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| Daniel in front of Bab Al Bahrain 2015 |
Visiting Bahrain after 20 years
It’s after 20 years that I finally came back to Bahrain. Though
I’m an Indian from the state of Kerala, I was born and raised here. When I left
Bahrain in 1995, I took along with me valuable and precious memories most of
which I still remember today. However when I returned here in Feb 2015, I
realised that a lot has changed in the last 20 years. The 1995 map that I had
stored in my mind is no longer the one I saw now in front of my eyes. There have
been so many changes. There are few things that still remain the same though. I
was happy to see Sana building in Salmaniya. Then a few restaurants and cold
stores too remain the same. Everything else has changed. I came here along with
my family. I was meeting up with few of my old Indian School buddies, my relatives and old family friends. And yes
we all had a fab time. Libu Babu George, our friend who passed away in 2014 was
definitely missed.
Island of Bahrain now Kingdom of Bahrain
The last time I remember, Bahrain was called the Island of
Bahrain and it was ruled by His Highness Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.
There was a Pepsi Cola factory where I lived near Zinj and of course we had the
famous Pearl Of Barhrain standing strong as a major landmark. Bahrain was popularily called the Island of Pearls. I remember Shoe
Mart and 21st Century Games near to Dairy Queen. On both Fridays
I went to Marthoma Church service being held at National Evangelical Church (NEC)
along with my relatives. I have so many wonderful memories of church, Sunday school,
choir, prayer meetings and vbs at NEC.
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| Water Garden, Indian School, Adhari Park, Manama 2015 |
Shawarmas, Salmaniya & Indian School
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| Indian School, Dairy Queen, Water Garden, Manama 2015 |
Well, this trip was a return to the past in one major way-
we had shawarmas, burgers, sun tops, menu, etc-. We also visited our old parks
like Water Garden and Adhari Park. We had burgers from Dairy Queen. We visited
Manama, Bab Al Bahrain, Amwaj Island, Salmaniya, Segaya, Um Al Hassam. We went
to see Saudi Causeway but it was closed as they were building a new tower. We
did visit Tree of Life. But the most memorable place we visited was our old
school, Indian School at Isa Town. We met few of our old teachers and sirs. Mrs
Sequeira, Mrs Usha Jayakumar, Mrs. Laila Punoose, Mrs. Sreelatha, Mr,
Vishwambharan, Mr. Abdulla from the Office, Mr Haji our Band Sir, Mr Benny our
Volleyball Sir, etc-. It’s really God’s grace that we got to meet these
teachers after so long. Many teachers left the school and few passed away like
Mrs. Leelama, Mr Vasudevan, Mrs. Shangunni, etc.
Time was really short this time and so we have decided to
visit Bahrain once more and visit more friends who we were not able to meet
this time and visit even more places. Overall we all had a great time and
Bahrain is a great place to visit.
Some
pics of our Bahrain visit.
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| With Volley Ball Coach Mr. Benny, Indian School 2015 |
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| Daniel at Adhari Park, 2015 |
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