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Unfamiliar views of the ‘dreamland’

Arabia has been a dreamland for Malayalis for a few decades now. Post-globalisation, a job in the Gulf may not be as attractive as it used to be, but even now, thousands of Keralites land in a West Asian country with dreams in their eyes.

The lives of expatriates in the Gulf have become familiar for all of us through books, articles, films and, of late, television channels.

But, ‘Marubhoomiyude Athmakatha,’ written by V. Muzafar Ahamed, is refreshingly different.

The book, published by Current Books, Thrissur, offers views of the Gulf countries that most of us are not aware of. It is a collection of articles on Muzafar’s journeys through deserts and forests in the Gulf, some of them over 2,000 km from the main cities.

The rural life of the Gulf comes alive in ‘Marubhoomiyude Athmakatha’ through deftly made sketches through words, like the arresting scene of a young girl and her flock of sheep against the backdrop of the setting sun (a glimpse the writer saw on a train journey), descriptions of Laila Aflaj, a place 300 km from Riyadh where the legendary lovers Laila and Majnu lived and views from the ‘Edge of the World.’

P. K. Ajith Kumar

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