Tales from SPJCM – Dubai sojourn ends

IIP had ended well and we all quickly rushed to the hostel, but only before our very own photo session in the college. And there we went…we 5…rushing towards all the nooks and corner of the college to get a pose clicked – a remembrance forever!!

And we reached the hostel, braving the Dubai heat and sun – as our enjoyment knew no boundaries!! After our lunch, very quickly, we decided to venture out n go visit places that we were still left. So the list started ;) and we decided to head to the Ibn Battuta Mall. As we spent some time in the mall, we couldn’t spare thoughts and words to cherish and enjoy the exotic architecture of the building. With lovely courts and pavilions designed on the backdrop of a country like the India arena all decked up with India murals, Indian style of architecture and the great India elephant. And similarly the Chinese court all decked up with Red and Dragons and depicted the true Chinese colours.

After having spent some memorable moments there and having clicked some marvellous photographs, we decided to go to the ever famous Jumeirah beach. We spent some good time there and again clicked some nice photographs, this time some smart photography along with the nearside Burj-al-Arab hotel building. As we had heard and read a lot about Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis Hotel, we thought of going there and requested our Taxi driver to take us there. Oh man, what an excellent chap he was and too good a deal we got, he had agreed to take us around to Jumeirah Beah, Atlantis n Dubai Marina, wait for us at each of these locations and finally drop us off to the hostel – all for 100 AED!!

As we reached Atlantis – we were enamoured and floored by the magnanimous architecture of the building and the whole concept of Palm Jumeirah!! With the reclaimed land and buildings with such a magnificent architecture, surrounded by water all around, it was a feeling beyond explanation!! As we got down at the entrance, we saw Rolls Royce Phantom right up there, and this summed up the lavish and brilliant evening ahead!!

Slowly with much confidence we entered the hotel premises (this was needed as we all were without the 200 AED entry ticket!!:)) and went about going through the whole compound with such an élan that even the engineers of building would have blinked  The posh surroundings and our confident gait made it simpler for us but this was to end for us as right at the other end of the hotel, a waiter requested us for our pass or room keys which obviously we didn’t have. He, upon realizing that both us and him were sailing in troubled waters, he requested us to go out through the other back door!! And out we came and laughed at all this incident till we reached our cab and asked him to take us out and to Dubai Marina. Wow what an evening so far!!

At Dubai Marina, we spent some time clicking photographs at the back drop of those luxurious yachts and those tall sky scrapers. After half an hour there, we realised that we might have ventured into some private zones and hence finally decided to call it a day and headed towards the hostel.

An evening well spent and well remembered after those 3 haggled and troublesome days when most of us started and completed our projects!!

Hold on, Dubai didn’t end like this!! More was to come on the last evening, after we had reached the airport!! With the 11:30 PM flight to Delhi for almost 40 of us, we could see a fleet of cabs waiting for us downstairs. We reached the airport on time and eventually all of us checked in. Then we all spread out to enjoy the last moments in Dubai – in our own different ways. Some shopping, some eating n some like me just window shopping  After having shown our passports almost 2-3 times by now and right there at the final call, suddenly came the news that one of our friends has lost his passport!! Oh God, its time to board and this poor guy has lost the passport!! What to do?? No clue!! Everyone checked their pockets, even their hand baggage, just to console ourselves, even though we knew that it was not with us!! Oh man, how will he travel!! Nothing working out!! Some people even cried (at least people said that standing along them, I don’t know, I didn’t notice, as I was far away), but to no avail!! The flight got delayed as even the flight staff was engrossed in the search operations!! After almost an hour of search operations and multitudes of search teams in operation, the guy finally found his passport and that too at one of those many frisking and document checking counters at the Dubai airport. I must say this incident will remain with him for sure and many of us for other reasons for the whole of our lives!!

Wait – it was still not goodbye to the land of Arabs as we entered the plane!! Having settled down quickly and some of us and others in the flight having used some superfluous words for the delay, we tried to enjoy our standing (that we were a group of 40 together, hence none dare to say anything to us :)) and gave a call as a tribute to someone (chachi, as they call that someone!! :)) and we took off finally from Dubai!!
Those days from Dubai will remain with us forever!! Who and how can we forget the first day in Dubai and the way it transcended till the final take off!!