Ithnayn Karak Please!

When I return to my home country and people ask me what Doha is like, I just pause and non-nonchalantly say "It's simply multiculturalism on steroids!". I honestly do not think i am too far off when I say that. From my modest experience in my three year stay in Doha, I can say that culture develops in Doha in a way that it develops nowhere else. On a daily basis I interact with people from at least 4-5 different nationalities which is amazing by any standard! My social network or a group of people I am connected with in one way or another is extremely diverse. Interacting with these groups of people allows for our habits, hobbies, cultures or even tastes to converge into this beautiful melting pot of civilizations which makes Doha today. It's amazing to me how culture diffuses and adopts parts of other cultures to incorporate it into a unique blend.

I will tell the tale of introducing my father to ritual of Karak in Doha. Rituals enable groups to gather collectively and reinforce collective identity, or in this case, converge with a part of a different culture. We had a conversation last night while having tea about Karak and he told me he's heard of it but that he's never tried it. To provide some background, he is a diplomat living in Doha for three years now. His interaction is limited to other diplomats or businessmen; the venues he visits are mostly hotels, malls, restaurants, diplomatic receptions etc. He has visited Qatari majlises and interacted with Qataris, but the way they treat him his very flattering simply because of the nature of "His Excelencly's" tittle. So, I decided to be the one to show him one of the most "Doha" things to do in Doha.

It was almost dusk and we had finished our family dinner so I told him that instead of tea, tonight we should head to get some Karak. He complied with a dose of skepticism simply because of the age gap and i don't think he knew what to expect; I had previously told him I go there with my friends in the late night hours so I can understand his reaction. Whilst driving to Bandar which is a place that serves Karak near the Corniche, i witnessed culture diffuse in traffic where he took his Balkan temper and driving etiquette and applied it in Doha traffic. I tried explain my fascination to my father but the response was "What Balkan temper?" so i decided to switch the topic. We reached Bandar and he unfastened his seat-belt and tried to get out of the car. I told him to stay and honk the horn; he looked at me doubtfully and asked me why. I just told him to do it so he did. Seconds later, a man knocked on our window and asked us what we wanted. My father looked confused and in awe that a man would come and serve us simply by honking the horn. I quickly responded "Etneyen karak, please" which means "Two karak, please" in English; the man nodded and walked off. I spent some time explaining the process to my father who found it unacceptable and disrespectful to honk in front of a store. The epilogue of such an action in the Balkans would have been quite different, but culture is relative after all!



While we talked about this whole ordeal, the gentleman came back with our karak. I took the karak, payed the man and we drove away to find a spot to enjoy our oriental chai. We found a spot which faced upon the beautiful Doha skyline. I asked him what he thinks of it so far, he responded he likes the view of our Charshija which is the equivalent of the Souq in Skopje and that our traditional Turkish tea tastes better than the karak. We laughed about it and I told him that this could be a modern substitute of his former favorite place. He suggested that one day we play tavla or backgammon some day while drinking karak. That is one of the traditional games people in the Skopje Charshija play while enjoying a small glass of Turkish tea . We just made a plan to glocalize a domestic ritual with what we have in Doha. The process of glocalization is adapting a particular aspect of a culture to a certain locality or culture. We were going to participate in cultural diffusion! I was proud to say that next week inshallah, I will be participating in the process that makes Doha amazing!

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I just sat back and reflected on the blend of culture that I participated in. Simply drinking the traditional karak while gazing upon the colossal skyscrapers that made Doha what it is, i thought of the magical blend of tradition and modernity and how globalization and glocalization occurred at the same time. I was going to participate into this process and bring our traditional game to our tea time; perhaps that will catch on and people will be going for karak and a game of backgammon or tavla soon. If you ever see that at Bandar, you know who started it! Selam Aleykum!

Beyond Boundaries and the Karak Culture

When I have to write something I usually take a drive down in my car to some coffee shop in Qatar. I keep a notepad in my car so that I can jot down points on my way to the café and then develop those ideas later on. I did the same last night, after a long nap till 9 pm, in order to brainstorm ideas for an active blog post. One of the first things I asked myself was, “Dona what do you do everyday on a regular basis in Qatar? What is that one thing you missed on your trip last time outside Qatar?” What I missed the most was, going to Bandar, the “tea – port” of Qatar” (Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bandar-Doha-Qatar/110456542339707)

I could write pages on how much I missed the idea of all my friends driving up in their Cruisers, and me in my Chevrolet Aveo forming a large circle in front of the Bandar seaside. Each of us would have a Karak in our hands. Karak is a traditional sweet-tea brewed in teapots. For us, this is pastime. We do occasionally go to the City Centre or Villagio malls for a movie or to some hookah lounges for a time of Sheesha or a card game, but Bandar is where we meet, every single day after each of us get done with our work shifts or college. This is how we socialize. I like to call this the “Karak culture.” In my recent readings from Mix it up: Popular Culture Mass Media and Society, author David Grazian writes about how a culture is not the product of a solidarity person, rather a product of collective activity generated by interlocking networks of culture creators. Within his study of sociology, there are  four significant criteria that define culture: 1) the culture must be “well-liked” by the masses, 2) easily recognized and widely used, 3) It must be a mass culture intended for general consumption and lastly, 4) It must relate to folk expression. The “Karak culture” conforms to all four of these criteria, as it is a well liked, an easily recognized mass culture that relates to folk expression.

Hanging out in the streets of Chicago, where I did my residency two weeks ago, I lived through a different pastime. As a Chicagoan for three months, friends took me to several museums, a Cubs game at Wrigley Field or to Second City for an evening of laughing. I would sometimes wander around Macy's on State Street, spend a few bucks on some Frango Mints or walk leisurely along North Michigan Avenue (called "The Magnificent Mile") looking at the people and the fancy shops. This post is not about the difference in pastime cultures between two cities. Rather, about the sanctions I receive regularly from different people based on my lifestyle in Qatar. Sanction is a kind of control that the society holds steadfast in the minds of the people living within the community. To act differently means to receive negative sanctions from the people who adhere to the norms in the society.


I have been stopped several times on my road trips with my friends because I’m a female and I have male friends. I would be sitting on a brick wall, across the sea in Bandar, with a Karak in my hands, and a Fazaa (cop car) would drive by. He would reverse back and ask for my Identification Card. “Do you know what time it is?” a cop would ask. “1 a.m.?” I would mutter something like that. “Who are these people? You should go home and sleep,” he would say. “These are friends and I just woke up.” I usually answer. They never take action, because obviously I’m not doing anything wrong and there is no law in this country that states that I cannot hang out with male friends past certain hours of night.
I’m being deviant certainly, straying away from the standard norm of the people in Qatar. A young lady sipping on her tea past mid-night with a bunch of guys is just unacceptable.