Sky, not the limit

Did you recently watch the video of a man in Arab robes trying to waft across the mountains somewhere in the Middle East (find it on #newsofbahrain) on a cheap camping chair dangling from a load of balloons? If the answer is ‘yes’, I am sure you would have had enough laugh for the rest of your life. I thought ‘UP’ the animated movie might have inspired him until it crashed into one of the rocky mountains after which he was airlifted by a rescue team to safety. Many commented on this viral video as utter nonsense. ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread’ is what we think when we see such howlers. I had the same feeling for this man until I read about the British adventurist Tom Morgan who managed to fly nearly 14 miles in two hours across Africa.

The only difference, I believe, is that the British adventurer had applied his basic knowledge of science and common sense to his budget air, before the take off! Risk plays a major role to achieve success. The successful entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg once said that the biggest risk is not taking any risk! We still remember and admire great adventurers from Marco Polo, James Cook, Ibn Battuta, David Livingstone, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, Edmund Hillary, Robert Peary to Steve Irwin for the risk they took in their lives by sailing against the adversities.

For sure, initially some might have made fun out of them for making such foolish decisions. But as time passed, they might have realised the contributions these risk-takers managed to bring to their country. We love balloons; its unique and colourful; it flies exploring endless possibilities. However, balloons symbolise the dreams in us as well. It can burst and disappear suddenly like a short-lived bubble, quite similar to our dreams. When someone fails to fulfil the dreams, we blame them for being foolish, and if they succeed we call them leaders.

Dubai economy always has many critics. They say it’s a bubble filled with unrealistic dreams. When the recession hit Dubai nearly a decade ago, many so-called experts predicted a total collapse. But within no time, Dubai would recover and resurge with exciting projects. It was really unbelievable. The exciting projects and dreams they sold made them survive through such turmoils.

The mantra behind any successful person or a country is nothing but creating continuous strings of excitements while running at a faster pace to change dreams into reality. Right now, people in Bahrain seem to be a bit worried about the implementation of VAT. Should we really worry about that? I believe soon we would get used to it, it is just a matter of time. The new campaign ‘#Team Bahrain’ initiated by HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa has inspired many. It has undoubtedly received an overwhelming response. It’s the latest talk in the town, even for expats. The hashtag has created lots of excitement and confidence among entrepreneurs.

We definitely need colourful balloons filled with dreams and aspirations in life. Let it fly high, carrying with it positive messages and risk-takers. The simple economics in a turbulent economy is nothing but let the rich spend lavishly and the low-income guys work a bit hard while cutting their cost of living.

It’s all about teaming up, creating excitement, marketing potentials and building confidence. Are you still wondering about the fate of that crazy man sitting in that plastic chair hoisted by balloons? Then let me break the excitement. It is just a promotion advertisement of Harbour Views created for Emmar Dubai, a real estate developer based in the UAE! The excitement this video created on promoting this project is beyond words. Believe it or not, sometimes our perceptions may go wrong. What we considered nonsense may be ‘known sense’ while nuisance could turnout to be ‘new sense’.