Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai Romance

Hello everyone

Read this sad romance in Dubai ...

"Dubai London, the return ticket" (by Kohar) in Amazon.

It is the story of man and a woman falling in love, although they DID NOT have the "right to do so". He was Muslim from Dubai, she was Christian from England.

How many stories like this do you know that have never been told... ?!

Make your opinions loud using this forum!

koharanthony ,

I'd be very interested to read your story. I don't have Kindle, I prefer books. Is it available in book form? I'll check it out on Amazon.

--- Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:33 pm ---

Your book is only available via Kindle so I have downloaded that thing (kindle) onto my PC and have bought your book.

I'll let you know what i think later.

I just bought the Boston Fracture too, but in book form. I suppose I'll have to smuggle that into Dubai as my reading material'

Thank you for buying my story! Any kind of feedback will be very much appreciated. Enjoy your stay in Dubai !!

koharanthony wrote:How many stories like this do you know that have never been told... ?!

I know of at least one, but I am sure there are many. She is a published author of her life story also . She was a Muslima and in Dubai had an intense relationship with a soldier. She only wanted to marry a Muslim though. Later on it appeared she was married all along with a Muslim back home.

A friend of my wife is Jewish and she had a love affair with a Druze. Both were the love of their lives to each other and it was the only time the word soulmates came to my mind when I saw them . The family of the guy discovered it, and made him choose between the community/family and her. He choose the community. She never had a relationship afterwards. After all those many years she is still waiting for him. Tragic, she is wonderfull and beautifull.

I would love to read your book, but I donot have a kindle. I am simple folk .

Hello flying dutchman

I would be very interested to read your review after you have read the story, especially as you have known in person the emotional struggle of "one of the characters".

You do not need a Kindle, you can download Kindle for free on your PC from amazon and then read the ebooks on your PC.

Oh ok, I see there is also a Kindle app for the Iphone . I am still pretty much old skool when it comes to reading books.

Anyways, I admire you, I have two books lined up, but my wife is a very harsh critic, and keeps on coming up with improvements (time-lines, characters etc.). Maybe....one day )). I admire Herve also!

Since our perceptions are influenced by our expectations,


Would like to add that Dubai London, the return ticket is not a book, but a short story of 8,000 words promoting cross-cultural understanding.
Many people do not have the time to read books, unless it is their passion... This is the reason why this story is short and written in a simple language, so that it can reach a wider audience.

Thank you!

--- Apr 22, 2012 ---

Dialogue after publication...

The two girls were sitting face to face. They always had had a lot to say to each other. This time their roles had changed. One was trying to keep calm before exploding into angry accusations. The other one was trying to build argumentative defences to legitimate questions.

- I know how you are feeling Elena, but this is no longer your story. There are hundreds of romances in this world. You did not want me to write a romance book. You asked me to write an eye opening story so that people could see the reality of impossible love because of different religions and cultures. I thought you wanted to make people aware of the effect that religion has in their freedoms, whether living in religious or laic countries. Are you saying that I did not do that?

- I am no longer sure you achieved that purpose because of the way you transformed my character. People are even calling my character a stalker. They are saying Elena did not have the right to infringe the privacy of Tarek and his family.

- Elena, we did manage to pass the messages we intended to. They just went unperceived. People discovered the bottom of the iceberg without even realising it.

- What do you mean?

- Yes it is true that people in the West got angry with Elena and accused her of "stalking" Tarek. They said that had she been in Europe or America she would have gone to prison. But did it not their debate also lead them to realise that even in Europe she could have done just the same because of the veil that was covering and hiding her parallel life? Europe is boiling with the debate whether France infringed religious and personal freedoms by banning full veil in public. Your story just added a little example to the debate by showing that in either case there would be "someone's freedom" at play.

- What about the readers that are saying that Elena never loved him, otherwise she would have just stayed and married him, or let him free. They are saying that this ending makes it sound like a holiday fling. They could not feel the whole ground shaking under the feet of the characters, as it happens in forbidden love stories.

- There are people that know that to marry was simply impossible. Let them take your character's defence. As for the emotional suspense of forbidden love stories, You and Tarek set eachother free the moment you saw the ground trembling in each other's feet. I guess the reader felt just the way it was meant to be. Whether setting free is an expression of true love or holiday fling, is up to everyone to decide according to their personal definitions of real love.

- Should you have put more descriptions of places and events, the story would have been less idealistic and more real.

- You wanted a short story so that everyone could find the time to read. You asked me to use a simple language that would have as an audience not only the professional writers and book lovers, but also the people who never have the opportunity and time to read a book.

- Readers think the character of Tarek is not well developed and we learn nothing about him apart the scene where he is cooking eggs for her.

- Tarek does not represent only one person in the story. How can you attach personal characteristics to one character who represents all the men who are not able to love and live in Freedom? There are hundreds of books written on the women who had to fight for their love. Everyone knows how difficult life can be for women who do not comply to their family's and society's norms. Tarek, teaches us that the religious impact on people's lives is bigger, because he is a man and not a woman. He is what people would perceive to be the one strong and in control of his life choices. Only to discover that he is not.

- I just do no longer know what to think... Sometimes I feel like we failed the purpose. Probably Tarek would have written a much better story than we did. Just like he wrote Bittersweet memories...

- I know you might feel hurt and disappointed, but perhaps your expectations were too high. There are hundreds of books written trying to promote cross cultural tolerance and understanding. How could you have possibly thought to achieve that purpose with a short story only?