Someone patted on my head, “get up, put your shoes on…get up, we are about to abscond”. I left my indolent slumber and was prompt on my legs. The clock showed me 0200 hours I rubbed my blow and went in the territory where I was expecting huge traffic ie. in the wash room but to my surprise and good fortune, I discovered it vacant. “In approaching 15 minutes, the two wash rooms will be in great demand”, though no one heard, my mind said to me. I was the one who took the chequered flag. Manju mausi told me to wake her daughter up and I knew I have to summon up great muscular power to wake her damn heavy body Somehow I managed her, to her legs. Though no one extolled me but I praised myself for that muscular task but there was Guddu who needed more power to disturb his slumber. He was lying on the sofa. I badgered him but failed My future prediction came true and other members of my family wished for vacant washroom
One by one we came out of the hotel. Urmila mausi showed her anger and concern as her spouse was not present but soon her anger got abated, Pratap mausa was the last person to exit. We inaugurated that day early to sojourn the turtle beach. If you are planning to visit the same then make sure about the timings. We knew that the entry to the turtle beach will get closed by 0400 hours and that was the only reason we inaugurated that day before sur birds made their inauguration. We, haplessly took a wrong turn and after a damp squib we were finally at our desired destination. Navigator in Yukon and in Ambu’s phone helped us in our endeavour. I saw many other turtle fans waiting there and after making a surrender of 3 OMR per person we too joined them.
Then came an Omani men wearing anklelength, collarless white gown with long sleeves and a resplendent turban on his head. He was the guide who enlightened us and took the responsibility to carry us to the beach where a fortunate encounter with the turtles was awaiting us. We were allowed to capture photos but the camera or mobile flash should not spark. That caught my attention,”digital cameras won’t get success without indispensable flash”, my mind commented, personally again Then we did dandi march with an Omani Gandhi Surprised….In dilemma I’ll elaborate for you. Actually, “dandi march with an Omani Gandhi” was my assume which my mind developed during that crawl from reception of turtle beach to the turtle beach. Our Omani guide made me feel him, Gandhi. At that time he was our leader and we did as he ordered. Mechanically, by our respective legs, we made the inception of our march to the beach where we were expected by some turtles. Omani men, with a small torch in his hand was leading us and we all followed. It was still dark and I even couldn’t see the nearby environment or surroundings but could feel the noises of the tides. Initially, during that march no one spoke anything to each other. “Itni raat ko turtle dekh ne ke liye 2 baje jag gaye aur khas baat, koi chu tak nahi kar raha, Anshu tak chup hai “, my mind commented to me, personally My eyes caught a sight of a water bottle and that developed a thirsty sensation in my Adam’s apple. I took it from bunty and satisfied my thirst. Guddu’s Adam’s apple also got the thirsty sensation and he took the bottle from my hand and began to carry it after satisfying his thirst. I said to Guddu,”give this bottle to someone else, give it to Ashie amma”. He said, “why ?”. I said, “it is not giving the proper feeling…this bottle is giving birth to many other dirty thoughts”. He bursted into laughter ( Here,Indians will comprehend better, the reason why Guddu laughed ) He, quite intelligently passed the bottle to Ashie amma and did not took it again and soon that water bottle became a problem The national dress of Omani men was the only visible object that I could see from far behind. We followed him just as the followers of Gandhi followed Mahatma Gandhi in his world famous historical Dandi march, without much questioning. So, that march was termed by me as “Dandi march by an Omani Gandhi”.
We reached near sea shore and he (Omani man) showed us a turtle. We remained astonished to see the massive dimension of the turtle. People took their respective cameras and looking that, the Omani mam proclaimed,”no flash please”.”It is dangerous for the eyes of the turtle, don’t use flash”, was the reason given behind not using the camera on flash mode by that same Omani man. We then visited another turtle and captured it in our cameras. Photos, obviously were not coming clear and for the same reason some people started clicking with flash and for the same they were punished, their cameras were taken by the turtle beach authority. I was also among them but it was an accident and not a deliberate endeavour. The turtle began its departure by crawling towards sea and I wished him bon voyage. The sun was gaining supremacy and within no time we saw the vast sky and the deep blue sea. Urmila mausi updated me with the best time for visiting the turtle beach ie. September and you should also make a mental note, if you wish to explore the turtle beach in Oman. After clicking several pics we egressed the turtle beach. We came to the hotel again to gain some slumber and after succeeding we made the final checkout.
After gain some energy and sleep we visited a beach (can’t recall the name now ) The most notable feature of that beach was it’s fabulous blue water. We then reached Wadi Tiwi and statistically speaking, we captured zillions of pics. We did not enter water as we did in Wadi Shab (see Day: 2) but Ambu luxuriated in water . Now it was time for us to leave for Muscat, and we did.
In Muscat, an Indian Naval ship was halted and we came to know about the same. INS Viraat and it’s importance got feathers when we came to know that it was the same ship in which our nucleus, Pratap Mausaji used to work when he was serving the Indian Navy. ” An ex- INS Virrat fellow”, my mind commented, again personally. We glimpsed it from far and saw some planes, helicopters and many crew members on INS Viraat. A unique kind of glow embellished Pratap Mausa’s face. We then, took help of some Ice creams to beat the scorching heat of the sun.
We entered Bait Muscat and in the the evening, after church we went to have dinner outside. Bahadur uncle joined us too. End.
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