Qatar: I'm lovin it!

Okay, I understand you people might just be disgusted with my blog. At least on the issue of what Qatar's like.

Over the past four months, The Qatar Diary has swung from left to right and right to left like its nobody's business. From exploring an unexplored, unknown country to it's peaceful and beautiful to its terribly boring, with absolutely nothing to do, to it's demotivating, and now to this - the fact that it isn't all that bad. In fact, I'm loving it.

It's really fast - not Qatar - but the way anyone's opinion about this desert country has changed, from good to terrible and then to great.

But that's me, I say things as and when I feel them. But today, I tell you, Qatar is an awesome awesome awesome place... But there is an 'if' to it. A really big 'IF'.

...If you get lucky enough to meet the right people, make friends.

I assure you it isn't easy to make friends here. No one really would go out of their way to meet you, or say hi to you or invite you over to their place for dinner. It's tough. I'd say 8 out of ten people who land in Qatar will not make friends.

I started believing I was one of the eight. I was miserable here. I thought, what man, I've become a machine... from home to work, work to home, watch TV, go to sleep, wake up, back to work.

And believe me, most of the people here feel that way. It's not their fault. Because it's true.

By default, I tell you, I hit jackpot. Pure luck, pure chance - which makes me believe even more that everything is planned, your life isn't in your control, someone else is controlling it, and you're just sitting on the coaster watching yourself go past the curves.

It was just a regular day, just one day when I thought, I got nothing more to do in Qatar, I got a new email. A guy called Clinton. The subject line read: "What u doin in qatar?"

The email: "hey rohit.

i heard of who u were from my colleages here at the art of Business (Qatar Happenings Mag), they told me that there was this young funky indian dude who asked some kewl questions. very vague i know. but none the less interesting. did some research on you. liked ure writing. also read your scorpions article.anways....i have a project that im working on right now that i could use ure help with. dont worry im not askin you to write anything... just tryin to see where u may fit in...lemme know...get in touch with me quick!"

I called him up, we fixed a time that afternoon and met up. As it turned out, Clint - a 24-year-old Creative Head, who was born and brought up in Qatar, but spent 4-5 years of his college life in Mumbai (India), had a humungous friend circle here - most of them Qatar Airways staff (except Arun, who's a dentist), what most, almost all of them, and almost all of them cabin crew, except Yagi, who's a video editor with Qatar Airways. He edits the inflight BBC and Al Jazeera news.

Later Clint admitted, that he didn't really call me for professional reasons, but just to show me "a different side of Qatar".

He had obviously read through my blog and felt a lot of anger and frustration.

We both were undoubtedly on the same frequency - rare to find in this country - outgoing, wanting to do stuff all the time, adventurous, restless, trying to overthrow established order, making our own paths.

The next day he invited me over to his birthday party... and that was it. I was introduced to this whole new life in Qatar. A chilled out side, where you don't fear restrictions, or talk about them all the time. You just do what you have to do and keep shut about it. Do it behind walls, and no one cares.

As long as you don't step on Qatar's shoes, Qatar won't step on yours. Simple.

We don't do extraordinary stuff every day. When we finish work, we'd usually meet up for chai (tea) near Almana Building, sit on the roadside (on steps), and talk about insignificant stuff. Gossip basically. At times we'd just go for a drive, or for dinner.

Now that the weather's improving, there's a whole lot more to do. Clint goes Kiteboarding, says, it's a must try watersport. Will do.

We drove to the dunes the other night, then went crabbing another day. Sam took me on a speed bike ride. Wooohooo, it's scary man... and sacry's fun. The thing goes friggin fast. Almost like you'd fly off - 250 km/hr man. You fall, you die.

There's everything to do in Qatar, and you can really freak out, I promise you. It gives you a whole lotta money, time, and space for yourself.

What do you want? Bars? Women? Cool looking (but mostly braindead) 'dudes' (for women)? 'Stuff'? Adventure Sport? Beach Parties?

You got it all here.

But don't expect to get as lucky as me. It's rare I assure you. Like I keep saying, God's looking my way and smiling, always. And I am not sure how many eyes He has.

So when you come here, if at all you got that urge to explore an unknown, wrongly-labelled as 'dead' land, GO OUT OF YOUR WAY, to make friends. The right ones.

I don't know how you do it, but do it. No clue, how you'd make out the cool ones from the dumb f*&^s, but do it... somehow.

If you do, trust me you've hit bulls-eye in Qatar. You'll never wanna leave.

But then again, I don't know how long I'll stay here. Obviously not forever. There's much to see, much to do, much to learn about the rest of the world.

All I can say is, when I leave, I'll miss Qatar.