Good Morning, Dubai! - 1

You may not believe it, but it did happen. As passengers to Dubai were getting ready to queue up through Gate No. 9 for Jazeera J9 423 around 4 p.m. on Saturday (April 25), suddenly the security personnel manning the security check counters fell flat on their tummies with their guns drawn and aiming at something. No shouts. No alarms. Nothing. Passengers strolling stood in amazement wondering what’s happening. Out of curiosity, many moved towards the scene of action. No shots were fired. Nor any suspicious movements noticed. “Film shooting,” said someone. “See there, dad,” shouted a kid with a lot of merriment written all over. This drama went on for close to 10 minutes. Suddenly a few security personnel came rushing and asked all passengers near Gate No. 9 to clear off the area and hustled all of them to Gate 1 on the ground floor. “This is no joke. Security drill is on. Move, move,” one lady security officer kept shouting. Interestingly, a Jazeera employee quietly dissuading passengers not to move to ground floor. Ultimately, we did go down for a short while.

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I never knew Jazeera is a low cost airline. The friend who booked my ticket to Dubai did not inform me. I was hungry and kept waiting for something to be served after the flight took off on time. Suddenly, I noticed that many passengers were taking out their tiffin carriers and began eating rotis, parotas, samosa, kurkures, fruit juices in plastic bottles and cans. There was no sign of any cabin crew. That’s when I realized that you have to pay to eat something on board! “Whiskey?” I heard one passenger asking the stewardess at the rear. I picked up a bottle of water, coffee and a blackberry muffin after parting with Omani Rial.

***

Half the flight was empty. One of the cabin crew member was deep asleep for most of the three hour plus journey from Delhi to Dubai! Of course, the crew was very efficient. Nothing to serve. They kept to themselves. Very few passengers pressed the buzzer demanding anything. Cool, cool airlines!

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It was a long walk on horizontally moving escalators from the aircraft to the exit gate – almost a kilometer! I was visiting almost after two years. The airport was almost empty! Yes, empty! The usual hustle and bustle was missing. Now they have introduced eye-scan security for incoming visitors. The number of passport control counters (immigration) was too many to count! In less than 5 minutes I passed through the immigration. Of course, there were few flights and few passengers at 6.45 p.m. (local time). The immigration counter clerk was very polite and asked whether he can help me with hotel booking! However, the wait at the baggage claim conveyor belt zone was long. Dubai airport is amazing. But I love it with teeming crowd. Not deserted one.
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My friend was at the exit gate and we drove away quickly. Roads were almost empty. I was told that many expats have left due to the recessionary impact. So the traffic was very smooth. We parked at a petrol filling station to buy Etisalat prepaid card which again was sparsely crowded. Samantha, the Filipino sales counter who sold the prepaid card, kept insisting my friend to bring more visitors like me to her shop, because ‘business is dull’.

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Our next halt was at Lido – roadside coffee-cum-shisha joint. Yes, it was again sparsely crowded. According to my friend, it would have been next to impossible to get a seat either inside or outside a few months ago. Customers were watching a live football match on a giant tv screen inside while others are surfing on the internet. We sip mint-n-lime juice and share shisha and exchange notes on the impact of global meltdown.

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“Rents have crashed by more than 40 per cent,” tells my friend. During daytime, if you move around, you will see more ‘Tolet’ boards,” he adds. He arranged an one-living room, self-contained kitchen, bathroom outhouse near Zayed Road. The world’s tallest building under construction is hardly a kilometer away from my new tenement. The rent is 2700 dirhams for a month. He says it is cheap. I have no idea.

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Wake up at 4 a.m. Rearrange my stuff. Go out for a walk. New country. New area. No Zack in tow. No wife to accompany. Weather is fine. I walk on Al Wasa road and bump into Emarat petrol station. Yes, I get my cuppa. Gulf News, a cellophane wrapped apple. “Have you taken your morning medicine?” demands an SMS from my better half. Read Sunil Vaidya’s Omani inventor story and congratulate him through sms. Light up a Marlborough.

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96 hours ago when I left Muscat back to Delhi, I had no clue I would be back in the Gulf so soon. Man proposes, and God disposes. I simply have no idea what is in store. I am willing to go with the wind. Insha Allah!