RIYADH.......ah.....i just love u!

hmm...been quiet a few days that writing about Riyadh's been on my mind.well.......Riyadh....thats where i've spent a large chunk of my life.A place i would call.....urrmm...not exactly home....but a little inferior to it.i'd say that because....
1.I HAD TO WEAR PURDAH'S.......(ok....part of me did enjoy the black flowy garment)
2.THERE WERE NO WATER BODIES......(i still hate Riyadh for being a land locked area)
3.LESS RAIN!!!!!!(another reason.....)
ok....but..yeah apart from that i love that place.i still remember the first time i'd landed on the KING KHALID INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT....my mom,brother and i.it was a long journey for me ans...yes it was a wonder.
Now.....its a wonder because till then...(i.e till i was abt 3and half) i'd been in a village or if ur familiar with the usage of agraharams...yes...i used to live in one...in Palakkad....where nothing or no one's ever busy.From there was where my journey started....to Bombay....woah! the whooping crowd and traffic!I was stunned looking at the ever growing buildings(which ended up looking horrid later).Don't remember much happenings in Bombay though....then....YES...it started.....my 4 and half hr journey to Riyadh.The longest time i'd been on a plane.i was excited but yeah...scared cuz its not supported by roads or railway lines...but yeah.....i dozed off if my memory's right(now...i don want to sound like suffering from amnesia...so thats the best line).
ENCHANTED....AWE-STRUCK ....all these are the words that i'd want to say about that mammoth sized airport.golden-cream marbles all around me untouched steel rails(or ever polished)........tall in house plants......and to top it all......AN ENORMOUS FOUNTAIN!!!!.....What more can astound a kid.....why a kid...anyone who'd seen nothing close to all that.....somehow it all looked like a fairy tale......(except for the khaki suited men who kept screaming what made no sense to me)and from the slight openings of the door my mom pointed that my father was waiting for our arrival....hmm....now.......i was going to meet....or yes stay with someone who i'd never been with.....well i was an infant when my father was there at home and....now...yeah....he was COMPLETE stranger to me.....i didnt know much...rather anything.....and....was scared of the impending meeting(which melted like ice on a hot tava in a bloody short while)..... i saw a man in beige coat and pants and kept gaping.....wooh! so....this is my NEW HOME!
well.....for months....since i'd got there in the month of august,i could'nt join school so my mom tutored me(now am not supposed to be wasting time) and my brother continued his 8th.......it was some place.....the shopping malls! yeah.....!!!!! the amount of toys that were heaped....the chocolates....and biscuits!!!! gosh!......its all an experience!.....i still remember i wanted to tag with dad just like my brother to where ever he would go....now that includes the office as well.i still remember.....when he'd get back from work...thats like by 3:30 in the after-noon his first job will be to FIND me....(hehehe...it was a small hide and seek game that i can never forget playing)......i used to hide behind doors....under the table.....and yeah...it was like magic....he'd find me in an instant!!!!(sigh...i hate growing up!)
Mom used to pin me with books in the morning.....now....it wasn't laborious so am not one bit grumbling.......then came a lot of South-Indian family friends....one being my dad's second cousin.....a small circle of friends....(mind u i haven't yet joined school).....finally the BIG DAY.....my first day in school.....wasn't cranky.....because it wasn't my FIRST school....so was fine...but yeah...ALL new faces did get me a wee bit uneasy. i didn't know anyone! In fact....i didn't even know enough English to communicate!(horrible pang of hopelessness)....just few bits and pieces and not much of malayalam either....all i knew was THALAYALAM(the pkd tamil)...now who on earth would know that....yes...inspite of being in an INDIAN school...
I picked up the language pretty fast.....made some good friends fast......luckily had a bunch of MALLU'S AROUND!!!!so....THE GANG was formed fast,....teachers complaining about the talkative mallu kids in class.....i dreaded the parent teacher meetings!!! kept me wondering....DIDN'T THEY HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO TELL ABOUT ME?????(cu my marks cards were never impressive).....even more horrible to hear "all praise" about my brother....but i guess "i dont give a damn" attitude has infused in my since my birth so the J factor never did come up.....
i dont remember much of my first trip back to India after an year...but yeah...somehow i hated going back...i cudnt see my uncle's or aunts....or my granny!!!! or even my best friend in my village....oh...i forgot to mention...i had a best friend back then....wonder where he's now....but...yeah he was my first friend.
