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The family's furniture, household appliances as well as the books and stationery of the children were destroyed in the April 16 floods
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Light, sound, action: DSF begins
Looking up at fireworks over Creek Park, set to a certain Beethoven symphony, Thura Ghanim Abdullah, 45, had tears rolling down.
Back in 1996, fleeing war-broken Baghdad, Thura came to Dubai on the second day of the first Dubai Shopping Festival, made this her home, and stayed indebted to the land that gave her a life.
In 2013, the mechanical engineer and mother of girls Tala, 13 and Layan, 6, Thura is set to leave Dubai and move with her husband and daughters for the quieter Abu Dhabi. But not before the festival ends a month from now, on February 3.
Shaikh Mansour bin Mohammed during the opening ceremony of DSF.— KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd
The inauguration of this retail fiesta saw the chief guest, Shaikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, seated in the centre of the five stands. These stands, according to the calculations of Ibrahim Saleh, coordinator general of festivals, accommodated 2,500 spectators. Hundreds more witnessed the show from the periphery of the water.
The show began with images of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, onto a water fountain that fanned out like the plume of a peacock. In the background played the national anthem.
Visuals on the water plumage remained a constant while the audience was given a walk through of Dubai, historic and modern. Black and white visuals of pearling preceded shots of the Dubai Metro and Burj Khalifa.
All the while, on the lake backdrop, motorboats dressed as tableaus paraded giant white horses while ladies suspended from large dimly lit helium-baloons and in flowing diaphanously-clothing performed charming level 10 acrobatics.
There were fire breathers and dancing fish. Digital devices in the crowds flashed continuously in the stands. Families and children clapped everytime an especially challenging visual stunt was exhibited. Like Thura’s daughters, other parent-accompanied children, as well, seemed to enjoy the ongoings, with plenty of shrieks and claps in the open air theatre at the performances, which, let’s not forget, set the ball rolling for Dubai’s 18th shopping extravaganza.
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