Living internationally

Lately I have noticed a drastic change in the psychological and emotional stability among a group of my friends.

Some developed aggressive, hostile attitudes while others seemed withdrawn, disengaged and always absent-minded.

Upon using my investigative powers, I found the one thing that tied them all together; they all lived for various times in International City.

Here are some of their stories.

Nabeel (not his real name) told me recently how he enjoys commuting to International City from Dubai and how commuting created a profound effect on his career. From day one, Nabeel fell in love with the mystery of the place.

He was totally thrilled with the way the entire location was planned, or un-planned; the total absence of signs, street names or helpful indicators or numbers of any kind.

To Nabeel, entering International City always felt like stepping inside a dark room. He didn't mind being lost as long as there were roundabouts to drive around, as he happened to be a secret admirer of traffic roundabouts. In fact, Nabeel sometimes drives around the roundabouts few hundred times before returning home and collapsing in his bed like a drugged zombie.

Nabeel noticed that a sign that says "Dubai", actually takes him 20km in the opposite direction, before being able to make an unannounced U-turn.

Nabeel was fired lately when his boss asked him for an urgent meeting. Although he works few feet away from his boss's office, Nabeel went down to his car and drove to the Mall of Emirates, 20km away from his office, made a U-turn there and headed back.

When he was asked why he did that, Nabeel explained that he is unable to move in a straight line between any two points.

Months of living in International City had brainwashed Nabeel's mind to go in circles and to stray away from his destination - by at least 20 km - before getting back to the starting point. Nabeel still loves roundabouts and he never stops drawing hundreds of them inside the mental hospital where he permanently resides these days.

Rima (not her real name) had a different story.

She does not own a car and accordingly she enjoys interacting with various cab-drivers who struggle endlessly with the maze-like structure of International City.

Rima's cluster, which has a clear European ring to it, is continuously being repainted, re-plastered, retouched, re-tinkered, re-stripped and revisited by construction teams that she lost any hope of finding why and who is doing what to which...

Rima is filled with admiration and gratitude for the company that built International City. Sensing that most tenants love pets, the company decided to save everyone the trouble of looking for one; it released hundreds of rats within the apartments, Rima thinks.

Another positive thing, Rima likes, is the huge savings on perfume expense.

Before living in International City, Rima was a compulsive shopper for perfume.

Now, thanks to the huge sewage facility right next to International City, Rima got rid of this bad habit.

Terrible stench

Occasionally, which means everyday, a terrible stench fills the air making any bodily odour acceptable and even desirable. In fact the tenants have been blessed with generous sewage flooding lately.

The streets were filled with stinky smelly sewage waters for days on end. Rima noted a positive sign in this; the sewage waters did not reach high trucks so the owners of these trucks picked their friends up and drove them to work.

Rima was thrilled with the resulting social bonding that took place among the tenants, and with the long term vision of the company that designed and built International City.

"Everything happens for a reason, I think the proximity to the sewage factory was intended to bring people closer together," Rima said lately before grabbing the bottle of Prozac.

Ahmad Zahzah is a media consultant based in the UAE.