Arabian days and nights
Mandira Ghosh
Iam inside a sophisticated huge
aircraft with cushions on chairs
and blankets with Arabian motifs.
Etihad I realised, means as
‘together’ or ‘join in one’ united, or may
be come together which exactly is the
name of the country United Arab
Emirates. The UAE as we all know is
divided into seven emirates with the
more known emirates being Dubai, Sharjah, and the capital Abu Dhabi.
In Abu dhabi we watched a capital
city with date palm trees, lined in
geometrical perfection on the both
sides of awesome clean streets.
Abu Dhabi was initially called 'Milh'
meaning Salt probably due to the salty
water of the Arabian Gulf. Basically the
area had a lot of Deers (Dhibaa)
through which the word 'Dhabi' has
been referred. It has also been called
as 'Umm Dhabi' by the local nomads
meaning 'Mother of Deer'. In Dubai in
next few days I also came to know the
meaning of Jumeriah(In Dubai) that is
black soil.
Next day at noon, I visited the
famous Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
the largest mosque in the country, the
principal place of worship for daily
prayers in Abu Dhabi. Thronged by
devotees from all over the world, this
Grand Mosque was constructed
between 1996 and 2007. This majestic
mosque was designed by Syrian
architect Yousef Abdelky. The main
axis of the building is rotated about
11° south of west, aligning it in the
direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi
Arabia like may be other mosques of the world.
What a magnificent Mosque!
People from all corners of the earth,
women with their heads covered and
wearing full selves came to pray in the
mosque There was huge queue and
for elderly people could take the exist
in battery operated cars.The splendid
motifs on the walls are indeed
unparalleled and the huge rush made
the families dismantled to be joined at
the exit door.
The project was launched by the
late president of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Zayed Bin
Sultan Al Nahyan who was successful in establishing this mammoth
structure uniting the cultural diversity
of the Islamic world with the historical
and modern values of architecture and
art. His final resting place is located on
the grounds adjacent to the complex.
Also watched Emirates Palace,
located in the heart of Abu Dhabi,. is
outstanding in both its design and
offerings.
Then it was time to visit the
Heritage Village to experience the
traditional aspects of the desert way of
life, and immersing oneself in the time
capsule that brings to life a souk, a
mosque and an encampment from
pre-modernized Abu Dhabi. One can
shop, explore artifacts and watch
artisans making pottery, blowing glass
and weaving fabric on a loom and I
with my limited budget purchased
magnets for some of my New Delhi
friends. A Delhi Haat in a nutshell.
Run by the Emirates Heritage Club,
this reconstruction of a traditional
oasis village provides an interesting
glimpse into the emirate’s past and
features public workshops where
craftsmen demonstrate above
mentioned traditional skills .The
craftsmen share their skills with
visitors, and also may offer them a
chance to try them out.
City is no doubt majestic but didn't
find anyone walking on the streets.The
cars are with dark glasses and no
woman on the streets.
I came to Dubai and enjoyed the
best that Dubai could offer. It is
amazing to look into metamorphosis
of may be once dusty golden redyellow desert to some extent emerald
green and then go for thrilling dune
bashing, Cruise, camel ride during
desert safari. Dubai whose more than
50 % working population are Indians
knows how to welcome the tourists.
Non Arabs will take 40 years to get
citizenship of Dubai but a woman can
get in 5 years if of course she marries
a local Arab. Wow!
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The tour- conductor was an Indian
and the driver was a Pakistani. And
there was no war.
Dubai , the most dynamic and
prosperous city in the United Arab
Emirate (UAE) as we all know is the
capital of the Emirate of Dubai is the
commercial capital of UAE as Mumbai
is to India, Abu Dhabi status wise is like
New Delhi but air is not polluted.
Indian population in as about 2.6
million out 9.2 million. In which over 1
million people are from Kerala alone.
If I asked someone in English the reply was in Hindi Thus is the power of
Hindi., Prime Minister, Narendra Modi
will be happy Dubai, located on the southeast
coast of the Persian Gulf, it is very
powerful city of the Middle East. It is
also a major global transport hub for
passengers and cargo. Oil revenue
helped accelerate the development of
the city, which was already a major
mercantile hub. Strangely enough, less
than 5% of the emirate's revenue
comes from oil.
