'No-Woman'Island!

It is a perfectly normal day for basking in the pleasant weather of a much awaited spring in the desert.  I am supposed to go to a project site located on a far off island to inspect the landscape works with a site engineer. I’m always happy to see a project I worked on, take shape on site.

Long unending desert roads lead us to this island, completely deserted in the real sense of the term!!!

On this big island, almost the size of Abu Dhabi, there is only one big palace building for which we have designed the landscape.After working in this region for so many years now, designing a garden for a palace on a private island has always been on my bucket list of dream projects.

We need to have security passes to visit this private island. The ID cards are deposited with a security guard who has a sinister undertone to his words. “No woman has gone on this island” he says!  “We need to double check the security papers”. I feel a slight chill passing through my spine. Sounds like an adventure! I reassured myself.

We need to drive another 50 kms along the mangroovy edges of the island. I must admit, mangroves are the most exciting landscape elements of this region. But the mangroves look a bit sparse today with their roots naked!  The tide is low.  I see hungry sea gulls soaring around occasionally breaking the silence of the fluid water.

We have to take a ferry to reach the heart of the island. We wait for the ferry boat to arrive on our side of the bank. The dry breeze teases my hair. Where am I! Is it a ghost town. I see no one around but an empty silence. Does it hold back a secret? The ferry boatman has dark drunken eyes. That’s all I can see of him. His face is covered. Far on the bank is a little dilapidated house with clothes hung out for drying! Who must be living here! 

We reach the other side. The ferry horn blows and startles me with a realization ... suddenly, I start feeling the eeriness in the air that I had not understood all this while!

The road shows signs for being careful about gazelles crossing by. And all of a sudden there’s a big herd of gazelles strolling around the island, sometimes in little groups running between the desert trees. The sea on one side, the blue sky above and the sandy landscape camouflaged by thousands of gazelles!!! The newborns have a wobbly walk; the older ones sit down for a sip of water. And for a while, my mind drifts back to a usual dreamy trance.

I see the palace structure further up.  It wears a ‘less used by humans’ look. It is because no one lives here! It’s a large empty building by the sea. Maybe the palace is trapped in a curse! Maybe the spirit of an old woman roams here on full moon nights… singing haunting melodies for her beloved…maybe her love story was left incomplete!  …that’s why she stops women from visiting the island! My mind is weaving stories…

But just then my eyes catch a glimpse of a sea of pigeons…about five thousand pigeons perched upon the roofscapes of the palace!!! This is totally thrilling, but my mind senses a tinge of creepiness to it! I am on an island, on a no-woman island, stranded with just about four men and thousand gazelles and five thousand birds!  It’s a scene out of a Hitchcock movie!!!

I finish my site inspections and prepare to leave. The site office is a broken down hut with a creaky doored toilet and a spider to accompany! As I step out, the site engineer asks me if I would like some tea. I suddenly imagine a strange looking boy, with a greased tea kettle and cups with dripping blood stains!!! --- “when’s your deadline?”’ he smirks…

I have to escape!!! I tell him, I need to reach back to Abu Dhabi soon.

I know it’s more of my mind, playing games. But in broad daylight, the island air has a spooky, uninhabited feeling to it…as though every tree, every gazelle, every pigeon knows of some big mystery that I don’t!

The breeze soothes the discomforting atmosphere. Someone’s on my side, I believe.

We reach the ferry. I hear the horn blow. I breathe a sigh of relief when I get my ID card back in hand!

Back to desert roads…and soon back to the hustle bustle of the city.I sit back and relax, now with a smile. My mind has had its own little exhilarating adventure on a haunted island!

Happy Women’s Day ;)