Ghost in the Desert

An introduction to Ghost in the Desert 

Now a day’s the Arab world is not the same as it was about half a century ago? In deep deserts big and modern cities are developed with all the latest facilities of live. In these days if you visit an Arab country you will found it fully equipped with all the modern facilities and necessities of the life. High-rise buildings, school, collages, universities, beautiful parks, big shopping malls, motor ways, you name it and you will find it there. The life of an ordinary Arab is not the same as it was decades before. Exploration of oil in Middle East has completely changed the life style of Arab peoples. They are enjoying all the luxuries of life and these luxuries are always full of fun and entertainment. 

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In here I am going to discuss about a very scary story which I encountered during my stay in one of the gulf country. Those were the early days of developments in Middle Eastern countries. Lot of construction work was on the way. New companies from and around the world were being awarded with big contracts for the construction and exploration of the oil and gas. New projects were being introduced. Lot of materials was being purchased in bulk quantities from US, UK, Europe and other countries of the developed world. New skilled and unskilled labor was being hired from all the corners of the world. In such phases of development of any of the country, communication always plays the key role. So was there, construction work for the roads were at the peak with high priority. New roads were being constructed and the old ones were under repairs. All the development works were at their peak and it was bringing the major changes in the standard of living of the people. The people who used to live in tents were now living in air-conditioned villas, apartments and flats. 

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It was September 1976, I was 27 years old. I received an offer from a major construction company at one of the Middle Eastern country. Offered salary and facilities were quite charming. I discussed it with my parents and finally it was decided that I should go abroad to join my new job. After completing all the necessary formalities in mid of November I landed in the country of my new job. We were a group of 32 people arriving from our country. After the necessary immigration formalities we were taken to another nearby airport. The airport was a small one and was under the possession of our new company. The company airplane was already there to take us to our new destination, I mean to our workplace which was one of the major project of the country. After a 45 minutes journey we landed in a deep desert. The airport was quite small which was protected by the fencing around it. To cut it short from the airport we were shifted to our accommodation. It was quite a big compound and was accommodating multiple nationalities. 

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Next day we were on the job site. Almost 400 people of different professions from different countries were already engaged at the job site. Job was distributed in the groups. Each of the group was assigned with a different nature of job. The initial job assigned to our group was to take the inventory of all the incoming materials. I worked there for almost one and a half year. Later I was transferred to another project which was also running under the supervision of the same company. The mystery which I am going to discuss took place at this new project. It was an incomplete project of another company whose contract was terminated due to some differences with the authorities. The work was at initial stage while the contract was terminated and our company was assigned to complete the leftover job. 

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The project was at a distance of almost 200 kilometer in the deep desert. Means of transportation was only the 4 wheel drive vehicles as yet no proper road was constructed to reach at the job site. The outgoing company had left some portables which has to be used as an initial residence for its employees. These portables were furnished for us as our residence. One big portable was furnished as a recreation hall while the other big one was furnished as a mess hall for the employees. The third one was refurnished to use as our office. We were a group of 40 people of different nationalities. It was including with 4 Indian cooks and 6 local security guards. Each of the portable was having the accommodation facilities for two people to live in independently. Before we arrived there, everything was fixed and was in order, a giant generator was fixed to supply the power to accommodation as well as to the other portables. Mess was running, recreation hall was set and our living rooms were furnished. The mini compound as well as the working area was well protected by the strong steel fencing. 

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There were no communication facilities available in the office or compound and another bad thing was that we were not able to go to the city for shopping but the promise was made by the authorities that they will make these arrangement within a period of one month. The best thing with Americans administration is this that they are always true to their words. These facilities were available after one month as it was promised. Also we were not allowed to leave the compound after 6 in the evening. Security guards were instructed to lock the gate at 6 PM and after this time they should not allow anyone to go outside the compound. The sand dunes could be seen all around the camp and in full moon these dunes looks full of mysteries. 

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Two weeks passed smoothly, the work was going according to the schedule. We were passing our spare time by visiting each other or by enjoying the games and refreshments at recreation hall. It was a Thursday night, next day the Friday was a day off. The time was almost 2 AM I was in a deep sleep. I heard someone knocking at the door of my room, first I took it as a part of my dream but realized immediately that it was not. I heard another bang of knocking at some other door. Taking it as an emergency I immediately left the bed and come out of my room. There was no one at the door. I saw some of the other people coming out of their rooms. Everyone was questioning that who was there and who knocked the door. Some of our colleagues were angry as they though that some of us has cut a joke. Almost everybody were there except the off duty security guards, they were still enjoying their sleep. Some of us went to the main gate and asked the on duty security guard if there was anyone who came inside the compound. His reply was, “I haven’t seen anybody coming inside the compound, the door is locked and no one can enter without my permission.” While talking to him we heard the people shouting loudly “snake”, “snake”. We rushed back and saw a big snake very close to the fence and was trying to hide itself in the sand. In a couple of minutes it was disappeared in the sand. Fear could be seen very clearly on some of the faces. It took us about an hour to investigate and discuss the whole matter and all of us went back to our room without any conclusion. 

