Saturday, November 04, 2006

Shain of Arabia*

The time has come to at last shed some light. I am going away into the wilderness. People, I am going to Saudi Arabia – the land of sun, sand and burqahs. Now that is about the worst deal life can throw at you. Add to it prohibition and moral police and you pretty much have yourself a 100 ways to get beheaded or mutilated, or stoned (literally!)

I haven’t skipped jobs. My company is sending me there for a year. And I might travel within the next 10-15 days. Leaving Pune for Mumbai, and then off to Riyadh from there.

Saudi isn’t exactly every traveller’s dream. There are, like I mentioned above, a lot of factors that can curb your freedom of …errmmm..action. I am not very upset though. There is always a bright side, especially in a country like Saudi where the sun is always shining rather brightly on you. Here’s looking forward to :

  • Learning to appreciate the beauty of a woman’s eyes. I haven’t thought of what I will do if women there wear shades as well. I guess then it would be a hopeless case.
  • Staying off beer, and perhaps, just perhaps, reducing this beer belly of mine.
  • Learning a little of Arabic, and teach them a little bit of my version of Malayalam
  • Camel meat and unrestricted access to beef! SLURP!
  • A desert safari (sadly, minus the all-important belly dancers)
  • Rediscovering the art of e-mail.**
  • Trips to other countries in the middle east – IF my visa allows it
  • Mental exercises in imagination. With the all–obscuring burqah, there will be a lot left to my imagination :-D

Every country has it’s oddities, and Saudi is just another on the list, may be I will get to learn a lot from the land, and may be I will return a richer man – in more than one sense of the term. I wont disappear from the Blogosphere. Why, I could even start a Saudi Diary! It's rather a good deal now that I think of it.

So till we meet again, Ma'asalaamah! (that's good-bye in Arabic)

* The epithet was coined by Musafir, when he came to know of my plight…

**Yes, it’s official, the email is now an antique. Sms’s and orkut have destroyed it. We hardly mail nowadays, do we? It’s always a ‘hey, how u doing’ or a ‘what’s up’ scrap on Orkut. That’s what we’ve come to –scraps..Saudi, in a wise move, has blocked Orkut! Throughout the kingdom!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

dear God...so its off to the land of the sheikhs eh??...i know the feeling...i was in muscat for 7 yrs....one more thing you could look forward to...some good lebanese food joints....and about the malyalam...hehe..given the number of people from Kerala in that region....they prob already know the lang....(taxi drivers in muscat knew a bit of hindi!!!)....all the same have a safe journey....is the stop at bby a long one??

Anonymous said...

oye, does tht mean no more posts 4 a year or so??!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Kiddo,

Finally you are gonna be near us brothers for a change.. Atleast we can talk more often.. Hey did you manage to get a copy of the Visa. Can you do me a favour and send me a copy of the Visa to check if its a multiple entry visa or not..

Big B

Sumo said...

Well, well, well!!! Saudi Arabia!!! I m rather speechless at this point of time!!! Enjoy urself!!! ;-)

Everyman said...

@Riaan - yeah i guess u are right..i forgot that the Mid -East is also an annexe of God's Own Country.The Mumbai stop over is brief - 5-10 days i think..not confirmed!

@tiltyaback - I sure hope not :-D Orkut is out, but i dont think blogger is blocked (yet)..I will blog!!!

@Big B - I havent got a copy of the visa yet..I need to go and collect it..Will tell u :)

@Sumo - If you are speechless, think of what I would be :)) And yea, thanks for the good wishes..i am sure i will enjoy myself :-I

Macabreday said...

ok shain... safe trip man... hope to hear frm you ocassionally.. a year is a long time you know,a nd a lot can happen :)

Dex said...

you really going?

Everyman said...

@Jimmy - errmmm..yes..

@Mac- yes buddy, a year is a Loooong time..I hope nothing dramatic happens!

Anonymous said...

modhallaly...ll be waiting for you right here...on this side of the kadaloram. look out for a pink lungi n floral blue blouse.

Anonymous said...

Oye! So you still in Pune? I thought you left this city long time ago...

Everyman said...

@Kutty- That promise will be what sustains me during my exile! Don't betray!!!Chadhikalley! Kadalamma porukoola!

@GS - Oye..i HAVE left Pune, but still in the country..in Mumbai now..:)

Anwesha Chatterjee said...

Bon Voyage!!!!

You write really well!!!! Do keep up blogging while you are there.

APUGONNAB said...

Shiny Sheikh Shainu!! HAHAHAHA!! Its not so bad, afterall, to win some, u must lose some! & u,my dear man are winning a looot!

The Sullen Comic said...

chakkara umma!!!!!

HEH HEH and as we discussed..... overaayittu chetthhaaan nokkiyaal avan maaru vettikalayum

Bon Voyage sire!!

... said...

as always your writing made me smile :)

hope you have fun there.. write often! now that my journey is coming to an end (returning to Bombay on 3rd Dec) it will be nice to have someone else's journeys to read about!