Dhabi, Abu Dhabi goes Tricolour to welcome Indian PM
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DUBAI - PM Narendra Modi is the only Indian premier to have officially visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is set to return for second time. Little wonder then that massive renditions of the Indian Tricolour dominated the cityscapes of the UAE's two biggest cities. Iconic structures in both cities lit up in saffron, white and green on Friday night, in preparation for PM Modi's arrival.
The largest display of the Indian flag, obviously, was on the façade of the colossal Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. At 828 metres tall, this could just easily be the largest display of the Indian flag ever.
But the Burj Khalifa was hardly the only building in Dubai decked out for Modi arrival. The city's latest attraction, the Dubai Frame, too displayed the Tricolour on, well, its frame.
The Dubai Frame is a structure that was dubbed the 'biggest picture frame on the planet'. And it is simply that - a frame that's 150 metres tall and 105 metres wide, and nothing in the middle.
Look through it from one side, and it's a view of the new Dubai - gleaming and towering skyscrapers glitzing out the skyline, including the Tricolour-draped Burj Khalifa. Look at from the other side, and it's a view of the older parts of Dubai, some of which feature centuries old souks and homes.
That you could look from one Dubai to another through a frame that's dressed up in the Indian Tricolour is perhaps a fitting metaphor for the place Indians occupy in the present and the history of the city.
