Raj is from Punjab, and has found it worthwhile to work in a hole in the wall shop in Muscat, in a back-alley maze where every second window is, seemingly, a tailor’s. The hot item is the laysu (like the Dhofari thob), that colourful wrap that women here wear, sometimes with the generic, faceless black abaya over. But here in the narrow lanes, where even the sunlight barely makes its way through, the more colourful the better. After five years of synthetic fabrics, sequins and pure kitsch, Raj has made enough money to do something back home, and will, in two months, leave Oman for north India.
© 2008 pinaki
