Exhausting, exhilarating ‘in-your-face’ India is a must
30 years on, and India is as complex, chaotic and culturally alluring as ever. It was sensory overload then and possibly more so today. No photograph, video or personal account will ever prepare you for visiting India. And more so, if you jet in from the likes of Qatar, just a four-hour flight away, with […]
Of football, missiles and the passing of Qatar’s ‘architect’
12 July was an odd-ball day. It’s one that will go down in the annals of Qatar’s history. And ours too, simply because it was just such a strange day. Or, to quote a friend who texted me that evening, “Today is pretty eventful, huh”. “An understatement,” I’d replied because Sunday, 12 July, began before […]
Opening the door(s) of Qatar
Ornate, Arabic, automatic, closed, revolving, wooden or whatever … As an expatriate living in Qatar in the Middle East, doors here can be very different. It’s both the visual contrast between doors here and those of our home countries, and the symbolic significance. Granted, a closed door may still indicate a dead-end, a glass one […]
Qatar’s great green escape – Katara Hills
Katara Hills is our antidote to Qatar’s flat, desert environment. It’s green, hilly, loaded with trees, has a freshwater stream and fabulous views over the ocean and other Doha landmarks. It’s all man-made and perfectly manicured, of course. But this matters not a jot when you’re seeking respite from the hustle and bustle of Doha […]
Lessons in Arabic become lessons for life (for me)
If you are seeking guidance on learning Arabic, you have come to the wrong place. But if you’d like Lessons in Arabic, as in the wonderful novel Lessons in Chemistry, then perhaps I can be of assistance. You see, I failed my beginner’s Arabic test. Yes, failed. Plugged. Three weeks after the dreaded online test […]
The great fake Eid escape
“Leave your luggage and follow me. Now.” The authoritative instruction should have been warning enough. This was not going to be an Eid break like any other. I mean, we’d already had almost three weeks of emergency alarms, missiles and ongoing uncertainty in Qatar. What was I thinking? (And you’re thinking it too. Is she […]
Adapting to a war (that’s not ours) in Qatar
Life goes on. Life goes on regardless of incoming missiles and ongoing uncertainty in Qatar, one of the six Gulf countries caught in the crossfire of the US-Israel-Iran war. In my previous post, just four days into a growing conflict that is not ours, I related how scary and surreal everything was. And it still […]
Living in a war (that’s not ours) in Qatar
Surreal and scary. That’s as it is for me – and so, so many others – living in Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East right now as I share what day-to-day life is like presently. I do so in my personal capacity – as just one of the 3 million people who live in Qatar, […]
Sniffing out cultural differences with tissues in Qatar
Tissues. Yes, everyday soft, absorbent paper tissues. They are the stars of this Doha Diaries post for no better reason than their ubiquitous presence in the Middle East. In Qatar, they’re everywhere. Boxes of tissues adorn any available surface here – they are in homes, hotels, offices and shops, taxis, counters, public toilets, checkout tills […]
‘World cup’ of rock art mystery in Qatar
From the mundane to the mysterious, Qatar’s leading rock art site, Al Jassasiya, gives you much to see and even more to mull over. Not least is that, at face value, with its stunning architecture, high-tech infrastructure and visionary focus, Qatar is a picture of modernity, when actually, it’s truly old – like 5th Century […]