I was getting ready for the candle light dinner, planned in a 5 star hotel. I wore a red chiffon sari, a red bracelet in my right hand and a watch in the other. It was a very special day for me as I was turning 25. I had gifted myself a platinum ring as the silver jubilee gift and it was blazing in the middle finger of my left hand. Celebration of this day in my own way always gives me a special feeling that I enjoy every year on this day. Today I was living my dream. I was laughing under breathe and thinking about the next few hours. After bare minimum makeup which gave me the title of simple beauty, I looked up in the mirror. It broke my dream. I opened my eyes and then realized that today was my 25th birthday and I was in Abu Dhabi, far from my family and friends. Tears of sadness and loneliness rushed through my eyes. My close ones were not around me to wipe my tears and give me a birthday hug. My mom and dad were not present with me here and I badly missed the way they used to wish me on my past birthdays. This day I needed my family and friends more than I needed them on any other birthday of mine, not because I was alone in Abu Dhabi, but because I was really alone.
I put on the new dress my mom had gifted me and then went to office, like any other ordinary day. My days in Abu Dhabi were going good; I had stayed in a 1 BHK serviced apartment and used to prepare my lunch and dinner every day. Sometimes I roamed here and there to browse the city all alone by myself, and did lots of shopping. As soon as I logged onto my machine, I saw more than 80 mails in my inbox and few were still coming. Few pings on chat also lightened my mood. I had also received 3-4 calls on my cell phone, which used to be silent since months. It all gave me immense relief for few minutes. Still I felt lonely, as this was not how I had dreamt of my 25th birthday. After distributing few chocolates to my team mates and the client with whom I interacted frequently, I left early for the day, dropping a “signing-off for the day” mail to my team.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi is mostly populated with people across the globe, especially from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Philippines. All the working class people are mainly from the above countries and all the top level executives and VVIP people are the descendants of the Arab and Britain. People genuinely follow all the rules and disciplines be it the traffic or the general. In my hotel, the reception area was around 15/10 feet, and you could see 10 CCTV cameras in such small vicinity. Two were planted from the hotel authority and rest 8 were from the crime department of Abu Dhabi and other emirates of UAE. That day I got to know why UAE is among the top countries where crime rate is low and women are very safe. If we see the food habits, then you would find almost all variety of the non vegetarian food, one can think of. As I was there in the holy month of Ramadan, so could see "Haleem". It’s a special dish which is made by putting camel (now a days they don’t use camel as if you kill any camel they will charge/punish you equal to, if you kill any human)/chicken in the container with some water, flour and other ingredients, it takes hours to prepare, so that the main crux of the camel/chicken thoroughly mixed in the flour. If you eat it then you won't feel like eating anything for the whole day.
From office, I went to a mall and purchased birthday decoration items, a gift for myself, a cake, soft drinks and desserts. Before dusk, I was ready with Sāmbhar, Dum Aloo and Rice. Along with that the hall was also decorated with all the birthday decoration items. My team mates joined me for the celebration. I had invited them to my birth day party in that sign off e-mail. I then connected Skype to broadcast my birthday celebration at my home. My mom, Dad, sisters, cousins and grandparents all were there with me, not virtually but as an integral part of the party. After cutting the cake along with a great birthday bash, we had the dinner. My team mates had given me a memento of “Burj Al Arab”(world’s most expensive and controversial hotel till date). It made me happy, like I used to feel when I was a child and received a gift from the people in the party.The criteria to decide good friend was the size of the gift. I laugh recapturing those moments, as once again I was feeling like same child. I was really happy as my day ended beautifully. That day I realized one truth of life, “You are the only one who is responsible for your own happiness, and no one else is responsible.”
Road was completely filled with the luxurious cars. Rolls royce, Porche, Audi, BMW, Benz, Bentley, Land Cruiser and all the expensive cars/SUV's which I had not seen in a row together on the road. I realize now why I am so crazy about my first car. I have done a lot of research for my first car (after seeing these many cars in UAE); which of course will not be the one I have listed here, but certainly I would hope to have one of these someday. After browsing the store once again for the purse I wanted to have for my sister, I saw my watch. It was showing time as 10:30 PM, I surprised how on earth I din't realize the time. I quickly wrapped up my shopping and then came outside. Instead of taking a cab, I preferred to walk, there was soothing breeze flowing around, and sky glittered with moon and stars. I was walking alone in gulf and thinking about my life. I always enjoy the time I spend with myself, that walk was one of the memorable walk for me.
Road was completely filled with the luxurious cars. Rolls royce, Porche, Audi, BMW, Benz, Bentley, Land Cruiser and all the expensive cars/SUV's which I had not seen in a row together on the road. I realize now why I am so crazy about my first car. I have done a lot of research for my first car (after seeing these many cars in UAE); which of course will not be the one I have listed here, but certainly I would hope to have one of these someday. After browsing the store once again for the purse I wanted to have for my sister, I saw my watch. It was showing time as 10:30 PM, I surprised how on earth I din't realize the time. I quickly wrapped up my shopping and then came outside. Instead of taking a cab, I preferred to walk, there was soothing breeze flowing around, and sky glittered with moon and stars. I was walking alone in gulf and thinking about my life. I always enjoy the time I spend with myself, that walk was one of the memorable walk for me.
I was very excited for my return journey as I was missing my family a lot. Finally I was at the same Dubai airport, this time I was much familiar to it and least interested in intently gazing things around me. I was again in the same Emirates flight, but luckily this time I had a window seat, and I could see Burj Khalifa (One of the tallest buildings of the world) from there, top view of it was awesome. It(Building) looked like, the petals of flower spread in the garden. Few hours later, I landed in Hyderabad and next day I fly back to my home town, where my Dad, Mom and Sis all were counting every minute, when my flight got delayed for 30 minutes. Those moments of meeting with family, I can't describe here. Those were very emotional and precious moments which I don't want to do injustice, by writing it down here.
When I am writing this series of posts, I have drifted back to the same zone. I now again want to go to UAE, I want to enjoy those weekends/sometime weekdays drive to malls, new places, shopping, watching limited indian channels on TV, traffic, culture etc. Whatever it was, I really had a great time. I had a great time with MYSELF.
Journey in desert ends.
