Talk about disjointed and irritating.. What a piece of work!!! Well that is how life is. I can't help it. Just forgive me and keep reading. So Dubai at night!! What a wonderful sight!! So the minute I come out of the plane I am ushered into nothingness. There is absolutely nobody. I walked for sometime and finally found an information desk. Denis (from IBM) was still with me as he was catching the same connecting flight. The guy on the info desk told us since we had our boarding passes we could go straight to the gate. We just needed to go up a flight of stairs, take a left and keep going straight. Sounded simple. Straightforward enough.
So we made our way.. Only to realize keep going straight meant just that. We kept going straight. We were now met with almost a constant stream of people. The first thing that strikes you at the Dubai International Airport is its vastness. It is aptly named (Dubai Air city the Pilot announced). The second thing you notice is the sheer opulence. The number of shops which scream duty free at you is enormous. Flashing signs and huge piles of goods mark the place.
Denis had by now identified a forex counter and took leave saying he had some extra money to spend. The question for me now was the point of this post. To buy or not to buy!! Of course being the conservative son of my father that I am you know what I did. I realized what an evil place this world is though.. So much temptation.....!!! The other fascinating thing that I observed at the airport was the women.
All bedecked in full length bhurkas with either veils or hijabs, one noticed that they had the latest in women's make up on them. The curled eyelashes were there, the mascara was there, the lip gloss was in place (I actually saw a lady with orange lip gloss), the rouge was there, the entire ensemble. I have no opinions on this but it was fascinating...
The rest of my journey was pretty ordinary, my flight to Washington was delayed by an hour and a half. I missed the take off as sleep finally had its say. I made regular visits to the snack bar for bad coffee and a cold sandwich and finally had a special breakfast of pooris and masala (since I was vegetarian), missed having it twice. My name was printed twice so I actually was offered two meals which I denied. (I learnt the first rule of the grad student only after I reached the US). The pooris were delicious but only resulted in heightening my already raging hunger and too my utter disbelief the song played on the in flight radio was "Hungry like the wolf" by Duran Duran.
I barely made my flight to Rayleigh, my immigration taking me less than a minute. The advantage of my flight being late was that there were only two people in my immigration line. The flight to Rayleigh was a really short one and I was reminded of Maddy's dialogue in Minnale.
The plane raced down the tarmac and the strains of Psychokiller screamed at my ears as we touched down... I wonder if it meant anything.
My brother came and picked me up from the airport....
So we made our way.. Only to realize keep going straight meant just that. We kept going straight. We were now met with almost a constant stream of people. The first thing that strikes you at the Dubai International Airport is its vastness. It is aptly named (Dubai Air city the Pilot announced). The second thing you notice is the sheer opulence. The number of shops which scream duty free at you is enormous. Flashing signs and huge piles of goods mark the place.
Denis had by now identified a forex counter and took leave saying he had some extra money to spend. The question for me now was the point of this post. To buy or not to buy!! Of course being the conservative son of my father that I am you know what I did. I realized what an evil place this world is though.. So much temptation.....!!! The other fascinating thing that I observed at the airport was the women.
All bedecked in full length bhurkas with either veils or hijabs, one noticed that they had the latest in women's make up on them. The curled eyelashes were there, the mascara was there, the lip gloss was in place (I actually saw a lady with orange lip gloss), the rouge was there, the entire ensemble. I have no opinions on this but it was fascinating...
The rest of my journey was pretty ordinary, my flight to Washington was delayed by an hour and a half. I missed the take off as sleep finally had its say. I made regular visits to the snack bar for bad coffee and a cold sandwich and finally had a special breakfast of pooris and masala (since I was vegetarian), missed having it twice. My name was printed twice so I actually was offered two meals which I denied. (I learnt the first rule of the grad student only after I reached the US). The pooris were delicious but only resulted in heightening my already raging hunger and too my utter disbelief the song played on the in flight radio was "Hungry like the wolf" by Duran Duran.
I barely made my flight to Rayleigh, my immigration taking me less than a minute. The advantage of my flight being late was that there were only two people in my immigration line. The flight to Rayleigh was a really short one and I was reminded of Maddy's dialogue in Minnale.
The plane raced down the tarmac and the strains of Psychokiller screamed at my ears as we touched down... I wonder if it meant anything.
My brother came and picked me up from the airport....
You lucky fellow had poori :( I think its better not to buy, I assure you few things (like cosmetics) inside the airport would be actually costly..
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