74. Dubai chronicles : The Summer of '09

A year back, if some astrologer or parrot holder would have told me that I'd be seeing the Burj Al Arab daily on my way to office or I'd regularly watch movies in a 1 million dirham home theater system, I'd just laugh it off . But then, reality did have something else in store for me.

Before the summer
The moment I was told by the Head HR that I'd be doing my summer internship in Dubai, I was like 'Dubai....ummm....doesn't ring a bell...where is it ?'....and its then that it struck me. An international internship would be an amazing experience, this was what I thought at that moment. When I saw the complete list of ppl selected for the company, my thoughts took a shift. I knew none of the other selected guys/gals. It is then that I realized that this internship may not be so much fun after all. Yea, 2 of them were frm my class but I'd hardly known them over the course of last year. A day before leaving for Dubai, I'd loaded my comp with movies and sit-coms so that I would not get bored on the trip.(Later did I come to know that even the rest of the junta was as apprehensive as I was) I am kinda anti-social and it takes me eons to get to know people. So I'd settled for the lame reality that I'd be going to Dubai alright, but it would be a drab and dull trip where all we'd discuss about would be work and movies and cigarettes and may be liquor.

The beginning
But the very fact that I just watched one movie on the entire trip, never worked overtime in office, spent around half my stipend on Johnnie Walker(the other half on cabs) and a whole lot more on touring, shows that this has been one of the most rollicking trips I've ever been in. The start of the trip was as mysterious as it can get. We just get a mail from the HR saying that we'll be picked up from the airport and taken to a hotel(sounds a bit like those James Bond movies where he's sent over to strange places and picked up by stranger ppl). So we get out of the airport and we wait. We wait. We roam around lookin for ppl holding banners. No luck. We wait. We smoke. We wait. As a desperate measure, we buy a caller card but don't know how and where to use it. We're just about to go all out shouting for help when we see one guy coming towards us holding the right banner. Oh what a relief. We get to the hotel, unpack our stuff and then get together to decide 'What next?'. We go to the receptionist in the anticipation that he might know about our schedule for the next day.

Me(to the receptionist) : What do we have in store for tomorrow ?
Receptionist : Breakfast starts at 7 AM sir.
Me : Did the office ppl inform you regarding any pick up from the hotel.
Rcptnst : No sir, but breakfast timings are form 7 to 10

In essence, the only thing we knew about the next day was that breakfast would be served. Nothing else. This internship was getting more mysterious by the minute. And so we slept. And we woke up the next day. We had our b'fast as instructed, not knowing what to do next. Some of us thought that we'd have a vote-out session, something like the MTV roadies do and that only the survivors would be taken to office on the next day. Some even started searching the room for clues which our company ppl might have left for us to find and figure out what to do next. Anyways, we did reach office by 10 the next day and thus began our internship.

The regular schedule
Not once did any of us take the regular office pick-up cab coz it was way too early. We'd get ready at our own sweet pace, have a sumptuous breakfast(oh how I miss that b'fast spread now) and then take a regular cab to work. On the pretext of going on 'store visits', we covered all the major malls in Dubai(yea, all of 'em).

Creek
The AM-PM mindset shift was drastic. Sitting idle in the office at 10 AM would be the most boring thing, while having hukkah at the 'Creek' at 10 PM on the same day would give you a surreal feeling. The first part of the day would sap the energy out of us(sitting idle in office all the while) while the later part would be great fun(read: awwwessome). The Creek was our regular hangout joint. One boat ride and a hukkah by the Creek side is more refreshing than even a couple of gallons of Glucon D, blv me :P

Crazy
In one word, this Dubai trip was crazy. The hindi song 'Kaise' that played during the fountain show was crazy, the prices in Buddha bar were crazy, the architecture in the malls were crazy, the size of the popcorn bucket(for 30 dhms) in the movie hall was crazy, the fines were crazy, having hukkah every other day was crazy, finishing a carton in 8 days was crazy, the lively audience at the music and dance concert were crazy, the expressions on each of our faces when we converted our whole expenditure into Indian rupees on the last day was crazy too.

Giving elaborate descriptions for the rest of the events/places will make this post a humongous one. So am just jotting down a few things that we did, a few lines that we spoke and a few things we shud not hav done :)

Malls
WAFI : Egyptian pyramid style architecture
Mall of the Emirates - Snow park and Lebanese food
Dubai Mall - Aquarium, Fountain show, the three pretty violinists, the one sad female harp player
Burjuman - was exotic
Markato - English style ka mall
Deira City Center - apna Big Bazaar type, Coldstone ice cream
Times Square Center - Subway :p
Ibn Batutta Mall - Marble Slab ice cream there was yum
Marina Mall - amazing views all over

Places
Madinat Jumeirah, JBR Walk, Open beach, Jumeirah beach, Buddha Bar, Snow Park, Desert Safari, Palm Islands, Ice lounge, Cruise dinner, Carrefour, Karama center, Starbucks (twice), Coldstone (thrice), Bananas pizza

Quotes
'Dubai ke do sabse faalthu phone apan dono ke paas hi hain' - Nitin
'Cute hai' - Nigarish
'Arey nimbu nahin, Nigarish' - Me
Tujhe patha hai, wahaan pe sharks hai yaar....it was sooo amazing - Hemali
'Wat nansense !' - Me
Davidoff  'One' health ke liye acha hai - Alok
'Main Hemali ke paas nahin baithoonga' - Nitin
'Yaar, I think we should get a camel and ride on it in the desert' - Nigarish
'Marina mein ghar saare awesssoooome hain yaar....tujhe patha hai, wahaan pe authentic arabic food miltha hai' - Hemali

'Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of our lives' - Alok

'Ithna kharcha tho shaayad main apne honeymoon pe bhi na karoon' - Me

Somethings I'd never do otherwise
Order for water worth 1200 bucks in Buddha Bar
Pay 600 bucks for a cab to go to office(daily)
Have a bubble bath every alternate day
Activate a smoke alarm with just a steam bath
Ask a sales executive in a mall as to where the 'exit' is and she replies saying 'I don't know' (wtf !)
Poach on someone else's wi-fi from the hotel room (favee123, favee maatha ki jai ho)
Buy a carton of cigarettes
Eat prawn flavored crackers
Work in  firm where not one person seems to be happy with his/her job
Do spade work for 2 other interns for their final presentation
See Burj Al Arab daily on my way to office
Make 4 others wait for a 7 seater cab(for 45 mins) after getting wet on the beach
Watch movies in a 1 million dirham home theater system
Have two bath-tub baths on the same day
Have a buffet b'fast for a whole month

After summers
All I'm left with now is a group of gr8 memories, a few new friends, a series of stories for all the people back home, and all this backed by 9 GB of pics and videos. Not bad huh...For an internship that was rumored to be shelved and even when it did start, it started in the most untoward fashion. Yes, the trip dint start too well; yes we did have an explosive feedback session with the HR on the last day; yes we did spend a hell lot more than the stipend we got; yes we got cranky during the return flight home(almost high) and yes, we all are yet to get over the Dubai hangover. But all in all, this was one very memorable trip.