The Very First time!!!

It is always scary; the first time around. You don’t know what to expect, you don’t know how to go about it, you don’t know the level of skill required at your end...and you are wary of the experience so blatantly displayed by others! 

So, day before yesterday was  a scary morning for me...i had spent a few minutes looking at Wojhati, and then speaking to the RTA contact centre representative, getting an idea of what i should be asking for at the Metro station...it was going to be my first metro ride all alone, and only second ever! I have no nol cards, and wasn’t sure if i would be able to travel without one. I wanted to thank my friends Biju and Luke for having come to our reunion last year by Metro- since we met them there; i knew MoE for sure has a metro station on the Carrefour side.

It was going to be a long day, and using my experience from travelling in other cities in public transport, i carried another bag with my papers and water bottle (4 hours later, i wished i had kept a cereal bar too!).

I parked at MoE (Carrefour side!!- very important if you are using Metro to make to an appointment) and looking at my watch, guessed i had enough time. For my 11.45 appointment in Garhoud, i was at MoE at 10.30!

Finally i gathered all my papers once again, shoved them in the bag and got out of the car, double checking that i had everything i might need for the next couple of hours. As i walked in, i felt good, not really scared but apprehensive if i would be able to do it or would i have to reschedule my appointment at the last minute...I reconfirmed form the Customer Service the location of Metro station and started walking to the first floor. Close to Jacky's when you imagine (only the first time around!) that you will now enter the Metro premises, i realised it was a long 10 minutes’ walk. I looked at the others who were coming out, into the MoE, the 'pros' in the field and wondered if they all were coming for work or for pleasure. There were young Filipinos, dressed smartly in their work clothes, and there were young Arab mothers with their kids in tow, mother-daughter duo, some tourists with maps (didn’t anyone tell them that Dubai is a constant work-in-progress??? Maps don’t work here!!!!) and cameras in hand...I made my way to the Information counter and told the lady  i wanted to go and come back from Garhoud. The kind Filipina advised me that i would need a red ticket (I knew that from RTA call centre too) and the total fare would be AED 15.

Now, I have never been to Rashidiya as such but knew that it is the side i have to go to. I have never liked travelling by trains essentially because i always wondered how do i make sure i am in the right train...they do not usually carry names everywhere, nor do the staff check your tickets to make sure you are on the right train, before you are midway through your journey!! This was still my biggest worry. However, RTA has made it so simple by clearly marking which platform the train to Rashidiya will arrive at. I took the escalator and went up. It was not the rush hour and i was thankful for that. I wanted to sit in the Ladies and Children only cabin for my maiden journey across town! I had full five minutes to figure out its location- again, even when the train has not arrived, the location of the cabins is clearly marked, only if you have the time to find it out. I nodded to a fellow passenger  with a quick smile and proceeded to pick up a copy of Read, the free magazine for Metro users.

In flat five minutes, the train arrived. And as if by magic, the Security dressed in the very familiar army green uniform of the Dubai Police hovered around the ‘Ladies and Children only’ cabin to make sure men did not get into that, and if they did, they were politely guided to use the next cabin instead.

There was ample standing space and fewer seats. Soon, at the first stop itself, i found a seat and perched myself at my observation deck. Whether it was Athens or Paris (the two places where we extensively used the Metro), or now Dubai, the one thing that always makes me wonder is the people...if i could, i would want to know each one's story. We were in Athens at Christmas and apart form noticing the skin coloured stockings that all the women wore and their unwaxed arms (just an observation, no offence intended), I saw most of them were carrying gifts...Body Shop gift bags being the commonest, and sometimes, a bigger bag with multiple gifts- i wondered where were they coming from and where were they going to, who were those gifts for, from mother to daughter or aunt to niece or mother-in-law to daughter-in-law...i was fascinated by their courtesy and smiles and yet aloofness...Yesterday i noticed Filipinas- some dressed for office, some as Sales Staff, and yet others as probably domestic help? And there were some other nationalities too which i could not figure out by the colour of their skin. But it was great to see that there was a very mixed traveller profile- by nationality, by age, and by the reason of their travel. I could not help noticing their Nine West bags and some very interesting shoes. A young girl in an off shoulder top and unmade hair was wearing flip-flops, while the Filipina next to her in black leggings and a smart top was wearing shiny red wedges with black heels with an interesting hole in the centre of the heel for a design....I wondered why so amny of them had an iPod with them- how much do they want to stay immersed in their own world even when they come out of it? And those who didn’t were busy chattering on the phone, nonstop...the lady next to me took out her notebook and kept on writing some things to do, some schedules…I could not figure out her handwriting exactly…

In all, it was interesting, safe and though it stopped at every possible destination it could, and left me looking at my watch every 2 minutes or so hoping i would not be late; in flat 40 minutes, i was in Garhoud- having thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was very happy I had spared myself the agony of driving through Dubai traffic.

Only problem, there were no signboards pointing to my destination when i got out of the Metro station- God bless that man whom i stopped on the road and asked for the same....10 minutes’ walk and i was there, just in time for my appointment.

In all, highly recommended, if you do not mind spending better part of the morning on one appointment. I feel more confident of the Metro now, provided it is not the rush hour! I wonder though why all Metro stations do not have parking, and why they have not used their golden outdoor surfaces for harnessing solar energy....My return journey was smoother and as interesting though i did not have the time to find the ‘Ladies only’ cabin, more people got in than got out, some were standing, lesser were seating (i wonder why there are so few seats in the Metro) ...i was back just in time to do some rushed shopping at Home centre (it was last day of their sale!), grab a sandwich and get out before my free four hours of parking got over!