The sky was the colour of diluted mango juice. The sun woke up shyly to the morning walkers. This was during the cooler days in Dubai along my beloved Al Seef’s marina walkway. Similar to how people in early days of love rush to meet, I would rush too, to walk here.
One foggy winter day, Al Seef was washed in white. I had the sense that I had walked into another world, parallel to our own and that at any time, I could slip into this dream-like land. I sat on one wooden bench for long, watching the sea gulls preening themselves. There were about thirty of them sitting on the barricade obediently like school children.
I became familiar with the regular walkers around the area. Some would be walking, others would be jogging, and some listened to music on their headphones while others took selfies and did yoga. What marvels me is the housekeeping team who manage to clean every aspect of the promenade.
As the sun became more persistent, I decided to walk in the late evenings. There were sights so beautiful that they could not be forgotten and stay in the mind. The boats and the yachts decorated with twinkling gold and ultraviolet lights glide on the creek. As I wandered through the lanes with lanterns hung outside the fort-like buildings, I was surprised at the mind boggling array of restaurants.
I was swinging on either side of time like a pendulum, to the bygone days and to the cosmopolitan stamp of Dubai. Ramadan brought in more reasons to visit the Al Seef area, as there were people donating books and clothes. The monotonous act of walking fills me with strange joy as I discover something new in the area every day. This is the place where I ponder about life, till my rumbling stomach screaming for a meal forces me back home!
- The reader has been a resident of the UAE for a decade
