The Gazelle's Gift - Abu Dhabi

 The region has  this reputation of  enjoying four  unique seasons  -  hot, hotter, hottest and hellish . 'Merciless Sun' comes with the Visa. And this trip to Abu Dhabi was undertaken in precisely that part of the year when its  not a shade below 41*C at anytime... with a  sandstorm in active mode too.  Lost our marbles ? Perhaps .

Great views from the Hotel room :  tall, spiky, glass & chrome skyscrapers  veiled in what could be construed as  lovely dawn fog , from the airconditioned comfort of the plush room . But, actually, its very fine sand, marring visibility and air-quality. 

Still, no complaints . Everything but the beach is airconditioned in Sheik-land. We were  under direct sun  for hardly 3 minutes at a time - just the dash from Taxi Stand to the entrance of any site. That itself was a fry-pan experience,  without a doubt, but , wonder of wonders , no sweating , no thirst ! And the brief baking helped us appreciate the practicality and comfort of the local attire , the roomy , billowing   Abayas and Kanduras.  

 Abu Dhabi , the Capital of  UAE , is the largest and wealthiest of the 7 Emirates that make up UAE,  an island located on the South Eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, on the Persian Gulf. Connected to the Mainland by three  multilane bridges. 

 Till  about 1930s , pearl diving was the only major economy here ! During late 1950s and early 1960s , Oil started gushing out , washing the  Emirates with its undying (or  undrying) munificence . Anywhere else , such wealth could have corrupted The Chief. Here, they had a Visionary as Chief. 

The desert dunes have yielded 7000 year old relics of  habitation , but even in the 17th century , only nomadic tribes traversed this harsh land , on their way to and from other distant lands. The historic moment of awakening happened in mid 17th Century when the  head of Al Nahyan family of the Bani Yas Tribe , followed a Sand gazelle aka Arabian Oryx  and discovered an Oasis . The rest is well recorded , well disseminated, well propagated, well done-to-death History. (You cannot escape the cover of the Great Sheikh's autobiographical book ,  anywhere you go ). 

The Oasis became Abu Dhabi ( = "Father of The Gazelle")  with the building of a watch tower to guard the precious water source . The Nahyan family , naturally , became the dynastic Royals. That watch tower , down the centuries, expanded into a Fort  that still stands at city center , surrounded by futuristic towers reaching into Space. The good Gazelle was never forgotten and the city planners see to it that visitors don't either . Huge paintings of  Gazelles and the Camels adorn most public walls and buildings that loom alongside the highways leading into the city ....... for good measure , a lovely metal sculpture of a  Gazelle greeted us  at the hotel lobby. 

A peculiar, but remarkable  sight : kilometers long stretches of white sand with scarcely any green , just small white mounds glistening here and there . Sand or  Salt ? Couldn't find out. The arid moonscape abruptly changes into a patch of manicured lush greenery for a short stretch, where some urban facility is situated , but gets back to moonscape as suddenly ! Really amazing how water resources are managed here - majorly, Desalination of seawater , treatment of used water and efficient use of ground water . No dearth  of  gardens and fountains and fancy pools  in The City ! 

THE LOUVRE

The primary motivation  for doing  this trip was  The Louvre Museum . Created through a partnership agreement between UAE and France , to exhibit  Art objects from the East and the West , borrowed from 17 French Cultural institutions , including the Parisian Louvre .  The Agreement  is from 2007 to 2047 . The Museum is housed in a building with a stunning geometric  dome roof ,  designed by Jean Nouvel ,  that filters natural light into a "Rain of Light", an effect  which reportedly mimics the play of light and shadows created under the desert palm trees. 

The aim of this museum is to showcase cultural achievements of the world from Prehistory to Present day , so exhibits are arranged not by geography but , thematically , in chronological order .  Stone-age graffiti ,  Olmec Head,  Greek marbles,  Egyptian Mummy ,  Chilean pot figurines, Benin and Chola Bronze ,  Arabic Astrolobes, SE Asian Buddha heads, the Impressionists , the American Modernists - everything . Though a relatively small museum , it took us more than 3 hours for just an overview. Did not go into the "Children's Museum" Section. 

The Museum also has a Research Center, Learning Resources for Schools, docent  Certification Courses and a Fellowship Grants Programme . And of course, a Museum Cafe ( yummy Mediterranean)  and a Museum Boutique (whopping pricetags)

Dont know if it was expressly built for the purpose , but a narrow runway between two pools near the Exit seems to attract a lot of young ladies to do a ramp walk there, posing and preening for Photographs and Reels ! A few even took trouble to dress up in  dreamy gowns for the do ! 

THE  QASR AL HOSN and The House Of Artisans. 

