This time we went to a wadi and saw water and I was happy.
I was in a hurry to not miss out on anything- I left Alwin in front of the line to get me ice cream and then disappeared on a boat to the other side of the lake. He ended up eating it probably, and I had to buy ice cream in a cup because the cones ran out. It wasn’t bad- except I accidentally ate the cup too.
The lake was the most exciting part of this whole trip. I held back my urge to jump in to escape the scorching heat and also held back the urge to drop my camera in the water because the battery ran out at the most important part of the trip. We almost waged a war with a passing boat by splashing water at them and begged the boatman to give us one more round.
When the boat ride was over we took a few more pictures and walked back to our bus.
We had lunch back at the school and by sundown drove to the Khareef festival- We thought highly of it, expecting something traditional and a little bit of rain or something- but it was just another Muscat festival. Set up a few stands with highly priced sodas, loud music, lights and ridiculous rides and there you have it- a festival.
We were a large group of people- a mixture of science, commerce and pinch of humanities trying to pool our money and get a big package for more rides. But at the end of our heated discussion , we concluded that none of us could count or keep money in our hands for more than five minutes. We parted and individually paid for our own rides.
The first was a gigantic turning-cycle-thingy. Anoushka sat behind me. She was supposedly afraid, but we decided that I’d talk or sing loudly so she’d calm a little. Throughout the ride, I bled my throat out singing the chorus to ‘Let it go’ and occasionally calling out to my mother and dead grandfather screaming for help when the ride thrusted me to the top, only to find out in end that anoushka hadn’t heard any of it, and the only one who did hear it was freaking out because she thought I needed help.
When the ride was over, it was already almost time to go back to our buses. So a few of us decided to try the pirate ship. Assuming it would be only half as ass as the first ride, and to empty out our fair cards- we got in and seated ourselves in a random order, with random people, hastily.
I dragged Abhinav and made him sit next to me. And the pirate ship began moving.
Looking at where he sat, Sadiq was enjoying himself quite well. But it didn’t take long for his emo face to look even more depressing. “I feel weird” He mouthed. When the other side of the boat (we) understood the hints he was giving, we went into a state of panic- all nine of us on the other side of the boat. “Sadiq, BREAAATH!” Like my mother screaming her gut out when i lost a tiny piece of my thumb in the mixer grinder, we screamed at him to breath so he wouldn’t throw up. “SADIQ DON’T LOOK DOWN STOP LOOKING DOWN YOU ASS LOOK AT US LOOK AT US AND BREEEEEEATH” The pirate ship was ridiculously fast. The nine of us, an army, we tried everything we could (a little excessive and a bit unnecesary) to prevent him from puking all over the three toddlers and a dad in front of him. I look back at the others and realised that Cyril who was sitting right behind us was following Sadiq’s trail into vomit-world.
I lost a solider.
It wasn’t certain that Sadiq understood our gestures, but it sure was really cool to be in such a life-death situation. I wish life was like that all the time. Like we were some kind of animals, where endgame was passing away on a cot when our bones couldn’t hold us anymore, survival was just a piece of bread, and all we had to do was dodge a few blades that would slit our throats.
No more of that philosophical garbage.
The ship thrust to the sky and fell like the screws shot out of its holes. The fall was slow, and slow falls are always scary- when your brains have enough time to comprehend that you are falling, you will sense a panic like no other. Normal, extra dangerous, 360 degree, ride of your life, kind of rides would make me bored and sleepy. Unpredicatable ones make me excited. Slow ones- slow ones really get to me.
I looked to my side and figured that at the end of this trip I would’ve become a murderer. Abhinav had lost the last of his sanity. Like as if on an imginary ventilator, this man, who, although mentioned his fear of rides and initially refused to get on the pirate ship but was dragged (by me) on to the ride, was literally losing his life. His fingers shivered as he gripped on to the bar in front of him- and that wasn’t an easy sight for me. If it were me, I wouldn’t forgive me. But everything new is good experience. Right?
(I’m sorry Abhinav, I really am.)
(This was meant for Sadiq) “UNCLE STOP THE RIDE PLEASE STOP THE RIDE UNCLE SOMEBODY IS DYING HERE-” But uncle, who had his finger on top of a red button, only smiled sinisterly. From up there it might have seemed like uncle wanted to realistically feel Final Destination. However, it was obviously impossible for the pirate ship to come to a sudden halt.
God showed mercy.
When the ship stopped and we got down, a lot of us weren’t at our best. Something did shift inside our systems, so we ran to get some water. Alwin and I later spent money on Mountain Dew which almost left our dads bankrupt.
We sat in the bus, worried that we might have arrived back late, but the teachers were the ones who were really late. Each had a bag full of items they purchased although I wonder what they really had to buy from those Omani Stalls.
YoungKhaos 
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