9 February 2009

Hiding in the Shadows

Manama, 2012;

He ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.


Just over an hour ago, he got an anonymous call asking to buy 2 kilos of his prime product. 2 full kilos. A good deal if there ever was one, but he should have been suspicious. The product he sold was pretty rare nowadays, and unfortunately with the recent police clampdown, buyers were hard to find. When a big opportunity strikes, however, the mind lays low.

The man on the other side of the phone spoke slowly, in a calm, deep voice;
"I need two kilos of your best stuff. I'll meet you in the alley next to Bab Al Bahrain in 45 minutes, just past midnight."
"Two kilos?"
"That's what I said."
"Okay, i'll be there"
"Click...."
He should have been suspicious. A while later he drove up past Bab Al Bahrain, parked his car away from the scene, and moved in the shadows. He carried two kilos with him; not exactly an amount of product you can carry discreetly, but he tried. He had wrapped the product in black plastic bags and newspapers, and dumped the whole thing into two large Geant shopping bags.

He walked in the shadows till he reached the meeting point, and there he glanced someone waiting in the dark. He walked closer, but was commanded to stop;
"Don't come any closer. Do you have it with you?"
"Yes. Two kilos worth."
"Let me see it."

He looked around to make sure no one was in the vicinity, and started to unwrap one of the packages; as he opened it up, he could smell its scent fill the area. The anonymous buyer stood in the shadows watching.
"How much.."
"Three hundred and fifty."

He had actually pushed his price up a little; mainly because of the rarity of his product, but also because the situation was a little shadier than usual, and he didn't even know this customer.

"Okay,"

said the voice in the shadows as he reached for the money from his pocket. But it wasn't money that he pulled out.

In a split second, the quiet midnight streets of the Souq were filled with screams on a two-way radio to capture the dealer, the screech of tires and wail of a police-car siren coming out from it's hideout, and the sounds of policemen running towards him with their batons.

His mind worked quickly. He had to leave his product behind; two kilos would only slow him down, so he turned around and jetted off into the shadows. He knew the back alleys of this area better than anyone else, growing up in the neighborhood as a child. He knew every corner and every turn, and banked on his childhood memory to save him from a lengthy jail sentence.

His memory served him well; as he heard the police footsteps running closer, he ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.

Meanwhile, back at the sting scene, the police picked up the two kilos of pork to take in as evidence.
"Wow.. Have you ever seen this much pork in your life?"
"Damn pork dealers..."

----------------------------

MPs call for ban on pork
9 February 2009

EIGHT MPs are recommending two-month jail terms or fines of BD300, or both, for anyone in Bahrain who imports, sells or simply possesses pork.They are all members of the Al Asala bloc, which has already drafted amendments to Bahrain's Penal Code that would outlaw pork.

Now I gotta say guys, the scene with our friendly pork dealer above isn't as close as you might think to being fiction. I don't eat pork, and in reality the law wouldn't affect me personally in the least. However, it does affect freedoms in this country, which our MPs seem to think should be made as rare as pork in the above story. Last week, they tried to outlaw alcohol on Gulf Air flights (a frickin' international airline, for God's sake), and then tried to ban alcohol from everywhere in Bahrain. Again, doesn't affect me personally, but it's going to affect everything from tourism, to businesses, to restaurants, to the lot. Just because you're a religion freak with a Made-in-Taiwan Halo over your head doesn't mean you should play god. Banning something doesn't make people more religious; it makes them retaliate more. Pork isn't exactly available everywhere in Bahrain; just a few specific supermarkets, and a limited number of restaurants.

Oh, and this may shock you MP's, but the people who usually purchase pork AREN'T USUALLY MUSLIM. And even if they were, it's their goddamn choice whether they want to follow the religion, not yours. So get off our backs and start coming up with some resolutions that will actually benefit the country, like creating more jobs, help diversify the economy, and... Oh wait, I forgot, half of you guys don't have more than a school degree and have no idea what i'm talking about.

Bummer.

Vote ammaro for the next election.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

Your good at story telling :)

Btw visited ur country...move indefinite.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ahmedz said...

I lol'd at the story XD

but seriously, this is getting waaaay out of hand. first the internet censorship and now this!
I didn't even know they sell Pork in Bahrain! =/

What's next. Banning Cinemas? DVDs? Games? Music? Women Driving?

