A Trip... 40 years in the making

 It’s strange how you wait all your life to make it to a place and when you get there it feels, like, ok, very meh. I remember all through my growing years, wanting to come out here and live here, just like my cousins. Used to see the life they had and wanted the same life for myself and my family, ok I was a little selfish kiddo, wanted for myself. But as I grew older (and now I am old) the sheen for the place sort of just slowly faded away, to the extent that I began to feel like yeah, i know I am in Dubai.

I know my mum is all excited about the trip, way more excited than I am, after all she gets to go on her third trip abroad, third trip to Dubai, but most importantly she gets to spend it with all her children. So I guess that without a doubt makes her one happy mumma.

Well not that I am acting sullen about the place, ccbehaving like a grinch. Though my perception of it is that it’s a very artificial, very man made place. But then that’s what I have learned from reading about the place. I need to take it in and then maybe change the way I feel about the place.

Already been gobsmacked by the train ride from the Arrivals gate to immigration, passing through the terminals, past the planes and to immigration and baggage  claims. It was one hell of a ride. And after immigration and baggage claims (and a quick trip to Duty Free), it was great to see my sisters, thus completing the family.

The view from my sister’s apartment sure is spectacular, makes you want to go out and explore. And hey that’s just the start of the holidays, makes you curious of what it has in store for you, what does Dubai have in store for you. So yes in away excited to explore the city and see what Dubai has in store. But in the end, the heart is still in Mumbai.

Far from the Maddening Crowd

Sometimes you just need to leave the life as you know, behind, and get as far as you can get from the maddening crowd. Walk down the road less traveled, walk through the mist, loose yourself to find to find yourself. 

There’s something about being wrapped in nature and all it beholds. Let it envelope you, let it leave you in awe, let it leave your spellbound. Let the cold mist send a shiver down your spine, let it breathe a cold air on your face, that’s fresh and clean. Walk through the greenery, the pristine environment, sliver of silver threads of streams and waterfalls, as they flow down the face of the hills, glistening in whatever light they can catch.

There’s something relaxing in the greenery all around you. The pristineness all around you relaxes all your senses, and in turn relaxes you, leaving you in peace, leaving you one with all that’s around you. For in these moments the cares that bothered you, the things that vexed you, seem to evaporate into the mist. The woods may be cool and dark, and the mist only adds to the mystery, but you don’t mind it all, cause you found a way to loose yourself and forget your cares. And in those moment you find yourself.

Then there are morons with their Bluetooth speakers, blaring their music, who you just wished should stay back where they had come, or just leave behind  their noisy devices, shattering the quietness and stillness, their stupidity. Why come to a peaceful place if your only objective was to make some noise. You’re willing to overlook their transgressions and their in explicable need to click selfies and pics in strange poses, in places where should be marvelling the show that nature has put for them, the pretty picture that’s painted for them, cause the place leaves you in a good mood, leaving you relaxed and elated, and nothing’s going to take that away from you, nothing is going to

spoil it for you.

So as you dodge the horses and the weights they bear, trying to tread carefully to avoid stepping into the dung they leave behind, though you know it will be your birthday soon, but this isn’t the cake you want to cut. So you avoid stepping into the muck, left behind by the rains, as you try to keep yourself dry wearing the ponchos (a plastic sack converted to a raincoat). So you continue to dodge horses, and the little hand drawn carriages, and the crowds of people who have come for a good time. So you make your way through the rains, aware of the naughty monkeys who may steal from your hand, creatures you need to be aware of.

But the places and the weather have left you in a  good mood and the company you  keep has got you feeling good. So you fall in love with the place, the weather, the air and all it could behold. But then you need to return back, back to the hustle bustle of city life, the life you know, the life you live. And though you need to return back to the life you knew, you carry with you the  memories, in a photographs you have taken, literally and figuratively, to be hung on the walls of your mind, a remembrance of the time spent away, far from the maddening crowd.