Rant 56: The Desert Diaries P2: looking around

(PS: For part 1 of this series click here)

Had the laziest day in weeks yesterday. Woke up late, had a late breakfast, a late lunch and a late-afternoon siesta. Evening time

we went to the electronics district of Kuwait, better known as Hawalli, one of the six Governorates of this country, where bought a 1 Terabyte external hard disk. Most of the shops are run by people from the Indian subcontinent and it’s a welcome change (from listening to all that Arabic) to be able to talk to someone in hindi here. The market itself is quite fascinating. It’s sort of like a black market for electronic goods, only the prices are quite reasonable and the products themselves fairly reliable. To give you an example, I have myself bought – over three years – three different external hard disks from this area, two 80 gb ones and one of 500 gb, with all three running quite well. I wish the same for my fourth as well.

I must say here that dad has really gotten the driving concept here down pat. Never could I have imagined him driving in a country with a minimum speed value. My dad, who in India, would let rickshaws overtake him, looked quite at ease behind the wheel, when I myself get a minor chill down my spine every time a car literally zooms past us. He himself admits driving is a pleasure here, and I can see why, what with amazing looking “Freeways” (yes yes, u can shoot me now!) where you can basically rip to your heart’s content.

 
McDonalds in Hawalli...or is it???
Next stop was the main city area, officially known as Kuwait City (popularly known as Mallya).

Other than Hawalli, this is probably the one area where you find the most number of expatriates, and not just subcontinental folks, but people from south east asian countries as well. I also saw a lady in a saree, which was yet another welcome change from the myriad of Dolce Gabbana fashion ants I’ve seen since arriving here.

Made a stop at a mall called the Multhana complex. Pretty sweet place. Visited the bookshop on the basement floor and bought some football magazines, (October edition of Four Four Two, November issue of Inside United, official Man Utd magazine, and November issue of Champions, the official UEFA Champions League magazine). Incidentally, I had to get my watch repaired, and if I had assumed that one of the many big watch shops in this mall – those that sold practically every branded name you can think of – would be able to do the needful then I was rudely surprised. Not a single one had a workshop for repairs. In the end, an Indian doing watch repairs on the roadside was more than glad to help us.

Topped off the evening’s  enjoyment with some lovely food from this blessed place. No prizes on guessing what I ate.

A touch of home @ Mirqab area