SparklingRiver’s Weblog

A beautiful old video from Doordarshan on the  usage of plurals in Hindi thus subliminally hinting at the power of unity. Watch and enjoy.

Exactly a week after my Kuwait trip I was all set to board a plane again. This time it was to Mumbai. My dad and I left home on a warm Friday morning and cruised through the empty Dubai roads. The check-in was done pretty quickly as we only had hand- baggage and soon enough we found ourselves in the bustling Duty-Free. As we had lots of time in our hands we decided to buy chocolates for a few relatives. Having bought for most we entered a heated discussion on the trype of chocolate my grandfather would prefer. I knew he likes smooth milk chocolates with no “bits” but it was a difficult task finding one. Mirroring our lives even chocolates dont come simple instead come with added albeit sometimes unwanted ingredients.

Finally in one corner of the shop we found a chocolate modelled on a gold bar and hence was made of nothing but pure chocolate. But then what should I buy? Dark or Plain ? Big block or individual pieces? Once decided we turned around only to find my bag and my dad’s briefcase missing. Mine was found a few metres away and must have been the result of my inattentiveness but my dad’s briefcase, which he had rested on his suitcase just to lift the box of chocolate, had vanished! He has travelled extensively and to a wide array of places but has never come across such a situation. He had let his guard down only because of the assumption that Dubai and its airport are safe – an image the country is very careful to maintain as is evident by the absence of a single sign in the whole airport warning and cautioning passengers of thievery.

What followed was a harrowing experience. Shock propelled us to retrace our steps and search frantically but in vain. It had been snatched from that very corner where we last stood engrossed in the fineries of chocolate ingredients. We immediately contacted the security guards who took a a whole minute to digest the situation exposing their ineptitude. We were told to contact the police on one hand and on the other were given the impression that they had informed through their internal phone. Another man approached with a similar complaint , his laptop bag was missing. My dad and I were quite stressed. The bag contained his laptop, passport and all his wallets with his credit cards and labour card! We were stranded and felt like our wings were clipped. Luckily I had my mobile on me but it had to be used sparingly because its I had left the charger in my dad’s bag in a last minute decision while leaving the house. My dad called his secretary and instructed him to inform all the banks of the loss. 15 minutes passed and nothing was done. I decided to go see the police myself who were placed in a very inconvenient end of the airport. Once there I was told that they had received no such notification which means that the last 15 minutes had just been spent waiting fruitlessly! They said they couldnot do much in such situations. On making my views on them quite clear they send to me to the actual police office! Another one?!?!?! I was confused. Anyway, I rushed upstairs hurting my knee in the process which still hurts as I write this. Once there I was told that they had found a black laptop bag and it was with those officials I had just left. Happy and glad I went down only to discover that it was the other man’s laptop and he had misplaced it. It was never stolen! Dang!

Once again I rushed up and explained the situation to the seemingly lethargic members. One of them then, in the presence of me and four other inactive officers, called every shop in the airport to check if anyone was seen with a black bag or had left it there! What a waste of time. I probed, pushed and poked them to check the security cameras to which they obliged. An officer was sent with me and on our way to the camera room I found my dad walking towards us in frustration. Nothing had transpired since I left him. We knew the situation was a gone-case. Tracking the man was a seemingly impossible task but because we knew the exact time and place of the event, if one had acted with speed and checked the cameras, the individual could have been spotted. Anyway, I stood outside the camera room, reservedy for Authorised Personnel only in baited breath. My dad was making a whole lot of phone calls. Five minutes later two officers came out and informed us that they had found something near gate 22. Immediately visions of a police arrest flicked through my mind.How exciting. But it didnt turned out to be  so thrilling. They had not started checking their cameras yet but had received a call from the duty free on the first floor that there was an unattended black Condotti bag on the counter. We rushed there to find that it was indeed my dad’s bag but his Toshiba Notebook, Blackberry and $2000 hard cash were missing. The thief had gone about his work in a systematic and professional manner. He had opened every zip and pocket and gone through every wallet, cleaned it and left it in its original place as if untouched! Even an envelope containing some money was left in the bag sans the moolah ofcourse! The condotti bag left as a hand baggage but returned as a piece of lOggage;) (Bad joke?!?! I agree)

My dad’s passport, credit cards , journals and my charger (yipee) were left. He clearly didnt want to carry with him anything that was trackable but his decision to carry the mobile beats me. At that moment we called the number and it rang but the police admitted they were not equipped to track him down using that. My dad called his secretary and he informed the local service provider to shut down its service rendering it a paper weight. Also, were informed that this was a regular occurrence at the airport.We were exhausted emotionally. There were still 20 minutes left for boarding and so we made it just in time.

