So much to DO. So much to BUY. So much DO BUY. So says the one-liner. Oops I mean the three-liner. But it doesn’t do justice- not by a long shot.
Dubai…. was a dream. Atleast for me- an Indian born and raised all through my teen years in Saudi Arabia. To me, the date palms are more enchanting than all the pine trees in North America. The sand storms more delightful than the blizzards of Detroit. The desert is home to me- and what a desert this!!!
A flagrant defiance of nature. Green grass sprinkled everywhere effortlessly- or so it seems. Air conditioners working overtime to fool you into forgetting what side of the equator you are on. The sand dunes made extinct long since by fine roads laced with finer cars. And a city to take your breath away.
I like to think I’m a worshipper of beauty. And by that I mean landscapes, the sea, mountains and so on. Buildings of concrete and steel never topped my list and I’ve never been too impressed by cosmopolitan cities, the skyscrapers of New York (ok maybe a bit), the extravagant malls of Saudi Arabia. But it took Dubai to convince me that sometimes architecture can be a thing of beauty and ultra-modern buildings can also be marveled at.
Let me just put it this way. The Americans may have all the grandest downtowns- the Empire State building and the Sears towers. But their architecture represents finesse, practicality, elegance, power and yet- a responsibility towards the taxpayers.
In Dubai, the entire city represents glassy opulence, unrestrained resources, money to burn, and a motive to captivate with beauty and grandeur- and to hell with the cost!!! The results are magnificent ofcourse- Sheikh Zahid road lighted up like a Christmas tree all the months of the year and all the hours of the day. The buildings are not all skyscrapers but are all definitely mind-blowing.
And then how can I forget the shops and the malls. Suffice it to say that they don’t call Dubai the shoppers’ paradise for nothing. I cannot really explain it. The quiet ambience of wealth in the malls, the smell of incense, the men in the long white traditional Arab ‘thoubs’, the women smoking lazily as their children played in the extravagantly decorated arcades and fun-spots. For me it was all just- well- like coming home. After a looong time.
As for the people of Dubai- they are really amazing. Almost every Arab there will speak Hindi/Urdu more fluently than even Indians perhaps. They have surely come a long way from the tribal recluses of the desert, and have developed a warm, friendly and courteous air which is a rarity in those parts of the world. And this is just about the locals. Almost an equal number of foreigners from anywhere and everywhere in the world make Dubai a true cultural kaleidoscope.
And as usual- I have saved the best for the last. The beach- Jumeirah beach- as beautiful as its name sounds. For anybody who cares to know- the sea is my first love, and the beach my passion. I am in this eternal quest for the perfect beach- the white sands and the foamy sea where I will build the cottage of my dreams (now don’t look at me like that). Well Jumeirah beach came close to the dream. The sands were almost white and so soft and warm. And the sea- ohh- the only word I could think of when I saw it was- Virgin. It was sooo pure, so clean and beautiful that it seemed to possess the chastity of the virgin. I shall never forget the lovely blue-green colour of the clear and sparkling waters- and if u r thinking I’ve lost it- I will assure you that I truly did lose it then. With one bound I leaped over the low wall boundary of the beach, and then next thing I knew- I was running, running, sinking my feet through the lovely sand, headed for the waters, and I did not stop once until I had reached the shore and beautifully cold water was lapping at my feet. My only excuse can be that all my life, growing up, the beach had been a constant, and I had sorely missed it for 5 long years. Well what I feel about the beach and the shore and the horizon is another long story which I will save for some other day, but all I can say is that for me the most lovely thing in Dubai was that beach and the evening I spent there.
But wait there’s more. There are these magnificent buildings by the beach (Jumeira happens to be the most affluent place in affluent Dubai). These buildings are actually breathtaking. One is shaped like a ship, yet another like a fish- and no I’m not kidding. Perhaps the one that really has to be seen to be believed is the ‘Burooj- Al- Arab’- a 7 star hotel that boasts of a section in it, which is actually underwater. Though I did not see the insides of the hotel, the exterior was enough to dazzle. Shaped like no other building I’ve ever seen (after 4 years of engg it looked somewhat like a cross between a compass and a protractor to me), it is truly unique, and at night, it boasts of a lighting feature which colours the entire building purple one minute, pink the next, blue and so on.. and on.. and on.. just like me.
I have to stop somewhere so it might as well here. They say that Dubai has something for everyone- and it does- from mosques to malls, colleges to clubs, palaces to pubs. But what I found in Dubai- was a dream and a promise. A promise to myself- To come back one day…………