Fish, Frankincense and a Friday in Muscat

For the love of Fish:

Anywhere around the world, on a typical weekend, a Bengali household without Fish and Rice cannot be imagined. For all of you who didn't know, Fridays here is like Sundays in other parts of the world, with schools and offices being closed for the day. Fridays are when a mandatory visit is made to the old city area of Muscat by the men of the Bengali household for the purchase of fresh fish which is said to be imported from Bangladesh.

Don't ask me about the price of fish here! It is exorbitantly high for the fresh lot that comes here every Thursday evening. The sellers here justify it by arguing that airborne imported fish would be fresher and hence costlier than the frozen ones that arrive after months by the sea route. And, of course, by the taste of fish, you'll know the difference. Personally, I am not much of a fish lover but my husband and daughter will not have their meals without a fish item.

So for their love for fish, on one Friday morning, I accompanied my husband. As we entered the Muttrah (also spelled as Matrah or Matruh) locality of Muscat we neared the Riyam roundabout and from far away we could view a roundish white Watchtower situated on the hills. At the base of the hills is the popular Riyam park with its colorful rides and beautifully landscaped area. Here I am not going to write about the park. It is the Giant Incense Burner shaped watchtower that inspired me to write this post. I was intrigued by the shape of the watchtower and I sat down with just an A4 sheet and a pencil and sketched it with the hand. But this was before I made this trip to Muttrah.

Sketch of the Watchtower in Riyam park

Continuing on our return trip from the old city, I asked my husband to pull over his car near the Muttrah corniche so that I could click some snaps there and to my delight he agreed. I could capture some beautiful shots of the Watchtower and its surroundings and some views of the Harbour. The corniche area offered ample sitting areas to relax, gaze at the blue sea, the fishing boats and ships that are anchored in the harbor.

Riyam Park with its rides as viewed from the corniche 

Covered sitting area viewing the harbour

The fountains 

View of the harbour

The corniche with the mountains in the backdrop
and numerous benches for sitting

A Portuguese watchtower overlooking the harbour 

The view of the Harbour again:
An image of the old Hamriya region of Muscat on the walls 

The concrete blocks of the retaining wall in the sea

Harbour view - the concrete blocks used as retaining wall

View of the watchtower from the Corniche

In the foreground of the incense burner Watchtower (as you can view in the snap above) on display is a small sculpture made of a pair of dolphins from granite stone. There are some more fish sculptures scattered over the walkway along corniche area. Like the Bengalis, the Omanis also consider fish as a symbol of fertility and reproduction. Apart from agriculture and mining, Fishing is an important economic activity here.  

Zooming in - The Giant incense burner watchtower 
on the hill-top

From Fish to Frankincense:

This Watchtower was built to commemorate Oman's 20th National Day. Since the shape of the Watchtower intrigued me I searched over the net for more information. I found that the Watchtower shape resembled the incense burner, called 'Mabkhara' in Arabic. The Mabkhara (a container made of clay or stone) plays an important role in the homes of Omanis here. A 'Mabkhara' holds frankincense which is a unique aroma of Muscat. Usually, Frankincense is burnt in a Mabkhara on some special occasions like weddings or on Fridays or to just perfume the house. I wanted to know more about the Incense tower, its designer, its height, building materials used and so on, but I could find no information whatsoever.

I have heard about Frankincense in my school where we were told that it was one of the gifts carried by the wise men for baby Jesus. And that is pretty much most of us would've heard of from the story of 'The Three Wise Men'. I learnt more from the net that Frankincense is also called olibanum, an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes and is obtained from desert trees like Boswellia. These desert trees grow only on the Arabian Peninsula. Since ancient times, harvesting and trade of these substances have been a source of wealth for this region. There are a lot of sources from which you can learn more about Frankincense.

A Friday ends:

After a round of quick clicks at the Muttrah corniche, it was time for us to go home. And coming back home it was time for me to get back to cooking the fresh fish we purchased from the market. Satiated with the fresh fish curry and steamed rice, it was time to take a siesta - an activity also known as 'Bhaat-Ghum' in Bengali. In the evening, we gathered around the TV to watch some Indian shows.

And what else. It was a chapter from one of the ordinary Fridays of my life, and not some fantasy film shot from the movie of Freaky Friday! But what I treasured along were some childhood memories, time spent with my family (apart from the routine life), the taste of fresh fish on my tongue, exploring a new place, learning about the local traditions and culture, and lots of pleasant memories.