Singapore in a bottle. So many memories got flooded in, when you stumble upon the familiar taste of bottled green tea from Singapore.

Sometimes I do wonder where is the home and where is the Diaspora.

Mumbai the mega metropolitan cluster has been a dream factory and the unique informal community of Dharavi next to the domestic airport has been a cinematic magnet of choice for generations of film makers. Who would not prefer a story in ones backyard?

 

Slumdog Millionaire took the euphoria to its zenith but Mumbai or Bombai or Bombay has been a terrific muse for the portrayal of the human condition. My personal favourite is The Lunch Box with the old catholic realm of Hill Street Bandra depicted with the everyday life of a Mumbaikar. The Photograph, by the same director takes Mumbai as the backdrop.

Pa. Ranjith with Kaala sets up Tamil speaking Dharavi as the context for urban social justice wars, with a Dalit Angle. In contrast the politics with a small ‘p’ of the Zoya Akhtar helmed Gully Boy is subtle and depicts socioeconomic realities of a Muslim Family in a slum and the associated surroundings really well with the intertwining of crime, aspiration, dejection, and most importantly rap music as a vehicle for social elevator in a competitive city.

The music is political with the rap as a context for larger conversations on urban inclusion. Ranveer Singh as Muraad excels in a role which is the antithesis of his off screen persona. Alia Bhatt as Safeena, has a role to remember as the fierce medical student trying to breakout.

Vijay Raaz as the abusive father who marries a younger woman again is a star act. The movie truly is owned by newcomer Siddhanth Chaturvedi as MC Sher. His swag fills up the screen with panache.

The movie is hilarious in its anecdotes and speaks to the third generation Mumbaikar in me who finds Mumbai as the crucible for the original hustle with the Apna Time Ayega, which is the anthem of every resident with a twinkle in his or her eye. Mumbai is deeply political to the extent that it is apolitical in the race for resources. Money is a great leveller. Money rules in Mumbai, political power is deemed for Delhi.

There are many Mumbai’s within Mumbai, and the film successfully conveys the message. This is the biggest take away from the movie.

I have always lived in Muscat now in Dubai next door to Masjid’s. I grew up to the Azzan, and find the compulsory Jumma Namaz stoppage in the Gulf,a critical break/departure in our hyper modern lives where one privileges the Almighty. Ameen.

The frame which Sustainability operates has been reduced to a risk management smart beta, where it is a proxy for qualitative risk on a project level but the conceptual lens has great potential for understanding long term scenario planning as countries like Singapore or even other parts of the world which are human magnets (such as Bangalore for Indian Internal Economic Migration) which have a substantial temporary guest worker population need good migration governance for long term sustainability.

Migrants who do not have a structural buy in will feel permanently at a cognitive level at best called alienation. The home population will have the perception of migrant nodes of a city as slums and corrupting the mainstream identity. The social fabric gets ruptured. The social is best avoided when the sustainability frameworks are drawn up disconnected with the political economy of the place.

Sustainability is local, frameworks from the global north have limited purchase if it is not embedded in local culture. Every city is different, the social realities have varied drivers. Sustainability is a vital ‘value’ when long term strategies are drawn up.

Water, Waste Management and Energy consumption is driven by community behaviour. Migrants are prone to have different attitudes towards waste disposal rather than a local; as the levels of buy in and engagement are different. It’s time for migration governance to be a mainstream sustainable development theme. The City is a SDG theme, how can Migration be behind?

Laksa and Kopio in Abu Dhabi. Some food is purely emotional. Transnational flows of culinary symbols as totems of the past.

Excellent fare at the newly opened Ming’s at Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi.

#selflove

It was a dusty morning in downtown Dubai at the offshore campus of MODUL University at JLT1, a plush office block where the Emirates Environmental Group, UAE ‘s premier Environmental Non Profit had organised an intellectually invigorating morning of ideas on the Sustainable Cities and Communities theme. The line up of speakers where the Who’s Who of Dubai’s Sustainability Community; Kenneth Wade of 5 Capitals, Saeed Al Abbar, of AESG, Huda Shaka of Arup and Pradip of Ettihad ESCO.

The morning kicked off with Mr. Saeed invoking a call to action towards a net carbon positive built environment. Next was Ms. Huda who spoke on sustainable cities in an arid environment, which was informative and thought provoking. Mr. Wade initiated a discussion on green urban spaces as community catalyst and a biodiversity magnet. These two conversations provoked a discussion on the very character of green space configuration in the Gulf, with community fabric and water stress being fundamental drivers in this narrative. The last presentation was on case studies on retro fitting and energy efficiency in Dubai. A flurry of very interesting numbers were articulated.

As the morning moved towards the panel discussion fuelled by questions from the Emirates Environmental Group Chairperson Madam Habiba Al Marashi, and the engaging audience- the questions which drove the discussion were on green spaces, slums and other frames. The realms of the sustainability conversation in a morning seminar format are broader and wider

The question of the social in the Sustainability is one strand which is often not treaded upon, but would be welcome in addressing sustainable futures for a dynamic global city such as Dubai.

Practitioners usually don’t share lessons frequently enough and opportunities such as these are few and far in between, and I applaud EEG to take such an initiative to help contemplate a more sustainable Dubai. And the crowd was very fun as well!

When festivals become feed on Social Media

Life reduces to likes

Then you have truly become a post on your loved One’s timeline

Life becomes a public post

Random interesting conversation with a Singaporean Indian from Lakeside who is an Auditor here in Dubai. He was at Wagamama with his son for ramen. We chatted for a few minutes in Singlish about the inability of recent Indian immigrants to Singapore, to integrate with local Indian Tamils and the propensity to reside in east coast ghettos.

The manager of the restaurant was from Bali, so chatted up in Bahasa as well.

I also took a recommendation from him for a good Malaysian place here.

#dubai

The Gulf Middle Class is a vernacular extension of the psycho geography of South Asia, a global Mofussil never at ease at home and the home overseas. This liminal life however has the cover of low end globalisation but is a model of multiculturalism, the only constant being survival and the pay check at the end of the month. Folks will watch Republic TV on Metros but never want to head back home to work and eat Sapaadu for lunch. It is a marginal existence of its own making.

The Gulf Middle Class as Global Mofussil is my take on Gulf Modernity as the Middle Class out here with origins in South Asia don’t live mentally in the Gulf, they are in a hybrid bubble, drinking Al Marai Milk but will reminisce about brands back home. This is a self manufactured liminality, projecting a global self outside but will head back to 19th century when he or she is back home. Technology enables this fluid state permanently

The Gulf Middle Class is a vernacular extension of the psycho geography of South Asia, a global Mofussil never at ease at home and the home overseas. This liminal life however has the cover of low end globalisation but is a model of multiculturalism, the only constant being survival and the pay check at the end of the month. Folks will watch Republic TV on Metros but never want to head back home to work and eat Sapaadu for lunch. It is a marginal existence of its own making.