DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Seattle Times) — Along the creek that runs through the heart of old Dubai, hundreds of smartly dressed Indians waited in line barefoot to enter a Hindu temple on a recent weekend. Nearby were joggers, romantic couples, picnicking families — but hardly any of Dubai’s Muslim Arab citizens.
Across the waterway in the Deira district, thousands of young Asian workers were out on the streets, drinking tea, shopping or just chatting. Some were calling family back home, shouting into cellphones in Hindi, Urdu, Pashtu and Dari.
The only Arab presence was a pair of policemen cruising through in a patrol car.
Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers — from taxi drivers, cooks and housemaids to doctors, bankers and judges — have been imported to Dubai, mainly from South Asia, to run what is perhaps the world’s fastest-growing city.
Amid this flood, Dubai’s natives — about 20 percent of the emirate’s 1.2 million residents — find their way of life threatened and often react by isolating themselves.
Read more @ the SOURCE: Seattle Times Newspaper – Dubai searches for identity as it grows worldly
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