Now we should know that Dubai's
economy depends just not on oil, but
revenues come from trade, tourism,
aviation, real estate, and financial
services. That was evident and I
realised the potential of this wonderful
capital from my one week stay at Oaks
Liwas heights, awesome place
discovered by my daughter, located in
Dubai's commercial area,. This
contemporary apartment was just 5 km from the Dubai Marina Walk and 7
km from Marina Beach though I could
visit the beach only once in seven days
that was also in the afternoon. Dubai
has so much to offer.
Dubai, located on the
southeast coast of the
Persian Gulf, is very
powerful city of the Middle
East. It is also a major
global transport hub for
passengers and cargo. Oil
revenue helped accelerate
the development of the
city, which was already a
major mercantile hub.
Strangely enough, less
than 5% of the emirate's
revenue comes from oil.
Emirates Palace
The tour operator who is Indian and
the driver of the tourist bus already
explained about Dubai a city from rags
to riches story. They are friends with
no intention of going into war as
already said. They explained that before the arrival of oil, the revenue
were from fishing and pearls but the
business deteriorated with advent of
cultured pearls from Japan. But then came oil. that metamorphosed the
desert into somewhere gardens and
even near forests. Amazing is the
human spirit.
Nomadic cattle herders may have
inhabited and settled here may be in
3000 BCE.
Sassnid empire controlled the area
in 3rd century to the 7th century, when
Umayyad Caliphate introduced Islam
in the area. The area was sustained by
fishing, pearl diving for a thousand
years, The invention of artificial pearls
in 1926 and the great depression of in
1929 caused a collapse in the
international pearl market, which
resulted in the emir Sheikh Saeed
looking for an alternative source of
income and inviting Indian and Iranian
traders to settle there without paying
any tax and Dubai becoming one of
the leading re-export ports in the
world. In 1966, oil was discovered in
Dubai, which changed the country
beyond recognition and led to Dubai
becoming the vibrant, modern,
business-centred eclectic city.
The first visit was to the Dubai
Museum on the Al Fahidi Fort built in
1787 and is the oldest existing building
in present Dubai. We came to know of
the history of Dubai year wise. We saw
how the Beduins lived and how the
residents live now. A giant
metamorphosis. Al Fahidi Fort is
square-shaped with towers occupying
three of its corners. It was built of
coral rock and mortar in several
phases. An elephant with water
coming out from his mouth welcomed
us.
Why elephant and not a camel? was
my question. Immediately outside the
museum I washed my face with cool
water from the traditional well..Water
still coming out by a container with a
pulley, water and not oil! Cool water to
refresh all. A lovely painting of an with
gold was purchased by a Sri Lankan
tourist.where there was artefacts for
sale too. Magnificent Persian carpets,
Burka with zari work was wondrous.
My Bangladeshi driver who hailed
from near Dacca informed about his
12 years of stay in Dubai and
afterward Iqbal from Pakistan at
Desert safari on his willingness to
come to Delhi. For the information of
the readers. Al means 'the' in English I
came to know from them.
Dubai Museum on the Al Fahidi Fort
From the fort, there is a path to the
galleries, which display the general
culture of the land, especially in the 1800s. It includes local antiques as well
as artifacts from African and Asian
countries that traded with Dubai. It
also includes several dioramas
showing life in the emirate before the
advent of oil, in addition to artifacts
from recent discoveries as old as 3000
BC.
Al Fahidi Fort was built in several
phases. The oldest tower was built
around 1787 and is believed to be the
oldest building in Dubai that still exists
today. The fort was used to guard the
landward approaches to the town
from the raids.A huge cannon
welcomed us at the entrance and I had
no intention of dying.
My next visit was the world-famous
superstructure of Dubai, and the
tallest building in the world, Burj
Khalifa, At the 124th and 125th of Burj
Khalifa a photo-session and a picnic
went on. Keep some of the pristine
desert intact and don't transform all
sand into Burj or constructions.
Dhaow Cruise
Dhaow Cruise was an amazing
experience and also hanging around
the Dubai Mall which I was informed
was flooded a week after I left .A
'Dhaow' is a traditional wooden vessel
that has been refurnished into a
floating restaurant with a buffet set up
dinner onboard as well as a live show.
The live show was splendid. Done by a
magician cum dancer, the male dancer
kept the audience who were people on
board capitavated. Outside the beauty
of the creek was beautiefed by glow of
light in every building. Tourists started
dancing and were advised to settle
down. The vegetarian and non-vegetarian spread was great with
reflection on water of the glowing light
dinner was complete with payasayam
and fruits.
