Morning Roadie

6:00 am – 6:45 am/ Sohar – Shinas

Early morning taxi ride is not a bad idea. The taxi comes at 5:55am. I will be the first one to get in. The ‘it’ will enter after some considerable time. That time (3-5 minutes) is enough for Abdu to get all worked up. He sometimes wakes up all the inmates of the expat block by honking his horn. He is quite impatient like the Airtel kids. We start at 6am. The roads will be pretty much deserted. When we reach Lulu roundabout I will give a missed call to HDD.’it’ will make the backseat of the car a bed and will be in deep sleep. It takes 10 minutes from Gayl-Ash-Shibool to Falaj where HHD resides. On the way, I usually check out whether the S car is ahead of us. I know that even Abdu is interested in knowing the GPS of the S car. Sometimes we get a chance to engage in a NFS with the S car. I also have the habit of looking at the ad-banners at Safeer Mall and the checking out the construction progress of the new Centerpoint near Safeer roundabout. HHD will be waiting near her flat. ‘It’ n me wishes her good morning. She responds to both of us. Abdu will now hit the Dubai road without wasting any time. HDD takes out the Green, red, white prayer books and will begin her spiritual journey. ‘It’ will go back to her sleep and I will sit in the front looking at the road ahead.From Falaj to Liwa is again another ten minutes. We reach Liwa around 6:20. Liwa roundabout is something which fascinates me. I used to see one of my student standing there waiting for the taxi. His name is also Abdu. I have heard from his friends that he is living in a faraway place surrounded by mountains. Anyway he is a punctual student.

Most of the days the journey is eventless. Certain days we engage in a conversation but those days are few. Each one will be pre-occupied by some thought or the other. If he is in good mood Abdu will joke with me. He likes to listen to the Holy Koran and he seeks my help to fine tune the Abu Dhabi FM station on the radio.

We do see some police cars in the morning and Abdu will ask me to wear the seat belt. Abdu’s normal speed is 120. One he spots the S car then he is pushes it to 140. Anyway he has to reduce his speed when he sees the Speed Radars. Police cars are also seen at accident sites. During rainy season police monitor the Wadi’s and gives the necessary information regarding the water level.