Chan'ad Bahraini

Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had an enjoyable Eid break. This was one of the best Eids for me in recent memory because I didn't have to make the usual fake chit-chat with everyone when I did my visits on the first day. Instead, everywhere I went, everyone had their eyes glued to the TV screen watching the Pakistan vs India cricket match (and what a great match it was). There was no need to discuss Bahrain's weather, or endure prolonged uncomfortable silences because we were all commenting on the game and cheering on our respective teams.

On the second day of Eid (which was the first day for most Bahrainis) I went along with a suggestion from Bahrania to visit the Eid festival in Diraz village. I wasn't sure about what time it was to be held, and when I asked Bahrania she replied back telling me "it's on now". So I headed over "now" only to find that I had arrived during the women's only session. I was stopped by a bunch of cocky young teenage boys who seemed to be guarding the entrance. They were hilarious. They started accusing me (in jest of course) of being a Peeping Tom wanting to pictures of the girls for my private pleasure. That wasn't my purpose, but I could tell that those teenage boys really did not mind their assigned job of keeping watch over all the young ladies!

Adolescent Bahraini boys are probably as cocky as you will get them anywhere in the world. Some of them wanted to see my camera so I showed it to them. They looked at it and then looked up and sang almost in unison "Aywa dijeetal!", impressed by the technologies I came armed with. They started fooling around with the camera while I was talking with one of the other boys. When I got back home I realized that they had taken a few photos without my noticing:

Hilarious. Those kids were too funny. Even though I didn't get to take photos of the actual festival I quite enjoyed joking around with those kids. But if you want to see what the festivities were actually like then click on the following links: 1, 2, 3.

It seems like I missed a fun time, but hopefully I'll be able to be there to take my own photos next time. (Many thanks to Bahrania for telling me about this event)

And this is a bit late, but let me wish a very happy Diwali to all of the Hindu readers who were celebrating it as we were celebrating Eid.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 11/17/2004 02:32:00 pm. Permalink