I came to Qatar in November 1979 and have seen how this country has grown and changed over the years.
Way back then life was simple and quiet. There were no shopping centres, supermarkets/hypermarkets. As rightly stated by Dweller, the only department store in town was The Centre, frequented mostly by Europeans as merchandise there was very expensive, even foodstuffs were more expensive than they were in smaller shops or the souqs. Salam Studio was the next closest store. It actually started off as a studio and later expanded into a department store.
There were only private taxis operated mostly by Pathans and Iranians. On the roads plied large american cars owned by Qataris and smaller Japanese cars like Datsun, Toyota Cressida, Corolla, etc. driven by expatriates. No Landcruisers speeding and overtaking while you drove or making rude gestures. I don't remember anybody driving the way some people do now. After 8:00 p.m., the roads were nearly bare and there were no street lights after the airport roundabout.
During weekends we would take the children either to the Muntaza Park which was invariably crowded and it was ever so difficult for our children to get a chance to play on the swing or seasaw, etc. The beaches were the next best places we loved going to, either Umm Said, which was the best or Dukhan, sometimes Wakrah. The Al-Khor garden was the next best garden, a bit farfetched then, to take one's family to spend Friday. Apart from these people had their own private entertainment at home where friends would gather together for a birthday party or whatever the occasion was and have a good time.
As for television, there was only one Arabic channel on QTV, so we would turn to Dubai or Bahrain TV to watch programmes in English. Once a week (Thursday night) QTV would show a Hindi film which was eagerly awaited by not only Indians but also Pakistani, Iranians and also some Qatari failies I know, as they too liked watching Hindi films. Good old QBS was always there for music in English.
The Corniche was still under reclamation and the Sheraton Hotel was nearing completion.
Shopping was done in the souqs.
As one can see life was really simple but we were content with the little we had and we made do with whatever was available then. And last but not least the rents were affordable and the landlords didn't think of raising them. In fact in 1984 we moved to a two-bedroom partment in the old airport area and we had to pay
QR 2,000/- as monthly rent which was way too high and believe me, over the years our landlord brought down the rent bit by bit until it came to to QR 1,100/- and it stayed that way until 2003 when he raised it to QR1,300/- and then it went up, up and up.......
I may have missed out on some things. As far as my memory served me, these are the things that come to mind now.
I came to Qatar in November 1979 and have seen how this country has grown and changed over the years.
Way back then life was simple and quiet. There were no shopping centres, supermarkets/hypermarkets. As rightly stated by Dweller, the only department store in town was The Centre, frequented mostly by Europeans as merchandise there was very expensive, even foodstuffs were more expensive than they were in smaller shops or the souqs. Salam Studio was the next closest store. It actually started off as a studio and later expanded into a department store.
There were only private taxis operated mostly by Pathans and Iranians. On the roads plied large american cars owned by Qataris and smaller Japanese cars like Datsun, Toyota Cressida, Corolla, etc. driven by expatriates. No Landcruisers speeding and overtaking while you drove or making rude gestures. I don't remember anybody driving the way some people do now. After 8:00 p.m., the roads were nearly bare and there were no street lights after the airport roundabout.
During weekends we would take the children either to the Muntaza Park which was invariably crowded and it was ever so difficult for our children to get a chance to play on the swing or seasaw, etc. The beaches were the next best places we loved going to, either Umm Said, which was the best or Dukhan, sometimes Wakrah. The Al-Khor garden was the next best garden, a bit farfetched then, to take one's family to spend Friday. Apart from these people had their own private entertainment at home where friends would gather together for a birthday party or whatever the occasion was and have a good time.
As for television, there was only one Arabic channel on QTV, so we would turn to Dubai or Bahrain TV to watch programmes in English. Once a week (Thursday night) QTV would show a Hindi film which was eagerly awaited by not only Indians but also Pakistani, Iranians and also some Qatari failies I know, as they too liked watching Hindi films. Good old QBS was always there for music in English.
The Corniche was still under reclamation and the Sheraton Hotel was nearing completion.
Shopping was done in the souqs.
As one can see life was really simple but we were content with the little we had and we made do with whatever was available then. And last but not least the rents were affordable and the landlords didn't think of raising them. In fact in 1984 we moved to a two-bedroom partment in the old airport area and we had to pay
QR 2,000/- as monthly rent which was way too high and believe me, over the years our landlord brought down the rent bit by bit until it came to to QR 1,100/- and it stayed that way until 2003 when he raised it to QR1,300/- and then it went up, up and up.......
I may have missed out on some things. As far as my memory served me, these are the things that come to mind now.