Sania mania grips Doha

The Indian tennis star is the most sought-after among expats

Formalities over in a whiff, you step out of the Doha International Airport8217;s temporary Asian Games terminal and you see smiling faces, wearing a quick question 8212; when is the Indian tennis team coming? Will Sania Mirza be coming too?

Syed Niyamathulla Dawood has been working with Qatar Airways at Doha for the last nine months, and he has taken up the job of a volunteer 8220;just to meet people from back home.8221; Sania, though, is always a special thought. It doesn8217;t matter in this 15th Asian Games country if Sania8217;s singles ranking has fallen from 31st to 67th. The very thought of empowerment drives a special brand of adrenaline.

Niyamathulla, from the Panruti village of Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu, used to work with Saudi Airlines. 8220;Then, in 2004, seven years after I joined work there, this 8216;Saudiasation8217; started in jobs and 20 of us South Asians had to leave. We searched the Net and came over directly to Qatar Airways. Qatar is a better place to work in for South Asians today, I think,8221; he said.

There was disappointment at the news that only the Indian boxing team had come in the morning flight. 8220;We are waiting for Sania,8221; says Atiq, Niyamathulla8217;s friend from Lahore. It was an interesting twist. Atiq will surely rush to greet his native 8216;friends8217; from Pakistan, when they come, and probably will share a local puff as Niyamathulla did with this correspondent8217;s Navy Cut 8212; 8220;everything made in India8221;.

So are expatriate Indians aren8217;t that interested about the rest of the squad? What makes Sania Mirza the hot topic? 8220;It8217;s about what she has done, despite her religion,8221; says Rehmatullah Khan, who has been working for Qatar Water and Power Company for the last nine years. Niyamathulla, from Hyderabad, and Rehmatulla are both now planning to bring their families over, and Sania seems to be showing the way. There is pride and courage to be downloaded from the Hyderabad lass8217; repertoire, even for men.

Doha itself is a collection of spanking new 8216;work in progress8217; masonary missions. It claims scale and modernity 8212; the media village is in a place called 8216;Beverly Hills8217; 8212; roads are right hand drive and SUVs are commonplace, including that great pretender, Hummer. The past does not exist in the cityscape, and Asian Games hoardings abound. There were doubts, till the other day, if the city will be ready for the Games. But the billions have been spent well, and the Indian Olympic Committee officials here can surely pick up a god deal of tips.

A small mater of detail 8212; matters of environment have hardly been dealt with seriously. Boulevards are green, so are odd patches of graded grass, through pipes that facilitate drip irrigation. Only, construction trucks are exactly tiptoeing around. Work for the Games facilities have been taken care of, but the overall development work continues. It8217;s the same issue of speedy empowerment.