The Desert Mirage:
A First Taste of Dubai’s Enchantment
My shoes slipped on the polished granite like a drummer's frantic beat, echoing through Dubai Airport's opulent belly. Nineteen-seventy-seven, and the young lad, me, fresh off the plane from Colombo, was about to be swallowed whole by this desert mirage of glass and white chrome.
Once starched with my mother’s blessings, my crisp white shirt wilted under the air-conditioned blast, feeling flimsy against the sheer scale of the place. Fountains sang in the distance, spraying rainbows into the marbled atrium. Escalators promised ascents to untold riches like magic carpets. I was Aladdin, wide-eyed and bewildered, in a palace straight out of the ‘Arabian Nights.’
Faces swirled around me — Arab men in white robes, their eyes sharp as desert hawks; veiled women cloaked in secrets and musk; children chasing silver helium spheres that bobbed like desert mirages. My tongue felt like a forgotten relic in this symphony of Arabic, Urdu, English, and who-knows-what-else.
My heart leapt with each exotic sound, each dazzling display of gold and silk. It wasn’t just the air-conditioned air that made me sweat, but the thrill of the unknown, the promise of adventures unfurling like desert dunes under burning hot air.
And then, my first faltering steps out of the airport into the hot embrace of the city. The heat waves kissed my cheeks, the scent of spices hung heavy in the air, and the calls to prayer, soaring from far and near, vibrated like a desert wind song as I was whisked away in a Mitsubishi Rosa bus.
This wasn’t just a landing; it was a baptism. I, the island boy, was shedding my coconut shell, emerging into a world of sand, stars, camels, and bazaars. As the sun rose behind the desert, painting the sky in fiery hues of henna and saffron to the sound of minarets, I knew this was just the beginning. Dubai, with its whispers of fortune and mystery, awaited, and I, a young Sri Lankan lad, was ready to lose myself in its golden embrace.
Over the coming days, I would learn about the chai brews, parathas, bazaars overflowing with jewels, electronics and cheap clothes made in Taiwan, camels waltzing in the desert, dunes whispering ancient tales, and falcons that danced on thermals high above.
Dubai, this desert sphinx, was starting to purr its secrets.
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