Dancing Fountain

The entrancing performance of light, music and water that has changed the face of Dubai forever.

Anyone that happens to visit Dubai should check out the Dancing fountain at the Dubai mall. I loved it. I remember visiting it with my friends and family. Then whenever I used to feel tensed/lonely/depressed I used to drive to the Dubai mall and sit and watch the dancing fountain (usually on the weekdays when there were less people). It was soothing.

The songs that are played (or atleast were played when I was in Dubai were : a song in Swahili. I know it’s Swahili as my friend, Ilham from Tanzania spoke Swahili. Then there was the Arab world’s top-selling dance number Shik Shak Shok and the signature piece of world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Con te partiro (Time to Say Goodbye).

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Global Village- it’s a crazy place where people smile and laugh and are generally pleased.

Since childhood, every year I used to visit the Global village with my family. It was held every February as the weather at that time of the year in Dubai is cool and breezy, ideal for strolling in an open area.

For those who aren’t aware of what global village is:

Since there are people from many nationalities living in the U.A.E. there are  merchandises from different countries at the many national pavilions in Global Village.  Other than that there are breathtaking live performances, mouth-watering cuisine and authentic handicrafts,  thrilling rides, games and firework displays, to complete ones visit.

We lived in Fujairah, which is a 2 hour drive from Dubai. So I remember waking up at about 11 on a Friday for Friday prayers then getting ready to go to Global Village which opened at 4 p.m. Almost every time we reached on time because we had to go back to Fujairah too.

Firstly we used to head straight towards Pakistani pavilion, being Pakistanis, for food (as the clothes and accessories over there were ones we had already seen and  bought from Pakistan on our vacations.) I was proud that people shopped for marbles and clothes from Pakistan’s pavilion.  Each country’s pavilion demonstrates it’s culture:

Pakistani Pavilion

Indian Pavilon

Outside the African pavilion

Our next stop used to be the Indian pavilion because of it’s desi songs and dances. Then we used to head towards Chinese, Singaporean, Sri lankan (I insisted because those days my best friend was Sri Lankan), Japan, Syria, Jordan, Malaysia for shopping. There were scarfs, home items, and very many unique things. Like, there used to be a locket which had a grain of rice with our name on it. The man at the shop used to write whatever we asked for and placed the rice in a transparent locket. I don’t know what it’s called though. Some kind of calligraphy perhaps? 

Chinese pavilion

Towards the end we used to walk through the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia,Iraq, U.K., Kenya, France, Vietnam’s pavilions, not really with the intention of buying anything just plain sight seeing.

Our last stop used to be the rides section.

When we grew up I got to go twice to the Global Village in a year. One with my family and the other with my friends. Those days there wasn’t any entry fees so it was an ideal place for school-goers and teens. I remember I went with all of my 30 classmates and we wore our sunglasses at 10 p.m (we thought we looked cool and different :)).  No, I’m not being immature, I’m having fun. You should try it 😛 (Anonymous) 

  In the next post I will post more pictures of the Global Village taken by my dearest friend, Ayisha from Ayisha.i.photography.

Najma Aijaz, 2nd April, 2012

Fun. It’s this crazy thing where people smile and laugh and are generally pleased. I could have sworn I saw you smile at least once. 🙂  (Aggy Bird quote)

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Fun in the desert- Desert Safarii

Being raised in U.A.E. meant that I spent many of my childhood years playing in the desert sand (only during winters though). Some time back, there was a lucky draw at pizza hut to promote P-zone in which I won tickets for six for the desert safari :).

This is the arrangement at night for dinner after we are done with all the activities. It was beautiful listening to soft music under dim lights with cool breezy air.

Sand dune bashing: It was one  hell of a ride! It’s first activity that’s done at the desert safari:

The music played during sand dune bashing was Arabic which made the experience more fun. It seemed like the car was ‘dancing’ with the music.

                                               Our driver was a local (not surprising as Emaratis absolutely love this sport).

Next there was quad biking which was the first time for me.

Camel riding at the desert safari

To showcase the country’s culture there are Emarati women putting henna on the ladies and wearing traditional outfits.

