Bahrain Diaries - Liquor Shopping before Ramadan

This weekend was crucial as Ramadan starts on Thursday, 18th June, and we needed to stock up on liquor! Bahrain is a fairly liberal country where alcohol is served in licensed restaurants/lounge/pubs and hotel bars. We also have stores around the city to shop for hard drinks. It is only during the holy month of Ramadan that alcohol is NOT served in restaurants or sold in outlets in the city.

We basically know of two two big stores - BMMI and Gulf Brands. Since we live in an area called Juffair, we usually shop at the Gulf Brands International retail outlet located near the Gulf Hotel in Adliya. This weekend, to do our new thing, we visited the BMMI store in Mina Salman. (Not lame at all!!!! To find a new thing to do/place to visit in a small place of some 700 square km is hard!)

Since it was the last day before Ramadan, there were quite a few offers going on. The store seemed like it had just been robbed! Shelves were empty and cartons were lying around; basically the thirsty, expat community had grabbed all that they could so that they don't have withdrawal symptoms during the next one month. Also, since restaurants don't open till iftar/around 6 in the evening during this month, weekends are fairly bland. So to spice up our lives, we have house parties in the afternoons where we need to entertain guests with booze considering the fact that it is a luxury. Things taste better when they are prohibited, right?

Anyway, we bought a few cans of beer since we had everything stocked up from before. I don't know whether is was 'vandalism' or it was actually like that, we thought the Gulf Brands store is much better with more variety and a larger stock.

I wanted to click pictures with people pushing their trolleys and loading the trunk of their cars, but it just seemed too much. Hopefully I will use my phone's camera a little more from next time and give you a sneak peak into our weekends and also into our beautiful country that we call home - Bahrain.

P.S. If you landed here searching for liquor in Bahrain during Ramadan, I can suggest three places where you can check -

Country Club, Budaiya
Bahrain Rugby and Football Club, Saar
Royal Golf Club, Riffa.

It would be best to call these places and check before heading there. Also, if you are arriving in Bahrain from another country, the Duty Free at the arrivals section also sells alcohol to non-muslims during this month.

Poultry Pictures

Pout. Arm Triangle. Tummy in. Leg swirl. Chin up.

The above are few of the many ways in which you can pose if you are using your 5 megapixel, smart phone camera to capture your every move in every place – the washroom of a swanky restaurant topping the list. The phenomena of taking a perfect picture which apparently looks absolutely identical to the last one, thanks to the use of a certain teapot pose, has been around for some time. You might have found your perfect pose (mine is a left angle, by the way), but there is always something new to learn.

The purpose of this post is to let you know how I absolutely abhor the chicken wing and the duck face. Every single day I see atleast one picture on my timeline which screams ‘I’m Angelina’ at the top of its voice. Apparently the subject thinks that bigger lips and thinner arms can genetically change an ugly face, more so because it doesn’t smile, it pouts.

I mean, whatever happened to giggling and saying cheese or like my husband likes to call it – the shaadi pose! You stand next to each other, wrap your arms around and smile. If you’re having a good time, the giggle will show. What will you know from looking like poultry? Moreover, when you are in the year 2030 and they are looking at your pictures, how will you explain your aquatic existence? My mum still has a hard time explaining the high pants, giant buns and gangster shades.

I am not saying I have never done it. What I’m saying is whenever I have done it, I have deleted it. The only other time I had my arms on the waist was when the husband walked with his dirty shoes on a wet floor creating marks on a clean surface. Although his pose was perfect for a picture – hands on ears and chin touching the neck.

It is so insanely weird to act like a celeb when you aren’t one. I would be fine if you were called Kareena Kapoor or Katrina Kaif. But if you are a regular Neha and Priya, you really need a reality check and a natural smile.

To add to it, the trend is to take candid pictures in a wedding. You no more have cameramen standing in front of the stage clicking pictures with your mom’s aunt’s pervert son’s father-in-law. Rather, he moves around the hall and clicks random pictures with genuine smiles.

This opposite style of capturing moments is very confusing. When you’re creating your wedding album, you pose looking at each other’s eyes trying to fool the world saying that it was a candid click. You try to show the world that everyone had a gala time at your party. But as soon as you go for your honeymoon, you quack and cock-a-doodle-do, collaging fowl imagery. Thankfully the husband is on the other side of the camera because otherwise his duck face would be much harder to explain to any children created during or after the holiday.

The only time I forgive girls with such a pose is when they are 16 and have problems that only they can understand. When a 32 year-old makes a sassy arm triangle, she loses my respect. And the pleasure of posing next to my awesome, natural smile which comes out perfect without trying to ape anyone in particular. 

