How Dubai's diversity inspired these authors

Dubai A dedicated one hour of writing every day for five months, long walks, and people. All of this led P.G. Bhaskar's debut novel Jack Patel's Dubai Dreams. But most of all, it was the land of dreams, Dubai, that brought in the inspiration in the first place, the banker-author shared with his readers during a session at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. "Twenty years ago I came to Dubai just for a week. And like most of the people who come here, something or the other kept me here. "It was about five years ago, when a lot of drama was happening around the banking sector with economic crisis and everything that Jack Patel's was conceived," said Bhaskar. The author added: "Writing was the easiest part of the book for me. The talks about economic crises and being a banker made it easy for me. It took just five months." However, confessed Bhaskar, it was publishing and editing that took more than a year-and-a -half post writing that brought with all its frustrations and was a testing period. However, the hurdles did not deter this banker from coming out with a sequel to his first book which will be released in the next three months. French ‘namer' Gabriel Malika agreed with the "immense patience" one requires to get accepted and published. "The rejections made me very serene," said Malika, who found his inspiration in the many stories of people around him and released Les Meilleures Intentions du Monde (With the best intentions in the world). The novel tells the story of the lucky raffle winning passengers on board a cruise ship in the Straits of Hormuz, each of whom has come to Dubai to fulfil their dreams "Dubai is truly a melting pot, it is unique. It welcomes people from around the world and it is here that you see mixed families. "When I meet someone, most often, I tend to take them to Safa park, where you see mixed families, who share their food, have fun. I would say it is a ‘united nations of kebabs'. The diversity inspired me and during the process of writing I interviewed many people and also learnt a lot." Another unique thing about Dubai, he said, is that it accepts imperfection along with perfection. "At some places everything is just perfect, golden. That kind of perfection is not credible. In Dubai, that is not the case." Malika's first job was naming, selecting a right word for objects, companies and many other things. His love for words made writing a book a natural progression. His second book will be an English translation of the first one. Regarding releasing a third book, Malika says: "I dream to write about a society ruled by women." From gulfnews