Saudi Arabia – Myths & Monsters I
July 11, 2010
This is a place which is perceived negatively across the world. Everyone ridicules their culture, their approach to women and the drastic methods they apply for general application of social rules. I am here to confirm the reality of this place. A place called Saudi Arabia.
Now before I begin, let me just give some background about myself in order to clear any accusations of preconceived bias. I was one of the organizers of the Million man march that was undertaken in London after the second invasion of Iraq. Right here on chowk a long time ago, I had been accused of being a terrorist sympathizer and fundamentalist, just for arguing for the Arabs and against the harsh treatment meted out to them in the West and in the western media. I read ‘Road to Mecca’ and the ‘Arabian Sands’ and longed to visit those haunting nomadic places all my life.
Unfortunately, one trip to Saudi Arabia has confirmed to me that all those stereotypes of the Arabs are not only correct they do not go far enough to portray the general insolence of the Arab character. Whatever character traits experienced by Asad and Thesiger, have long since gone and replaced by the Morbid and cringworthy soul of a Modern Arab. The Semitic race, of which I guess I am a member contains two of the worst kind of human beings I have ever experienced. One is an Arab (Saudi/Kuwaiti etc) and the other is the Israeli (Rabid Rabbi I encountered on a flight once, and people I have met during a lifetime of globetrotting). But this is not about the later and only about the first;
The Saudi Soul
Thesiger describes the Arabs as having a sort of grace that could only be honed after centuries of nomadic existence. Well Sir Wilfred, 50 years of petro dollars have washed this grace completely away and what remains is a morose caricature of the classic Arab character. A materialistic, hypocritical being that is obsessed with the status quo and so full of himself, that he cannot contain his flatulence. George Orwell, must have visited Saudi Arabia in its present state through a time machine to have been able to effectively write 1984. Replace the long coats with white kanturas and you have 1984/2010/1431. When a Saudi tells you its 1431, he ain’t F***in kiddin. Infact I re-read 1984 on my stay in the Kingdom and boy was it a surreal experience as over time the degrees of seperation between the book and your surroundings, minimize until they merge. In the West, the egos land, whereas here the ego is a large animal hidden inside every Arab and can only be considered a land mammal. Every Arab is born with a weird sense of entitlement, as if their biggest achievement was to be born as an Arab (Atleast a Saudi/Kuwaiti Arab). This is also their only achievement and makes every thing else they do in life a little less grand. Born with this sense of entitlement and carrying the ego the size of an elephant, this Arab/Saudi is nurtured by maids from distant villages in Indonesia, who themselves are abused (See another future section dedicated to this). To Be Continued……
