Dear Yuri,
As I look out from my window, I see stillness. Dubai is an electric city at its best. ‘The city of the future’ , ‘The city where anything is possible’. Now little seems possible. The night sky is clear and crisp but every so often, as the wind changes direction, a hint of fire caresses the air whispering that the intense heat of summer is coming.
With the lockdown in place no-one can leave their home without obtaining a permit. We once wondered so freely enjoying the beauty, diversity and riches that our city offered us upon a shiny, jewelled platter.
As the night sky opens up above me, I can no longer hear the roaring of helicopters and planes overhead. The streets are still, and the stars are visible once again. I revel in their beauty and realise our long forgotten connection with the earth and what it really is to stop, to be in silence. I adore the calmness but at the same time a sliver of loneliness begins to creep into my core. The realisation that right now, we are alone in this stillness. Could we be condemned to isolation forever?
This new light from the stars shines down into my soul and I cannot help but question every single part of how and why we all live the way we do. I make a pact with myself to prioritise everything and everyone that is important to me and I promise that I will remember this when the world begins to move once more.
There is little desert left in the area where I live but as the comforting call to prayer echoes behind me, I realise that as a race, for a long time, that wherever we are in the world, we have all been lost in a desert. I pray now that this is the start of our journey home.