On a lonely, dark monsoon night, sits against me an empty broken chair, midnight shivers in the shivering cold, a nicotinic smoke chasing the air.
A distant radio plays the music of the nineties, those rowdy, nonsensical, chaotic songs, songs that sing through the chambers of my age, parts of which my nostalgia lives on.
I stand intensely engaged in a monologue, reaching out to every unvisited corner of me, disturbed by a plenty atrocities in the dark sky above, resurrecting as the silence I fake to be.
The smell of a young omelette on a fry pan, mixed with the drizzle on the outskirts of Bombay, equipped with Pink Floyd, Eliot, and Einstein, yet the lunatic's Delhi seems far away.
She creeps into a thunder of events, which follows me from a city to another, I am nothing more than a blinded nothingness, trembling on a path to where we are together.
Also published in the October 2011 edition of Kritya - availablehere.
This was the quietest day of my trip though not a waste. I didn't do much on this day. I went to one of the older markets of Bahrain, in the heart of Manama, in a Jewelery shop to try and buy a Bahrain Pearl. The market reminded me of the market outside Goregaon station. It was a kind that I detest to go to. After an early success with shopping, I escaped to a nearby Indian eatery, and much to my surprise, read a menu card that had Vada Paav, Sabu Dana Vada, etc. printed on it. I ate some random stuff and came back home.
In the evening, me and my uncle went to Marina beach, the most frequented beach in Bahrain. The evening had almost grown into a night by the time we reached the place and the breeze was rather fast and cold. I regretted not carrying my jacket along and preferred to move away from the beach shortly after my uncle told me how the beach was when he moved to Bahrain 23 years ago and how it has changed over time. There was a pleasant green lawn in front of the beach that tempted me to sit there for a while but a rather cold breeze killed my wish.
Me and my uncle then went to eat at Jasmis. Jasmis is a junk food restaurant and belongs to the league of McDonalds, KFC and Burger King. The Chicken burger was pretty alright though I thought I'd prefer KFC. I believe, Jasmis is an international chain limited to the middle eastern countries. The best part about this short drive was the conversations that I had with my uncle about various things.
Day 3 ended early as I had to wake up quite early the next morning since we had planned a long journey fo day 4.
I missed writing a blog yesterday because I got back home at 1.30 in the night. However normal does that sound in Bombay, it's something really special in this country. I will very happily come back to what I did in the night but let's start with the sun.
In the morning, I went to a couple of malls called the the Geant Mall aka as the Bahrain Mall and Dana Mall. The Bahrain mall had a huge parking place and the discipline with which the cars were parked was enviable. The kind of cars that were parked was even more enviable. Toyota was the most common, BMW was rather common, not to forget stunning! And an absolute feast to the eyes were some of the swanky Porsche models. I found the second mall I went to, Dana Mall, better than the first one. Both these malls were huge. I saw a Starbucks outlet for the first time. Some Arabic perfumes were in store though I didn't quite like their strong fragrances. I saw fresh fish and meat being sold along with the other goods in a mall for the first time. Fish is sold in BD/kg. Indian Lamb, Pakistani Lamb, Persian Lamb, Australian Beef, New Zealand Beef were next to each other.
Both these malls were huge, full of Indians and Arabic people, and virtually empty compared to the malls in Mumbai. They were good to look at since they looked clearly different from both inside and outside. Both had a touch of the traditional Arabic construction. Going to these malls was an experience worth it but neither of the malls impressed me a lot. I would still go to an In-orbit if these two mall were in Mumbai.
I ended my second international morning with some random shopping and went back home to sleep after lunch. After meeting a family friend for a while my cousin's friend Hitesh picked me up after dinner and took me out for a drive. Well, this was when I saw a night in Bahrain! I was never a big fan of malls and have always been a die-hard night lover. I love long drives and this was a killer one. The drive started at 11 pm though it looked like it's way passed midnight. Again the scarcity of people surprised me. We headed towards parts of this island country that were fast asleep in an unbelievable quietude. It was awesome to travel from one island to the other over empty flyovers where 120 kmph is the average and a safe speed. I, along with Hitesh, went to the airport garden in Muharraq, till the point where one is allowed on the reclaimed land of Amwaj Island, to the quiet town of Sitrah where extravagant car showrooms reside right next to each other. I missed my camera a lot there. From Sitrah, we flew over a bridge to another island called Rifa. It was a 15 Km drive from Sitrah to Rifa which was again superb. Rifa is where the king of Bahrain stays. It was a secluded island of exotic houses and a grave silence at 1 am. Something called Rifa views looked numb at that hour.
Unlike Mumbai, and much like all the other cities I have visited so far, the nights are nights in Bahrain, although the drives are awesome. At least the one I experienced was. I got back home at 1 .30, thinking of several other drives that I have been a part of, and thinking of all those people who are now scattered over the globe, just like I am right now - away from home, away from Mumbai.
The Journey: I reached the Bahrain International Airport after a rather enjoyable flight from Mumbai which watched over spectacularly lit-up towns of Muscat and Dubai. I was stopped at the immigration counter and was made to wait for about 45 minutes which scared me a little. The Airport staff was rather rude and refused to answer any of my questions (I personally feel they would've behaved better if I could speak Arabic). My uncle managed to communicate this problem to the higher authorities and my passport was finally stamped with a Welcome to Business Friendly Bahrain stamp.
Bahrain airport, at least the part that I have seen so far is smaller and quieter than Sahar. My uncle, aunty and their helper had come to pick me up. After filling a rather empty stomach with Fried Chicken and Rice, I resigned myself to my first night overseas that consisted of a long chat followed by some much needed sleep.
Day 1: I visited two places this morning - Fateh Mosque and The Museum of Bahrain. Fateh Mosque was definitely the better one though the museum was worth a visit too. This Mosque was bulit in 1973 and is the largest Mosque in Bahrain with a capacity of about 3000 people at one time. It's a soothing place with friendly staff always ready to show a newcomer around. Fateh Mosque is a beautiful structure embellished with Italian marble, French lamps, Indian teak wood and a ravishing Austrian chandelier.
The museum is much smaller and cleaner than Prince of Wales, it was virtually empty, in contrast with almost everything in Mumbai, and was well-maintained. A Palestine art exhibition surprisingly looked interesting to me.
After a short visit to a local market where I bought Chicken Puffs and a Turkey Sandwich from, I went home and lunched. We - me, uncle and aunty - relaxed and discussed what happens in the US though none of us had ever been there.
In the evening, me and my uncle went for a walk in the whereabouts of Umm Al Hassam. This walk told me a lot about the country of Bahrain and its attitude. It's a hopelessly laid back yet fresh, attractive town. Life is slow. People (men) meet up at Sheesha (hookah) shops and chat over sheeshas and various board games. The shops were well-planned and the density of the restaurants and good looking shops was quite high in the area that we covered walking. This place reminded me of Goa, of course barring the alcohol and tobacco.
The restaurants were predominantly South Indian, Chinese, Italian and North Indian. There were also densely placed Arabic eateries which serve Shawarmas, Chicken and Salami sandwiches and Hamus. I then went to a sheesha shop with my uncle where I smoked a double apple hookah. It was perhaps smoother than, or at least as good as, any other hookah I have smoked so far. The coffee was good too. People in these places were friendly so far. One thing that I could not miss noticing was that there wasn't even a single girl or a woman in the hookah shop, although it gave me an impression of being an ideal college hangout. My uncle says that's quite normal in Bahrain.
I feasted on Lamb at the dining the table, and then followed time to another interesting session of random chat with uncle and aunty, and then to write my first international blog.
