For the Assamese version, please click here.
Dilshad Aalam
Saurav Morikolongia
Arriving at the land of deserts
22nd April, 1998. The cricket match between India and
Australia is paused due to sandstorm. It is no ordinary match for India. We
need to win this or at least keep the run rate very good to reach the Coca-Cola
cup final – so, a question of life and death. Adverse environment, complex
situation but in the crease, there is Sachin Tendulkar – the God of cricket,
the hero of a billion Indians.
Standstorm subsided. The match resumed. Tendulkar could not
win the match for India but through a quickfire century he ensured a better run
rate which saw us through to the final. But he did not stop there. Two days
later, on his 25th birthday, he won the championship for India with
another brilliant century. This is the famous ‘Desert Storm’ phenomenon in the
world of cricket. And, the venue of that phenomenon is Sharjah.
But Sharjah is not always a messenger of happiness. Sharjah
has broken our hearts many a time. I mean, which Indian cricket lover will
forget that last ball six from Javed Miandad on 18th April 1986,
thereby snatching the Australasia cup from us ?
Whether it is happiness or sorrow, Sharjah always means
intensity and excitement. Finally, together with my family, I arrived at the
land of goosebumps on 27th December 2019 via Brussels and Istanbul
through a nice Turkish Airlines flight.
Historically one of the richest cities in the region with existence
of habitation for over 5000 years, Sharjah today is a major business hub, the
cultural capital of the UAE and is also recognized as World Book Capital for
2019 by UNESCO.
Ok, back to Sharjah airport. As we landed there, my
large-hearted, short-statured friend, who was our lovely and caring host, too
arrived with his big Mitsubishi Pajero.
Stepping out of the airport, it felt so good – because, of
course I met my friend but also I met God Helios in his full grandeur! After
all, we have come from sub-zero temperatures of Europe!
My friend was good with the accelerator (but of course
within speed limits) and we reached Dubai in around 45 minutes. And, we arrived
in his expansive apartment in downtown Dubai. With full view of the Persian
gulf from the apartment, not to mention about the glitters of the glitzy world
(like Hilton Hotel), I was very impressed. It felt as if I arrived in a wonderland.
First breakfast and then lunch. Along with other delicacies,
my friend’s wife had prepared ‘kawoi’ fish (a kind of Tilapia) – one of the
most favourite dishes of Eastern Indians. It felt as if I had come to
Morikolong, my native village in India. It was just the beginning. We were
amazed at my friend, friend’s wife and their little one’s hospitality during
our entire stay there.
Glitzy Dubai
With its civilization dating back to the times of Indus
Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations, with which it had strong trading links,
Dubai today has become synonymous with glitz and sumptuousness. Ibn Batuta
Mall, Global Village, Dubai Mall, Mall of Emirates, Gold Souk and so many more
! Resplendence is not my cup of tea but I would still like to mention about one
of them in a little bit of more detail to show the extent of the grandeur. Dubai Mall – it is of the size of around 50
football fields. It has a luxury hotel with 250 rooms. There are 120
restaurants, a humongous aquarium with many exotic species from the sea
including sharks! As a person who suffers
from acute ‘mall-ophobia’, it was too much to handle !
And then, there is this magnificient sailing-boat-looking
280 meter tall Burj Al Arab – one of the most beautiful hotels on earth. Long
time back, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi played tennis in the helipad at the
top of the hotel. But Dubai’s splendor does not stop there. 163 storied Burj
Khalifa, the tallest building on earth is as high as 830 meters – that is,
almost a kilometer! Skyscraper in true sense ! And the list goes on and on. But
that is just one façade of Dubai. Dubai has many more shades of life.
Peaceful co-existence of India, Pakistan
Hundreds of thousands of Indians and Pakistanis have been
living peacefully in Dubai. We got one such glimpse in the Global Village – the
melting point of tourism, leisure activities and culture of around 100
countries. We went to a Pakistani leather shop there. The owner was a like a
true blue seasoned north Indian businessman. Very nice and sweet talk. To
impress upon, he too spoke in his broken English, “Name Lucky Leather. You buy,
you lucky.” He was very successful – we got swayed. We bought five leather
jackets in total from him.
After shopping in Pakistan, we had our dinner with dahi
bhalla, papdi chat etc. in the neighbouring India.
