Riyadh was to my liking even four decades ago

I first stepped on Saudi soil on a day which coincided with our wedding anniversary — Oct. 23, 1975. I vividly remember it was a Thursday and the flight from Bahrain, where I was on transit, touched down at the old airport, the present airbase, at around 10 a.m.
I was glad to see some of my workmates to be at a pioneer five-star facility in Riyadh who had come to receive me. It is not easy to leave one’s family behind for the first time in life to embark on an assignment. However difficult it may seem, the sympathetic management wasted no time in helping us for an unbelievably fast reunion.
Although I was not certain as to how Riyadh would look like then, on arrival I found it to be more to my liking, which over the period of four decades has made me to become more accustomed to than our own capital city, Colombo.
Even in the early eighties, as I remember well, one had to travel to downtown Batha for banking, to mail a letter, or even for shopping. With a large number of shopping malls, banks and post offices coming up in every part of the city, the situation has totally changed.
One of the first over bridges was constructed opposite Riyadh Military Hospital, connecting Shara Sitteen and Shara Al-Maazar. The development I have seen during these four decades is amazing. So, the Oct. 23 every year is being celebrated in our household for two reasons — my first arrival in Riyadh and our wedding anniversary. Both are being cherished equally!
Riyadh is not second to any modern city in the world, and is being now acclaimed as one of the cleanest by every visitor.
— Seyed Hamid Moulana is a hospitality industry veteran, based in Riyadh.