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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ibnanv" data-source="post: 18181317" data-attributes="member: 218596">                                <a href="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/myfiles/Images/2015/04/13/me01_big.jpg" target="_blank">                   <img src="http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/myfiles/Images/2015/04/13/me01_big.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />                </a>                           Shadab Khan, one of the Indian  owners of the Zaiqa restaurant, poses for a photograph outside his  restaurant in southern suburbs of the Qatari capital Doha. — AFP                                                                                                                                                                                                            DOHA — In a dusty corner of Qatar’s booming  capital, a sign outside a modest restaurant popular with migrant  laborers reads: “If you are hungry and have no money, eat for free!!!“Sixteen kilometers (10 miles) from the gleaming glass towers of Doha,  one of the richest places on the planet, sits the “Industrial Area” of  small-scale workshops, factories and low-cost accommodation.It is only a 40-minute drive south of the center of the Qatari capital  and its luxury shops, upmarket brands and expensive restaurants.But the “Industrial Area,” rarely seen by outsiders, is a different  Qatar — one which provides essential labor and materials for the  country’s massive and relentless expansion.It is at the margin of Doha life, both geographically and  metaphorically, but home to a restaurant called Zaiqa doing something  apparently unique for the oil-rich Gulf state.About three weeks ago the Indian brothers who own Zaiqa decided to put  up a small makeshift sign offering free food to customers who cannot  afford to pay.“When I saw the board I had tears in my eyes,” said one of the owners,  Shadab Khan, 47, originally from New Delhi, who has lived in Qatar for  13 years.“Even now when I talk about it, I get a lump in my throat.”He said the idea came from his younger brother, Nishab.The 16-seater eaterie stands on the prosaically named Street 23, sandwiched between another restaurant and a steel workshop.It is a busy area — opposite is a mosque and then a road where large trucks hurtle past.Inside, on brightly colored tablecloths, “authentic Indian cuisine from  the heart of Delhi” is served 24 hours a day, seven days a week.A fish curry costs six Qatari riyals ($1.65, 1.50 euros), an egg roast  is three riyals and a spinach dish of Palak Paneer is 10 riyals — for  those who choose to pay.The need for free food in Qatar is particularly acute among laborers and those working in heavy industry.It is estimated that there are anywhere between 700,000 and one million  migrant workers in the tiny Gulf kingdom, out of a total population of  2.3 million.Even those who do get paid will be intent on sending most of their money  back home, said one of Zaiqa’s diners, Nepalese mechanic Ghufran Ahmed.“Many laborers earn 800-1,000 riyals ($220-$275/200-250 euros) per  month. They have to send money back to home. It’s expensive here so  there are people who need free food,” he said.Shadab, who is a filmmaker as well as a restaurant owner, said those  asking for food are mostly construction workers from countries such as  India, Nepal and Bangladesh. “We realize a lot of people out here do not  get paid on time and do not have money, not even money to eat,” he  said.“So there were people who would come here and just buy a packet of bread. And they would eat the bread with water.“So, we realized those people don’t have money for anything else. They  just buy a packet of bread, which comes to about one riyal. So, we would  try to offer them food.” But it is not easy, added Shadab.“Self-respect,” he said, means many refuse to take something for  nothing. As a result, in the three weeks since the free food experiment  started, “the number of people coming here to get free food is like two  or three people a day at the most.”As if to emphasize Shadab’s point, two workers entered the restaurant  while AFP was there but left in case their complimentary lunch should  become public knowledge. For Zaiqa too, there is a black cloud on the  horizon.The restaurant’s future is threatened by a dispute over rent with the property owner and may have to close down.Shadab and his brother have a different plan for their next restaurant.  “We are putting a refrigerator outside, so this refrigerator won’t have a  lock. It will be facing the road and it will have packets of food with  dates on them,” he said. “So anybody who wants to take it, he doesn’t  have to come inside.”</blockquote>

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