3rd Muharram

Winds and chill greeted me at the door today on my way to office. Bahrain seemed to be in a somber mood with dark clouds and fog enveloping the city. The waves are restless and the streets are damp reminiscent of the scattered rains last night. I saw four soldiers clearing some rocks near their camp at the airport being guarded by a comrade on watch atop a tank with his arms poised in the machine gun's barrel. I wonder who would try to attack them from the sea.

The roads and sidewalk are exceptionally clean today and colorful. The rain washed out most of the city's grime away. I remembered that last week the workers had uprooted the "overnight garden flowers" from the sidewalks and replaced them with new healthy and blooming ones. I remarked to my hubby on the seemingly unnecessary expense of putting in new blooms on top of the daily watering they do. And so today I understood all the oddities. The US flag flying high beside the Bahrain flag in the Muharraq bridge reminded me that President Bush is visiting Bahrain today for talks. My hubby commented with disgust that black flags to commemorate Muharram in a largely Shia community are nowhere to be seen. Instead US and Bahrain flags are flying high and the streets bloom with pink and white flowers.

I bet the roads and highways will have less traffic and the drive to home won't be as jammed as it should be. I am always amused at how the roads are easy to navigate when a foreign dignitary is due at the airport. Traffic lights from Seef to Muharraq bridge is always at green. A traffic enforcer stands by each signal ready to push the button at a command from his radio.

As we cruised along the highway, I noted with a smirk that all the huge billboards of the rulers are gone and a crane has lifted all the scattered stones away. I saw two magnificent mares getting readied. For parade, perhaps?

I wonder why countries beautify their facades when the President from a more influential country comes for visit. I shudder and marvel at the hypocrisy of it all. As a good leader/ruler you beautify country to please your people and to uplift their well-being. You don't try to achieve false good impressions. The well-being of your country and citizens comes first.