What’s on your mind??? “Al Ain!!!

”
Little did I know that when I shared my status message for the rest of the world to see, what was
in store for me? It was a cool breezy November morning. Room Number 101 had dared to organize a
trip to Al Ain. The car park downstairs was filled with 30 odd disgruntled faces eagerly waiting for the
bus to appear from the far off corner around the building.

The tension was rising so was the sun above the head, still no signs of the bus. After a good
hours wait for the bus, it appeared from the corner. I vividly remember the bus making its glorious turn,
one of the most memorable of the various images for the day. Our chauffeur for the day was Mr. Shaji
the Formula 1 driver India lost to the hot sands of UAE.

Our destination was one of the most visited destinations in UAE, Al Ain. Al Ain is a beautiful oasis
situated around an hour and half away from Dubai. There is a funny thing about distances, the distance
never seem reducing when there is a lot of tension in the air. So was the distance between Al Ain, it was
never reducing. I had no clue where to take these happy souls, should it be the most popular zoo in the
Middle East or to the age old theme park or to the numerous other tourist spot.

Once a very wise person said that the decisions that matters the most are the ones that you say
no to and we did say no to the theme park and the numerous other spots. We chose Zoo as the first spot
to visit, not because that we were eager to see the caged animals but by a process of elimination we
narrowed on to zoo. Zoo turned out to be the least non favorable spot to visit. But the zoo turned out be
smarter than the GLOBAL MBAs, it had eliminated us hours before we reached the spot. We were faced
with the single scariest character from the English alphabets. ‘Q’. The scene reminded me of the long
human chains we Indians are very fond of making to get a glimpse of the most manipulative species of
our times, Politicians.

The reaction was instant, ‘Where are we heading next to?’ and to be honest I had no clue what
to answer. All hopes of having a great fun filled day with my friends just vanished into thin air and most
importantly my hopes to update my Facebook wall with cool photos now seemed to be a distant dream.
After wandering a while asking taxi drivers, other tourists, and security guards we finally decided to the
most glamorous Jabel Hafeet mountain range. We boarded the bus in the hope that Jabel Hafeet would
save the day. But before that we had a more pressing issue to tackle, Hunger.

It is also said by another wise man that desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily for
us that desperate time gave birth to half a dozen martyrs. They sacrificed their fun and frolic to get us
food. We were dropped at the hot spring park at the footsteps of the mountain range. The spot was one
of the most beautiful spots I have ever been to. The green patch amidst the yellow mountain ranges was
just beautiful. Suddenly everyone forgot about the hunger and thirst, they were engrossed by the sheer
beauty of the mountain range. Couple of us took out their camera capturing the beauty and wondering
how many likes and comments each photo would attract.
 A couple of excited souls could not resist the temptation to climb the small hill tops. We ran up
and down the hills exerting ourselves, not forgetting to capture the moments every now and then.
Meanwhile the martyrs returned donning the role of angels providing us with food. Eat did we
mercilessly, silently, peacefully.

Finally after mercilessly devouring we set off to the final and most anticipated destination of the
day, Jabel Hafeet. The road was winding, the air was thinning, the scenic was exquisite, and the mood
was rising. The landscape was directly out of National Geographic’s posters. And then there it was,
thousands of meters above sea level, Traffic jam. But this time we had decided nothing can take away
our joy. We were surrounded by friends, we clicked many more photos.

The sun was setting by now. In the colorless dessert we saw colors. The sky was layered
beautifully with different shades of red and orange. The sun looked like a glaring peach. No wonder why
many of us tried to devour it. A festive mood had risen among us; a childlike happiness had engulfed us.
Looking back I can’t remember what made me jump around with happiness. We clicked snaps of all
poses. It didn’t actually matter.

When the sun was nowhere to be found we hit the road for the journey backwards to our
hostel. Festive mood had hit us hard and so did we sing, dance in the confines of the small space in the
bus. The passersby looked us in wonder, little did we care. Looking back I just have a vague memory of
the journey backwards. I do remember I was happy, I was laughing, I was tapping my foot trying to
match the music, I was lip syncing with the songs, I was high. I was happy high.

Thanks to all who made November 16 th 2010 a day mixed with emotions. Thanks to all who had
come. Thanks to all who made a day full of memories. Thanks.

- Vishal Vijay Kumar