The Bahrain Trip - Day 2

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.