Digital Detox
In the night before our travel to Dubai, my phone fell in
the waters of a place (which cannot be disclosed socially) and got damaged. I
cleaned it, wrapped it and took it with me thinking that in Dubai it would be
repaired in a jiffy. My friend took me to a shop on the day of arrival itself
but people there told that it would take around two weeks as the required parts
were not available. I took back my phone – anyway if at all I needed to buy a
phone, I would buy in Eindhoven for smooth after sales support. But that meant
six days without a phone, without any connection to social media. I spent my
time completely with my family, my friend and my friend’s family. And such
quality time it was!
My phone got damaged but it paved the way for a much needed
Digital Detox!
Kashi Kaba ek hai, ek hai Ram Rahim
One day, the ‘Magnificent Seven’ of the two families set out
in my friend’s huge car to experience something very memorable. Our destination
was Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi.
In my life, I have visited countless namghars
and temples. Even I have visited so many churches around the world. I have said
a quick prayer in front of any mosque that I would pass by but I never visited
one until I was in Sheikh Zayed mosque. So, there was both devotion and
excitement in my mind.
Sheikh Zayed mosque – the largest
in the UAE, can hold upto 40,000 worshippers at a time. It is built with the
best of the best marbles from around the world. It has a serene look probably
comparable only to the Tajmahal. The carpet in the main prayer hall is the
largest carpet in the world. Every huge chandelier in the mosque has millions
of Swarovski crystals in it.
Many aspects of Islam interest me – one of them being the
ritual of keeping fasting (roza), just like the Navratri fasting in Hinduism.
Hunger makes one realize many things which is not possible otherwise. It helps
make our minds, normally full of wishes and desires, come and rest in the
ground for some time. That is why, I went to the mosque with empty-stomach.
We wore quite decent dress for the mosque visit. Otherwise
also, there is good arrangement in the mosque for dresses which cover most of
the body parts, especially abaya for the ladies. Regardless of religion,
wearing this abaya and getting photographed is kind of a fashion statement
among the ladies. At one place inside the mosque, I came very close to my abaya
clad wife and took a photograph together. Immediately, one mosque employee came
near us and told politely, ”Please keep distance and take photograph.” We
completely forgot that this was not Dubai and that too, this was a mosque.
Dubai is just like any other European city from that perspective.
At a certain point, we reached the main prayer hall. I asked
one of the employees,” Can I pray here?
I am not a Muslim though.” He said,” Yes, you can.” Me, my friend and
his son – we all three went inside the hall. Almost for half an hour, I
meditated there. Many people were offering namaz in and around me quite
silently. There was only peace and tranquility there. I wished if the entire
world had been like this!
Kashi Kaaba
ek hai, ek hai Ram Rahim,
Maida ek pakwan bahu, baith Kabira jeem.
(Kashi and Kaba are same, so are Ram and Rahim,
There are like different snacks made from the same
wheat-flour.)
N.B.: There are expensive shops with international brands
even in the mosque campus, albeit underground! Traahi Madhusudan ! Allah Rakha ! O’ God – save us !
Sand Play
Someone said,”There is nothing quite like watching a baby
play in the sand for the first time.” Playing with sand is a great relaxation.
In fact, there is a psychological method called sandplay therapy. What my
friend organized one day had that kind of unwinding effect. Yes - desert safari – quad biking, dune bashing,
camel ride and at the end, a show of belly dancing.
The day started with a humongous Toyota Land Cruiser picking
us up from the doorstep of my friend’s apartment complex – a complete royal
treatment! We first reached the place for quad biking. It took some time to get
a hang of this mechanical beast with four huge wheels but once we did, it was
only fun, fun and fun afterwards. Seven of us were there in three quad bikes.
Go up the sand hill, then down, race in different directions – everywhere there
were only quad bikes and their noise. My little one was holding me tight. All
of us elders were wearing kefiyeh on our heads – we could almost pass for
Arabs.
After some time, quad biking adventure came to an end. Near
the entrance there were sugarcane juice stalls just like in India. We all drank
one glass each. Properly hydrated, we started again – this time for sand
bashing.
