Dubai Diaries

Joe and I have been married for 24 years 14 days and 8 hours ( give or take ), as of today.

The year was 1995, January 30^th, and it happens to be Martyrs day. 

Celebrating Anniversaries ( whatever they maybe) helps us to get back from the daily grind, look back and relive some of the past. Wish I had started a tradition of some kind, which we had followed religiously over these 24 years, but since I haven’t, every year it has been different.

But I do take some effort in surprising J with some strange, but unique gifts and most times I have caught him off-guard.

The ones that I could recollect now are a set of tablas,  he knows classical music and played the tabla in his younger days. First time visitors to our house, usually notice it and J feels, I take the trouble of finding unique gifts as a means of fishing for compliments.  One of the years it was a Bosch toolkit, which he hugged around and kept looking at, romantically, for atleast a couple of days.  Even today, he refuses to let anyone else handle it.  😊

The ground work for a gift is usually done much ahead, the cues picked up from unexpected conversations and its feels good to astonish him once in a while. One of the years I got him a rosary made of Rudhraksha seeds which is a topic of conversation in many of our family parties, as he wears them on grand occasions.

As we advance into the marriage, it’s really difficult to keep up the standard of surprises, as you run out of choices.  There’s no way out other than growing up into the armor that you have created.

He does try his part too, given the fact that surprising a woman is not as easy as it is for me.

This year, it was him who came up with a proposal of holidaying in Dubai, and asked me to work out the schedule, which I did.  I had plans for the anniversary and kept it a secret till the last week.

And guess what?  I booked a Helicopter ride around Dubai.  He was thrilled to bits.     

Dubai Police Academy, with whom we were booked, had elaborate and stringent procedures – being at the venue an hour in advance, security checks at multiple points, a session on how to embark and disembark, stuff that you can carry and what you cannot, what you can and cant touch , ID cards, earphones, security check again, someone to put on the complex seat belts, life jackets, etc., etc.,. 

And until we get on the heli, we would never know the seating arrangements as the seating is based on the weight of individual passengers and they would distribute us accordingly  to balance out the weight. 

While we were clicking away pictures, amidst the rhythmic wop – wop sound of helicopters that was landing and taking off, I was praying with a smile, that J gets to sit in front along with the Pilot.   Paired  with us were an Arab couple, the man heavily set and almost burly and a petite wife. 

My prayers were answered, J got to sit with the Pilot and had a beaming smile.  

I sat smugly next to the Arab guy, knowing I managed to surprise Joe, yet again.

P.S : I have been telling Joe, I wanted a picture with an Arab guy and you see, my wish was fulfilled too.

Joe getting strapped - and that's how beaming that he can get.

That's a snapshot of us - 24th year together.