Novel - The Obsessions - Chapter - 15

Arabian Nights

The room was single with an attached bathroom. It was part of an apartment of a Maharashtrian family on a monthly rent of Rs 100/. I worked as a Project Engineer in a small construction company, in that huge commercial capital of India, Bombay. The job in Uttar Pradesh did not provide me either job satisfaction or financial security. I had to abandon it. My daughter was five years old. Our world was that small room. It was our bedroom, dining room and kitchen. The smell of kerosene and dishes was always floating in the room. There was a window on the west side, the only outlet to see the nature.

When I returned from work that day, my daughter was sleeping sweetly cuddled to the bosom of her mother. I looked at the sky. Stars were scant. There was a cloud cover, making the weather very sultry. I stared at an imaginary point.

I received a telegram from my father-in-law announcing the birth of my daughter. I was doing three months’ training at the Irrigation Central Institute at Lucknow. My job satisfaction was nil and the birth of my first child hastened me to take leave and go to my state as soon as possible. I did not have any leave due. I took three days casual leave and travelled home.

When I held my daughter in my arms I felt a heavenly bliss. Looking at her innocent face, I was at awe of God’s manifestations. My wife looked more beautiful, while she was feeding milk, churned out of her blood, to the child.

I approached a physician and obtained a medical certificate and dispatched it to Lucknow, requesting for a month’s leave. I was excited to be near my child and wife.

We visited my house in the north. My mother was overwhelmed with happiness to see her granddaughter, her first granddaughter, for she had only grandsons. My brothers carried her around the house, bathing in the happiness of the presence of the little one. My mother took her in her hands and said “She is going to be a beautiful lady.” My wife was very joyful and her smile was very innocent.

I was awakened from my thoughts by the transistor radio giving out the Malayalam news from All India Radio.

At Bombay, the Tamilian agent took Rs 300/ to arrange my passport. He promised it would be ready within a fortnight. The scope and chances of employment in the newly independent United Arab Emirates, was the talk of the Construction circles. News of the emigration of many workers, skilled and unskilled and technical personnel, gave me a little enthusiasm. I started to infuse in myself an ambition, which was never there before. A stubborn determination engulfed me and I took a vow to succeed in my life. There was a stamp on me that I was a weakling, always overweighing the emotional aspects of life rather than having a pragmatic approach. I wanted to turn the tables on this notion of everyone. My wife gave me moral support. I wrote to my mother about my newly kindled aspirations. She wished me good luck and promised to be on my side, as always had been. My brothers too supported me in my new quest for greener pastures.

When I received my passport, I was happier than the moment I took my engineering degree. I registered my name with a travel agent. I waited. I knew the day would come. I needed patience. For everything there was a cost to bear. The travel agent advised me that he would charge me Rs 4000/ as his commission.

The fate smiled at me with a little encouragement and I was summoned for a meeting with an Employer from Muscat. The meeting took place at the Oberoi Sheraton. While he interviewed me, tantalizing damsels served liquor to him. He was impressed with my credentials and he selected me. He even gave the documents of the new project to be started in his country. As he was going to Germany, he promised that he would send the employment visa within a fortnight.

My happiness was beyond imagination and I wrote to my mother about my success. I took a week’s leave from my current employer. I went straight to my father in law’s place. He congratulated me on my newly planned venture.

I went to my family house to meet my elders to receive their blessings along with my mother and brothers. We swam in the waves of happiness as a bright future was waiting for me. We were all in a jovial mood and my cousin next house, Govindan Nair joined us. As we were discussing many subjects, I thought of telling a joke to him. This joke was very greatly appreciated by my brothers and other friends. So whenever I discoursed that joke I was confident that there would be applause all around. The joke was:

Two tortoises went to a restaurant with their son. They ordered three cups of coffee. As soon as the waiter brought the coffee to the table, it started to rain very heavily. So, the mother and father tortoises asked the son tortoise to get an umbrella and promised him that they would drink the coffee only after he returned with the umbrella. The son agreed and left. Days passed, weeks, months and a year passed and there was no trace of their son returning with the umbrella. The mother and father tortoises lost hope of their son returning and the mother said. “He will not come. Let us have the coffee”

From the main entrance their son tortoise said “Then, I am not going”.

Govindan Nair looked at me blankly for a few minutes and said “Oh I see. Where is Krishnan Kutty theses days?”

