Lets…grow..

Trams, buses, subway, small taxis, big taxis….
Out of all of the above, the only public transport we have here in Riyadh are taxis and the most pathetic buses of the world.
I long to go out of my house, walk by the neighborhood park, choose from public transport options and go my way enjoying people and conversations. I long to see minimal traffic jams and more bikes and pedestrians.
Where is that character most cities develop?

People confined in compounds paying huge amounts for rents just to live a life that is sort of like back home. People not being themselves. Fears.

Depressions unlimited! The kinds of depressions, complexes and perceptions I have seen in Riyadh..I have not seen anywhere on earth.
Nowhere.
How did this kind of life come to be here?
Don’t you find it so very strange and weird that people are still living with issues like what grown adults should do and not do..whether women should drive or not..
I know this sounds like the same old whining we get to hear all around. But, I am trying to analyze how this came to be.
It was not like this before. It was very different. It was all heading in the right direction. Then, suddenly, at some point, without us realizing it..it all changed to grow into what we see today. What was that sudden change?
No, it is not the pvpv. It is not the culture, nor the people. It is not the Saudi people.
You know what it is?
It is the affect of what we all were subjected to suddenly. No one ever told you this right?
No one will..except me.
We were all living very normally in Riyadh. Saudis worked. Drove taxis, ran grocery shops, did all kinds of jobs. People were progressing and behaving normally and then it happened. Westerners lived in apartments and villas in the city. Not in compounds. Life was very normal.
The Boom.
The boom in economy created many things..
Many people became rich. Many cheaters came here. Many lost their simplicity. There was joy. There was resentment. There was fear. There was shock. There were status competitions and there was a new born sense of nationalism. The luxuries were here, but the good days and simplicity was gone. The guy who owned the baqala, now owned a building and hired someone to run the baqala for him. If he was unable to then he was out of place overnight. Social norms and standards changed drastically.
In this, a new generation grew up with effects of all of the above.

We did not grow naturally..we grew over night and so we got lost somewhere along the way. Let’s recover from the shock and build a beautiful society instead of just beautiful buildings..

Let’s..continue to grow.

Love you..Riyadh..where ever you maybe..