One of Faizal Abdul Razak’s most vivid childhood memories involves a neighbourhood bakery in the bustling Satwa. “I remember when I was in high school, my mother would cook curry, put it in the fridge, and go to work,” he says. At around lunchtime, Razak would hurry to Sun Bakery to buy some bread, reheat it at home and use it to mop up the curry from his plate.
Photos by Arman Mir
Razak grew up in Satwa, flew the nest but returned, lured by its affordability, comfort and no-frills way of life. “I realised that all of my inspiration comes from this place,” says Razak, who is the founder and creative director of The Karak, a Dubai-based platform that highlights local creative talent and events. “I’d like to use my skills and resources to showcase the beauty and real stories of the Dubai that I grew up in.”
The walking club is an antidote to the constant doomscrolling people tend to engage in. Photos by Arman Mir
An idea takes root
With the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran war earlier this year, work had dried up for Razak and he began to spend more time at home, doomscrolling through the news and experiencing digital fatigue. “Something that always helped me to disconnect from the Internet was going on walks,” he says. So Razak returned to the streets of Satwa, where familiar sights, sounds and smells slowly fortified him. He wasn’t alone in navigating this situation though, as friends admitted to feeling paralysed by panic.
Razak came up with an antidote to their collective stress: the Anti-Doomscroll Stroll Club, where people could meet in Satwa, walk leisurely while clutching analogue maps, and discover local businesses — all the while staying off their phones. He announced its launch on Instagram and the post led around 150 people to sign up for the first stroll on April 5. Participants had to pay Dh 25 to be a part of the one-hour stroll (“purely to cover the cost of printing and organising,” explains Razak).
Reliving legacy
He printed out the maps, where he highlighted local businesses that have been around for as long as 40 years. Razak explains that he wants to divert people’s attention to the richness of these spaces that once lent irreplaceable charm to old Dubai but are often dismissed today as the “poor part of Dubai”. At the walk, Razak was pleased to see complete strangers walking side by side, striking up tentative friendships. “It was such a nice, natural icebreaker,” he says, adding that the walks will be held every Sunday (until the heat becomes unbearable) and that he hopes to take the club to other older neighbourhoods of Dubai once it grows organically.
Ras Al Khor resident and marketing professional Anchal Salian explored Satwa for the first time thanks to the club, and remembers being taken in by how colourful and vibrant it was. “We saw buildings that were painted in trippy colours, and there was graffiti everywhere,” she says. For Jessica Pinto, the standout experience was sinking her teeth into a disc of cheese naan at Sun Bakery, which evoked memories of India. “We ended the trip at a bar where we all played darts and pool, danced, and made conversation,” she adds.
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