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Reflections on a moment in Abu Dhabi

January 12th, 2009
posted by Ryan Rowe

I went jogging on the Abu Dhabi Corniche today during my lunch hour and I saw something strange. Not that that’s unusual, since it’s Abu Dhabi after all. :)

I saw a couple sitting on one of the benches on the waterfront. There was an Indian guy and stretched across his lap and almost kissing him was a woman. She was either Indian or Filipina I couldn’t tell. But I thought it was odd that they were being so “close” in public. You see, public displays of affection are only barely tolerated here and sometimes people even get thrown in jail or spit upon (the latter also sometimes happens to women who bare too much skin). So I wondered to myself if they would still be doing that when i came back on the return. Surely they wouldn’t risk doing it for a long period of time as someone (maybe a local) might draw attention to them or rebuke them. But in fact, on the way back she was still on his lap and I realised what had struck me as strange the first time around was that he looked like he was crying. And it was in that moment, I felt myself step outside of a box and look at the human situation in front of me. I saw sadness, grief in his face as if he was totally inconsolable and I wondered to myself, i wondered if maybe she was sick or something terrible had happened to her like maybe she was dying of some terminal illness. It occurred to me that maybe he was taking care of her in her last days or that maybe they just couldnt be together due to religious or cultural reasons. Or maybe he or she would be leaving for an arranged marriage for example and they were being prevented from being together. I wondered if they were beyond caring what people thought of them being so close in public like that, and and beyond caring that someone might report them yet. I thought of different views in different societies and wondered had they both been born in a different country, would their problem even exist for them? It just made me realise that there are so many different perspectives to a situation and so many different world views. How to understand them all? How to reconcile them all, if even possible? These reflections and ponderings seem to be happening more and more frequently to me and especially since I moved to the UAE two and a half years ago. Something about this place has caused so much change in me, I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel more aware of what is happening in people, processes and places around me, more reflective, more pensive.

You may wish to read a post on a related topic - sounds of abu dhabi, posted on 10 June, 2008.

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