(previous post - Memories - Saudi Part I)
So, that's where I grew up, initially. Now, when it came to school, I attended International Indian School, Dammam. Now, the school only started in 1982 and when I started attending it in 1985, it was a wee school with a few hundred students and a few dozen teachers. Today, this behemoth is home to 14,500 students and over 600 teachers. I believe, it is the biggest school in the Gulf.
By the time I left the school in 1997, it was now located in the above building. The beauty of schools in Saudi is that they are all segregated by sex. If you have 7000 boys on one side of the campus, you have 7000 girls on the other side, both seperated by high walls and fraternizing across the wall was not only frowned upon but was punishable.
My dad served on the Managing Committee of the school, which was chosen by the Indian Ambassador to Saudi at the time, Mr.Hamid Ansari (who is now the Vice-President of India). So, this made school both extra-enjoyable and extra-tricky for me. I could always rely on things getting done two minutes before I wanted them but at the same time, if I ever got in to trouble, then Dad would also be aware two minutes before the deed was done. I made some great friends in school, ALL of whom are married now, with kids, which is scary but that is another topic for another day.
We used to spend our weekends (Thursday and Friday in the Middle East) visiting Dammam and Khobar and the only thing and I repeat, the only thing we had to do as kids was visit malls or play sports. Am I talking fun malls with movie theaters and crazyness? Nope, just sprawling malls where you'd walk around with friends (movie halls don't exist in the Kingdom because they're "un-Islamic") and maybe, if you're lucky, spot a cute girl. Now, anywhere else in the world, this would mean that the girl is actually cute, but in Saudi, where ALL the women wear Burqas (infernal cloths that cover them from head to toe with an eye slit to look through) the phrase takes a new meaning.
So, when we spot girls, they had to have exquisite eyes or great hands. And you're not allowed to stare either, cause then you'll be rushed by other Saudi males and you will be summarily beaten for "dishonoring a female". Soo, all my friends were AWESOME at sports. I, myself, wasn't great but I could hold my own.
Saudi is a strange land with archaic customs that were old-fashioned a hundred years ago. But yet, they remain. No one dares say anything for fear of repercussions from the all powerful Mutawwas. I'd have a lot to say but Wiki summarizes it better:
"The Mutaween in Saudi Arabia are tasked with enforcing Sharia as defined by the government, specifically by the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV). The Mutaween of the CPVPV consists of "more than 3,500 officers in addition to thousands of volunteers...often accompanied by a police escort." They have the power to arrest unrelated males and females caught socializing, anyone engaged in homosexual behavior or prostitution; to enforce Islamic dress-codes, and store closures during the prayer time. They enforce Muslim dietary laws, prohibit the consumption or sale of alcoholic beverages and pork, and seize banned consumer products and media regarded as un-Islamic (such as CDs/DVDs of various Western musical groups, television shows and film). Additionally, they actively prevent the practice or proselytizing of other religions within Saudi Arabia, where they are banned."
