This time I'm writing, not something about Sri Lanka especially. It is about the book I started writing in 2004 while I was in Saudi Arabia, and finished in Sri Lanka in 2011. Saudi Arabia is a world of extremes. There you can see luxurious life and instant death, sandstorms and bitter cold, loud-mouthed but soft-hearted people, and mobile phones having Islamic prayers for the ringtone and pornography in the memory card! You'll see tall and fat Saudis growling, "Ya habibi, kaif'al haal?" (My dearest friend, how are you?). Saudi Arabia is a big stretch of fine sand which is heated in the furnace of the sun. I named the book, "Hot Sand" and published it recently as an eBook exclusively for Amazon Kindle eBook Reader.
My good Indian friends Hasnain and Irshad were behind 80 percent of this book. I mostly traveled with Hasnain. They taught me Urdu, a quantity of Islam, and guided me on living in that land of extremes. With my experiences and experiments I learned to live with people of all nationalities without making any of them feel that I am a foreigner.
I use my name as Mohan Dharmaratne for the books. Hot Sand contains the fun and adventure of a Sri Lankan along with the narratives of the history of Saudi Arabia, and the customs of the Saudis.
You can read Hot Sand online for free at Amazon Kindle eBook Store. I would appreciate your comments and reviews on the book.
