Travels in foreign lands-XXX (Journey to Bahrain)

My first travel to the Island of Bahrain took place in 1986. My cousin from Pakistan late Khurshid Elahi had a couple of handicraft stores under the name of Khazana in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain. He had a very good relationship with the Sheikh of the Kingdom. He was always persuading me to pay a visit there. I got the opportunity during my trip to France. In March, 1986, I went to France on the invitation of French Government to study the working of French ski resorts. It was a three week trip in which experts from eight countries participated. I was given a full fare return ticket on Delhi-Paris-Delhi routing. In Paris, I asked the official travel agent if I could re-route my return. She said yes it was possible by paying a couple of thousand rupees. I did the same and got the ticket re-routed Paris-London-Bahrain-Riyadh-Delhi. Once I got the re-routed ticket, I spoke to my cousin and asked him to get a visa on arrival.
I had expected the Arab countries to be the Kingdoms of old sheikhs with camels moving around. To my surprise, the Bahrain airport was quite modern like any European airport. I had a quick exit as my cousin had good contacts and I was rushed through immediately on arrival. While driving to his home, I noticed that everything was most modern except for the sand and date palms! Most of the local houses were white and single storey. Probably because of the bright hot sun? We had some breakfast and I went to sleep as I could not get even a wink of sleep in the flight from London. I must have slept three to four hours. In the afternoon, after a shower we had some lunch and Khurshid took me to his main store near Hilton Hotel.
Khurshid's store was quite big, on two floors. We stayed there for an hour or so and went to Hilton Hotel for a coffee. I also had to give some clothes to the laundry there. Next morning I woke up late. Khurshid had already left for work. He returned around lunchtime and brought my clothes from the laundry. I was surprised to see these. The clothes were so neat and clean that it was difficult for me to believe that these were mine! The laundry had done a real good job! In the afternoon, Khurshid took me to his friends in the American base. Bahrain has a huge American presence. The US Navy has an important base here. Khurshid's clients were mostly Arab Sheikhs and Americans staying in the base.
Next day Khurshid and his Arab friends took me to an Island resort for a daylong picnic. It was quite enjoyable to have a motorboat ride on the sea. Many people were water skiing and jet skiing there. We just went round and had lunch in one of the sea side restaurants. In the evening an Arab friend of Khurshid had invited us for dinner in Arabic style. We had barbecue and mutton and rice. There were many Arabic dishes. I enjoyed the Arab meal. Bahrain seemed to me quite a prosperous place. There were no poor around, not even the beggars and so on. There were many Indians and Pakistanis here. Most were doing good jobs and earning lots of money. However, I found Bahrain to be a drab country. I would not like to live here. A short visit of few days was ok!
I visited Bahrain again in mid nineties. Khurshid had come to Delhi and he again invited me to Bahrain for few days. He wanted me to see a miracle of engineering, the Bahrain-Saudi causeway. A road across the sea! We flew through Dubai where we had a two hour stopover at the airport. While sitting in the business class lounge we were having some tea and snacks and speaking in Kashmiri. Suddenly a man came and asked us if we were from Kashmir. When I told him that I was the Director of Tourism in Kashmir, he was very happy. His name was Bhan and he too had some hotels. It was a chance meeting. I was in touch with him for quite some time and he also visited me at Jammu later on.
Since my last visit, the famous Pearl Square had come up in a big way. Bahrain had become quite modern. They now had many tall buildings. The greatest wonder was the causeway which was thrown open in 1986 but I could not see it on my first visit. Khurshid took me to the start of the road over the sea. There is a huge complex with a tower restaurant. We had lunch in the restaurant and enjoyed panoramic views of the sea. This road connection between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is a real technical marvel. The causeway is known as King Fahd Causeway and is also called the Bahrain Bridge. The project cost a total of US$1.2 billion. The four-lane road is 25 km long and approximately 23 m wide, and was built using 350,000 m2 of concrete along with 47,000 metric tonnes of reinforced steel. The causeway is constructed in three segments starting from Saudi Arabia. From Al-Aziziyyah, south of Khobar, to the Border Station. From the Border Station to Nasan Island in Bahrain. From Nasan island to the Al-Jasra, west of Manama, on the main island of Bahrain. In 2010, plans for massive expansion of the causeway were announced. I do not know whether the same have been taken up?
The recent upheaval in Bahrain especially the clashes in the Pearl Square made me nostalgic about my visits there. My cousin Khurshid passed away few years back. I wonder what he would have thought of the upheaval. Bahrain seems to be in for a long turmoil! However, the importance of the American Naval Base there makes one wonder whether the Bahraini people will ever see the real Arab Spring?