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Long Read: Being 'almost single' in viral times

Dubai - An Indian expat in Dubai, with family back home, examines his rolling stone tag even as he settles in for yet another solo stint.

A new job offer amid the raging Covid-19 outbreak at the end of last year got me back to the UAE for a second stint. This time around, Dubai is the port of call. Earlier, I had worked for an Abu Dhabi-based English daily between January 2014 and March 2016.

I have lived a considerable part of my life — 25-odd years — as a white-collar migrant both in my native country India in multiple cities and towns, and abroad, including stints in Nepal and Hong Kong.

My formative years were rather prosaic. One that had the pattern of unflinching monotonous regularity. It was one school, one college, one university and a city Calcutta then and Kolkata now, whose glory days have long been over. But the subsequent decades have been largely unscripted, perhaps best captured in the late American singer JJ Cale’s foot-tapping number Drifter’s Wife, a heady concoction of rhythm and blues, folk and jazz:

Drifter’s life is a drifter’s wife

Don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

In retrospect, I don’t resent the rolling stone tag. I have been a person with no fixed address and living out of suitcases for long.

But living the life of white-collar migrant can be a double-edged sword amid the Covid-19-induced hard times. The charm of an impromptu weekend reunion with your loved ones is off syllabus because of multiple protocols.

With the Internet of things controlling pressure points of our lives, nostalgia becomes a favourite me-time to drive away social distancing blues. Consequently, the viral outbreak has imparted a new meaning to personal spaces.

My wife for over two decades is tucked into her own personal space of potted plants, music, reading, yoga, mum to our only child, a daughter, 19, who is pursuing a History major undergraduate degree in a Delhi University college. I suspect she has gotten used to living away from me, as I try to find truism in absence makes the heart go fonder.

A similar emotional outpouring wells up about the daughter, who is juggling between medieval history lessons, K-pop and planning a sleepover with her bestie in a post-Covid-19 world.

However, an integral aspect of my life over the past few years that I’ve assiduously cultivated has taken a backseat because of the new normal. I’ve been helping out students from India’s remote north-east to get admission to DU colleges and other universities through the years. The last year was particularly harsh because of Covid, as academic sessions for undergraduate and post-graduate students went for a toss. The past few years, I had been a phone call away from these youngsters. Alas! I can’t do that anymore amid the new normal.

Spare a thought for my ageing parents, who I have not met since December 2019.

Long-distance calls — twice daily — can’t fill the void and emptiness of solitary existence.

Even so, I’d like to look at the glass called life half-full.

I had tried to teach myself life skills, which I had few and far between because of my pampered single child and middle-class upbringing.

I have tried my hand in pursuing antiquated hobbies such as philately and numismatics, which got the better of me over the years. Now, I am planning to join InterNations, a robust meeting forum for expatriates living in Dubai, and also learning mixology and how to play a few musical instruments.

So, single in the city has its moments and high points, as Dubai seeks to win over the Covid-19 challenge.

What next?

Perhaps time to reflect upon the new reality bites, as I draw inspiration from British band Jethro Tull’s Too Old to Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young

to Die!

joydeep@khaleejtimes.com