While in th e bus to the aircraft I intentionally spoke loudly in English to my dad to make others aware of the situation and warn them. It paid off. Many got involved in the discussion and expressed their shock that it had happened in Dubai. Oh well, all’s well that ends well. The next time I go to buy some chocolates at the duty free I will be more careful:)

As I write this I have to point out that Im suffering from serious IPL withdrawal symptoms. I don’t know what to make of my evenings anymore. Ive forgotten what life was like before the notorious IPL began. I see cricket bats and slogans everywhere. The team jingles are stuck in my head and refuse to budge. In a last attempt to prevent myself from ripping my hair off Ive decided to divert my attention with some blogging.

This weekend was spent in Kuwait. My dad was making an official trip and since my mom was in India I decided to join him but of course on one BIG condition- I would tread on Kuwait’s soil only if the hotel we were to stay in had ArtPrime sports. There was no way I was going to miss the IPL semi’s and final after having followed it religiously for over a month. After a check and a few more re-checks, the hotel confirmed the airing of the IPL. Luckily they had subscribed to the channel in anticipation of the UEFA Cup. Football had quenched my thirst for cricket!

We left home at 5:45 am on a warm Friday morning. We whizzed past a sleepy Sharjah into a bustling, almost overflowing Dubai airport. What would have taken a minimum of 2 hours on a usually jammed Dubai- Shj road took just 20minutes as it was a Friday. Once check-in was over we moved to the Lounge. Now, early morning is the worst time to be at the B. Class lounge because that’s when air-traffic is at its height, especially transit flights. We had 45 minutes to wile away but absolutely no place to sit. The DUbai authorities were clearly taking on more passengers than they could handle. Every couch, sofa and chair was occupied. All those who hadn’t found a place to lift their feet up were walking around aimlessly like groggy zombies. Arms outstretched some stood in front of the coffee machine waiting for their daily shot of caffeine. My dad and I managed, after a brief suffocating search in the smoking area, to snuggle ourselves between a man fast asleep and a potted plant. Phew. A hot glass of hot milk later it was time to board the plane and was I glad to leave!

Once in the plane I asked for a blanket, switched on the Radio Channel to Desi Mix and as soon as the flight took off I was fast asleep. A sharp nudge from a caked up air-hostess woke me from my deep slumber. It was time to land. The flight had lasted a short 80 minutes. The immigration finished quite quickly. A car had come to pick us up and drive us to Hilton. It was 8:45am local time and the temperature was already 36 degrees celcius! Shades on and A/C on full blast I was ready to see Kuwait. My first impression was- very townish much like Muscat, very laidback but had a quaint charm about it. The roads were amazingly smooth. Add to that an American car and we were flying. There were lot of similarities with the English road network namely short bridges and narrow highways that cut through open fields, only in this case it was open desert. The buildings averaged at around 7 floors and were surprisingly colorful! The roads were sparsely populated but that could be attributed to it being a Friday.

Once we reached the hotel there were some security checks done on account of the hotel being used frequently by the US army. My dad had moved up a tier to a Hilton Gold card member so we got a sea-facing room. It was a decent sized room and the bathroom was spacious- thats what I cared about. My dad’s colleague and his wife had come over for lunch so we joined them for a buffet. While there was a lot of variety at the Teatro restaurant there wasn’t much for a vegetarian. My dad and I opted for a stir-fry which was quite delicious. Rice, youghurt and Vegetable jalfrezi followed. Then it was time for some dessert and my there were so many to choose from. The chocolate fountain beckoned me, so I returned to my table with heaps of strawberries dipped in melted heaven. Then I had some date-pudding and Umm-ali. We talked for hours(4 to be exact) on everything from travelling in the Himalayas to a career in journalism.