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As it was Friday the day off, everyone came to the mess hall in late hours. I entered in the mess hall at 10 AM, some of my friends were already there, and the hot topic of their discussion was the last night mystery. The burning question was who knocked the door last night and why? Some of the faces were pale with the fear as well. No one was sure of what happened last night. The day was passed by discussing the last night event. Next day as usual we were at our job. The day was a bit boring, no one was looking happy, even some of us were looking nervous. 

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Saturday night almost each of us went to bed early. I locked the door of my room tightly and checked it several times before going to bed. Today the generator was sounding very horribly. I was trying to sleep but it was far away. Sometimes it looks as someone is staring at me from the window. I pulled the window curtain and covered the window completely; my bedside lamp was still switched on. The time was 1:30 AM. I was about half a sleep then suddenly I heard a knock at my door. It was the same as of two days before I heard. I slightly moved the window curtain and looked outside the window but no one was there. I went back to my bed, there was no chance to sleep any more. Next morning I went to my office, my eyes were red and heavy with severe head ache. My Filipino co-worker Joe came closer to me and asked me “Did someone knocked at your door last night?” I waved my head in yes, he said “same was with me, someone knocked my door too”. “The same also happened with other people” he said again. He told me that two of the employees were so afraid that they are now with high fever and didn’t come to office. 

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The day passed quietly without any fun. About 4 o clock in the afternoon the wind started blowing. Gradually the wind was becoming furious, there was sand everywhere in the air. It was very hard to see and visibility was not more than two to three feet. It was a red sand storm. For the next three days we were not able to go to the office it was looking like the storm will never stop and it will kill all of us in the deep desert. We were hardly able to go to the mess hall. 

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After three days the storm was gone and the weather came to the normal. The old sand dunes were vanished and new one has taken their place. Behind the dunes we heard the camel grunt. We saw some of the camels coming up on the dunes and sat there. A boy with a flute in his hand came there and sat on the sand. He started playing the flute; deep in the desert the sound of a flute has its own beauty. After a couple of minutes another man came with a small piece of carpet in his hand, he put the carpet on the sand and he sat near to the boy. Ashok an Indian friend of mine was also there with me, he suggested me to go there to see that who they are, I told him that to me it looks like a caravan who will stay there for a short period of time and then will leave toward their new destination. Meanwhile Joe also came there along with Rashid our Pakistani co-worker. All 4 of us decided to go there and to see who they are. It was about 2 in the afternoon, we asked the guard that we will be back within half hour, we just wants to see the Arab Bedouin culture in the desert. We went there climbing up on the dunes, Rashid was good in Arabic, he asked the man that we wants to see and meet his people. He invited us to come down on the other side of the dunes. By arriving at the other side we were surprise to see a little city of tents. The Arab took us to the tent of his chief. 

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The chief was an old and graceful person. His tent was well decorated, he was sitting on a beautiful carpet. Chief asked his man to bring some camel milk, dates and honey for us. Everything we eat and drink was full of taste. We also heard sound of some female singing some folk song very near to the tent of their chief. The chief talked a lot with us, his knowledge was very vast. He has given us a lot of information about the desert life. He also told us many things about the Bedouin culture. He told us a lot of tales about the desert. Rashid was translating the whole discussion for us. We stay there for about an hour. When we were leaving chief gifted us a pack of dates. His man put that pack in a plastic shopping bag and handed it over to me. We left the place, climbed up the dune and was coming down to the other side of that. All of a sudden we heard a big sound behind us, it was like an earthquake as well as like a bomb blast. The earth was shaken and we were near to fall down. We rushed back towards the tent city but to our great surprise there was no such city over there. What could we see was the fresh foot prints of camels on the sand? These foot prints were going as far as one can see. It was looking as a big caravan of camels has just passed from this place. The sound of the bells in camels’ neck still could be heard but there was no physical signs of any caravan. 

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We were sweating, our throats were dry, and our eyes were burning. Suddenly Joe said hey, look at the shopping bag. The bag was in my hand, all of us looked at it, and there was nothing in the bag except the sand. There was not a single piece of dates in it. None of us was able to talk anymore. A big wave of surprise had already overcome to all of us. We were feeling that a lot of people are coming behind us but every time we saw behind there was nothing. Near the camp gate a big black cat passed in front of us. Ashok was very scared by seeing that black cat. I was also surprise that where that cat was coming from. We entered in the compound and went back to our rooms. We did not discussed it with any of our co-workers. We were afraid that they may not laugh at us. About 6 in the evening the Egyptian clerk came to my room he told that he has seen a big snake lying dead near the fence. It was the same place where we saw the snake disappearing in the sand. 

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A road was constructed which was connected to the highway, necessary communication system were installed. We stay there for another 6 months but nothing unusual happened. To best of my knowledge till I stay there some times I experienced to hear the sound of the flute coming from a far of place.