THANK GOD IT’s WEDNESDAY

THANK GOD IT’s WEDNESDAY

Well Wednesday in the Middle East is like Friday in the rest of the world. Yeah it’s the weekend Thursday and Friday. Well Living in KSA there is no chance for Party / Pub or anything, but can do some shopping and have good food from some nice restaurants. I was waiting for 4:30 pm (Office closing time) to inaugurate the weekend by going to “Al Batha”. It’s a place in Riyadh where different foreign markets are there. Like Indian , Kerala, Philipino, Pakistani, Bangladeshi etc.

Oops!! Did I say India and Kerala separately??? Oh yeah, I did!!! It’s because, most Saudi’s think that India is the country where people speak Hindi, and Kerala is another country where people speak Malayalam. Most of the malayali people here don’t know Hindi, which the arabs expect from an Indian to speak. Malayali population in the middle east i think is more than its population in India (exaggeration). Alas! it was 4:30, Imran was waiting with the car outside my office. Imran , a Hyderabad chap ,Office pick up-cab driver, who also accompanies me in the local conveyance too. In Batha I could see most of the boards of shops and advertisement in 3 languages Arabic, English and Malayalam. In Kerala, I’ve not seen many shops with Malayalam boarding.

Being new in town, Imran keeps giving me advices. I was told by many people, before I reached here in Riyadh, that life will be so boring and strict. And many told to be careful as the rules here, are Sharia ( Šarīʿa; "way" or "path") refers to the "way" Muslims should live or the "path" they must follow. Sharia is derived from the sacred text of Islam (the Qur'an), and Traditions (Hadith) gathered from the life of the Islamic Prophet,Muhammad. And it is having very strict punishments too. As a matter of fact it is strict but what I feel is that it’s for the better living of the people here.

They fear and care about the security of ladies and that’s the main reason behind why this strictness came into being.

Imran told, this place is really different from the entire world, and Riyadh being the capital, is the most conservative place in Saudi Arabia. KSA is ruled by the King of Saudi Arabia, and the different ministries are again handled by different Princes, who are brothers and relatives of the King.

Indian Prime Minister with Saudi King

The Mutaween and the people

There are 2 different polices in KSA, the normal police and the religious Police called Mutaween/Mutwas. Mutaween’s duty is to maintain the religious beliefs among the people. Years back there was even a rule that each Saudi Citizen is eligible for some amount of money every month from the Kingdom. This made the people more Rich but Lazy too. The main areas where Westerners work in Saudi Arabia are defence, healthcare, and the oil industry. IT, telecommunications and banking are other areas that employ substantial numbers of Americans and Europeans. Saudis are more than happy to pay large sums of money to have others do their work for them. There has been in the last several years an attempt at “Saudization”, turning jobs traditionally done by outsiders over to Saudis to reduce the reliance on foreign labor, but there are a number of jobs that either require skills they do not have or are types of work that the affluent Saudis simply will not do.

Most of the menial and physical labor is done by Asian people such as Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi and Philippinos. The more technical work is done by Europeans and Americans, although the huge salaries and almost unlimited benefits of the 70’s and 80’s have been greatly reduced. Still, it can be quite lucrative to work for a few years in the kingdom.

This weakness of Saudi’s were utilized by all the other nations who wanted to make money from the Kingdom .But the King recently took a wise decision to stop the money given to each citizens every month. This is not because the Kingdom didn’t have money, instead the King wanted his people to work and earn money. Because as money was coming to the family for free they never had an urgency to get education and find a job, and they lived their lives lazily.

Holy Namaz

Islamic law also dictates 5 prayer times a day; before sunrise, noon, mid-afternoon, just after sunset and night. In most Middle Eastern countries when the mullahs give the prayer call from the many minarets dotting the cities, the faithful go to the mosque and perform their ritual prayers and then return to work or whatever they were doing at the time of prayer call. Businesses continue to operate, and life goes on as usual.

In Saudi, however, when prayer time comes, the entire economy comes to a screeching halt! Stores close, restaurants shut their doors, and things come to a complete stop until the prayers are over, what to say more; so called 24x7 support customer care service too. Considering this happens 5 times a day, you can imagine how much of a hassle that becomes! Every non Saudi I knew carried a prayer schedule with them at all times; you planned any day out in the public or downtown around the prayer schedules.

If you were in a restaurant or grocery store and prayer time was called, you were able to be locked in and continue to eat or gather groceries into your cart. The lights would be dimmed, but you were able to go about your business. If you went to eat at night though you always carried a candle so you could see your food when the lights went out during prayers!

Women

Life for women in KSA is very safe but restricted. All Women are supposed to wear ” Abaya” or Burkha whenever they are out of their home. Be it any lady, from any faith or any nation; they are strictly imposed to wear it outside. On my way to KSA I found non Saudi Women, wearing it inside the flight itself before landing in Riyadh. From the Airport itself women are bound to follow the Saudi rules.

Women not being allowed to drive, wearing the abaya at all times, forbidding all alcohol and virtually all other Western “vices”. Cigarettes were about the only vice allowed in the kingdom. There are no theater, no public bowling alleys, no bars or nightclubs and definitely no churches/temples! Some hotels had private bowling alleys, and some larger compounds had a small theater for movie viewing. All restaurants have two sections; a single males section and a family section. Women downtown by themselves or with other women had to sit in the family section; otherwise they could be arrested for “prostitution”.

That’s how the Kingdom is... in a brief ! More to explore.....