rain in Al ain

Rains are no big deal in Kerala specially in this time of the year ,but to me in Al Ain it was a rare occurence .

In the past one year I had been here I had glimpsed a tiny drizzle once which piffled before it started so It was a delightful surpise to me when I heard distant thunder rumble today evening ,I ran down from the hospital cloistered in claustrophobic central AC to watch it as it is !

and what a sight it was ,cloudy and dark the skies broke into a heavy downpour on the parched grounds with thunder and lightening the works !

my mobile was out for the rare shots .

this summer had been exhaustingly hot touching 50 degrees centigrade and scorching like a furnace ,Al Ain luckily was not on the coast so there was no sweating as humidity was low but it compensated that with heat more than Dubai or Abudhabi,

so it is in winter too for it could get really cold .

Summer in the UAE is when people escape for thier holidays back to thier hometowns and all flights are overbooked and overcharged .workers are given compulsory rest for three hours in the noon or else they would fall down like overgrown dates !

For many of us living in ac capsules of buildings and cars the heat was felt only in transit from these points but it was really felt then .

the dates were bountiful in the many palm trees that lined the roads in neat lines ,they hung ripe and colourful .Some were angry red some burnished and some golden yellow .

The government which owns most of the palm trees encourage people to pluck them if they wanted being careful not to spoil the trees .

As one bit into a golden yellow date and its sweetness spread its honey like taste into the buds and bliss filled one .

some gave a rancid after taste some were gritty ,some smooth and velvetty.

there are more than 40 million palm trees in the UAE whcih is one the worlds lagest producers and exporters .

In august the Liwa festival is a great auction centre for dates .

dates are nutritious as they give more than 3000 calories /kg whicle a banana has only 920 and an orange around 420

Palm trees line all roads and they are planted in prescision ,full grown trees are brought from nursery and planted in new areas and in days they bloom !

Dates are free from cholesterol and have very low level of fats(0.2%) and sodium .

Quran mentions the birth of Jesus in Chapter 19, verses 23 - 26.
"And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a date-palm. She said: "Would that I had died before this, and had been forgotten and out of sight!"
Then [the babe Jesus or Gabriel] cried unto her from below her, saying: "Grieve not! Your Lord has provided a water stream under you;
"And shake the trunk of date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you."
"So eat and drink and be glad, and if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day.'"

and so the hot days will linger till late september when it becomes cooler and then it is six months of cool times ( my favourite )............