The cool mornings and windy winter evenings continue to pamper us sun-burnt
people of the Middle East. We make the most of this climate, which visits us only for a brief period and
later gives way to THE SUN (and not summer as they call it in other parts of
the world).
So
on a cool sleep-worthy weekend, we went on a walk at the Muscat Festival
grounds. I sacrificed my precious afternoon nap for this, so this festival
better be worth it, I thought. Luckily for them, it was. It was also good to
see families laughing away the stress and spending quality time with each other
without those lines of stress on their foreheads… they may have applied anti-ageing
cream, we’ll never know. And there were also people in Disney cartoon costumes
walking about the park posing with the kids which was a blessing to all parents
who had come just to let their hair down. The kids were also overwhelmed in
knowing that they had come to the same place that Mickey Mouse chose to spend
the weekend. My son accepted the bribe and even agreed to eat dinner.
There
were donkey, horse and camel rides. Donkey rides were available for toddlers
and young children. My son was terrified of the donkey, but agreed to take the
ride if I joined him. He probably didn't notice the tired face of the malnourished
donkey which could die the moment I even think about sitting on it.
Camels looked too tall for a smooth (peaceful) ride and I refused to take it so we were even. No animals were harmed at the festival grounds.
Of
course there was a place where we could shop for authentic stuff that are
usually not available at malls and branded stores. This time I skipped that
area because experience has taught me that if I buy something, I’d have to pay for my sin by carrying the bag myself
hours inside the festival grounds resulting in sore hands and thus bringing back
the lines on the forehead. I missed my son’s stroller. I used to dump all my
shopping bags in it. Sigh. Around forty five minutes later I started craving
for a stroller myself.
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| Image Courtesy: Google Images. |
One
of the iconic crowd puller shows at the festival was the motordrome, otherwise called the ‘Wall of Death’ wherein four motorists rode their bikes at high speed in a metal dome structure, defying gravity and senses of the onlookers. My son got so excited that he wanted to ride
his tricycle inside it. Sometimes the motorists rode so close to each other and
sent waves of ecstasy through the crowd but it left me rather terrified. I told
hubby ‘I may not be looking sometimes, okay?’ (I think he chose not to hear me).
I covered my eyes with my hands. Watching through the gap between my fingers was reassuring. That was when one of the motorists started waving at the crowd with both hands. I watched him with sheer
disbelief and exclaimed ‘Look at this guy…don’t you think this is too much? May
be he lost the will to live or something’.
And
hubby replied ‘Yeah, he is married’.
