in for a shock

I wrote this draft back in November 2010. I welcome any additions to this raw piece.

 

They were in for a shock. All of them. Not just the Kuwaitis with the starched white qutras that crowned their male heads. Not just the Kuwaiti ladies with their massive peacock hijabs and bulky handbags. Not just the kids who pounded away at iPhones and Blackberries like they were born doing that, while their Asian nannies lugged designer school backpacks for them back to the cars.

Things had changed when Sufian took over parliament.

He imposed taxes. On everything.

Overnight, congestion at peak hours improved, as though half the people normally out and about had stayed home. Or had left the country. Cars were left abandoned after foreigners could find no one to sell them to. Those who were lucky enough sold the spare parts and whatever was recyclable.

And riding the bus seemed so much more efficient and cost-effective since gasoline prices had doubled and there were rumours that it was going to triple very soon.

Within 18 months, a subway transport system had been instituted that would run 65% by solar energy.

The new Smart Identification Card drove everyone crazy at first. You couldn’t do anything without it. You punched in at work with it. You rode the bus with it. You paid the taxi driver with it. You paid road tax with it. You paid for your groceries with it – even if it was just a packet of cigarettes and an energy drink from the local baqqala. The system was in place and there was no escaping Big Brother.

Sufian’s government knows everything about you and your family whether you are Kuwaiti or expatriate; long-term or short-term expatriate; Bidoon or dual citizen: everything was recorded in the Qibliyyah school – home of Al-Ain Al-Sahera – the Information Bank .

Gradually, children did not go to school but attended virtual classrooms in the auditoriums of the local Co-Operative societies. In higher density areas, the lessons were held in apartment complexes.   They had  interactive sessions with the lecturers and teachers.  Parents chose the curriculum that they wanted their children to follow in cyberschooling.  They did everything at the Cyberschools.

Recycling of human rubbish became strictly implemented. No longer did the garbage collectors come by to collect the refuse.  Domestic refuse had to be sorted. Any biodegradable waste was collected by each household and dumped at a central composting location in every district. If the household wished to keep its own compost heap, they were encouraged to do so. All other waste was to be sorted and disposed of in the central recycling bins in each neighbourhood Cooperative society.

 

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