I had a chance to meet a guy from Yemen who has started travelling along with me in the company provided bus. After a few pleasant introductions and a few glances in the work place I started conversing with him. Luckily, the guy speaks fairly good english,,,,,Excellent in comparison to his arab counterparts I should say.
My friend and I were waiting for the bus to come and started a friendly conversation with our new yemeni acquantince. We were asking the guy about some interesting things in Yemen. He said and I quote " The most favourite time pass of most people in Yemen is 'KAT CHEWING". We wondered if we got it right at the first time and asked him again. He said that it is kat chewing which is their favourite time pass. For a moment we looked at him puzzled and our new friend also looked puzzled amazed at the thought that these guys from India do not know anything about KAT CHEWING. Which part of the world these people come from ??
Later on, he has given a brief description about it. The "Kat" is some sort of a herb leaf of sort..more similar to our "paan". It is chewed like a bubble gum for about 3 to 4 hours. This kat chewing is done in an organised way and they have specialised cafes like thing for this kat chewing. They have some socially organised functions for this kat chewing. There are numerous varities and flavours of kat. I wondered if all this is true and just googled with the key word " Chewing in Yeman" and vola... found loads of information about this custom. There are online debates, private and public sponsored researches which are going on about his.
My friend and I were waiting for the bus to come and started a friendly conversation with our new yemeni acquantince. We were asking the guy about some interesting things in Yemen. He said and I quote " The most favourite time pass of most people in Yemen is 'KAT CHEWING". We wondered if we got it right at the first time and asked him again. He said that it is kat chewing which is their favourite time pass. For a moment we looked at him puzzled and our new friend also looked puzzled amazed at the thought that these guys from India do not know anything about KAT CHEWING. Which part of the world these people come from ??
Later on, he has given a brief description about it. The "Kat" is some sort of a herb leaf of sort..more similar to our "paan". It is chewed like a bubble gum for about 3 to 4 hours. This kat chewing is done in an organised way and they have specialised cafes like thing for this kat chewing. They have some socially organised functions for this kat chewing. There are numerous varities and flavours of kat. I wondered if all this is true and just googled with the key word " Chewing in Yeman" and vola... found loads of information about this custom. There are online debates, private and public sponsored researches which are going on about his.
I thought if at all I happen to visit Yemen by any chance I should make it a point to drop at one of these kat chewing cafes. Do watch out for them in case you are in Yemen anytime.
No comments:
Post a Comment