Offshore Powerboat Race in Kuwait

What I miss most of all from that golden era is an all pervading sense of cleanliness and orderliness engulfing Kuwait. Too bad the invasion spelt the death of the municipality whose function has not quite been fully restored; 20 years hence.

Some of the other things that I ache for (circa 1976-1980) include:

2) an elegant and spiffy call taxi service never mind the orange cabs.
3) Clean shaven men and chic women.
4) The New Supermarket off Fahed Al Salem and Salem Mubarak Street: a spot of Scandinavia in Kuwait stocking on the finest European produce.
5)Finding a Carmelite Convent on the beach right where Mais Alghanim is currently stood.
6) Emille Barakat’s Mais Alghanim restaurant in its former tented avatar.
7)Souk Mubarakiya vegetable and spices market.
8)The Arabian Gulf street with its street lights and the National Day illuminations.
9) Not knowing what the Emirates and Dubai meant- not all that sure if they even existed, back then.
10) Cine Club by Farook Abdel Aziz on KTV-2.
11) the lovely Al Ajami restaurant in Salhia Complex serving it up in the finest Doulton China and complete with Christoffle crockery and cutlery.
12) Kuwait Airways in its hey-day.

Those were the days when Kuwait was oozing with a touch of class and ritz. But again, the world stage itself, in my view was several notches up in the style quotient before the invasion and digital connectivity hit and brought home globalization in its wake.

These are a few of my favorite peeves!