I dislike Dubai intensely. It is a city of materialism and visible prejudice, which seems to float on a cloud of oil money. At the airport, Indians have a separate customs desk where they are disrespectfully treated. Our cab drivers were all Indian, and are essentially migrant labourers – no matter how long they live and work (in the most menial jobs) in Dubai, they will never be citizens. The buildings are vast but appear hollow; the whole place looks like it has been conjured as a mirage in the middle of the desert. We enjoyed ourselves at the water park on the one day we stopped over on the way to London, but I couldn’t shake the feeling (however ironic) that the entire city was a theme park outside of whose gates whole nations were sleepwalking under the power of aristocrats of enormous wealth, power, and selfish complacency.