saudi hospitality

My mother-in-law is visiting us and a few weeks ago we went to Mecca and Medina with her to visit the holy sites and perform umrah. We went by bus through one of the many umrah tour operators. It's a lot cheaper by bus, and you can view the landscape during the daytime. The downside is it's very tiring if you're travellling from the Eastern province. The journey to Mecca takes about 10 hours from Dammam.

The spiritual association and splendour of the holy sites would move anybody emotionally. You feel like you are a part of the humanity surrounding you. The physical structures instils inspiration, but the openness and the brightness does not make you feel like you are entrapped in an enclosure. What was disturbing is the towering structures abutting and dwarfing the holy site in Mecca. I hear that one of them (under construction) is going to be the world's tallest hotel building.

On our way back, the bus developed some mechanical problem, and we were stranded at a wayside service station while a team of mechanics were trying to fix the problem. We were in the middle of nowhere and were worried about how long we might need to remain there before the bus could move again. Meanwhile, I noticed a rustic-looking Saudi, who had driven in to refuel his battered, ancient station wagon, was talking to one of the passengers or our bus. The way they were talking and shaking hands seemed to me like they had known each other for ages. Though I am sure that cannot be true. About half an hour later, the Saudi reappeared with his car and parked right beside our bus. Then he handed over a bag of dates to one of the pilgrims standing near his car and asked him to distribute them among all the passengers. We thanked him profusely. I took one of the dates, which was, in significance if not in taste, one of the best dates that I ever had in my life.

After four hours or frantic efforts by the mechanics, we were back on the road and the driver rushed us to Dammam to reach there almost in time. Unfortunately, he received a speeding ticket on the way.

Photo credit: Mumineen.org

don't lose your stc sim card!

I had posted my experience with obtaining an STC sim card, which was bad enough, but, apparently the experience of losing one and trying to replace it is even worse. Our expatguru relates his harrowing experience.

prejudice in saudi arabia?

I have been asked by a reader if the tribulations I have faced in various government and commercial officials have anything to do with my being a South Asian. In other words, whether they were manifestations of the alleged prejudice Saudis hold against Asians.

This is a bit difficult to tell, because it is always hard to guess what's happening in a person's mind. Unless someone acts in a blatantly prejudiced manner, or utters something explicit to that effect, I would prefer to give him or her the benefit of doubt. In the incidents that I have mentioned in my blog, I guess only the bank clerk who refused to entertain my application for opening an account may have acted in a prejudiced manner. May be, because I am from Bangladesh, he was worried that he was dealling with an imposter with doctored documents.

Otherswise, I think my problems have more to do with ignorance of the system, lack of wasta and inability to communicate in Arabic.

I have mentioned in an entry about the maltreatment and indignities Bangladeshi workers endure in Saudi Arabia. The same can be said about other South Asian workers here and in other Gulf countries. But this has more to do with what they do than where they are from. Menial workers in South Asia often receive the same kind of treatment from the more affluent sections of their society. Nonetheless, this is prejudice, no doubt.

Saudis come in all sorts of facial features and complexions. This is probably because, in the past, people from different parts of the world came to this region and became assimilated into its society. Slaves were brought in from Africa and Europe. Muslim from East, South and Central Asia had arrived on pilgramage and never went back. They all became part of Saudi society. Islam is an egalitarian religion that strictly forbids discrimination based on class or race. I'm sure there is prejudice (and racism) in Saudi society, but my guess is it is relatively rarer than, or on par with that in many other societies. This my guess only, I have to admit that my knowldege of Saudi society is too poor to form an informed opinion in this regard.

kind-hearted bangladeshis

Saudi Arabia is probably home to the largest number of non-emmigrant Bangladeshis outside Bangladesh. It is estimated that close to 2 million Bangladeshis reside in this country. The vast majority of them work in the lowest rungs of job hierarchy. Cleaners, sweepers, construction workers and so on. Many of them have spent a lot of money to come here, only to find that the pay promised is not what is actually paid. There are Bangladeshi workers who earn 300-400 rials a month, which is not enough for their own survival, let alone feed their families back home. Consequently, they have to resort to moonlighting, doing odd jobs. Some work at homes cleaning, cooking, washing cars etc. This is not legally allowed, so there are arrests every now and then.

They face a lot of indignities in their life. As menial workers they are often abused verbally and discriminated against. However, my family and I have often been touched and moved by their kindness and generosity. There is one petrol pump attendant who would always buy a bagful of snacks and drinks for my children whenever I go to fill my tank. There was another supermarket worker, whose job was to stuff shopping bags with the items bought by the customer, who would do the same. Saying no to them is futile. The alternative is to avoid the places when they are on duty. At one intersection, while waiting for the signal to turn green, my wife asked for a rose from a street hawker selling flowers. She asked about its price, in Bengali, and realising that we were from Bangladesh, the guy left saying we didn't need to pay. There are many other examples that I can cite. The kindness shown by these people motivates us to reciprocate the favours.

