May
8
2007
Amal: the bitter hope
Amal, a beautiful, young, Emirati woman, was the first colleague I got to know at my new job. Simply because her desk is close to mine. I was glad that my desk is right next to Amal’s.
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Every day I go to work, Amal would greet me with the biggest smile ever. She has a sweet smile that is sure to get you over your griefs.
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As her name indicates, Amal is full of hope, dreams, aspirations and all the optimism a person can have.
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Sorry, allow me to rephrase that: Amal was full of hope, dreams, and all the aforementioned.
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Yesterday I arrived at work, ready to be the first to announce the good news of Pamela Anderson, and expecting to be greeted with her lovely smile, but it was no where to be found.
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Instead, Amal looked so devastated, as if someone close to her had passed away. I really thought so, but I remembered the conversation we had last Thursday:
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me: you seem so excited today, Amal.
Amal: Yes! My boyfriend and his family are coming to propose tomorrow!
me: The two love birds will FINALLY be together!
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Amal just burst with laughter and joy! … Little did she know what will happen later that day.
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Unlike any other day, I was greeted with no smiles, no nothing … silence and heartache prevailed. Yes, she was heartbroken. You could see it in her dreary, teary, eyes … I dared not say a single word.
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First I thought the suitor’s parents rejected her, but no, it was the other way around: Amal’s parents gave the poor fellow ONE option only. If he truly wants her, he has to pay more than half a million Dirhams! (more than $ 140,000). 300,000 dirhams for her dowry (in cash), and the rest for the wedding party, which has to go on for days and nights, attended by as many as a thousand guests!
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Of course, the newly graduate, suitor could not afford to pay that absurd amount money, and, against his will, wisely, decides to try his luck elsewhere. He knew for a fact that nothing will change her parents’ minds. She’s beautiful, smart, educated, and they know that one day a man with a pocket full of money, regardless his age, education or sophistication, will hear of her beauty and drag her, gift-wrapped, back to his home.
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I’m sure I haven’t seen the end of Amal’s smiles, but I know that they won’t be as joyful and cheerful as before. And knowing Amal, I’m sure that she’d rather go on living her life as a spinster, than be traded under the pretext of “caring for her future”..
