Saturday, March 03, 2007

"The Camel is the Ship of the Desert"

The camel is to Arabia what the elephant is to India. A stereotypical image. You encounter as many camels here as you would elephants in India. There are slight differences though. You won't find yourself walking down the street only to be suddenly confronted by a camel looming large over you and waiting to be fed or given money. And if you venture outside of the city limits, like I did last weekend, then you will see herds of camels occasionally - standing there looking rather quizzically at all that's whizzing past them on four wheels or more. I came across this rather furry camel at a cultural festival. It's owner, the guy you see in brown, was offering rides -for a price of course. Sadly, I didn't know that until the next day when I got back to office. That should tell you loads about the kind of enthusiasm that man showed and the amount of Arabic I know. But then, there's always tomorrow. The only thing that looks a little disturbing is the sight of the camel's mouth. It's got a rather unpicturesque mouth - probably one of the reasons camels don't kiss that much. So as long as you don't get up close and personal with it, it's quite a beautiful animal - as are most of the others on four legs.

The title should remind you of your GK lessons in primary school. One of the easiest questions during quiz time!
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19 comments:

Nandhu said...

so living up to the rambler and traveller image.

Macabreday said...

haaa..u wont believe it, but when i read ur title, the first thing that indeed came to my mind was learning it in school, "the camel is the ship of the dessert" ha ha........

Sumo said...

Unfortunately, they never taught us GK at Xavier's. The first I heard of the subject in school was during Std. X when they said they would test us in GK.

I somehow like the attitude the camel displays towards humans. It's like go away, i m so bored...yawn!!!

3inone said...

Shain,
You're worrying abou how much..... or how little CAMELS kiss? :-) I just can't stop laughing.

Everyman said...

@Nandhu - Yes..guess I'm living up to it..but it's more by virtue of being here u know..

@Mac - Wonder if any other line from school stuck so much..remember any?

@Sumo- That's bad..but u must have heard abt the "ship of the desert" bit!

@3inone - Feels good to be able to make people laugh :-D We would never know whether its how little or how much..There's no one filming them! But even if it's how little, it still wouldnt be palatable..but perhaps the camels dont mind it that much :-D

Macabreday said...

@shine and 3inone...
try watching a camel flash its teeth.. i find that really funny :)
and yeaa shine.. a lot of lines frm school are stuck in my head...sometimes its just a few lines of a poem...
home the brought the warrior dead..
..miles to go before i sleep...
and i can never forget the whole story, "mark of vishnu"..
ok, we're going off topic here.. the topic is camels..!!

Riaan Roving said...

perhaps bad kissers should be called camels then...

The Penny Lane said...

"unpicturesque mouth"
tht poor camel :)

claytonia vices said...

Try 'camel's mouth' in google's image search and check out how good they are at puckering up their lips!

Dex said...

What were you doing looking into a camel's mouth? And how did you realise that they are not good kissers?
Man, just because Saudi lacks women without purdahs, it don't mean that you go all "animal"!
Hmm. Maybe why the camel guy did not let you ride his baby ;)

APUGONNAB said...

I agree with Jimmy.. Really Shain! U r coming back to India, EVENTUALLY! & Eventually is with each passing day becoming a closer by date & more so a reality..

This looks very festive.. I remember the scene in 'Dor' with the camel - classic! :)

Sumo said...

He He...thankfully, I HAVE heard of the ship part!!!

Everyman said...

@ Mac - I never studied the Mark of Vishnu, but I read that story from my bro's text book..fab story..then ofcourse "My brother My brother" ..and who could forget the boring Daffodils! I still cant understand why all the fuss over William Wordsworth lying on a couch in a very sad mood!

@Penny Lane - Am sure the camels dont think they have unpicturesque mouths..so it shdnt bother them either

@Vikki - I tried the image search..not many pretty pics :-D Why dont u try Angelina Jolie instead..now that wd be something!!

@JJ- I wouldnt go animal!I'd rather have some black coffee :-D

@Appu - I'm waitin for the day partner!

Dex said...

Didn't like Daffodils much, but I m still real ga-ga over The Stolen Boat Ride. Now, its just a lot of fuss over some childish thing Wordy did ... but I loved the imagery... :)

Me said...

What the heck? Where did my comment go?
I swear I commented on this yesterday. ugh.

Everyman said...

JJ- havent read 'the stolen boat ride' what was the imagery though?

@Me - I am sure u did, but what was the comment anyway :-)??

3inone said...

@Shain, Jimmy
Don't remember a poem by that name, but almost at the beginning of 'The Prelude', there's a bit about Wordsworth stealing a boat and feeling the pricking of his conscience. Stray lines remain in my memory - 'small circles glittering idly in the moon, until they melted all into one track of sparkling light.' And I remember how the peak at the horizon grew, and strode after him.
If that's what Jimmy is talking about, I agree that the imagery is vivid.Personally, I prefer
'Tintern Abbey' to 'The Prelude'

Me said...

It was about how you could possibly know the mouth was unkissable.
You know, I am glad you can still find cultural festivals and camels around.
The scariest thing for me is to go back to India or Dubai and find the little natural things gone. Like the paddyfields gone, and the desert with the camels and the cacti all replaced by just giant buildings

Musafir said...

hey man... good to see your last two posts !! fingers of god, amazing photo, must have been even more amazing watching it in person...

once had a chance to take a camel ride in rajasthan... man, it can be REAL uncomfortable... an elephant is better any given day.. but either way you'd end up like saif in dil chahta hai "tumhe kya lagta hai, mein roz is takiye pe baidtha hoon??"...