The Great Let Down - I

It is finally time to say Good-Bye to Middle - East which has been my so called home for a good part of last two years. I sit now at the airport, looking back trying to evaluate the good memories from the bad and I am not surprised that more often than it should be, it has been the latter that seems to have left a prominent impression. I have got into trouble insanely lot many more times than I have in my entire life.

When I got an offer to work here, I had set myself a target of maximum 2 years that I will spend here and I am glad that I am getting out just in time. If I had to sit down and literally count, I have spent around 20 months almost equally divided between Dubai and Kuwait. Initially, I was not big on coming to middle east, but circumstances in the previous job and the position offered here prompted me to take this up as a challenge.

I still remember when I first walked out of the Dubai Airport, as soon as I stepped out, the humidity hit me like an invisible force and my spectacles were all fogged up, I was like WHOA, WTF! I was totally mesmerized by the concrete art in form of futuristic buildings on the SJR. I was truly enchanted by the sight of the Burj Dubai now better known as Burj Khalifa, It was still under construction back then but stood there looking like a towering giant over the city. I was put up at Discovery Gardens, a nice and quiet neighbourhood, almost like an Oasis surrounded by the desert all around. I would lie if I say that I didn't take an immediate liking for this place, I was happy by the spacious furnished apartment provided, a small garden patch where you could relax in the evenings and beautiful view from the balcony.

Picture Perfect!

I guess the first thing that I started noticing about this place was the cars. Yes, those gorgeous metal beauties. This place was like a paradise for me, I felt like a little boy again watching all those super-cars come to life which I had only seen on the posters of my bedroom wall or as wallpapers. And of course the R1’s and the Harley’s. Half the time here was spent drooling over every passing super-car and there were many!

The seductress

The second thing was the babes! The one I am talking is more of the organic variety. If I say, I was completely blown away, would be an understatement. The English, the Americans,  the Russians, Germans (my own boss was a hot and tall German) and the chicks from all the other European countries completely nailed my jaw firmly to the floor. There has to be a special mention of the Arabian chicks, especially the ones which had nothing else but their eyes visible. One glimpse of those eyes and it was enough to keep you going for weeks. I mean there was something about it, that you just cant forget. And then there were the other Arab chicks who had their complete face visible. Layers and layers of makeup, marinated in perfume which you could get a waft from a mile long and the kohl giving a finish to every outline on the face, like a border on the painting. Still they had oodles and oodles of oomph just oozing all over the place. Lunch times were usually happy times in the mall, completely spent ogling and staring. The Indians and others Asians were ofcourse there but hardly worth a second look, mostly because they were either married and tagging along with their husbands and children, not even MILF title deserving. Well to be fair, I have seen nothing but them all my life.

Slurrp!

The first month went by like a breeze, the work place was good, nothing like the horrible stories I had heard from people. ‘Almost’ treated as an equal, friendly colleagues, good work ethics, decent but aged boss, not exactly a challenging job profile which left a lot of time for me to persuade other activities. I took to the European food and Arabic cuisine that the Ibn Batuta mall had to offer like a bee does to a flower. I almost ate at a new place and a new food course for almost a month or so. I always loved experimenting with food, so it was absolutely a paradise.

I didn’t have much of a social life since I hardly knew anyone out here except Vikram who was in Sharjah at that time and neither am I big on making random friends. So I had to depend on my colleagues to show me around. Still, the one thing that I like about this city is that it never makes you feel that you are alone, since all around you see people on their own, doing their own thing. Despite of that, I managed to cover a lot of places here in Dubai, almost all the beaches (loved the crystal clean Green/Blue water although a bit extra salty), Desert Safari, Bull Fighting at Ras Al khaimah, The Dibba - Oman - Musandam Dhow cruise, The Burj - al- Arab, The Burj Khalifa and the musical fountain, Gold souq and all the stupid and boring malls. And in Kuwait, The liberation towers, The Kuwait Towers, The parliament house, The holy family church and the Salmiya beach front. Kuwait is so small that you can circumvent the entire country in 2 hours flat. 

A special mention has to be made of twitter here. Within a month of coming here, life did a complete U-turn on me, in simple words had a break up for the most annoying reason which I cannot digest, it was really some kinda big ass karmic joke. I was in depression for a month or two and solitude that Kuwait provided really helped. I was introduced to twitter out of sheer boredom. I mean how many movies can a person watch and going through the breakup of the century didn’t help either. Twitter is the kinda place where you can strike up instant conversations and there is someone or the other always available. It provided a comforting distraction and it works so well that I would recommend anyone who has had a break-up, to ‘twitter therapy’. I met quite a lot of new people over Twitter meet-ups knows as "Tweetups", some are still good friends and some I found uber annoying. I mean I am not a crowd kinda person, it totally creeps me out to strike random conversations with absolute strangers.

(To Be Continued...)