Was reading Curry’s latest post on ‘the bubble’ this morning and its something that ive been pondering about too.

I only realized that the bubble was taking over AGAIN when the symptoms became more apparent – the ever so familiar nausea accompanied with an odd sense of superficial comfort that makes one utter the deceptive words ‘aah! lifes good’. The doctor said it was merely a case of a ‘common bubble condition’ … it would pass.

Am i losing some of you ?? :P well .. most expats like Curry, Champagne, Adnan, Atheeqe and myself who have been born and bred in this city and quite inadvertently lived here for most of our lives, would know what im blogging about .. i guess… i hope. For the rest of y’all let me demystify the chatter behind ‘the bubble condition’

UAE tends to be just one of those blissfull countires where kids are raised, pampered and protected from the harsh lessons that life generally teaches kids growing up elsewhere. Mercs and Beems are the second car on the road and one in every five cars around has a millionare in it (a useless but true fact, based on recent studies). So you see, its not peculiar for one to grow up thinking that such is normality… or grow up believing that only wealth defines success. Ironically, in the bubble, one grows up but never does grow up at all.

Usually, there comes an epipheneous moment for some where the existence of this matrix becomes clear and setting forth towards lands far and beyond ‘in search of the ring’ becomes imperative. ‘Pop’ goes the bubble and ‘Tap’ go the heels.

In time however, few return to be consumed again, some return to bid adieu and others never look back. Life as we know it, is usually never the same for those who return. They begin to suffer from momentary bursts of soul searching, day dreaming and mood swings, that are accompanied by reminiscing conversations that begin with ‘back in …. ‘ and end with a *sigh*

In some very extreme cases of denial, alternative stories of a life that ‘could be/used to be’ are carefully constructed to compensate for the monotony and routineness of life within the bubble. For instance, i am now almost convinced that i actually lived in Madrid for a fair bit of time. I was tall and hot and erm…. a vagabond of some sort who carried along the speedy spirit of ‘Gonzales’ and poetic words of ‘Neruda’… and oooh ooh .. i could also play a mean ‘Bamboleo’ and ‘Baila’ :P

and then the bubble happened again ;( and i became a Dubai boy.
…

sympathy – most welcome ;P