You may say the grapes are sour: in one such picture with people (read: girls, women) from all age groups, I had my hand much below the waist. What would they have thought – I had no clue about the angles? I, on the other hand, feel ignorance is bliss and chicken wings are tastier when on my lips and not on my hips.

Same line, multiple meanings.

Back, but no bang!

Now this must be the longest I have been away from reading and writing on Blogosphere. I feel horrible to say the least.

I mean, a lazy trip back home is no excuse not to jot down the million thoughts that go on in your mind. Really, everything amazing you do and see starts a series of thoughts in your mind that you want to pen down here. What is it with us bloggers, huh?

Like when I went to Lucknow this time - we visited this beautiful, beautiful park that I had surprisingly missed in the last two years. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, the park was unmistakably clean, and the greenery was to-die-for. I have seen a lotttt of parks in my life, but I think this is my favorite now. All I wanted to do after visiting it was write a review on my blog! It is called Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Park and is located in Gomti Nagar. After you are done with eating Tunde Kebab and shopping for Chikan Kurtas in my city of Nawabs, do check this little piece of paradise whenever you visit.

My least favorite thing about traveling is flying. Every time something or the other happens that leaves a bad memory in my head. This time was no different. While taking a flight from Delhi to Bahrain, I encountered this rude gentleman at the check-in counter. When I told him I cannot lift my suitcase and that he should call someone to help, he gave me a wicked smirk saying that there was no one around. I told him I will try to lift but I am not sure if I will succeed. Even though he saw me struggling, he didn't have the decency to get up and help. I guess Air India deserves all the flak it gets. Their staff needs to learn from a lot of other airlines that I have taken in the past and have never once faced a similar issue.

Anyhoo, you see, you learn, you grow; that is what my 3-year old nephew is doing these days. He's a boy with an attitude problem who wouldn't smile even if you tried your best. So these days, my mom - his grand-mother, has been tickling him a lot to give him his daily dose of laughter. Now I don't know if it is the right thing to do, but it sure is spreading a lot of joy in my house.

And to spread the joy across borders, my brother is getting his family here in Bahrain. I've been dying to see my niece and nephew in my house and this is really getting me extremely excited. I think when these kids are around three, they are the cutest. My niece is now nine, and she has been showing signs of entering teenage! But whatever it is, they are my most favorite people in the world right now and I cannot wait to see them.

Guess this space will have to wait a little longer to see me in full form! Goodness, what English!!!!!

Trip report – Mykonos, Greece

It has been six months since we visited Greece. The details are now blurry, but the stories from the vacation need to be here. And so it goes.

The symbolic windmills in the beautiful town of Mykonos. 

Lovely views

We had to take a ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. It was the first week of October and I had read stories of ferries being cancelled at the last minute. Thankfully, the weather was fine and we set sail to what was a an extremely beautiful beach destination.

Now Mykonos is the party capital of Greece. Unfortunately for us, the party ended in August. The most famous beach there – Paradise beach – has thousands of visitors shedding inhibitions and dancing all day in the summer months. We went to Paradise beach twice, only to enjoy the tranquillity and the beautiful sand.

Our hotel was in the centre of the town. But the GPS fooled us and our first outing was a disaster. We were going to the centre and it took us from ‘the shortest route possible’.  It was dark, the road was narrow, cars were coming from all directions, and we were walking to find restaurants!

When we did reach the area, it was absolutely beautiful with lots of narrow walkways, shops and restaurants all around. Our friends wanted Indian food, so went to this desi joint and encountered a horrible waitress. She kept glasses on our table with a loud bang. When we asked for chapatis, she came and said with a disturbing attitude,“We don’t have them. What will you do?”. When we look back, it was absolutely hilarious. That ‘what will you do’ has become a famous quote in our house!

The next day was another adventure on its own. Again, I must say, the GPS was at fault. We hired a car and went beach hunting. Our first stop was the pretty and simple to reach – Paradise beach. The ocean was cold and so we just lazed around on sun loungers with beer and good food. The waitress was the cutest! Close to the beach there was a cliff where they had an Indian restaurant. We called the owner to ask about it before driving there. He asked us to come after a couple of hours!

The sandy beach of Paradise!

The Boy - exposed!!! :p

Yes, October was not a peak season and people were relaxing. Now these Indian restaurants in European cities usually have two people managing a small restaurant. One serves, the other cooks. This guy was no exception. Only thing is he was having a conversation with someone back home and expelling BC/MC with ease!

We had a laugh with that too. And then we thought of going to Super Paradise beach. If we would have taken a U-Turn and gone to the highway, the road to the beach would have been easier. We didn’t know. So we asked our GPS for help. She took us from mountains and pebbly roads which were extremely dangerous. It was the most adventurous ride we’ve had in our life. It was steep, it was uneven, it was long, it had blind turns, it was a SINGLE road on a mountain…hmm!