Photo credit:Construction Week Online

no more deshi doctors

The Saudi Gazette recently reported that the Ministry of Health will no longer recruit doctors from Bangladesh, citing low qualifications and poor training as the reasons. I am not sure if it is true, but I have heard that the pay of Bangladeshi doctors had been lowered some time in the past. If that is true, I am not surprised about the dearth of good doctors willing to come to Saudi. It may sound surprising, but good doctors in Bangladesh (thousands of them) earn much, much more than their compatriots do in the Kingdom. So why should they forsake the comfort of living in their own country if there is no lure of lucre?

Photo credit: WPClipart.com

one year completed

Today marks the first anniversary of my coming to Saudi Arabia, although, within this period, I have actually spent a little less than 10 months here. It seems like I came here just the other day. Time passes really fast. I am deeply indebted to all those who have, in many different ways, helped me to adapt to the new environment. They include my friends, colleagues, family, service providers and netizens who I've never met face-to-face. Thank you all.

Coincidentally, today is also my birthday.

Photo credit:FreeFoto.com

tal bukra

I was warned by a Pakistani colleague, several months into my sojourn in Saudi Arabia, that I'd frequently hear the phrase 'tal bukra.' It means, come tomorrow. I remember two lines from a verse I had read decades ago, "Put up in a place where it's easy to see, the cryptic admonishment TTT." TTT, the next couple of lines explained, stands for 'things take time.' The admonishment is more relevant here than in most other places. I have already related my experience regarding opening a bank account. More recently I had a similar experience with an even simpler task--buying a mobile phone SIM.

I went to a small STC (Saudi Telecom) outlet to buy a SIM. The shop was manned by only two persons, who didn't seem to have much work at hand, since apart from myself, there were no other customers. I expressed my intention to buy a SIM, and one of the guys told me to bring a photocopy of my residence permit. I was not prepared for this; on the two occasions that I had bought SIMs from a different company, the shop attendants themselves made copies of my residence permit. I pointed to the scanner/copier in the shop, but was told that it was out of order. So I went out to find a copy shop, but when I spotted one, the call for prayer rang out from the mosque loudspeaker. I decided to come back the next day.

The following day, a Thursday, I went back to the same shop only to be told to come back on Saturday. No explanation was given, but I guess since government offices are closed on Thursdays, STC outlets, like the banks, may offer only limited services on that day. I came back on Saturday, but they had run out of SIMS. "Tal bukra," they said. The next evening found me back at the same shop, and yes, this time they could issue me a SIM. "But you cannot use it today," I was told, "you have to activate it tomorrow." Well, at least I won't have to make the trip to the shop again!

The slow pace of things can get on your nerves. But getting agitated won't help you move any faster. And one has to admit, the laid back attitude and easy-going pace is a definite attraction of living in Saudi Arabia.

consumption of white cloth

Arab News recently carried an essay translated from the local press. The writer, Ali Al-Mosa reports, "Saudis top the entire world in the consumtion of tea and coffee. They also top the world in the consumption of Viagra, spending about SR 150 million on it annually."

It appears, though it is not clearly stated, that the top rank secured by the Saudis is in terms of total, not per capita, consumption. That is really hard to believe. With only some 25 million people, including expatriates, try to imagine how much tea or coffee each Saudi would have to consume to beat, say, the 1.3 billion Chinese. With a large majority of the population under the age of 30 and with so little opportunities/inclination to be promiscuous, it is hard to understand why Saudi men would have such a need for Viagra pills.

But then the title of the story was 'Unreliable consumer statistics', and the 'facts' were cited to drive home the point that consumer statistics published in the local press need to be taken with a grain of salt.

However, if the press reports that the Saudis top the world in consumption of white cloth, I, for one, would be inclined to believe it. Except for the very brief period of the year that can be termed winter, Saudi men are always clad in ankle-length white robes, with white undergarments underneath, and around may be half of them sport a headgear made of a large white scarf-life piece of cloth (the rest wear a red-and-white pattern).

Photo credit: Hassan Ammar/AP

visit visa for family

I wanted to issue a visit visa to bring in my mother-in-law for a short trip. The process to do so, like so many other things here, is shrouded in mystery, at least for an expatriate like me with no connections and no knowledge of Arabic. I tried to learn about it from other people's blogs and experiences. Each had his own version of the process, in particular in relation to the documents that I would need to submit. I decided to believe all of them in order to minimise the risk of my application being turned down, so I went to the relevant government office carrying a big stack of papers including copies of my residence permit, my passport, my wife's passport, my mother-in-law's passport, my educational certificates, my marriage certificate, a letter from my employer etc. I had filled a form on the Internet and was given a number for future reference. When I handed my papers at the designated window, they gave me back everything except for the letter from my employer and the copies of my passport and residence permit.

I was advised to check their Website after 10 days to see if the visa advice is issued. Others waiting in the lounge told me that the process actually takes much less time, typically not more than 3 days. In my case, however, it took almost a month. But better late than never.

back to the kingdom

I returned to the Kingdom yesterday after a two-month long vacation. The flight from home, which was delayed by four hours, took around six hours. The wait at the passport control took about two hours. Some families spent more than four hours there. There were only 2-3 officers working at a time for hundreds of arriving passengers waiting in horrendously long queues. I am tired, but I'll have to spend a good part of the next few days cleaning up our flat. Belated Eid greetings to all!