When a writer sets herself the task of writing about Saudi Arabia from the comfort of her home in Idaho in the US, alarm bells naturally start ringing. But this wasn't the usual creative writing exercise. The author was the Pulitzer Prize finalist Kim Barnes and she was intrigued by the stories of her uncle, a roughneck oil worker who went to the kingdom in the 1960s to supervise drilling. He lived - as so many did - in the strange quasi-American suburbia of Aramco's compounds. Before long, Barnes had found a narrative in what happens when "you take a bunch of healthy men and women and fence them up in the middle of the desert", as one of her characters memorably notes.
"Honestly, I did want to go to Saudi Arabia," she laughs. "But it became clear that the time and place I was writing about was long gone, that to visit might actually confuse matters."
What's impressive about the result, In the Kingdom of Men, is that you would never know Barnes wrote it from such a distance. Her tale set amid Aramcons (the term for Saudi Aramco expatriates) certainly highlights all the potential for conflicts one might expect when American and Arab cultures collide. But gradually, she started to find ways in which ostensibly opposite lives were in fact remarkably similar.
"You know, the parallels became strangely profound," says the 54-year-old author. "I also grew up in a very isolated environment; my father was a logger so we were very nomadic. I grew up in Pentecostal fundamentalism, which taught separation from the world. I'm no longer involved in that faith but we weren't allowed to cut our hair because it was our veil of modesty. We had to wear long sleeves, collars up to our necks, skirts down to our calves. We were taught silence and submissiveness, that men ruled over women in moral, spiritual and domestic affairs.
"So as I began writing my protagonist Gin, one thing really struck me: as Americans we like to think that our culture has always been so different from the things we read regarding women in Saudi Arabia. But it's absolutely not true. The idea that a Saudi woman has to have a male guardian, that she can't move freely... all that was completely familiar to me. And in the book, Gin begins to notice the similarities, too."
Gin McPhee is the book's force of nature. She follows her husband to Khobar after a turbulent American upbringing only to find her inquisitive disposition getting the better of her. She's drawn into a murky world of institutionalised racism and underhand dealings, all the while trying to treat her Punjabi houseboy Yash as an equal. She risks everything to leave the compound and take photographs during the Six Day War.
"In the context of a woman's life almost any adventure story is also a cautionary tale," says Barnes, "and I already have book clubs in the Middle East who are reading the novel and find themselves discussing issues of women, freedom and liberties. I remind them that liberty and personal freedom is not just a women's issue - or one that has geographical restrictions."
This thoughtful approach prevents In the Kingdom of Men from slipping into Arab caricature. If anything, the gossipy Western women are cliched. Instead, Barnes reads voraciously, and quotes everything from Fadia Basrawi's famous memoir to Abdelrahman Munif's Cities of Salt during our conversation. She cites, with some regret, some research that proves "no other peoples have been more demonised in film than Arabs".
"And yet the thing that really gives me hope is the absolute sincerity of the friendship struck up between Aramcons and Saudis, even though it was initially based on issues of colonialisation and racism. So I hope people do take away from this book that what happens in the Middle East is not about a particular religion, corporation or even oil. It's about people. All my characters are trying to make sense of their lives, as we all do, every day."
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
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Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
England squads for Test and T20 series against New Zealand
Test squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Dominic Sibley, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes
T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince
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