But we managed to laugh that off as well and went to two more beaches after that. They were mostly empty because the water was cold. Even then, there lay a couple of topless women and the boys were happy!

We imagined how those beaches would be in summer. They were absolutely gorgeous. The clubs were amazing. The bars were superb. We thought we’ll go there again sometime..

In the evening we went for dinner at an Italian place in an area called Little Venice. The water from the sea splashed on the banks and the place was a beauty. Nobody asked us ‘What will we do’ and they even gave us blankets because it was a tad cold. We felt welcomed.

Little Venice in Mykonos

The next day we thought of not taking our chances and visiting Paradise beach again. We have lots of fun with the couple we went with, so it didn’t matter. The vacation was chilled out and we had nothing to tick mark. The people at the beach were humble and it was another feel-good outing. In the evening we went to eat Doner kebabs at a smallish restaurant. The owner was clearly stoned! Our friend couldn’t find him and so, he started tapping the counter mildly. The guy appeared from nowhere and started saying ‘What are you doing? Have some respect. You have to respect me.” Man, what was up with these people in Mykonos? Summer had been long it seemed!

We walked around the beautiful market area again in the evening and discovered little corners. Our hotel room was perfect, their breakfast was huge, and the beaches were blissful. Even with some rude encounters, our trip was perfect. We thought we’d go again.

Loved these lanes in Mykonos

Our plane out was a very small one, with sort of a ladder to the door! We went to Athens for a flight back to Bahrain. The next day was Karwachauth, the friends were going to stay over-night before going to their home in Dubai, there was supposed to be a party at my place that night… I loved every bit of it!

Sunset from our Hotel

Read about Athens and Santorini in previous posts.

The Purpose of their Life

There are some of us who are the thinking types. We look at the clear blue skies and wonder ‘what is the purpose of life’. I am one of those. I am also one of those who finds her answers by typing the thoughts down.

I have this house help who lives in the Middle East to provide for her family back home in India. She must be around 30. She got married to her late sister’s husband because the sibling died leaving a daughter behind. After getting married, my maid had another daughter. She lived with her for 1.5 years and then left her with her grandmother so that she can earn money and provide her a comfortable life. It has been four years now and she has not seen her daughter.

There is another maid who has daughters who are now 16 and 20, respectively. Last year the 20-year old got married. My maid spent all her life’s savings to ‘give’ her away. Not only this, she had to spend six months in India to sort out some issues. When she came back she had lost her previous jobs and had to look for new ones. Fast forward nine months, her daughter was now expecting her first baby. Of course there was no one else who would help her daughter give birth. So it has been two months and she is again in India, spending all her hard-earned money on rituals.

My taxi driver got married and came back sans the wife because it is costly to bring here here. Also, he has a mother back home who needs a 'care taker'. He went for a short vacation and after nine months his first child was born. Since then, he has seen his child once and hasn't got the resources to bring his family here. 

It is the same with almost every person working in homes, driving taxis or working as a labour here. I wonder what inspires them. I wonder if they have ever thought ‘what is the purpose of their life’.

If we were animals without dreams, aspirations and thoughts, I would have considered this normal. The purpose of life would be to make another life, help it grow and your job is done. But I live in an over-populated earth. Although I have enough resources and my sacrifices wouldn’t be as much, I still think it is a huge price to pay.

Our society has ingrained certain beliefs in us. It has laid down a certain course of action – study, work, get married, have multiple children, die – everything else is secondary. If some of us decide to do something out of the ordinary, we are made to question our own decisions. That is how society f***s up our mind.

To me, the purpose of life is to be happy and take care of what God has given you. Our first responsibility is to take care of our own body because it is really a gift. Everything else is secondary. These people who live here and work for their children’s upbringing don’t eat enough. They are dying a slow death. They are not even living with their kids who can give them the ‘happiness’ they must have aimed for when they gave birth. Some of them even have extra-marital affairs here to get emotional support from another human being. Needless to say, their spouse back home indulges in the same.

I know that it is education that makes us question the norms. They probably did not have the chance or ability to go against the system. We may not have a reason not to have kids, but seeing them miserable is definitely a reason to question the whole process.

Isn’t it time people started advocating both sides of the coin? There may be a lot of happiness in having children, but there may be more joy in not having them. It is time our world started seeing childfree as a normal thing rather than a selfish act so that these people, who sacrifice the most to adhere to the world’s established rule, are enlightened.

Trip Report - Santorini, Greece

We went to Greece last year because there was a direct flight from our city and we had little to do during Eid holidays. A friend asked us, and we didn’t have a reason to say no. And well, who doesn't have Greece on their bucket list?

Deciding on Athens, Santorini and Mykonos was easy. All three are extremely diverse towns with a good mix of beauty, culture and entertainment. We saw varied landscapes of Greece all through our vacation and that is what made it so interesting.

