Arabian Days - Day 2

The first part of day 2 was spent in lazing around at home. After all the trudging around done yesterday, we were all content to rest.

For lunch we went to a restaurant called Sara, a small place serving authentic Pakistani food. Its home-cooking, with surprisingly few spices used, whih means the true flavours of the vegetables come through. We sampled kadhi-pakoda, aloo-palak, a refreshing mint-flavoured buttermilk (DELICIOUS and on the house!) and HUGE rotis. These rotis are slightly larger than the average dinner plate - and soft, HOT and tasty! There was also a 'daal'- made of whole moong dal, rather like a subzi! Dessert was gajrela (gajar halwa wih LOTS of thickened milk) and smooth custard-like firni.



A word has to be said about Sara's decor. There are 2 entrances (many restaurants here have that) - one for 'bachelors'and the other for families. These two entrances lead to two different dining spaces - our 'family' hall was TINY, so I'm assuming the bachelors'must be minuscule too. Before you conclude that this is because of Islamic laws, the resaon is more commercial than religious. A very large part of the population here is labour class (Mallus, for example) who arent always the model of decorum. Too many such patrons means the higher-spending families dont visit your establishment. Hence the duality. Several upscale malls also do not allow visitors on Fridays (here the weekend is Fri-Sat) unless they are acompanied by a female.

After lunch, we dove along Doha's Corniche, which is the equivalent of our Marine Drive. But the sea is crysal-clear green, and the road is lined with lawns and flowerbeds overflwing with white, purple, red and pink petunias.





Doha's downtown is at one end of the Corniche - and I take my words back, Doha has some SPECTACULAR architecture, too! Downtown Doha is a mass of sleek modern skyscrapers, with a distinct futuristic theme.



After this, we drove to the The Pearl Qatar, a new township coming up (its half-complete) on reclaimed land off Doha's coast.

You can see the model here:



It is the height of class and opulence, with an entire range of homes - apartments, penthouses, villas built around a central circular marina (with piers for the owners'yachts!) The stores include Hermes, Armani and the like. The entire look-and-feel of the place is Moorish and Arabic. The promenade along the marina has coffe houses and potted plants (from which pulsing Arabic music pipes out- thanks to the Bose speakers installed in the earth surrounding the plants!)





After exploring Pearl Qatar, we started the long-ish drive (through the desert) to Al Khor. Al-Khor is a community established for the employees (majorly expat) of Qatar's 2 gas copanies - Ras Gas and Qatar Gas, about 60 km north of Doha (Doha is the capital of Qatar) It is an entirely self-sufficient township, rather like Jamshedpur, with 2 schools (Indian and British), a hospital, its own bus service, and 3 clubs with amenities like a library, squash and tennis courts, games rooms, swimming pools, restaurants - you name it, and its there. And the entire campus is beautifully maintained, with tight security. It reminded me a lot of Infy Mysore! One cannot enter unless one is a visitor at one of the residents. We were calling on Rajendra and Medha Khadilkar, friends of Madhura and Chirag from the Maharashtra Mandal at Doha. We had a FUN evening with Rau, Medha and their son Shantanu. I tried out foozball and TT for the first time! After a yummy Indian dinner at one of the club's restaurants, we set off for home. Truly a fun day!