Flamingos and Sunsets

Sunsets in Dubai can be splendid. The large orange sphere can be seen from various points of the city, and even from the desert. I often catch the sunset on my way back into the city, on the Khawaneej or on the Hatta Road, always pointing to its circular beauty with superlative enthusiasm.

The most dramatic sunset is always caught at the beach. But I once took an unforgettable photograph of the sunset, with the cliche exotic palm trees that were purposely and decoratively imported for the Creek Golf Club. The Dubai city scape shimmered beyond the creek. I collected the beautiful sight in a click of my always close at hand blackberry. The picture had a funny fate. It ended as the blackberry status of a famous man, to say the least. But that is a story I can only develop off the blog.

My youngest notices beautiful land and city scapes. We cruise over our favorite Dubai bridges and he exclaims: "mama the sunset!" at any time of day, especially when we are furthest away from that  exact ans ephemeral moment of sunset. For him, sunset! is an exclamation of beauty, a realization that car riding is about looking out and noticing splendor.

In the same manner, if we travel on the outskirts of the city, at a distance where Dubai profiles as a line of vertical buildings reaching for the sky, he cries out: flamingos! He is looking for the flamingo laguna, where we can only grasp a "feather of pink" in the distance. The flamingos have sought refuge in the small marshes of our city, and when accumulated in a group, from a distance, we can catch the streak of pink. But for a much closer look at these enigmatic tropical birds, we visit the dumpy Dubai zoo where they live in sad captivity.

Flamingos, like sunsets, carry tropical poetic significance. Both very prominent themes in Mehdi Farhadian's kaleodiscopic works.

I wanted to mention my beloved January nephew, who is a sunshine celebrating his one year of rays today. I love him.