24 hours

I dream of a book powerful enough to contain the elements of her ¬ but it is not the sort of book to which we are accustomed these days. For example, on the first page a synopsis of the plot in a few lines. Thus we might dispense with the narrative articulation. What follows would be drama freed from the burden of form. I would set my own book free to dream.
Lawrence Durrell, Justine

Indeed, Mansoor can rattle off numbers and lives off the tip of his tongue. “60 per cent of the population in Mitan is above 15 years of age, and there are ten above 70. We’re talking of a total of 500 inhabitants, and 45 expatriates” Mansoor is the doctor of the settlement, and it is under them that the people of Mitan benefit from 24 hours of medical service a day. The clinic is open from half past seven in the morning till half past nine at night, but the doctor is on call through the night. All someone has to do is call, or knock. “We never object to their timings – we know the bedu have none.” But Mansoor didn’t become an insider who can boast of being a girl’s second father by just sitting in his clinic.

“I do a weekly round of the houses every Thursday. We aim to provide medical aid at the doorstep.” This is in addition to the weekly school checkups, and the three to four years that he spent inspecting all the kitchens in Mitan, once a week, till they were up to his standards of hygiene. “The people should be suffering from diarrhoea here, but they don’t. One reason is that they keep their kitchens so clean” And it’s true: hours ago, as I explored the different cabins that make up Musallam Bahait al Mahri’s house, I was shocked by how spotlessly clean the kitchen was. That kitchen, fed by gas and electricity, would later churn out our lunch: two huge plates of rice and chicken. The first was plain, more boiled, but the second came with fried garnishing and tomatoes, a reddish, faintly spicy biriyani.

“I was sitting in my clinic, thinking of what to do,” continues Mansoor, talking of the old days. “And then I thought of teaching – all the basics I knew from being a doctor.” And so he approached the Director General in Salalah for permission, and taught chemistry, physics and English for one hour a day at the school, free of charge. “Those students of mine are now doctors and engineers. I believe that you should pass on what you know to others.”

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