The one good thing about 2024 is that many of us embraced the slow and varied life. And we learnt to be proud of it. Let’s be honest – we were always a touch apologetic when friends came to visit us in Bahrain.
“Come, we’ll show you a delightful way of life that allows you to experience history and calm and step out of the scrum of the 21st century,” we’d tell family and friends, “It’s not like (add a neighbouring GCC country here) but so charming!” We believed it all – and hoped fervently to convert our guests to the same wavelength.
Now though, we find ourselves suddenly on trend. Slow and thoughtful tourism is the movement of the moment. People want to savour a destination and immerse themselves in the experience – not just by visiting the local museum but interacting with the country’s craftspeople, local culinary stars who will never make it to the Michelin guide but are keepers of local tastebuds and historians who can give us centuries old goss about headline historic events.
Some years ago, I took a friend to the Qaysariya Suq, explaining that this was the oldest market in Bahrain. After 15 minutes, she asked me curiously where the Bahrainis were because all she could see were Asian shop attendants and all she heard was Malayalam and Bengali! Well, things have changed a lot these days. There still are Asian workers but the people of Muharraq have definitely stepped up to the plate and embraced their role in framing their heritage through their own lived experience. The Bahraini store owners weave in and out of the day and stop to chat with curious tourists and just like that, the Bahrain tourist experience has become reel-worthy, popping up on social media around the world.
We have improved greatly in restoring the picturesque beauty of many tourist sites and marketing it to the world. What we need to focus on is embracing the joint roles the different communities played in shaping modern Bahrain. We tend to ghettoise our positions and that defeats the purpose of drawing a larger picture.
Remember the well-intentioned Little India project which was conceptualised to showcase the interaction of Indian merchants and Bahrainis in the building of modern Bahrain from the 19th century onwards? When the pearling fleets were underwritten by Indian merchants who also brought tea, rice, grain and spices to the region? It’s a fascinating story and well worth documenting and preserving. Where we went wrong, I think, was in thrusting the onus of maintaining the restored historic spaces upon Indian shops and merchants around the area. I agree that the Indian community has been honoured by the framing of their historic role – but we missed the opportunity to open a continuing dialogue with their Bahraini counterparts. So many Bahraini companies too made their wealth by trading in Indian goods and services like banking, shipping and airline travel. Why not ask them also to contribute to maintaining this shared history?
Nothing in beautiful Bahrain is for one community alone – we are all braided together by our experience and our shared history. And we need to move forward together too.
meeraresponse@gmail.com
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