After a brief rest my dad and I hit the gym to burn off all those extra calories we had consumed. Once completely exhausted we reached the room just in time for the first semi’s. Washed and cleaned I was ready to watch some exciting cricket. The first innings was pretty much dominated by the delhi daredevils which worried me because I wanted the RR to reach the finals as they deserved too. I knew Delhi would prove to be an easier team to play if Chennai made it to the finals ( I was sure they would given their track record against Kings XI) but I wanted to see some good cricket being played in the Finals. Moreover,if Chennai won against a worthy team like RR then the success would be sweeter! But once the 2nd innings began Warney’s men completely demolished the Daredevils with their bowling. The match was pretty one-sided and I heaved a sigh of relief although I would have liked to see some nail-biting cricket.

The next morning on my way to the restroom I just happened to glance upon a golden sunrise,an amber gem frolicking on the waves. I was so tired from the workout the previous night that I didn’t have enough energy to pry my eyes open so slept through the beautiful sunrise. I awoke, much to my dismay, to an overcast sky that had blended with the ocean. Suddenly,as if by magic the sun peeked through the clouds and the dull sea sprung to life-a shimmering ocean of satin. It was divine.

The rest of the day was spent pretty much in the room, reading and watching TV. The Kuwait Times isn’t a very interesting paper to read, not much news. The food in hotel was disappointing as well mainly because there was hardly any vegetarian choice-2 items to be exact.Shocking. So I had to have spaghetti for two days as I was trying to avoid pizza, the other item on the list. That evening my dad’s college friend invited us to his house for dinner and the match. We reached just in time,Chennai had lost the toss and was fielding and as we entered the house Ntini had struck in his very first over. I was thrilled. What a match that was. GOny,Ntini,Morkel,Murli, all clicked. Kings XI were falling like a pack of cards. It was comical and saddening at the same time. I would have expected much more from Yuvraj’s Kings. I guess it was Super Kings’ day!

Oh well, that night I went to bed a happy girl. The next morning after hitting the gym and a continental breakfast I went to the beach. It was the best time of the day. The morning heat was just catching up and the beach was empty. I threw my shoes and ran into the waves and what a feeling it was. I was going to a beach after 5 whole years! It was like the meeting of two long-lost lovers. While the waves caressed my feet, the ocean breeze wrapped me in its warm sultry arms. I was a 5 year old again. I wrote on the sand, made a make-shift castle and ran from one end to the other. My dad was watching, amused, from the canopy.Then it got too hot to bear so I returned, grudgingly, to my room.

That day too was spent reading .In the evening was the Grand Finale of the IPL. I turned on about half an hour into the closing ceremony as I wasn’t aware of its scheduling. It was impressive but boring. I’ve never found trapeze artists and men jumping through fire hoops interesting. The Mumbai crowd gave a thunderous response though. I watched with envy because I knew I could have been there had my trip to India not been cancelled. Anyway, at least I got to watch the match on TV.

The final toss of the IPL and Dhoni lost; never mind I thought, Chennai had won matches where they didnt chase. In anycase, Dhoni’s smile always makes me happy Captain cool’s team had a good start until Vidyut fell but Raina and Parthiv took on the reigns. However, this match was just too unpredictable to written off that early. It swung like a pendulum with both RR and SK giving a good fight. The last 5 overs did slow down a bit but a score of 163 seemed defendable on the DY Patil Pitch. The second innings was a script writers dream. While Ntini, Morkel and Gony weaved some magic, sloppy fielding( Yusuf’s dropped catch proved extremely costly) and Balaji undid for Chennai. The match even saw a rare animated Dhoni who seemed to get in a minor verbal tussle with Umpire Billy Bowden over a “caught behind wicket” decision. WIth 7 wickets down RR did look in some trouble but Pathan proved to be a match winner. The super Kings did put up a good fight though dragging it to the very last ball. Balaji’s wide ruined it At the end of the day the consistent side won. I was disappointed but yet glad that at least Chennai lost to such a worthy opponent. While the triumphant Royals were jubilating, my eyes were drawn to the Super Kings. Their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni led his entire team to a huddle which just went to show the level of unity and camraderie in the Chennai side.It was thrilling end to a brilliant, exciting and entertaining series.

The next morning there was just enough time for a quick shower and breakfast before catching the flight back to Dubai. I bid adieu to my home of three days and the ocean and with a heavy heart boarded the plane. It was truly a relaxing weekend.