Appooppanthaadi -56

I could not stop marvelling at myself! Where have I reached? In the same posture, exactly 3 years back I was typing one of the many Desert Living stories on my laptop that I have been propagating all these days. It is the same box type accommodation for me here too -it can be something like 15 feet length and 10 feet width with a cushioned bed of 3 feet width. Leaning against the pillows and the personal computer on my lap, I am watching the television  while making the stories, exactly how I did 3 years back. The only difference is that there in Syria, I was forced to watch only "Rakhi ka Swayamvar" everyday but here there are a good package of Malayalam, Tamil and Telgu channels to enjoy

Much more water flew in Periyar river since then. I traveled just like an 'appooppanthaadi' later on. It went to Europe, twice to China and then over to a totally unexpected place. Is it where a free flying object supposed to get holed up? It could be like one of many paradoxes in life. Unavoidable sometimes.

 

Finally I reached the Island. The Das Island. It is located around 150 kilometers off the main land UAE. The length and breadth of this piece of land, situated somewhere in the Persian Gulf are just 2.4 and 1.5 kilometers respectively. This island is much closer to Qatar and Iran

 People in this part of the world lately have developed a penchent for creating land in the sea. There are a number of such islands in the Emirate of Dubai. The Palm Jumeira is one of the finest examples of such unconvenstional ways of thinking and executing things in the world by the oil rich rulers. Land has been created in sea in the shape of a palm tree - not one but three - using dredging. It was not the compulsion of space crunch but in all probability it was just the fancy for doing something out of the box. Anyway, as the adage goes, if there is hair, we can style it as we please. Here, hair is replaced by money - and money makes all the difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Jumeirah

Das Island is however not an artificial one anyway. It had even a hill once upon a time. Like in any place in the Persian Gulf, here too the terrain is sandy and rocky. This small strip of land was once used by turtels and some migratory birds to nestle and rear their off-springs. Unfortunately for them, human beings have reached here too. As is expected, the human beings never care for others. That has happened exactly this way here too. They razed the hill. They dropped big boulders and concrete blocks all around the land to prevent sea erosion. They distroyed whatever the other creatures used for their existance. Let others go to dogs. Let the God, on whom every human being vouches for, take care of these living things. If God is so worried, let Him make new abodes for them. We have no time, we have to make development for a brighter future of the mankind!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Island

Das Island houses a crude oil and  natural gas processing plant and loading facilities. Abu Dhabi's oil and gas resources are tapped from their large wells named Um Al Shaif and Zakum. The high pressure crude oil and gas reach from these off-shore rigs through sub-sea pipeleines. This raw oil and gas is processed in Das Island facility. The major process is the removal of water from the oil and gas. The treated oil and gas are seperated from each other and then loaded on to the big vessels waiting in the sea. So, this Island may be called the power house of Abu Dhabi's economy. The major income for the Emirate is derived from the oil and natural gas exported from here. The other 6 Emirates are not blessed with such a huge quantum of natural resourses.

 

I took a plane to reach here from Abu Dhabi. It was a 40 seater turbo propelled air craft that took hardly 30 minutes to reach the Island. Das Island has an air strip also. There are 4 to 5 trips per day to and from Abu Dhabi Aviation Airport operated by the aviation department of Abu Dhabi. The travel to this island is free of cost  but one has to go thorogh a lot of government and military security formalities to get the travel documents cleared. Once cleared, we get an identity card, using whick, we can travel up and down as we need depending on the availabilty of seats on the plane

 

 

The plane shook violantly upon landing. While standing on line at the Abu Dhabi airport, all the passengers were seen picking ear plugs from the . I too picked a pair. I guessed, this might be needed on board the aircraft. I was expecting big noise inside while taking off and during the flight. Luckily, it was just like any other flight. 

There are around 6000 people - all men- living here. All are accommodated in the island.  Argueably this tiny piece of land is a place where people from all around the world can be spotted. Perhaps, it may not be difficult to find at least one person each from the 206 countries. 

The all familiar porta cabins are lines up on either side of the air-strip. So many, even one upon the other. I saw them in Qatar and then in Syria . These tiny boxes have everything inside that include a refrigerator, an air conditioner, kettle, tea bags, a bath room, a toilet, a water heater, a television besides bed, chairs and table.  What else we need to have a laid back life? But don't be misled. These facilities are extended only to the creamy layer of the work force. The hard working group, as usual gets a raw deal. They get air-conditioned, shared accommodation with minimal facilites.  

 

These birds are seen hovering around in less numbers

There is a big mess that serves a wide variety of food - all for free. One can eat as much as he wants. Dosa, Sambar, 'pulissery', 'avial', daal, rasam, aaloo gobi, roti, rice, many types of meat based dishes, vegetables, fruits, and sweets  are served  everyday. There are a number of shops that sell everything - from water bottles to Laptops to LCD TVs. There are two big mosques, two cinema theatres, play grounds, a bank, hair cutting saloons, Post office and mobile phone service provider's office.

The only thing that may be hard to find here is time. People come here, or rather are lured by the colour of dollars, only to work. Work for half of the day. The rest 12 hours for a little leisure, food and then sleep. The routine is non stop - there is no break on weekends. That is how the life in this island goes on

Photography is strictly prohibited. We are not allowed to bring cameras, mobile phones that have cameras or Laptops that have webcams. Security related restrictions are lot but in the internet, all information are available including a number of photographs. All the photos above are copied from the internet