I wanted to see a belly dance. The colourful, flowing garments and
intricate belts worn by these beautiful women that I only see in movies had me
totally mesmerised. With the 10 year college reunion, I grabbed the chance of
getting to watch one in real life. This reunion was the perfect excuse to come
to Dubai. Living in Liverpool, UK with miserable weather and bland food, there
was nothing more that I could ask for, then to come and enjoy the sunshine and
actually watch a belly dance.
It took a 3 hour train journey from
Liverpool to London and another 10 hour flight from there before I finally got
to Dubai from Liverpool. Though tired and disoriented, I was all excited when I
finally got there.
The first evening was a grand function put on by our
batch mates from Dubai. The organizers did an especially good job in making sure
that it all went perfectly right down to the last detail. Meeting many old
friends and recollecting fond memories was just great.
However it was the
next day I was especially looking forward to, as I was actually going to watch a
belly dance.
Due to the Jet lag, I finally got up at lunchtime the next
day. After lunch at the Hotel Restaurant, Raj Nath and Stanley were gracious
enough to come and pick me up. All three of us caught a taxi to the rendezvous.
The whole group then got into a dozen or more 4WD Toyota LandCruiser to make
a journey through the desert. And so started the adventure.
“ I want to get
off” howled Tiju sitting in the front besides the driver with the car crashing
into the dunes. It hurled us up and then down on the undulating sand dunes with
unprecedented ferocity and all we could do was scream like girls and sob into
our napkins. As the sun descended into the horizon, we stopped to take
photographs, while standing on top of the fading desert dunes. After that we
headed to the campsite in the middle of the desert. After all that dune bashing,
we finally arrived at the campsite where some of us took short camel rides and
later all of us enjoyed an Arabian BBQ buffet under a pitch black
sky.
One that fateful night at this camping event in the middle of the
desert, the belly dancer finally arrived twirling around in the bright lights as
the beat of drums and the wail of an Arabic flute filled the night air. The
dancer then floated to where our group was seated. She smiled and beckoned the
children to the stage. Then the ladies followed. All of them danced whirling
around the stage and moving with the beat of the drums and the feet of the
dancer.
All of a sudden Tiju sitting in front of me turned around,
jumped over the cushions piled on the floor, then over the table and into a
crowd of people on the other side. And then there was all commotion on that
side. This was all because another group wanted to pick up a fight with us. And
did we oblige! Blows were exchanged but most of them landing on the other group.
It was Déjà vu, just like back in the college days. I can’t quite remember how
long this lasted but when I looked around to the stage, the dancer was nowhere
to be seen. I guess she disappeared just as magically as she had appeared. All I
was left to do is hold my belly as in
this picture taken by Hari Sekhar.
I will leave it to the readers decide why I was showing my belly to Jinoy.