If one is in Dubai one should know
of the Emaar Properties without the
knowledge of which the knowledge of
modern Dubai is incomplete.
Real Estate company Emaar located
in the (UAE). has changed the skyling
of Dubai..
The projectof Emaar consisted of
two developments of historical
proportions: Burj Khalif and the Dubai
Mall, the world's tallest building and
world's largest mall respectively. I was
fortunate to visit both.At a certain
point in the architectural and
engineering process, the original
Emaar developers ran into financial
issues, and required more money and
economic funding. Sheikh Khalifa,
granted monetary aid and funding,
hence resulting in the changing of the
name to "Burj Khalifa".
Burj Khalifa
Dubai Aquarium
The Dubai Mall officially opened in
2008, and Burj Khalifa in 2010. Despite
a collapse in the real estate market in
2009, Emaar survived. The day I stood
in serpentine queue to take the lift to
go to 124th floor, entire China seemed
to have come to watch. With Mandarin
flowing around, I walked to 125th floor
and found myself very tall with the
expensive gift and souvenir shop at that floors, the greatest sale was of the
replica of Burj khalifa. I too purchased
one for 44 dirhams which is
adorning my residence. Also
purchased Aladdin lamp.
Visiting Dubai Mall and looking at
the underwater zoo and the aquarium
with was indeed captivating.
Located at The Dubai Mall,the aquarium, offered us a memorable
journey into ocean life. With capacity
to hold 10 million litres of water, Dubai
Aquarium is one of the largest indoor
aquariums in the world and it
illuminates the marvels of the ocean floor, showcasing one of the most
diverse collections of aquatic life.
Located just above the aquarium,
Underwater Zoo brings visitors up
close with penguins, piranhas, crabs, water rats, sea horses, jellyfish and
plenty more.
The Dubai Fountain
I found myself then in the
Downtown Dubai area among The
Dubai Fountain The
Dubai Fountain is the
tallest performing
fountain in the world
that began operating
in the spring of 2009.
The musical fountain
reminded him of Las
Vegas one of the
tourists informed me.
I have not been to Las
Vegas.But could
watch the enthusiasm
of people at 7 pm with
cameras all around
videos were taken by
all til 7 30 pm.With the
tall structures of Burj Khalifa and
Emaar buildings shinning bright.
Each plant and tree is protected by
a unique method and significant roads are protected by a Radar system on
streets.
Desert Safari
Adventure @ 64 can be exciting and
informative and this is what I realised
on our visits to of Abu Dhabhi and
Dubai. With probably a weak skeleton
system,it was practical that Desert
Safari should have been avoided. But
then destiny thought otherwise and
among the tranquil sand, through the
endless waves of sand dunes, reaching
the emerald green oasis where
another 430 persons had reached
from all over the world was awesome.
Watched the breathtaking sunset and
also an experience. In the land of
Dirhams every thing comes with a
price. As said, not birds, not women
can be seen. Falcon being the national
bird is a prized possession I am told.
As we enter our resting place or an
oasis after Desert safari by car of course falcon welcomed us at the gate.
If you take your photo with the
bird,then shell 20 dirhams just, the
bird sits on your shoulder 15 dirham
and on your head shell 20 dubai
currency. Children were thrilled to be
photographed with the bird and on the
camel back that came again with a
price. Not only children were thrilled
but the elders too.
Olga
Come and watch and see this
metamorphosis of Beduin land into an
ultra modern city- a city with sky-rises,
malls, artificial lakes, creek inviting the
Dhaow rides. One magician, who is a
dancer, entertained the tourists from
all over the world at night with dazzling lights all around. While in the desert
children made sand castles, adults
were entertained by Olga from Rhodesia performing belly dancing.
Long ago as a young girl in twenties
I had written, In a Oasis through a
Desert and later was acclaimed. I sang
my own poem looking into the
metamorphosis of the desert cities.
In an Oasis through a Desert
In the desert sand
Who can play the flute, who
can play the band?
Heat and dust on mirrored
skirt
Morning mist on ankles
twist.
Over the courtyard - the
moon alone always
Searching for someone -
near Damascus
On the thorns of cactus.
Rain comes to desert
Palms wait in the resort
Through the clouds - came
thunder
All of a sudden - a stranger
Tell me oh stranger
Are you thirsty?
Oasis is truth, life no mirage
Dreams may fade, life
stands apart.
Fresh morning awakes, sand
smiles for a while
Hope comes to the desert,
the blazing sun walks
thousands of miles