Our tour guide cum driver turned the car off the road and
went into pure desert – sand, sand and only sand till the horizon. Except for
the sun, there is no other known thing and that too it was dusk. So time for
sun was also up. There was a unique feeling of excitement and vulnerability at
the same time. And suddenly, our driver started sand bashing, simply put,
driving wildly and very fast through the ups and downs in the sand. A different
kind of roller coaster ride! It was
super fun!
We stopped for a while in the ‘sand-sea’ and got a photo
clicked of four of us. When I look at that photo even now, it instantly reminds
me of a song from Dr. Bhupen Hazarika
where he said that he became a Bedouin in Sahara desert-like life with no
address of own.
Next destination was camel ride and belly dance. The car was
going on a standard road with normal speed – our intestines got some
opportunity to relax.
Belly dance – the name says it all. It had started in Egypt
and today different parts of the Arab world has different flavour of it.
Dinner was arranged in the belly dance venue. The lady who
was performing was inside an area that more looked like a boxing ring. There
were small dinner tables around the ring. We sat around one of them. While I
was watching the dance, it kept coming to my mind – why a dance with so minimal
dress is acceptable to the Arabs when they prefer that women cover their bodies
fully with clothes.
Anyway, there is little chance that things are going to
change because of my thoughts. So, we came to camel ride. And that was just for
a photo op. The ride was just for a minute or so. But the photo with us on
doing camel ride came out very good.
Dubai – Two
Worlds
31st December night. We were getting ready to go to JBR
beach to welcome the new year. From my friend’s 9th floor apartment,
I saw even at that time, labourers were busy with their work in a nearby
construction site. These are the two worlds in Dubai. Within a few hundred
meters, the richest of the rich were celebrating and some were struggling to
make both ends meet both for themselves as well as for their families in their
homelands. It is a tough life for the labourers in Dubai. It is hard work from
dawn till dusk – summer or winter (well, if that exists ;-), does not matter.
There is no concept of permanent residence or granting
citizenship in the UAE because 85% of the population are foreigners. So, if foreigners
are given citizenships, the native people will become minority in their
homeland. From 2019 onwards, there is a bit of relaxation in terms of getting
permanent residence but that is out of reach for common people. So, Dubai (and
the UAE in general) is generally considered a place to earn money and not to
settle down.
The ‘new’ Dubai kept us busy. We hardly got a chance to
visit ‘old’ Dubai (Bur Dubai). Bur Dubai – where probably life is more
ordinary, which may not be very glitzy, where probably the rough side of life
is more clearly seen, where there is more chance to get a glimpse of the
100-150 year old Dubai, where probably we get a more closer look at life. That
‘Yarrow’ remained unvisited, at least for now.
“There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just
met.” - Jim Henson (American puppeteer
and cartoonist)
1st January 2020. After the celebrations of the
previous night, we were all a bit tired. But the ladies were still very upbeat
about one last round of shopping before we bid adieu to Dubai. They went ahead
with their plan. Me and my friend, together with the kids, went to the palm
beach – the man-made palm tree like beach where the famous Atlantis hotel is
also situated. We parked our car a little ahead of Atlantis and went to the
beach (well not exactly to the sand but to the pavement next to it). Dubai
seemed to be taking rest after heavy partying of previous night. Also, where we
were sitting was like a corner. So there were hardly any people there. We both
started talking about the world, about Dubai, about life. One of our friends
used to live in Dubai until a few years back. My friend told me how he and our
other friend would come to that exact same spot with a flask full of tea, do
chit-chat while emptying the flask.
My friend visits the Netherlands quite frequently because of
his work. So, among all my friends, I meet him most regularly. But meeting for
half a day within both our busy schedules and meeting exclusively for six days
– there is a big difference. The peak of that exclusive meet were those moments
that we spent in the palm beach. A few lines from the famous Assamese poet, Hiren
Bhattacharyya, keeps playing hide and seek with my feelings. That
day, they (roughly translated below) did again -
There are different countries, many vibes.
I have roamed around theirs nook and corners.
Walked holding hands with many a friend.
Took rest by the sea side, under the palm trees, in the
foothills.
Talked my heart out with my dear friends.
Then, I have started again a new journey.
Dubai will remain a unique experience. 'ant wahat fi
alsahra' tusamaa alhayat – you are the oasis in the desert called life. You are
the abode of peace!
Got many happy memories from Dubai. Let all such happiness
from everyone of us make a ‘Dilshad Aalam’ – A happy universe!