Now we’ve all seen Santorini in movies. We all want to go there. The blue and white is alluring and every picture that you have seen of the place is so romantic. Well, it is all true. The place is picture perfect – nothing more, nothing less.

Freshly painted structures of Santorini

I love yellow!

The city is divided in two parts – Fira and Oia. The hotels are all on a cliff with a lot of steps to reach them. We decided to stay in Fira because it had more places to eat! And we chose a hotel that had no steps (which was hard to find because there are only 2-3).

Our hotel was at the beginning of a long pedestrian-only stretch that had shops and restaurants on each side. The grey and white floor, freshly painted structures, light music coming out from each place, tourists mingling and laughing – it was all wonderful.

Fira and its hotels. 

Unfortunately, that was it. You walk around that street, walk up and down the steps, look at the sea, do some window shopping and hog on. It was a perfect holiday for people who are stressed out and need nothing more to do. But for people who look for entertainment for three nights, there was little choice.

In no way I am saying that the beauty of Santorini has any parallel. It is absolutely gorgeous. At the same time, it is extremely touristy. It is so picture perfect that people just want to click all the time. Sometimes it got really annoying seeing everyone with a selfie stick trying to capture the blue and white. Whatever happened to living in the moment?

Souvenirs

Along the street in Fira

Fake pose! Someone hates the camera
and this someone did not like tourists in Santorini one bit!

Not to forget, the sunset is the selling point of Santorini. It goes down completely into the blue ocean and looks beautiful. The best views are from Oia. So we went there to check it out. Trust me, we couldn’t stay till the actual sunset happened. There were thousands of people gathered to watch in a very small place and it got claustrophobic. Frankly, I think we never watch the sun set at home. It is equally beautiful in any country facing the sea!

Will do anything for a picture with the sunset

Beauty and drinks in the less hyped Fira!

When it got claustrophobic in Oia

It was cute to watch new brides walking around in there gowns. Apparently, it is a perfect place to get clicked after the wedding. We had lots of fun in our hotel’s balcony watching, guess what, the sun go down! We sat there for hours playing hindi music, drinking, eating and dancing with friends. I just have to mention the doner kebabs we had there - they were to die for! We love our Turkish street food and this did not disappoint us.

Devouring the Doner Kebab!

My advice to people on Santorini will be that you must go for a couple of days at max. I also think it’s a good trip to make when you are, maybe, 50 so that you can completely enjoy the beauty and not be bogged down by the lack of entertainment. It is a pretty place (as you can make out from the pictures) and you will love it. Also, you will click the best pictures of your life here - like we got this one!

Oh yes, why should we be left behind!

Read about Athens here.

A Journey to Remember

Sometimes, even when you are at home, the days fall short. For me, that time is when I am planning a holiday.

Travelling inspires me. It makes me want to do things I’ve never done before. It makes me want to stay fit to walk around every corner of the globe. I know resources are important, but even if you have the money, you may not be able to travel for several other reasons. I don’t want ANY of those reasons to come in between my plans to tour the world.

So, last few days have been crazy. We have two vacations coming up – one in July and one in September. Before that, we are going home for a month next week. That meant that I needed to chalk out my plans and book hotels so that we get the best rates. And we did.

Did you know there is no better thing than chalking out a plan for a holiday? It makes me visit a place even before I go there. Pictures never do justice to a town. So both the experiences are totally different. Whoever said that planning before going is not important, missed out on breathing the air of a destination before reaching it.

I’ve been visiting Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Cyprus since the last few days. My days start on the laptop, and end with a dream of the destination. We needed to find out the cities we wanted to visit. We had to see which towns had easier connections. We had to book hotels that were both quiet and centrally located. How do you do that? - By researching, reading and asking. I’ve now reviewed, asked and answered so many questions/destinations on Tripadvisor that people send me private mails asking about things. That makes me very proud actually!

Speaking about Tripadvisor, it is one of my favorite places to visit before and after venturing out. I spend hours on it planning my itinerary. And then I spend some time giving it back – by reviewing the places and filing trip reports. The map that I have there, oh well, I wish I could take out a big print out of it and stick it on my wall.

That’s the dream really - to stick a pin on every destination possible. Everyone around me seems to carry a Louis Vuitton or wear an Omega; but my motto is simple – I’ll rather buy a holiday than spend the same amount on materialistic luxuries. The same Rs. 20,000/50,000/2,00,000 (Yes, that’s how expensive these bags and watches are!) can give you immense pleasure on a mountain than carrying a man-made, society-driven, branded rubbish.

So take a weekend off, look into your bank account, open Tripadvisor, and breath-in the air of a destination you have never visited. Then go there and make your life a journey to remember.