The worlds tallest building got inaugurated on the 4^th of the month with much aplomb and grandeur. The remarkable feat  here was not the structure itself but the fact that it was happening in the same country which was supposed to go bankrupt just  three weeks ago

This incident  in a way signifies Dubais greatest  asset and its greatest weakness-flirting with the extremes. So, when the going was good, every-body threw caution to the winds and overheated the market and out priced themselves out of the planet. When the fall started, there was panic in monstrous proportions. For a region which had only a small hiccup during the original Irag war, this slow down  was a calamity greater than the Burj they were building . But for someone like me on the ground who entered this market at the start of this slowdown , I could hardly feel the real effect .I still found the Marina Walk as crowded and as energetic: the ski slope at the mall of the Emirates had more kids than ever and the serene Arabian Ranches had more golfers teeing off than ever before. After the initial shock, people are back to leading lives the only way they know. Malls are packed, cinema houses are running to packed shows and restaurants have again got the reservation registers out.

In fact, during my last trip to Dubai(last week of December 09), I was just chatting up with friends back there, and it was amazing to recollect that in the worst year and half of Dubais history they had managed to launch the worlds best metro service, the super luxury resort Atlantis “ the regions largest mall The Dubai Mall and capped the year  off with the launch of the Burj Khalifa-the worlds tallest building. I cannot think of any other country in the  world that could have pulled this off. But then again, flirting with the extremes is the way of life there.

Atul Hegde is the CEO of Ignitee Digital solutions pvt Ltd