And of course, there’s sheesha (I don’t really like it personally). 

Tanoora dance

Tanoora dance

 

 sufi music performance with lights

U.A.E.’s national bird: Falcon

It was a once in a lifetime experience. Something anyone should do if they happen to go to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Everything was just amazing.. the activities, the people and the food :). It’s also a way to know more about the culture and traditions of the people of the Emirates.

There are different packages for Desert Safaris with different timings but the activities are usually the ones that I have mentioned. It’s always a lot more fun going in winters.

 Najma Aijaz, 30th March 2012

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Asian parents Vs European Parents ?!

As said in my earlier posts, I have lived in U.A.E. for many years, which means I had the privilege to meet people from various different nationalities.
Once I was with my friends at the Dubai Creek Park when we came across an elderly couple from U.K. They were tourists and since it was winter at that time they were loving the weather (because the winter in U.A.E. is like the summer in U.K.). We talked about places in U.A.E. and some known places in U.K. which me and my friends knew from the stories we read at school (At that time I hadn’t been to U.K.).
Then our conversation went to the differences in our lifestyles. They said their son and daughter in law live in a house with one son, whose very cute. But it’s not like it is in most Asian countries where after retirement, parents stay with their kids. They said it’s very unlikely that their daughter in law would tolerate them for more than a week. And they said, most of their time is spent in travelling. Their next stop being Thailand. They complained about the teenage girls being pregnant in U.K. and overall the lifestyle of the youngsters over there. Me and my friends were a little shocked as we thought that the Europeon people prefered this way of living. They prefered to stay on thier own, being independent all their life.

Anyways, when I went to Dubai Pharmacy College after some years. There were teachers from Pakistan, India, U.K., France etc. We were sitting in the college’s cafe and again a similar debate started.

But this time the teacher from U.K. got emotional, stood up and said: ‘I bet none of you people staying away from your parents call them everyday. Well, let me tell you, I call my mom every single day’. Plus, the Indian teacher told us about how even in our countries we see numerous cases where the people literally tell their parents to get out of the house. Even here in Pakistan every once in a while there’s a case being shown on telly where they show parents living in Edhi (an organisation).

So, I don’t really think we should pinpoint people from specific nation and say that they don’t love their parents as much! The kids that do love their parents will show care towards them in their own way and those who don’t, won’t, no matter from where they are.

Najma Aijaz,  22/03/2012

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Bucket list adventure

I am so glad my article was published at http://www.bucketlistpublications.com: http://www.bucketlistpublications.com/2012/02/23/skydive-dubai/

Najma Aijaz

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United Arab Emirates

I have been born and brought up in U.A.E.  I  lived there for 20 years until I shifted to my home country, Pakistan,  last year in August.

One of the traits that I loved in the people of U.A.E. was their simplicity. The way they used to sit down and eat rather than eating on a dining table. I have even seen the Sheikhs eating while sitting down on the desert sand. I like the term  عا جزی in Urdu more than it’s meaning, humility,  in English. It describes more of what I am trying to say.

Speaking of which, reminds me that once someone asked me a trait which is found in human beings but not in Allah. I didn’t know the answer plus I got anxious too. I mean what trait could be in human beings but not in HIM (the Almighty). The answer to this was عا جزی (humility).  Beautiful isn’t it?

Here are some pictures which I took at the Hatta museum which demonstrated how Arab people live (even at this day and age).  They may use cars now instead of camels, they may live in air conditioned houses now but they still are so deeply rooted to their traditions and customs and most importantly, their religion, Islam.

Simply beautiful and something that I would want people of my country to have.

Room for guests.

Desert, while going to Dubai

Najma Aijaz  25th January 2012

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Believe that you can do anything you put your mind to… even FLY!

Once upon a random day of May 2011. I was going through Facebook. I came across my friend, Juhi’s , video of her skydiving. I loved it! I realized it was something I would want to go for too.  Next step was to convince my parents. It wasn’t ‘that’ hard.  Deep down, when they saw Juhi’s video, they too wanted me to do it. I just know it. Anyways so off I went and did sky diving above the Palm Island of Dubai, U.A.E.  Yipppieeeeeee 😀

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