Beautiful Oman

A major chunk of my existence was spent in different parts of the Middle East, of which Muscat holds a very special place in my heart. I had a chance to work with the Ministry of Defence, in the Army Hospital, to be precise, for a period of 4 years and that’s when Muscat was home to me.

Muscat is the capital city and the most happening region of the entire country of Oman. My first look down from the flight had me going in utter dismay, “What in the world is this!! Just sand everywhere? Is this where I have chosen to live the next few years of my life??” That was because the area surrounding the airport and extending a little way beyond was uninterestingly full of sand, with a tarred road running outside it. There were some sad looking trees lining the road, and the whole scene made me feel I landed in the middle of a barren desert land.

But outside the airport, Oman was much different from other Gulf countries. With mountains everywhere, beautifully unique beaches, lush vegetation and plenty of lively gurgling streams in the villages, Oman was truly another ‘God’s Own Country', I soon came to realize and weeks and months passed. All our Kerala crops can be found in Oman. Coconut trees in plenty, Moringa trees grow like weeds there, loads of fruit and vegetable crops, banana trees, etc etc. Salalah, which lies to the south-western part of Oman is just like Kerala, and a popular tourist spot during the Khareef season (Monsoon). You will never get tired of enjoying the greenery, the waterfalls, the hot springs, the misty mountains, and the local produce.

I can’t forget the low-rise residential buildings everywhere in the city of Muscat, which was completely different from those in Kuwait, the roads lined with beautiful petunias and marigolds in full bloom, the houses of the elite Omanis that looked boringly box-type from the outside, but we’re mostly palatial on the inside (yes, I had to chance to visit a couple of Omani houses, mostly friends' and colleagues' places), the hospitality of the locals, their dialect which was much different from the Kuwaiti Arabic that I was so familiar with, and many more.

The nationals speak many different languages apart from different forms of Arabic, each dialect specific to their region. The others include English, of course, and also Swahili, (hold tight, were going on a roller coaster of surprises from here) Urdu, Hindi and Gujarati. There are three kinds of Omanis, my local colleague explained to a very perplexed me on learning this. His exact words were, “The white and pure 'original' 😃 Omanis, from the mountains, like me, the Baluchis who are from Baluchistan, and the Zanzibaris, who are from Zanzibar, Africa.” So that’s where the Urdu/Hindi and the Swahili came from. Many years ago Ramdas, (not the B. Com CID Ramdas, the friend of the Pre-degree CID Vijayan, from Tamil Nadu) but  Ramdas from Gujarat, landed in Muscat with his business, which was huge success and ‘Khimji Ramdas' became a familiar name to everybody in Oman. He was eventually became an Omani, as it was a common thing in Oman many years ago, for the government to give expats who contributed to the country’s growth, citizenship. Now Khimji Ramdas's family grew and multiplied in the new land, and that’s how Gujarati became a popularly spoken local language.

Beaches and local villages are popular getaways on weekends and holidays. There is a road to everywhere, only that each ‘everywhere’ is so far from every other ‘everywhere’. You will find yourself on a never ending road through the desert from one interesting spot to the other. Like I said before, the beaches are unique and beautiful. The Pebble beach is one such interesting place. The whole shore is full of pebbles and it also has some massive sedimented rock structures, that stand covering the beach from the road like a large ribbon. People change and rest in the ‘folds’ of this structure. Tiwi is another interesting beach a with rocky shore. 

Oman has a lot of forts and watch towers that point to her rich history. It is said that the Portuguese and the British, along with other Arab countries invaded Oman in the past. Many of these forts are still well preserved and open to tourists.

Omani people are the most down-to-earth of all Arabs. Their hospitality is indescribable. Whether you are a prince or a pauper, they give you a royal welcome. Once on a road trip, we stopped by a local Omani house to ask for directions. Not only did the man tell us how to get to where we wanted, he kept insisting that we stop for a while, freshn’up and continue. We politely refused, but he said, “At least come in and have some ‘Kahwa and dates'.” We thanked him, but insisted we had to leave as we were a bit late, and he asked us to wait for a minute, ran inside and came back with a small disposable tray of fruits. “Have it on your way”, he said. We felt so bad at our ‘jada' though it wasn’t actually us being impolite, that we got off the car, thanked him and continued.

Kahwa is the Omani/Arabic coffee. It is always served with dates. A tray of whole fruits (with a small knife) is what any guest would be served as the second part of the never ending course in an Omani house. Food habits of Omanis and Indians are very similar. They love their biriyanis, have breads that resemble our parathas, and they do enjoy a bit of spice and heat in their food. Of the two the strangest things related to food that I saw in Muscat, one is this, all men (8-10 of them) sitting around a massive plate (picture the lid of a huge wedding-kitchen’s biriyani chembu) filled with rice and meat, can be a Mandi, Majboos or Biriyani, and eating it together, all from the same big plate! The second one is the preparation of Shuwa. A hole is dug in the ground and hot coals thrown into it. Then, a whole chicken is rubbed with spices and tightly wrapped in banana leaves. This is dropped down carefully over the coals and the hole is covered with sand. Now this hole will be dug again after 2-3 days to take out the meat, which will be cooked so tender that the flesh would fall off the bones. Shuwa is a delicacy and is prepared during festivals like Eid and maybe special occasions in the family. I was offered some on more than one occasion, but was never brave to try. So Shuwa remains an unrelished part of the story.

Oman is a very simple and peaceful country. The cost of living too, is much less compared to other Gulf countries. Oman is not a place where the locals are bosses and only sit on the highest pedestals. We can find the locals among cleaners in a restaurant, in construction fields, sweepers in a big office, etc. They are so humble and respect any job and work sincerely. That blew me away as I hadn’t seen something like this before. 

It is a place where people from all over the world and those belonging to different religions are treated alike, with complete tolerance and respect. When it comes to dressing, respectful dressing is the code. Skin show is not encouraged, so we can hardly see ladies dressed in shorts / mini skirts / off shoulder tops, etc. Oh, and before I forget, Oman has temples too....One Shiva temple and the other one is a Krishna temple if I’m not mistaken. 

Public transport is not something that is frequented by residents, at least when I was around there, 10-15 years ago. Taxis were expensive and buses were scanty. However, that was not something to worry about. Nobody, be it a local or an expat, who had a car would let you wait on the road. If they saw you waiting, or walking down the road, they would slow down and ask if we needed a ride. If they were heading in the same direction, they would offer to drop you. And, this was completely safe, but you know the Indian lady mentality!! I would calculate a hundred times if it would be ok, will this man kidnap me, rob me, ‘attack’ me, etc., etc. But no, they are so sweet and I  never had any bitter experiences. My husband thinks I was lucky and escaped by the skin on my teeth, but no, that’s Oman for you!

~priya~