The Old  Fort is the oldest building in the City and blindingly white. The original is said to have had a wash of Lime+sand+crushed seashells , but at present it is white paint. The central open courtyard , with a few palm trees and some tall pedestals ( lamp posts ?) , is surrounded on three sides by corridors , with many rooms , in two floors . Rooms are small , personal effects used by the older Sheikhs' families ( furniture, books, radio , jars etc) are exhibited , with captions. Special reverence is shown to a dowager who is supposed to have been a guiding light to the clan . Antique hurricane-lanterns hang along the corridors . One curious architectural detail : the windows are all on the lower side of the room walls, just above the floor . The ceilings  seem to be made of bundled cane (or date fronds ?) laid across sturdy beams . It probably cut the heat . 

An  Outer Palace  was added to the Old Fort in 1935  .

The Fort has been made a nucleus around which a cluster of  spaces has been created , a Cultural Quarter to promotes indigenous  Traditions in art , poetry , music, dance, craft and  story-telling .

 Closest to the  doorway  of the Fort is the House Of Artisans , where live demos of heritage crafts like  Talli ( decorative lace making by hand ) , Khoos (palmleaf  braiding ) , Al Sadu (hand weaving) , fishnet and boat building etc. can be seen.  The Geometrical designs of Al Sadu are beautiful , woven of  black, white and brown wool. The craft is inscribed in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of  Urgent Safeguarding. 

Also , a  cosy bedouin tent , inside which coffee is roasted, ground , filtered and served the traditional way ( black, sugarless , with a sweet date to nibble on  before each sip). All with traditional brass vessels . Visitors sit on the cushions  in semicircle and follow instructions on how to greet, how to accept the cup, how to signal for refills, what the different ways of holding the cup can mean etc.The beans come from Ethiopia, India and Brazil. Nice strong coffee ....The traditional coffee cup is porcelain , without the handle, but visitors are served in paper cups only , to avoid breakages.....( Oops !  Committed a crass gaffe by crushing the paper cup with the date seed  in it ! Supposed to hand back the cup to the host and discard the seed in the basket outside the tent.  The nice man was not offended, because he had forgotten to tell us that sooner ! )

SHEIKH ZAYED GRAND MOSQUE : 

The Mosque is named for the most respected Founder of the UAE ( 1918 - 2004) , a Renaissance Man credited with bringing progress and development to the region. 

The idea was not to build , not just a humongous structure , but to "Unite The world", using artisans, craftsmen and materials from many countries , including India . The accent was on Natural materials : Marble, stone, gold, semiprecious stones, crystals and ceramics. In addition to being a religious site , it is also a meeting place of Cultures , promoting tolerance and cross cultural dialogue. It has become one of the top attractions in the world today , open to all . Except during Friday Prayers .  The open courtyard, the Main Hall and the Smaller Halls together can  reportedly hold  40,000 worshippers  . 

Since it is kept open till 10pm, most visitors throng the place after dusk , when there is some  breeze . A time when it is also lit up, glowing blue , like a fairy tale  palace. Right at the entrance is The Dome of Peace, which , from inside, is quite an impressive sight. This leads to The Souq Al Jami , a lively concourse of shops and cafes. 

There's a strict dress code all visitors need to observe to pass the checking point.  Anyone caught  improperly attired will be required to buy ( not hire)  a regulation  robe from one of the above shops . And then starts a l-o-n-g walk along a carpeted closed-corridor , lined on both sides with pictures of  famous people of various  religions and creeds of the world visiting the mosque. After the endless walk , a semi-endless escalator ride up to the verandah of the Mosque. 

Here you see it first, on the floor  : a  flowering vine gracefully creeping towards the side door. Stunning Mosaics of inlaid colored  stones , with delicate hues and shading , as in fine paintings ! More flowering vines climb up the many coloumns of the corridors around The Open  Courtyard (Sahan) , whose flooring is adorned with giant roses, tulips and lilies in the most pleasing colors and forms. The Capitals of the coloumns are fashioned like date palms. The floral stone inlays in the Al Noor Foyer becomes 3D . Here hang  the blingy  Chandeliers ; and stained glass lintels above doors. The Main Prayer Hall works magic with symmetry and is, expectedly, lavish with golden embellishments.  Also has the biggest Chandelier : 12meters diameter , 15meters height. Signboards explain The Qibla Wall , The Mihrab and The Minbar . 11 pearl-encrusted clocks, shaped like open flowers , in the other  halls , flash the  daily prayer timings digitally . 

The Mosque complex also has a "Light & Peace" Museum , a Sound and Light experience called "Diya" , an Exhibition Hall and an Al Jami Library , none of which we visited . Children can get a coloring and activity book with pictures based on the decorative aspects of the Mosque. 

What particularly impressed was the soft , unobtrusive Quran recitation over the public address system ,  said to be Live ,  that goes on 24/7 by relay . 