days passed....years passed....and my brother was done with his 10th.....and...he was to continue his studying in kerala!!! (LARGEST SIGH OF RELIEF)....cuz it was always like nothing but fight was our mode of communication......(which still does continue).....i mean it sounds strange....a 15 yr old boy fighting with a 7 yr old kid!!!!!but....when i had ACTUALLY leave him behind in kerala and come back.......i do not want to imagine......was pathetic...i felt horrible....the first time i realized how much i loved him....was bad at home...NOW I DIDN'T HAVE ANYONE TO FIGHT WITH!.....i missed him....and ever since that trip to date i haven't lived a whole year with him or even worse he with all of us!!Year after year....i used to look forward for the "about 45 days" holidays in India......things were always the same back there in Riyadh....my school routine....Wednesday was THE DAY!....mom made amazing lunch by the time I'd be back from school.....(never the conventional south Indian food).Invariably we'd go to a mall...(i'd never let my parents drive to the little kerala store called "kairali").....NO WAY!!! come on....its a wednesday for God's sake...we cant be going there!!!!!.....ao whether required or not we'd go to a super market.....and....my all time favorite being one...called"EUROMARCHE".......i wouldn't agree with tamimi or al-jazira(other malls)......i LOVED euromarche....(i still do)....was huge.....had a huge gaming place......yeah....precisely all that anyone would want.......then a thursday....mild day of the weekend....still manage to go out SOMEWHERE!....then came the horrid utterly boring friday.....no outing!!!and...yeah...sat...back to school....
There was this park just behind my house......invariably everyday i used to go there(yes when i a kid...)which existed for few years....and later on rumored to be haunted by a bangladeshi "bhoot" or was it just a way to cajole me of not going there....still haven't got that figured.
i've had some BEAU-tiful birthday parties to remember......one being when i guess what about 8.was brilliant....mom's skill of cooking at the pinnacle!zenith! name whatever!.....my house was flooded with people!Lot of family friends.....a beautifully huge strawberry and plain cream cake......(though i still wonder how i managed to eat that.....oh....btw i hate strawberries)
Speaking of another remarkable thing in riyadh was the vegetable "sookh"....or "chantha" in mallu....and....yes.....a market.....heard of vegetable floods....yes....that was it! nothing but it...i wouldnt call it eventful to go there but nice....something different which i can recollect....
10th.....exams....busy.....quiet some tensions...i really never cared much about the 90's so wouldnt call hyper-tension....yeah managed a decent and good score....11th.....horrible!!!! wanted to just get away from that institution!!! horrible teachers....horrible subjects....i've always disliked chemistry....never my cup of tea......don't even want to call it my teaspoon of tonic!!!
then....yes.....finally my final yr of schooling.....never did realize that it'd been 13 yrs of living in Riyadh!!!!! gosh.....I'd grown used to purdahs......i still remember how i prized my 2nd purdah....cuz i loathed the first one! i demanded the new one wrt to my performance of 10th boards!!!! come on....if not good colors...at least BLACK needs to look beautiful!!!! and with the emerging fashions in "abhaya" i longed for it!!!! and...yes i found the purdah of my dreams!!!! was the flowy black kind with Chinese arms..and with some brilliant embroidery..(making no sense??!@#$%^).....that was the in thing....(wonder whats it these days!).....but....yeah....not for long....after my 12th I'd to get back for further studying.....
Till then i didn't realize that I'd been in love with that place.......it was something living there....i feel like i was a totally different person ......there was something about me that i don't remember now.....the lifestyle that i have now is not one bit like how it was back then......i couldn't imagine that one day I'd have to leave Riyadh for good...it simply never crossed my mind....i never realized that Saudi-Arabia is not my country!!!!!
The last time i saw Riyadh was 2 years ago.......when I'd gone there for my ONAM holidays....my last one week......was painful....was horrid....no....no more....i dont want to think about it.....
But yeah....to all those who think saudi arabia to be a horrid nation with even more horrid laws.....i'd quiet want to re-define......it's a beautiful place.....just like every nation it has some rules and laws that quiet makes it unique......i kept peeping from my window seat trying to catch a last glimpse of the vast expanse of desert........and yeah if ever i'd get a chance to go there again....i'll do nothing but....GRAB THAT OPPORTUNITY!!!!