There was dead silence in the room. Every one looked at me with sympathizing eyes. At last my cousin asked “Can anybody explain what has been happening here now?”

Everyone burst into uncontrollable laughter, to the disapproval of Govindan Nair, who left the room. Govindan Nair was very much remembered whenever someone wanted to crack a joke.

I planned to return alone to Bombay, leaving my wife and daughter, mother and brothers.

My wife tearfully said “Take care of your health and write to me frequently. My father-in-law advised me to be careful about the weather. We parted again.

At my house, my mother and youngest brother, as usual, were very grieved. How many times I had parted with them? I thought with agony.

“I am going to a foreign land with a purpose, mother. Don’t get worried” I said

“Take care of your health. I have heard that Muscat is a desert and very hot. We will all pray for you” she said. “Bye for now” they waved as the taxi moved along the narrow lane and it disappeared into the main road. My heart pained for all my loved ones.

I arrived at Bombay. One week passed and there was no news from Muscat about my visa. I enquired with the agent. The owner of the company was still at Germany and would go back in another ten days only.

The long wait continued. I started to be nervous. But to my relief, the agent called me again. I was required to meet two Arabs from Dubai, that afternoon at the Taj Intercontinental hotel. I met them and they asked me some silly questions from which I came to know that they very badly in need of a Civil Engineer. They selected me for the post. They left, promising the visa to be sent within three days.

I paid Rs 4000/.. to the agent. He gave me the air ticket. He said that the visa would be presented at Dubai airport by the sponsor. The flight was the next morning. I was relieved as at last it was going to happen. I wrote a letter to my mother and wife about the new developments. That night I did not sleep due to the excitement of travelling.

The day was Friday. The flight was by Kuwait Airways. I was dressed in my best, in a green striped shirt having collars like the ears of a donkey. They allotted me the last but one seat, the middle seat on the left of the aircraft. Young and sexy looking girls in uniforms and with caps on their heads were moving inside the aircraft, receiving everyone’s glances. It was my maiden flight. I have seen aircrafts only in the sky, from the ground. One of the girls offered me chocolates and a glass of orange juice. I was not in any mood. I drank the juice with great aversion. The chocolates were deposited in my pant pocket. She asked me to tie a belt called the seat belt. I struggled with it. She helped me in fastening it around my thin waste.

Some melancholy music was being played, adding to the sorrow of my heart. They were doing some safety demonstrations. I did not pay any heed. It was time to leave the ground. The aircraft started to move along the concrete apron for some time and it halted at a far away place. The engines made big noise and the aircraft moved with enormous speed and we were in the sky. My heart pounded. I prayed for safety. As the roaring engines made noise systematically, my heart grew lonesome in that crowd of passengers. I did not know what was in store for me at Dubai. I chanted God’s name, as the jet engines pierced the white clouds, hanging like bundles of cotton.

During the flight, the Captain of the aircraft announced something which I failed to understand. They served breakfast and an English movie was shown on a screen. I felt strange.

The Dubai International Airport looked small with sand stretching on the sides.

Vehicles were moving like specks on the roads and I noticed that they were following “Keep Right” traffic laws.

The plane landed at the Dubai airport. At last, I was in a foreign land, in the United Arab Emirates. I stood in the queue at the immigration counter. I was impatiently looking for the sponsor to turn up with my visa. I became nervous. At last, an Arab in the local attire was calling out my name. I raised my hand. He took me to the immigration office and did all the formalities and took my passport with him. He seemed t be a man with authority as I was cleared very fast.

There was a sandstorm raging while the white Mercedes car of the sponsor moved along the roads of Dubai. My spirits further descended to low ebb as the car moved along the new and strange surroundings. The Mercedes car moved on very well constructed roads.

The sponsor arranged hotel accommodation for me. The manager of Hotel Satwa was also in the local Arab dress but without the head wear. He called the boy “Abu Bakr, take sir’s luggage and allot him room no: 10”. He spoke in Malayalam. I was relieved to find a Malayalee there. He was the first Malayalee I met with, but I did not know then, how many Malayalees had migrated to that land of opportunities for making their lives.

That was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

In the evening I sat at the corridor of the hotel in the first floor. The black and white TV was showing "The Six Million Dollar Man". I was also there in that country for a few dollars.

The Arabian Nights had befallen.