QASR AL WATAN 

If you thought  The Grand Mosque is Opulence , this Palace is Bling Overload . Part of a  380,000 Square meters complex, this Qasr is a Presidential Palace , meant only to host visiting foreign dignitaries and to hold major international and regional summits. The architecture is entirely  Arabic. Since the garden area is vast , visitors are given a bus ride from the taxi drop off point to the Palace entrance. Thankfully. 

The Great Hall is the first room you enter after the foyer and it is spell binding. A soaring Central Dome ,  high archways , curved glass panels, arabesque patterns,  walls of intricate mosaics and mirrored cubes at every corner . The Dome rises to a height of 60 meters , with a diameter of 37 meters. 

If the neck creaks with the strain  of looking up to take in all details , you can rest awhile on fancy , gilt framed sofas situated at discreet corners and watch the slick Photography Staff persuading visitors to get themselves photographed in the grand Press Room . 

Blue , White and Yellow are the Great Hall's  "Signature Colours" : Blue symbolising the waters of Arabian Gulf, Yellow for the Desert Sands and White, of course , is for Purity. 

High arched Portals , on all directions , lead to different Zones of the Palace . There's the zone for Official Meetings , the zone exhibiting gifts received from other Heads of State , the Banquet Hall Zone and The House of Knowledge , leading to The Library . This last is most interesting . The book shelves reach to the high ceiling . But most shelves are only sparsely populated. How do they fetch a book from the top shelf ? The Exhibits of Rare Books is truly interesting . The first modern map of Arabic peninsula ( 1561)by a Venetian cartographer , ancient astronomy and medical manuscripts , Pliny's encyclopedia of Natural History , antique copies of The Bible , an illustrated  log book from Charles Darwin's "Beagle" , a mid14th century Moroccan book on Statecraft , 15th century Spanish translation of Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives' , Collected Letters of Alfonso de Alboquerque ( yes, that Goa guy) , the Third Oldest Renaissance Globe , a 13th Century Egyptian translation of Euclid's 'Elements' , a 1588 account of  a Venetian jeweller who visited Indian and Arabian  pearling sites, which apparently has the first ever mention of the Bani Yas tribe. Spotted a label with a French title indicating something about India , but the book had been temporarily removed for restoration. 

In the same zone , an exhibition was on , about  Emirati  Astronomers who traveled to The International Space Station. 

In the palace too was heard piped Arabic songs that had a peppy beat. 

Finally ,  TEAMLAB PHENOMENA ( Universe of Living Art) . Currently, the world's largest Digital Art Museum . 

A multisensory  experience , a confluence of Art , Science and Technology , that has nothing to do with Abu Dhabi History or Culture.. Mostly playing with lights . Everything in darkness , "so new forms of perception are awakened".  Has a Dry Area and a Wet Area.  Includes an "experience",  EnTea ,  of sitting near a pond in total darkness , watching some floating lanterns and drinking a  beverage in a lighted up glass . What ? "Explores relationship between Self and The World" it seems. Well......

Will admit the "Order in Chaos" exhibit was interesting , like an enchanted forest . Did not understand the 'Levitation Void' at all . Situated on the waterfront of Saadiyat Cultural District , the museum building , a white, fluid , organic form , with curves and dips,  is an Artwork by itself . 

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Decided not to bother with the other listed  tourist sights  of Abu Dhabi : Ferrari World , Warner Bros and other Theme Parks  , Al Ain Oasis , the Beach , the Souqs , The Mangroves , The Abrahamic Family House, Founder's Memorial etc. 

Did visit the YAS MALL , one of Abu Dhabi's biggest shopping centers . Walked around till knees buckled , only to remember the "greek philosopher" who said he loved going to Markets just to see how many things he dint need . But , yes , one interesting eye-catcher : the crushed- paper mobile decorations  of weird shapes , hanging from the ceiling. Wonder if its charm will translate well in our home hall ?  

Surprisingly , lots of shoppers, on a weekday , midday . Black robed ladies , with bags and bags ! 

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Had to be in Dubai to take the flight home . In the available time,  visited a perfumery  made famous by Social Media Hype . The genius of a Keralite . Yusuf Bhai . Small place , packed with clamouring customers , all tourists . Glad a countryman made good , with a rare talent . 

The glitzy skyline of this super rich country can cause a jaw drop . Yet , thought always goes back to the workers and laborers who slog in grueling conditions to  realise the dreams and visions of kings and noblemen . They too , my countrymen ;  my neighbours. At the hotel front desk , at shop counters , behind Cab wheels, in restaurant kitchens , you see and hear them everywhere . Perhaps in Hospitals and Banks too . Books and Posters hail The Visionary's Dreams , the hands that enabled the Dreams hit Goal  go unsung. 

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