Walk by the Beach

Here I am, walking on Jumeira Kite Beach, barefoot, on a Saturday morning. The day has just started. Most of the people are still in their beds, or sipping early morning tea/coffee.

There's supposed to be a volleyball match today and a barbeque lunch on the beach. Where are the people? It's still early and I haven't seen anybody yet. And so, I walk on the cold, soft sands.

After being here for 7 months, it never ceases to amaze me how sands can be so cold. In M'sia, the sun is burning hot. The sands are always hot too. Hence, I always associate sands with high heat.

Amidst the sophisticated city of Dubai, it's easy to forget that Dubai is by the beach. Yet, whenever I visit it, I will always fall in love  with it, over and over again. It's so blue, so clear and so calm. How is this possible? Isn't it a peninsular? I thought waters like these only existed on secluded islands. Like Mauritius, or Redang, or Phuket islands.

As I walk further on, I saw a guy in his mid fifties, pulling fishes out of his fishing net. Wow! One can actually fish by the beach too? Hmm Hmm.. that's news! Look! There's a crab too! He caught the crab with his nimble fingers, caught hold of its pincers, and broke them off with a loud 'snap'. The crab's 'claws', winched and moved with a life of its own for a few minutes as it fell onto the wet sands. Oh no! The poor crab! Did it feel any pain? Does a crab have nerves?

The fishes too, they peered longingly towards the sea, with a look that said, "What am I doing here? I want to go back into the ocean!" and jumped a few centrimentres of the ground before falling back down to earth.

Apparently, this guy, an Iranian, loves fishing by the beach. He comes here about three times a week, just to set his net in the night, when the waters rise, goes back home, have a deep, long sleep, and comes back the next day to check on his catch.

It's easy to catch live seafood here without any bait, he says. When the waters recede, the fishes will get trapped. Do you want some fish? he asks.

I'd love to, I answered silently. Instead, I replied, Um... I can't. I'm meeting up with friends, and I can't possibly carry live, jumping fishes in my bag. I'll drop by another day to have a share of your catch the next time around. Thanks for the offer!

The sight of this old man, releasing fishes from his brown net, is a rare one indeed. A little boy walking with his mum, runs over to us.

"What's this?" he asks.

"It's a crab! A big, blue crab!" the old man answers. "Do you want to take it back home?"

"Yes!" the boy answers as he picks up one of the crab's claws. He moves both parts of it in opposite directions, left and right, up and down.

"Mum? Can I take it back home to fight with my brother?" he asks, as he picks up another claw.

The mum gently rejects the boy's suggestions. "You can't take it back. Leave it to this uncle who'll eat it for his lunch."

The little boy groans. "Awwww...... what a pity! and it'd make such a good weapon too!"

Trust children to come up with creative ideas for play!