I’ve come belatedly to the works of the Oxford historian Eugene Rogan, but after his brilliant book on the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, I’m now midway through the previous excellent history of the Arabs, which should be required reading for anybody living in the Middle East.
In the pages of Mr Rogan’s history I encountered Ahmad Al Budeyri, the Barber of Damascus who lived through, and kept an eloquent diary of, events in the Syrian city during two tumultuous decades in the second half of the 18th century.
Al Budeyri witnessed the stirrings of Arab resentment at rule by the sultan in Istanbul, and his diary recounts the growing resistance to the Ottomans from Syrian and Egyptian challengers. One of them, the Egyptian king Muhammed Ali, would lead an army to within a few days’ march of Istanbul before retreating, persuaded of the sultan’s role as caliph of the Muslim world.
I was thinking about these things when I had my regular haircut the other day, and realised I was in the presence of a modern-day Ahmad Al Budeyri.
For the eight years I’ve lived in Dubai I’ve been going to the same hairdresser, George Habib, who runs the Mirage Salon in the Crowne Plaza on Sheikh Zayed Road. I stayed at the hotel when I first arrived here and was looking for somewhere to live, and have always retained a soft spot for it.
It’s probably the oldest hotel on the SZR strip, built about the same time as the World Trade Centre and the Toyota building at the other end of the road, and it retains a seedy elegance, if slightly aged in comparison to the glittering palaces that have spring up all around.
And all the time, George and the salon have been there. I might have been lured away on a couple of occasions, but always came back, attracted by good value prices, dependable service and George himself.
Over the years, we’ve become friends. We’ve shared the births of our children, family tragedies and the comings and goings of Dubai’s business world. Like most barbers, George has a fine ear for gossip; like most small businessmen, he also has a keen appreciation for the big business dynamics that shape his comparatively humble commercial world.
Like most Lebanese I’ve met, he also has a sense of humour. Roll all these together, and my fortnightly haircut visits have become a positive pleasure, as well as an essential business briefing.
During the Dubai World crisis, his intuition was spot on: “Abu Dhabi will help them out”, he insisted. During the initial enthusiasm of the Arab Spring, he warned of serious consequences, especially in Syria, which as a Beiruti he knows well.
But his most trenchant views have been reserved for the state of affairs at the Crowne Plaza. About five years ago, the hotel announced it was to undergo a makeover. The shopping mall on its ground floor would be made into the new reception lobby of the hotel, and a host of other improvement projects launched.
Half a decade on, none of this has happened. The mall is a boarded-up wasteland, covered in “coming soon” signs.
George has firm views on it, not least because a revived Crowne Plaza would be a shot in the arm for his business. “Still this is one of the best locations in Dubai. When will they realise it?” he asks.
I hope “they” do soon, purely for the well-being of the Barber of Dubai.
fkane@the national.ae
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