Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Every time the temperature rises with a ferocious heat wave looking to evaporate every drop of water thanks in part to global warming, faint memories of Abu Dhabi surface. It was a desert artificially transformed to impersonate an oasis with a fair degree of success. The coastal beaches bordering the Arabian Sea lay within a few kilometers to provide relief (though no one tried to ‘impersonate’ the dress codes of Californian beaches).
There was no escaping the blistering heat yet you grew to appreciate its beauty. The scorching sun made the windows so hot that boiling an egg would be possible. An hour out in the open would leave a person drenched in sweat. Yet just like the splendor of a snow-lit C
anadian evening with a cold mist permeating every part of the body, the sweltering heat was somehow finely balanced by miles of calm, blue ocean challenging the sun to a show of dominance and magnificence.
For some reason, it would seem as if life had come to a halt with the humid afternoons spent in the comforts of air-conditioned apartments, I often looking out the window from our 9th (10th?) floor apartment (while boiling eggs that is) at the masses going about their daily lives oblivious that someone can be watching them.
Children running back and forth, senseless and carefree, fast paced men in flowing white thobes scurrying towards unknown destinations, streams of cars traveling in directions that lead seemingly nowhere. It was a strange habit for someone so young and surely there is a psychological explanation for it (perhaps loss of sanity begins at an early age?).
Sometimes I wish I could just sit with my head tilted against the sun-baked window, staring into the abyss of worldly life slowing down with each passing minute without a thought in my head--storing images to recur years after being forgotten.
There was no escaping the blistering heat yet you grew to appreciate its beauty. The scorching sun made the windows so hot that boiling an egg would be possible. An hour out in the open would leave a person drenched in sweat. Yet just like the splendor of a snow-lit C
anadian evening with a cold mist permeating every part of the body, the sweltering heat was somehow finely balanced by miles of calm, blue ocean challenging the sun to a show of dominance and magnificence.For some reason, it would seem as if life had come to a halt with the humid afternoons spent in the comforts of air-conditioned apartments, I often looking out the window from our 9th (10th?) floor apartment (while boiling eggs that is) at the masses going about their daily lives oblivious that someone can be watching them.
Children running back and forth, senseless and carefree, fast paced men in flowing white thobes scurrying towards unknown destinations, streams of cars traveling in directions that lead seemingly nowhere. It was a strange habit for someone so young and surely there is a psychological explanation for it (perhaps loss of sanity begins at an early age?).
Sometimes I wish I could just sit with my head tilted against the sun-baked window, staring into the abyss of worldly life slowing down with each passing minute without a thought in my head--storing images to recur years after being forgotten.
Faraz Ahmed 4:09 p.m.
1 Comments:
aaah memories.... but i'd rather take part in the action than merely absorb the images
