Kipp is better than the common man

Kipp is better than the common man

Against all it stands for, Kipp separated itself from the hoi-polloi to try out the Metro Gold class.

February 10, 2011 6:31 by kippreport

Having heard that Car-Free Day was close approaching, Kipp was quick to ensure our Gold NOL card was topped up and ready to be used. Oh, what is that? Are you rolling your eyes in proletarian indignation? If you are, we are not going to tell you to stop, because we completely know how you feel.

You see, Kipp was once very much like you; when the plans for the Metro were announced back in 2008 we let out a derisive laugh at the hierarchical classist division (typical of Dubai) present in the seating arrangement of the Metro. Not only would there be a special section for women and children (OK, we don’t really have a problem with that) but there would be a special VIP Gold Class section on the metro. This section, apart from being double the price of the regular cabins, also had a special sliding door to keep away from the glares of the filthy working classes, plush leather chairs, and mood lighting (seriously, mood lighting?!).

How ridiculous, thought Kipp! What a typical determined effort to ensure there be a very precise divide between the working classes and the bourgeoisie, so to speak. And Kipp, with all our Marxist rhetoric, absolutely refused to ever consider even stepping by accident into this precious section of the train. Having to take the metro only at odd hours, we found standing in the regular cabins to be perfectly satisfactory. In fact we’d bob along with the Metro music (which magically stopped when somebody complained that it was annoying, or so we’ve heard) and look at the rather charming view. We just could not understand the pretensions some would assume to set themselves apart from the rest. Was standing with hoi polloi so repulsive one felt the need to buy a Gold Card?

And then Kipp started using the Metro to make the commute to and from work during rush hour. Initially we took how crowded the train would become very positively. “Just look at popular a choice the metro has become” we would boast to those naysayers who predicted nobody would ever use the train. We were so proud. Then we had our feet trampled on and ribs elbowed at the same time for the first time, and we stopped smiling. Shortly after, we found ourselves stuck in a truly packed cabin for the first time. “Like a can of sardines” doesn’t even capture just how tightly we were packed. By this point, not only were we frowning, but ranting to anyone who would let us about the horrors of rush-hour metro madness. You’ve already caught a few on this blog.

Anyway, “Use the Gold Class” would come the reply. “No!” What would we stand for, if Kipp’s “being one with the proletariat” stance could be diminished so easily? Our presence in the regular cabins continued (along with daily rants of metro related rage) until one particular morning last week. Getting up after the weekend was particularly difficult, and to make the day go better we indulged and bought a gold NOL card thinking “It’ll be a one-time thing.”

Wow. To use a bad pun, “Then I saw the space, Now I am a believer.” Not only did the Gold Class have a lot of available seats, but it seemed cooler in there. No one was pushing or shoving. At one point a passenger got up and the two people who were standing by the now vacant seat were arguing. “Why don’t you have a seat?” one smiled, “No, I insist, you have the seat” the other replied. What a contrast from being shoved to a wall by an eager passenger who had spotted a free seat. What a difference from being butted into, coughed on, and being compromised.

When compared to the silver class, the Gold Class is the equivalent of winter in Dubai to Summer in Dubai. It is sublime; the only problem is Kipp’s guilt from selling out. But we’re pretty sure that will fade…