Bad Experience

“yahan log utha ker le jatay hain!”

“really?”

“you don’t know that? I thought you grew up here.”

“that was like 13 years ago and I was in Jeddah then!”

I’ve moved to Riyadh and this is what my next door neighbor was telling me!

Well, it’s almost a taboo for women to walk on street! I guess not having a car yet and Panda being on a 10 min walk, I’d be among the first to be marked here. Anyway, you cannot travel ALONE here if you’re a woman.

Last night we went for a walk. As we don’t have a car I had to go inside this food shop with my hubby. And since not a single female soul was in sight, everyone stared as if I were some alien which has descended on a flying saucer from the sky. As my husband was dealing with the cashier, and I didn’t want to stand in the way I stood by a table 4 feet away from my husband. These three to four guys came in the shop. Typical Saudis in their typical dress carrying a tasbeeh! One of them seemed to have seen a woman for the first time in his life (not to forget I was cover from top to bottom in a black abaya)! He lost it! Staring is such a small word for it plus he stood so close to my hubby that I couldn’t even move closer to him! At one moment I thought he’d jump right over me! That was scary! I’ve never in my entire life have been so scared! The moment my hubby had dealt with the cashier, I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and took deep breaths!

I know Naeemeh, that the first thing I’ve written about is a bad experience. But seriously, nothing has hurt me or touched me so deep that I’d be compelled to write about it! You know how we imagine these people to be living in the Holy Land and all but… kher choro… I’m not going to put them all in one category but I surely want to say that at least he should have had the respect for the tasbeeh that he was carrying!