My Dubai holiday happened suddenly! Needed a holiday, was struggling to figure out where and who with. And suddenly found myself talking to a friend in Dubai, who suggested why don't I come over and stay with them. And that was that! Quick tickets, some calls & mails for the visa and my 'cheap' holiday was underway. Some observations:
Dubai Skyline
Sci-fi Feel
The first exposure to its culture reminded me of one of those sci-fi movies where a huge hall is filled with people from all planets. People with long ears, pointed noses, and what nots! Well, Dubai is a potboiler with people of multiple ethnicity. You'll find all colours and creeds. People dressed from as conservative as a burqa for women and those white sheikh dresses for men, to hot pants showing a great deal of skin. And still try as I may, I couldn't find anyone staring at anyone else! It's like people are most comfortable with that diversity.
Everyone speaks Hindi! Just everybody! From this lollypop-eating Filipino cab driver to the Arabic guy you ask for directions - just everybody knows Hindi and speaks too. One guy at the flea market I was shopping at quoted the price as 10 Rupees. Of course he meant Dhirams. This is how deep India has seeped into the fabric of Dubai. So much that they actually have a huge Indian market, which looks like a cleaned out version of Karol Bagh market!
Going Local
Nothing like checking out how the locals live! Thanks to my hosts, I could get a first hand flavour of their life. When they were at work, I once went visiting a supermarket to buy veggies etc. for the house. It was quite an experience in itself! Baskets with wheels, getting veggies weighed and shrink wrapped and how you can get the stuff delivered in shopping carts to your floor. And not to forget the swimming pool in the apartment complex that looks like it's on the ground floor, but when you look down, turns out to be on the 2nd! Life is Dubai is like life in Gurgaon. Well, almost.
Loved the idea of watering plants a few times a day using the under the sand pipe system. Wow! What thinking!!
Ahh, the Night Life!
So many people, mostly girls had egged me on to go see the dance bars there. "It's very decent," they had said, "people go there even with families." I was naturally curious. And so I went. It was decent for sure. Bollywood songs, of course. But was unsettling for me to watch men ogle at those girls dancing. They were beautiful, but all the while I kept thinking of what goes on in their minds. One girl was wearing sindoor. I found myself thinking if her husband and in-laws are okay with this, or maybe she is or was forced to get into this for money. My friend said just because they are dancing does not mean they sell their bodies. Then again, he said all this was a normal kind of thing in Dubai.
We also went to a night club where I let my hair loose and danced like I don't remember when I did before! Perhaps the shedding of inhibitions in a place where nobody knew me, or was bothered about me got me to really dance that night. I was told that this is one more place where people get picked up. People pick up people all the time. Sex is like commodity traded on the stock exchange of temporary fulfillment. It is not a sacred, soulful give and take as I would like to think it is. It is so rampant and available that maybe it does not hold value. Of course this is just my opinion!
Happily Beached
The beautiful-most highlight of my trip turned out to be the beach. I don't remember when last I enjoyed the sea breeze touching my face and the twinkle of lights sparkling in my eyes. Maybe never! Certainly not this late in the evening, with the moon shining up in the sky, and the coastline glittering like jewels of many colours. It could have been my excellent company that made it special. Whatever it was, those moments spent at a quiet Dubai beach are etched on my mind forever. And like those subtle flashes of light coming from the dark sea every once in the while, they will always smile inside me.
And so the beauty of Dubai and the time I spent there lives on in my memories...
No comments:
Post a Comment