By The love affair of me and Al Juffair* began when I was in 6th grade. Juffair is a beautiful city in the island Kingdom of Bahrain. The sea surrounds the enchanting country of Bahrain everywhere.As far as your eyes can take you- only the endless blue sea can be admired.
I still remember my teacher of Bahrain History class mentioning that 33 islands form Bahrain. I just stayed on one of those thirty-three islands. Upon reaching Bahrain by flight, this fact does not seem that obvious and what’s more – most of the major islands are connected by road! In fact not only is there intra-island road transportation but also intra-country transportation available. After all, a sea-bridge known as the King Fahd causeway connects Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. What a wonder it is that both these countries that are scarce in water have overcome the limitations of the sea and constructed a 25km long bridge.
But why… after all these years do, I suddenly remembered Bahrain?
The countries of West Asia are usually not in the news much (in a good sense- as no news is good news). To be frank, most people I know, don’t know that there exists a country called Bahrain. Thus, when I saw the headlines, “Drone strikes down US military base in Juffair”, I stood stunned and numb.
Juffair….the word brings waves of memories to me. The beauty of a desert city surrounded by sea water is the beauty called Juffair. Juffair is not the capital of Bahrain but it is an important city for the country.
The country Bahrain, in general, has a unique town plan. According to this plan, the authorities locate all schools at one location (island), locate all colleges at one location, locate all companies at one location (island) and earmark several residential locations. Thus, even if one wanted to stay close to the school or the college or companies; you simply could not. Juffair was that middle part – between my father’s workplace and my own school at Isa Town.
I stayed in a sea-facing apartment with my family in Juffair. No, I am not boasting about sea facing- as wherever you stayed in Juffair you would always see the sea or at least smell it. Despite being a medium-sized flat, it had really huge windows. I remember always taking some time of my day to watch the sea and the activities of the port. This was my peaceful pastime.
You may ask- were there no activities on the streets or roads that captured my attention? The answer is NO – there was absolutely no activity between 10 am to 4 pm on the roads apart from the casual vehicle passing or a worker or maid coming out to throw the garbage in the bin. So, everyday when I returned from school at round 2:30-3pm, I would observe the sea.
The port was a navy base of USA. Thus, most of the residents of Juffair were mostly Americans apart from Bahrainis of course. All the restaurants were either American or gulf-themed or a fusion of both. At 6:30 am every day, I remember myself standing in front of these restaurants awaiting my school bus while US navy soldiers were jogging or exercising.
To think that this entire area is perhaps now in ruins pains me. True, the city may be rebuilt in future, but it will not be the way I remember it.
Will I ever be able to meet the Juffair I loved, in this lifetime?
*‘Al’ means THE in Arabic
