I must confess that like most Saudis I do not watch Saudi TV very much. In fact my viewing is limited to the holy month of Ramadan. And only for a specific period during this month. For it is then that I would turn on our state sponsored monolith of communication a few minutes before the breaking of the fast.
Messages of spirituality and guidance during those few minutes before the Maghreb (sunset) prayers help defray our minds momentarily from the pangs of hunger and thirst. And then the call to prayers from Makkah comes on. Broadcast live from the Holy Mosque, it is a signal that the time for breaking the fast for those in Jeddah is near.
After breaking the fast, the family retreats to the living room to catch up on the latest episode of Tash Ma Tash, a mocking parody of life in the Kingdom. While waiting for the show to come on, we are treated to commercials that have been carried over from previous years, and which serve to irritate your senses by their banal un-originality.
