(This story was by sheer chance. Met a child at a DSS venue who was on a wheelchair)
Winning it cool
Small things. They make all the difference. Like the big scoop of ice-cream Dhruv Parag Parekh won on his ‘first day out’ in the malls taking in the cool delights of the Ice Surprises Week. The kid was on a wheelchair, recuperating from a leg surgery. Rajeev Nair writes
For days together, Dhruv Parag Parekh, a Grade 3 student of The Indian High School, Dubai, had missed much of the action. Around him ‘little ones were having big fun,’ and here, he was just about recovering from a corrective leg surgery.
The Ice Surprises Week of Dubai Summer Surprises seemed a perfect excuse to go mall-hopping, and Dhruv’s parents, Parag and Heena, and uncle Kunal, took the youngster out to BurJuman Centre, where the cool delights of a week-long activities were unfolding.
At the second level, where much of the action often unfolds in the specially set stages, a thin crowd had formed around the digital memory game corner hosted by Baskin Robbins.
The ice-cream giant, naturally, had a remarkable participation in the Ice Surprises events, and virtually every participating mall had a Baskin Robbins booth, which unveiled competitions ranging from ice-cream eating to guessing the flavour and more.
Manoj Nair, the co-ordinator at BurJuman Centre, watched with a smile as children tapped their little feet in impatience for the show to begin. Many of them had clutched in their little fingers yellow Post-it notes with hurriedly scribbled numbers that would qualify them to participate.
When Dhruv arrived, his right leg protected in a plaster-cast, gently pushed in a wheel-chair, and encouragingly pampered by his mother, the crowd was only forming. He waited sharing smiles and little anecdotes with his parent and uncle.
It was his first day out after being hospitalised during the vacation. He had missed quite a chunk of the fun, and sure enough, he had to make it up.
Today. Now.
At 9 pm, Manoj was ready to call in the participants, and soon, the venue was a beehive of activity. Children jostling, mothers restraining, fathers looking bemused, and a few odd volunteers striving to smoothen the proceedings.
The Baskin Robbins digital memory game was mostly one of luck. Children had to pick at random a maximum of four numbers, and depending on their choice of numbers, the computer would shower them with prizes. A big ‘Congratulations’ on the screen means a big scoop of ice-cream, two delightfully cute ice-cream spoons, and an inflatable ball. A ‘Sorry’ means just that. “Try again.”
The kind volunteer had let Dhruv inside the enclosure, and there he waited for the event to gain momentum.
He was the first to be called over. Introducing himself, Dhruv picked his first number. A Baskin Robbins ice-cream popped on the screen. He picked again. A cake’s visual now. A third. Another nod of encouragement. The last pick now.
A moment of anticipation.
Dhruv said loud: 20.
“Are you sure,” the volunteer mused.
“Yes…” Dhruv said.
A click on 20, and yes…, the kid had made it.
The screen beamed a congrats, and Dhruv was beaming with the cool win of a big scoop of ice-cream.
Sometimes, yes, the little things matter. Like the winning smile of Dhruv, a boy who had made up for the missed days of fun, thanks to a big chunk of ice-cream.
Elsewhere, there was fun galore in store for children. Ice-carving workshops at hotels with Modhesh, the mascot of DSS for added company, informative shows, and a whole array of snow wonders at the Modhesh Fun City.
While Mercato Centre showcased a polar village for informative fun replete with a huge polar bear looming high in his white fur coat, BurJuman Centre had created a gallery of exhibits, which narrated the bio-diversity of the ice-capped lands.
A husky dog, an albatross, the penguin, an igloo, a reindeer, cute-looking seals — life in the cool world sure is a surprise for the young ones.
