The Camel Story

This post has been taken off my earlier blog(www.satanicsecrets.blogspot.com), which I can't access anymore because I forgot the password. Read and enjoy(and comment :p).

We had gone for a camping trip to this place called Ras-Al-Had which is a well known nesting spot for Olive Ridley turtles. The place is a huge beach, and the interior is a camping area. We had gone with these friends of ours who were seasoned campers, so they were showing us how to put up the tents. We had a slight problem. It was pretty windy, and the tents weren't staying in place while we tried to nail 'em down. So we came up with the brilliant idea of me and my sister sitting inside the tents while the adults nailed them down!

The result, of course, was predictable. The tent just started taking off, me, sis, et al, and we bumped along for a few yards before they managed to grab on to it. It was fun actually. Finally the tents were nailed down, and we decided to start on the chow. It was friggin' delicious! Potatoes wrapped in aluminium foil and roasted over coals. The thought of it still makes me salivate. One of the best meals I have ever had.

Come night time, and we needed to throw the garbage away. The campsite had a huge Dumpster about 200 metres or so from out camp. So dad gives the garbage bag to my mom and sis and tells them to throw it away. So they trudge a few metres from the camp, immediately turn around and come back, looking like they saw a ghost.

Dad: "What happened? I thought I told you people to throw the garbage away?"

Mom: "Yes, you did, but there's a camel stalking us. We're not going anywhere near the Dumpster"

Dad: "Don't be silly! What can a camel do to you?"

*NOTE: My dad, being a General Surgeon, has had people coming to him with an ear in their hand. When asked how it happened, they say "A camel bit it off, sir!" with a hint of surprise, as if its the most common occurence in the world.

Mom: "I don't want my husband having to stitch my ear back onto my head."

Dad: "Don't be stupid! Camels don't bite peoples ears off!"

Mom and Sis in unison: "We are not going back out there!"

And they dump the garbage bag in my dad's hands. So my dad takes it himself to the Dumpster. Halfway there, he gets the feeling that he's being followed. He turns and looks, and there is the camel, following him. He walks on confidently towards the Dumpster. When he reaches it, he turns around and sees that the camel is no longer behind him. Surprise, surprise, its in front of him on the other side of the Dumpster.

And so begins a game of hide and seek. The camel comes around the Dumpster to the right, my dad goes left. Camel comes left, dad goes right. So they continue the ringa-ringa roses act for a few minutes more, till my dad decides its time to do something about it. He throws the garbage into the Dumpster, turns, and sprints to the nearest camp, which turns out to be a bunch of Arabs. The camel in all its stupidity, thinks he still has the garbage, follows. With his halting Arabic, my dad tells them of his dilemma.

Arab: "Don't worry Thabib(arabic for doctor), I will make sure he will not follow you. You wait here."

And the man walks upto the camel, says something to it in Arabic, comes back and tells my dad "The camel will not follow you now, Doctor. I have told him I will beat him if he does so. Please proceed to your camp with a peaceful mind. Salaam Aleikhum"

So here is my dad, with a camel following him around, and a crazy Arab telling him that he's told the camel off. Dad doesn't know how he did it, but he somehow got back to the camp with both ears on and no camel in tow.

Then he narrates his chilling tale to us. And at the end of it all, all he has to say is "Wow...that camel had such beautiful eyelashes"!!!