowhere."

'DIP' aka Dubai Investment Park. The best way to describe this little settlement would be, quite simply, 'an expat residential complex in the middle of nowhere'. Located 30 minutes drive from Dubai's Downtown Business Bay, DIP was surrounded by vast open desert as far as the eye could see. It primarily housed foreigners who migrated to Dubai for work at one of the major hotel chains such as Hilton and Marriott International. The highlight of DIP was nothing more than an Islamic Mosque, a Carrefour supermarket, a nearby basketball court and little room filled with gym equipment. The people you would interact with on a day-to-day basis were also the people that you would spend 24/7 working with at the hotel. Meaning, that after a while of living in DIP, you eventually get to know your co-workers on a much more intimate level than any other workplace. These people became my new family. Coming from all different walks of life; my best friends were Ruxandra from Romania, Camila from Colombia, Beatriz from Brazil and Ray from Indonesia. There were also quite a few South Africans in my building, which subconsciously made it somewhat feel like home.

I spent one year of my life living in this little residential compound, whereby every morning I would have the same monotonous routine. Wake up at 5:00am to catch the 6:00am bus to go to Business Bay. The shift hours in Dubai were often longer than usual, and I would sometimes only arrive home late in the evening.

Despite being a mecca holiday destination, Dubai as a residential city is a fairly complex concept to explain to someone who is unfamiliar with the notion of modern-day consumerism. However, I will try my best to convey my experience. For me, Dubai is a vision more than anything else. It is based on the colossal man-made utopian beliefs that anything is possible as long as 'money' is the driving force behind it. The brief history of Dubai’s oil industry just about proves this theory due to its rapid growing economic development during the late 1950s. The Al Maktoum Royal family’s endless abundance of wealth acquired by this revelation, was solely devoted towards the investment of Dubai’s utopian-based infrastructure. The Burj Khalifa itself serving as the epitome. I admired this iconic structure everyday on my way to work. It reminded me that 'anything is possible if you just set your mind to it'. I kept trying to imagine what thought patterns must have gone through the architect's mind when he decided to execute the project of the Burj Khalifa. Everyone probably told him he was crazy for wanting to build the world’s tallest free-standing skyscraper in the middle of the desert. I guess, the only way to really translate your imagination into reality would be with the tools of persistency.

One morning, as we drove out of our little residential compound, towards the Renaissance Hotel. I gazed out of the smirky bus window to gather my thoughts before the start of my shift. The drive between DIP and Business Bay was certainly not the most pleasant sight to come by. Surrounded by nothing but vast open desert, empty construction sites, dozens of cranes, industrial electricity power plants, incomplete artificial glass buildings, and lifeless mosques.

Amongst the harshness, we became accustomed to seeing the notorious buses of the working class construction workers. An unspoken segment of society, who are responsible for building almost every modern skyscraper in Dubai. The majority of these men are immigrant workers from either India or Pakistan, and have become susceptible to endure some of the most difficult, physically demanding jobs known to man-kind. These buses, typically crammed with 40 odd men, have no air conditioning. One can only fathom the idea of their harsh living conditions during the Dubai summer, having to work in 50 degrees heat during Ramadan for 13 hours a day with hardly any drinking water or food to keep them going.

This was the turning point for me. I see this depressing view everyday on my way to work, but for some reason, on this particular morning, something was different. I had a sudden shift in my point of view. As we drove out towards Business Bay in the early hours of dawn, the desert humidity lingered in the air as we drove down the Sheikh Zayed road. Along the way, we drove past one of these buses filled with construction workers. The industrial landscape made my heart sink and my mind turn numb with emotion like it usually does in the monotonous flow of my early morning routine. Abruptly, I opened my eyes and felt an impulsive spark. For the slightest moment, I felt the sensation of what it means to feel alive. As I gazed up at the hazy polluted desert sky, I saw before me a bright orange flaming ball hanging low above the open horizon. To my revelation, it was the sunrise. At that moment, I probably learned one of the most beautiful and significant life lessons I had ever come by; that despite how harsh or unpleasant your environment is, an optimistic and strong-minded person will always choose to see the beauty. By never allowing the circumstances of a situation change who they are. Nothing should ever have the power to control or take away from a person’s state of happiness. Not even an industrial and depressing harsh desert environment like Dubai can change that. On this specific morning, the sun symbolized for me the purest sign of hope, a fresh beginning, a new opportunity to start the day again.

It gave me the motivation to approach life in a new light to how I perceived the day before; to simply 'try again and try harder'. Every day we are given here on earth should be seen as a second chance to try again. Those who are not lucky enough to witness another day, probably used up all those second chances they were given so graciously, but eventually time runs out. It all reflects back on us and what we did to make the most out of the scarce time we were given. Did we take each day for granted or did we make the most out of each day and live life to the fullest? We should all feel privileged to be able to see the sunrise in the morning and know that the universe has granted us an extra chance on this planet to live out to our best potential. The key mentality is to never take any day for granted, because you never know which day might be your last. Instead, all we can do is acknowledge this blessing by working towards becoming the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be, every single day. Go the extra mile with everything that we do, and most importantly pursue what makes us happy. This conclusion is what encouraged me to start writing my first reflection in a series called; 'an extract of happiness'. Finding at least one good thing a day that is worth writing about to express my gratitude for life.

You might have already heard the quote “Same shit, different day.” Well, if you adopt the mindset of “Same day. Different shit.” then suddenly everyday becomes a new opportunity to learn something different and to try do better than the day before. With this mentality, we will all be guaranteed to reach our fullest potential, and therefor accomplish anything our heart truly desires.