Woody in Arabia
Just before the cricket season draws to a close I usually fly off to Qatar and work as an English Language Instructor at ‘Qatar Petroleum’ in Doha. I have now got used to it but what is it like to live and work in the Arabian Gulf? Not always easy with raging March sandstorms, winter flash floods and temperatures soaring to 150 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. Survive this and you have to contend with crazy drivers carving up traffic at unbelievable speeds while police look on. Qatar is definitely a place to be reckoned with.
In a cosmopolitan society dominated by religion, all Muslims are expected to pray five times a day with all events timed to avoid the Call to Prayer. Friday prayers are special with mosques packed to breaking point and everyone submitting to Allah. The 4 a.m. Ramadan prayer call is guaranteed to awaken all from deep slumbers as the loudspeaker volume is deliberately raised. During this period Muslims fast and don’t eat or drink between sunrise and sundown. Most observe this but after dark it’s party time for youngsters who gorge themselves silly and fearlessly race, skid and swerve around the city in large Landcruisers until the early hours, some even able to balance on two wheels as they madly encircle roundabouts, a feat many have not mastered. Vehicles overturned on the roads or upside down in gardens is a daily feature of Ramadan.
Below the recently developed Manhattan skyline of West Bay, Doha, the gigantic plush shopping malls with their big fountains, marble floors and chic boutiques ring with loud, recorded Quranic verses as Arabic ladies dressed in black abayas and covered faces purchase the latest New York and Paris fashions. Pakistanis in shalwa kamees and Indians crowd the city centre and stand around chatting in groups while wild cats pillage from open rubbish bins.
Although crime is low because of Shariah Law incidents still occur. In a society where an Arab can suffer 100 lashes for handing his telephone number to an unmarried woman in public most people are obedient. In 2001 a Qatari was shot dead by American soldiers after he fired a Kalashnikov at them then in March, 2005 an Egyptian IT employee of my company ‘Qatar Petroleum’ called Jihad and drove his Landcruiser laden with explosives into a packed Doha Players Theatre where Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ was being performed, killing the British theatre director and injuring fifteen. The theatre was burnt to the ground. Fortunately, I wasn’t present that evening but the scenery that I had designed and painted for one of the productions was reduced to ashes.
In a country that worships Islam and Western materialism almost equally, Qatar is famous for liquefied natural gas. It drips with oil and big bucks and heads the world list of wealthiest nations per capita. With an exaggerated form of social benefits in place, allowances for all Qataris to fulfill every wish and where even a school leaver can afford a gigantic Landcruiser, Qatar is pure wealth. What do I think? Well, I am just content to periodically escape and return to Rainham Cricket Club.
