Mystical Travels in the Middle-East
Did we just glimpse the soul of the Universe?
I lay on my back, propped up by embroidered poufs in the open desert. Our family was blanketed in warm, fuzzy Syrian farwas, a kind of heavy jacket that Bedouin caravaners donned when they traveled through these cold deserts centuries ago. Not a spark of light anywhere. Except for this bejeweled veil overhead, unlike any, I had ever seen.
It stretched from horizon to horizon to horizon on all sides. On one side, the hunter Orion held a corner down, and our fellow Solar-system planet Jupiter did the same on the opposite end. The constellation Cassiopeia held up the center. A while later, Sirus rose higher on the eastern front to relieve Orion of his duties, and Orion quickly joined Cassieopia who scooched Westwards to make some space for him. Together, they now seemed to be holding up both the centers of this ellipsoid fabric, the deepest, darkest blue. Within a few minutes, our eyes made friends with the total darkness of this night. Newer lamps began to light up and then from behind the veil, she bestowed us with a glimpse of her elusive beauty. Half cloud, half stars in disarray, the Milky Way became discernable.
I struggled to contain this magnificent sight within my awe-struck soul that now seemed fully expanded and yet too small to hold all that it saw and felt. I felt my eyes looking straight into the soul of the Universe. And the Universe gazed straight into mine.
We lay amidst pillars, which are really the last breath of disintegrating mountains. Sandstone ranges which stood formidable perhaps 500 million years ago, now mostly scattered as grains of sand everywhere but for these towers that hold up the veil of the sky, alongside a few sentry constellations. Truth be told, we were in the middle of a mountain graveyard. It seemed as if the galaxy too looked nostalgically at all the scattered grains of sand — once a humongous, integrated mass, that had met the same fate as her stars. Only much, much slower.
With Abdul Rahman (AR), a young Physics college major, dressed in the traditional Arabian thwab and wielding the coolest laser pointer that extended all the way to the sky, we learnt how ancient caravaners navigated their way using stars and constellations, through these very deserts, on their way to AlUla. The oasis city of AlUla used to be a prominent conjunction on the Incense route, a network of land and seaways stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levant and Egypt through Northeastern Africa and Arabia to India and beyond.
Just like these travelers, we learned to identify Cassiopeia and use her third star, to pinpoint the North Star. The North Star, AR shared, seems to remain constant in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere, while all others seem to make a circular path from east to west around it. My mind immediately imagined a time-lapse video!
In reality, many stars have served as the “Pole star” for the Earth over millennia. Our current Pole star is Polaris from the Ursa Minor constellation and will stay until it is dethroned by Errai of the Cepheus constellation in 3100 AD. Nevertheless, AR’s stories about the constellations from Arabian folklore (quite different from Vedic and Greek legends), fascinated me much more than any scientific facts I knew about the skies. For example, when I asked what they call the Milky Way in Arabic, a little embarrassed, AR explained that the word is “Darab Altibana”, which literally translates as the path made of goat pellets! Now that’s radical candor, my friends.
Watching this young man explaining the mysteries of the veil above brought me memories of my high school history lessons. Many centuries back, the Arabian traders brought the knowledge of the East to the West and vice versa. In the process, they became stewards of rare knowledge from all parts of the world and made significant contributions of their own to astronomy, mathematics, and herbal medicine. And here we were, many centuries later, a group of British, Indian, Canadian, and Arab “students” together, learning to stargaze and geo-navigate with our Arab teacher, AR. History repeats itself, unmistakably, doesn’t it?
The sky is truly magical, especially here in Gharameel. No photos, no videos, even the telescope barely helped, only my bare eyes could carry impressions of this surreal experience. I fervently hoped that the deepest levels of my memory would permanently etch every way it had stirred my soul.
Soon after AR’s fascinating session, Husaak Adventures who had organised the excursion, served dinner in a traditional Bedouin tent. A hot, home-cooked meal of Arabian delicacies was just what we needed. It was nourishing both, to our bodies emerging out of the desert’s cold air, and to our minds still trying to grasp what they had been given a glimpse into.
Still in a daze and gasping, trying to sneak one last look at the Milky Way but only in vain, we traveled back to the lights of AlUla, taking Gharameel and her sky photographed only within our recollections.
Tips for families visiting AlUla, Saudi Arabia
1. Plan your trip to take advantage of the multitude of events that constantly take place in AlUla. Visit experiencealula.com to book tickets in advance. 2. To attend shows in Old Town such as Winter at Tantora Festival, it’s useful to take along kids’ own headphones to plug into the translator. These shows may or may not be engaging for the kids depending on their ages and whether they can follow along with the translation.
3. The buses run by the Royal Commission of AlUla are the only way to visit all the monuments. These are very comfortable and the distances are not long, so motion sickness is unlikely. However, do buy tickets before you arrive as these tend to get sold out FAST!
4. A must-do family activity is to stroll through citrus and date farms. The farmers we found were exceptionally generous and let our kids pick and eat as much fruit as they would like. Some farms also offer accommodation.
5. Depending on the season, it can get chilly in the evenings, so always have a light jacket or sweater handy, especially for the kids and around open monuments such as Maraya and Hegra. Our local solution was to purchase “farwas” in the Old Town. However, most resorts would also provide these for your trip.
6. Prior to stargazing, do make sure you grab a bite and carry it along with snacks for the kids as dinner is only served after the stargazing activity ends. However, the Arabian culture is very welcoming of children and considers all their antics or crankiness as most natural.
7. To follow our family’s quest-based earning journey in Saudi Arabia, follow us on IG @nomadparents
