Monday, August 14, 2006

I'm Back!!

Hellooo People..
yes.. I had disappeared.. but now I'm back...
I've seen some movies none of which are worth reviewing really...
'Lovewrecked' is one of them.. I sat through the first five minutes and predicted the entire movie.. true enough... what I predicted more or less did happen... 'if you've seen one you've seen them all'... another chick-flick movie for the teenagers or for the girls who still believe they are teenagers...
next thing..
an interesting thing happened to me yesterday... I ran out of gas... and I mean I ran out of gas... at 2:30 in the afternoon... on the side road between Ibn Battuta and Sh. Zayed Road... so my car refused to budge and I could see the petrol station.. it was around 15 meters away... my car is stuck between lanes... (going and coming).. but that's not the story... I put on my hazard lights.. I couldn't leave the car in the middle of the road...or I would've walked to the gas station to get some just to make it for the 'fill-up'..

what to do what to do what to do.. so I wait.. until someone pulls over to help...

NO ONE STOPPED for around twenty muntes... and remember it was at around 20 to three by then...

what struck me about the whole situation was the fact that no one even bothered to stop... instead people were HONKING as if to imply MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!!... the people in the opposite direction could see that there was a woman in the car but didn't bother to ask and just drove by with a sarcastic look on their face...
HELLO!! if my car would move I would MOVE IT... FINALLY.. a taxi driver (from SHJ) stops his car right infront of me and offers to help...
so now I'm HOT, irritated, desperate and clearly couldn't concentrate.. I step out of the car.. tell the guy what the situation is.. he says that his taxi is from SHJ and he can't pick up passengers from Dubai, as it's not allowed...
ok..
Fair enough... take this 100 dhs.. go to the pertrol station get me half a gallon gas to put in the car.. after he leaves.. I realize that this guy can just go with the money.. and I didn't even take the taxi number... ok the heat is getting to me...
5 minutes...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

10 minutes...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

15 minutes
...Nothing and no taxi in sight...

20 minutes...Thank God... I can see him...

he come out of the car.. hands me a bottle of cold water.. two receipts.. for the gas and the water.. and the change..and starts filling in the petrol...
I am saved..
By the most unexpected person...
I took the fifty note from the change that he had given back to me.. and gave to him.. and thanked him.. he first didn't want to take the money.. but I insisted and told him that NO ONE had stopped for me except for him and that he really deserved it...
so my friends... my paradigm shift?
after having always cursed the taxi drivers SPECIALLY the ones from SHJ.. from that incident.. I'll always remember that there are some decent drivers (though most seem to be aggressive and bad drivers).. basically not to judge them and hate them just because they are bad on the road...decent because they do lend a helping hand when you need it the most..

and that's my story for the day...

14 comments:

Destitute Rebel said...

This story tells us that even though times have changed there are some good people out there. I remember the times when people used to leave what they were doing to help out people in distress especially in case of ladies stranded on the road, I mean really go out of the way, now a lot of that has changed but still there are some people out there who are willing to help.

Tainted Female said...

It's always the least expected who change the way you think!

I was touched by this story, because I've been in a similar situation myself (actually my mom most recently). Her car broke down on Garhoud bridge in the middle of the day, just as summer started before she left on vacation.

Same response. My mom was waiting about half an hour (she didn't even think to call us, smart cookie), and the last person she expected came to her aid: A LOCAL. My mom and dad are of the type who labeled all local drivers as 4x4, tinted speedsters who don't care what's happening on the road so long as they get where they're going. Not any more!

Till today, my mom wishes she had a way of thanking them. She has mentioned it to me twice since she's been in Canada. They even made her sit in their very expensive, shiny car (that she can't even name) to stay out of the heat while the men dealt with it, BUT SHE DIDN'T get the plate number or even the guys name because the heat had taken most of her thought process out of her by then.

And I feel the same was as DR. People here used to go out of their way to help others. When I first came, our car had broken down on some desert road in hatta; my whole family was stuck in the sun, didn't have mobiles with us and had no idea what to do. In less than 10 minutes at least three people offered to help (from what I remember they couldn't even speak English but found a way to communicate anyway), till one drove us all the way back to our house in Dubai.

Yes. A touching, inspirational story you've told here.

Seabee said...

It's another example of why it's wrong to put groups of people under one label. There's good and bad in all groups.

Cosmic girl said...

I guess we all agree that Dubai has changed in the way that people aren't as friendly as they used to be...
But i'm soo glad that there are people out there that would take that extra step to help others...
I know I would...

BuJ said...

very nice taxi driver! what pisses me off about taxi drivers is that they believe they have this right to stop anywhere and anytime regardless of who's behind them... when he stopped he probably pissed off the guy behind you.

anyway the point is that when a taxi stops suddenly there is a proton/electron effect.. ya3ni you feel positive he stopped but he might have pissed off someone driving by stopping suddenly.

at the end of the day, he saved you! allah yebarik feeh.. i remember this happened to me quite a long time ago.. and the car wouldn't budge (on the old beirut road that's now part of the runway!) and we waited for a few mins and started the car and magically it had some life in it for a minute or so!! it might be the difference between parking ON the street or on the sholder!

Cosmic girl said...

Buj.. actually the taxi over-took me and reversed back so that he parks exactly infront of my car..
maybe he did piss off the person behind him.. but so was I with no fault of mine...
Funny enough this incident has happened to me before( yes I haven't learnt my lesson clearly).. but I had parked on the hard shoulder by the entrance of the pertol station... I walked to the station.. got the gas, filled my car and took care of myself...
it's has become a natural effect with taxis, I guess.. though usually they honk the most (for potential passengers)..
but nonetheless... not all are the same.. I should've taken a pic of the guy and posted it.. darn!!

Zee Puppette said...

Typical attitude in Dubai. Ask Me About it. Zzzz

Cosmic girl said...

janet.. even If I were blonde I'd have my shaila on... but I'm glad you think you're more beautiful than I am..
I don't mean to be sarcastic, but I really thought that comment was unnessecary..
another major point I was trying to highlight in my post was the fact that we tend to be too judgemental...
If you haven't seen me..don't judge me...

Shaykhspeara Sha'ira said...

Just noticed your Samarkand quote. I am reading it currently. I just posted about a movie that came out last year about Omar Khayyam. Thought you might be interested since you are quite the film fan. It should be available on DVD in sept I believe.

babe_uae said...

What a shame that nobodey helped you !! this happend to a local lady in Sharjah in Buheriah on the corniche, amazing normally so many local guys stop you there to ask for your numnber but no one stopped to help her, I was on my way to a wedding and if you know how you are expected to dress for a local wedding you will know where I am coming from, I stopped and got out of my car (damm it was busy) and towed her to the side of the road.

5 mins out of our hectic day to do someone a good deed - seems that it too much to ask of some.

I am sure that you are beautiful in your own right, ignore the other comments I am sure that Janet still has to shave in the mornings and place on HER pink Kandoora !!!

BuJ said...

Janet..obviously very gifted in the brains dept.
mashalla...

bandicoot said...

cosmic - I'd say from experience that most taxi drivers here are decent and helpful souls, more than in any other city i've been to. This happened to me twice in the past 7 years and in both cases taxi drivers helped; in one case I flaged one fairly quickly and in the second case I called for a taxi. What we'd do without them?

dhaheri said...

that was very moving story

=*)

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