Hell if they're gonna ban anything that I mentioned above. how about they just make Bahrain into a part of Saudi or turn everyone into Bedouin so we can live in the desert and ride Camels and Donkeys.

eshda3wa said...

lol

i loved the story

wedi ashoof a parliment khaleeji making any kind of progress

mako!

Kiwi Nomad said...

Yep, remove yet another reason for ex-pat residents from Saudi and Kuwait to come to Bahrain... nice one MPs!

Anonymous said...

Pork? its not like they have piggy farms in Bahrain or pork cutlets being served at the friendly neighborhood burger shop - this is the most bizarre and ridiculous thing Ive heard.....aren't these the same guys who start burning banners when muslims are denied the right to halal, fast, keep beards in Western countries.....OH WAIT! thats never happened in contemporary Western world.

LOL

next ....

1.Women Driving
2.Satellite TV
3.Men/Women only restaurant seatings
4.American products.

Ali said...

Where is our freedom of choice?

If they become in a powerful position it might break my heart to leave my home land but I will, I'm very sorry dear Bahrain these idiots are going to take us 2000 years in the past.

Who are they to control our life?

and what we eat or drink?

I'm so angry!

Nora-Cassandra said...

now i had to comment on this!!! man why exactly you chose 2012??? i would really like to know!!!

ok... now other than that... perfect way of saying governments are stupid every where almost in this world!!! ok specially some more than others... and it's like here.. they banded any casinos and gambling machines.... but on the turkish side (which they consider them as enemy)they have the largest casino on the island... and people are free they go to the other side (the enemy) and spend their 1000s if not 1000000s in that side!!! now i have to say... simple stupidity!!! there are people like my mother in law... she won't eat anything when traveling but pork... so mean she'll never visit bahrain!!!

Ammaro said...

Warda; move indefinite? Why? No pork? :p

Nora; well,
2009 decision is voted on
2010 law is implemented, pork is removed from market
2011 pork becomes more scarce, smuggling increases, pork dealers start appearing
2012 situation becomes drastic, pork dealers are on the rise, police clampdowns become more frequent, increased violence and rioting in the street, story above happens
...
2017 pork addiction is accepted as a medical condition, rehab centers open

Anonymous said...

why was a comment deleted? no freedom of speech?

Ammaro said...

No, no freedom of speech.

ammaro.com is a monarchy with very restricted press laws.

Ummm, actually no. Read again; Comment was deleted by 'author'. Not ammaro.

rosh said...

ewww bro! Who wants pork anyway? Blease, keep the GCC bork free! Wallah, I mean it. :)

Bravecat said...

Haha I answered your question on Tweet then realised you won't see it as you don't follow me. Bummer. LOL

Anyways - City Stars! Giant monstrosity, unmissable. Good food tho. If the weather is good - try Casper cafe and sit outdoors. ;-)

HA! Entertainment said...

ammaro you're one the hell a guy with funny imagination! lol
You should make movie about pork mafia war. haha.

Dr. Shale bin Agnon said...

Pork, with modern hygiene laws, not counting our recent dioxin scare, is a truly wonderful and diverse meat. From pig's feet to fried bacon to boiled ham to prosciutto crudo to black pudding and sausages, ... sorry... hungry and distacted.

How is the finance industry over there?

Anonymous said...

why do i feel its gonna get worse ...
let me see ... ban the expats.. ban the F1... Ban the bras(wrap them up with whtever)...ban the internet for once and for all...ban x^10

:( dude they'd probably end up banning themselves!

its not fair to see all of this happening.

....
....
....

priloza said...

Man, that was an awesome story! I used to live in Bahrain and was thinking of going back and rejoining the parents; would always snub people who thought Bahrain was as bad as Saudi; but now I really don't know.

It's all very depressing. You think that with the depleting oil reserves they would have now begun to improve the tourism industry, etc. but this ban and the potential one on alcohol would definitely affect that.

I always thought Bahrain was one of the most liberal countries of the Gulf so this is a real shocker.

Ammaro said...

shale; banking isn't doing too bad, the commercial side anyway... obviously dipped down a little but not crashed... as for the investment side, thats suffering since its mostly property investements whose values have crashed..

bahrain not so much though, dubai got hit real hard...

Fatema Abuidrees said...

*spider pig.. spider pig.. spider pig*