Chaotic Rain in Dubai, UAE

14th January and 15th January will be etched in the minds of the residents of United Arab Emirates. And more so in the minds of the residents who were on the road that day, driving or were being driven around. Anyhow, I remember a conversation with my colleagues. President Bush was visiting Dubai on 14th January 2008. It was raining crazy that day in Dubai, while me and my colleagues were in Sharjah, where it wasn't raining as much. On the radio we hear that it has been declared a public and private holiday in Dubai. So we all started having our own discussion, because there were rumours that the holiday was declared because of raining. But later on in the evening we got to know about the real reason why it was declared an off. It was due to security reasons because of Bush's visit. Once we found this out, we started joking about the whole rumour that the holiday was because of the rain. I mean never had we heard anything more outrageous than this in UAE, that because of rain it has been declared a public holiday. Little did we know that soon we would be the butt of all jokes. According to reports and all, the rain in those two days in UAE, broke every past record. It rained the whole night on 14th January. On 15th January I was getting ready as usual, for my internship. It was supposed to be our last day at office in sharjah, so we had decided we'd treat our office staff, and then in the afternoon goto our college in Academic City Dubai for our final project report submission. Keeping all the plans in our mind, we decided to move out by 8am. That would give us enough time to collect the eatables (for the treat), pick up my colleagues and make our way to office to reach by 9am. But I was so wrong... a mere 5 mins trip to my first colleague's place took 1 hour. Yes, I could not believe it myself. Being a very impatient driver, I started shouting and cursing, and this continued for the 1st half an hour. But soon it finally sunk into me that whatever it is that I do today, the roads will be jam packed, and instead of getting frustrated, I could try enjoying the weather and songs on fm. So me and my colleagues started with our day, a day we will never forget ever. We finally reached office around 12pm instead of the initial plan of 9am. Soon around 1pm we start moving to go to our college in Dubai. I start the car, and it's exactly 1.11pm showing on the dashboard. So one of my colleague (who happens to be cricket crazy) says- 'Hey that's unlucky Nelson, can u restart the car?' So as the superstitious fool that I am, I restart the car- just with one problem, the car never restarted. None of us knew what the problem was, but we were hoping that it would get solved by itself. We opened the bonnet, and I asked the same colleague of mine- 'So we have managed to open the bonnet, but do you know what's to be done?' He replied with a straight face-'No'. So the way we opened the bonnet, with the same helpless attitude we closed it back again. But this time, I sit back on the driving seat, and I noticed that the gear of the car was on REVERSE. Like come on, how can I be so stupid man!!! Obviously if the car is in the reverse gear, it won't start. So, I put it back on Parking gear and after laughing at our stupidity we finally started on our way to our college in Dubai. I am a very fast driver, but that day you could say that I was the most careful driver that this world could ever see. Well okay, now that's an exaggeration, but still. The roads were not visible, trust me, we could just see water water everywhere. It was as though instead of a car, we were riding a boat, and instead of the road, we were sailing in the river or something, with actual real waves washing down your car. Now unluckily, that day I was driving a saloon car, where as all the other four wheelers and trucks and all were driving at the speed of light spilling water all over us (I mean it seemed like they were as fast as the light, because we ourselves were so slow). Somehow that day we got back home safely, without any problems. But in the afternoon I was 3 hours on the road. But that was nothing compared to other people, who were almost 6-8 hours on the road, making their way through the traffic. Well now to come to the final part, where me and my friend became the butt of all jokes. Remember how we were laughing as to how can there be a public holiday declaration cause of rain? Well surprise surprise, the next day was given as a public holiday for the schools. And most of the companies in Sharjah declared an off. Just to give you the feeling of how chaotic the situation in UAE was, here are a few photos...