If you are reading this, please read http://ajithessence.blogspot.com/2008/03/gelf-diaries-part-1.html before reading this-
Its been a week now. Don’t’ know how long more it is going to be here- days/ weeks or months.
Started on a hectic note with work beginning from day-one. A long weekend made life easier for me.
I’m not yet able to digest the fact that Friday and Saturday would be weekend for me. I still find it difficult to cross roads- the thought that vehicles are coming in from my right has not yet registered in my mind. So I’m extra careful while crossing. The last days, I’ve had pulao for lunch. Nothing else is veg. One day I had to eat steamed rice and lettuce leaf.
I went on an overnight desert safari this weekend. Was amazing fun!! The safari began around 5 in the evening.
Started with a stunt ride on a land cruiser over the desert sands and the dunes. This lasted an hour. Was good fun, but a li’l over hyped.
The fun started after that. A model mehfil has been made in the desert, something like our own chokhi dhaani. You get to do some modern stuff like sand biking (which is exciting, yet, could be dangerous, as my friend and flatmate Abhishek learnt the hard way- his skin from his left thigh to the heel got burnt under the tyre). You also get to do some camel riding.
The loser that I’ve often been branded by friends often- I did neither. Took a walk around the desert- went to a no man’s land. I wondered what life would have been like- here in the desert a thousand years back. For some time, I felt like the protagonist in The Alchemist- wandering through the desert. As evening gave way to dusk and dusk to the night, I came back to the mehfil.
If you enjoy a few pegs- you get some stuff at a steep price. For the rest of us teetotalers, dates, Soft Drinks, food and tea were on the house. There were close to 150 tourists like me, under the open sky, a bright moonlit night and some catchy Arabic music.
The best part of the evening was reserved for the belly dance. The initial moments of the belly dance brought within me a sense of deep disgust at myself- here was a girl dancing in front of so many people- the sole aim seemed to be titillating the libido of spectators like me. A few minutes of self disdain (at watching the dance) later, I realized I was actually enjoying it. Before you take me otherwise, I think belly dance is an amazing art form. The costume may look scanty when you compare it with… say a Bharatnatyam. Besides the flexibility of the danseuse’ body, the grace of her movements and her ability to keep the audience engaged was beautiful.
Post the dance and the dinner (surprisingly, there is enough vegetarian fare for people like me), the crowd dispersed, ready to be taken back to their places of residence. 8 of us stayed put for the overnight experience. Four of us from ECS, a Norwegian couple and a Brit couple. The Arab music played on. The Norwegian couple joined us for a chat. It was fun.
The night was cold. The desert was lonely. The sky was beautiful. A faint sound of music from a distant camp added to the mysticism of the night. An interesting attendant by the name of Allah Bachaaya only added to the medieval feel.
Thanks to the two sleeping bags these guys had provided, my night in the tent was quite comfortable.
Sometime, I’ll visit the desert again- I may not go for the landcruiser ride though.
The night I spent there was one of contemplation for me. I was with friends and yet I was alone. I was alone and yet I could connect with so many near and dear ones I have known. It is an awesome experience walking in the desert a few minutes before sunrise.
One song that plays in my mind when I think of that night… Jagjit Singhing… Kal chaudhvi ki raat thi…. Na… I’ll not say more!!!
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