by Sunaina Serna Ahluwalia
Muscat Daily
April 15, 2013

Marcel Proust said, “People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were travelling abroad.”

Which is exactly how I feel about Sarah White who left us on April 10 and I know I speak for each and everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. Talented, warm, intelligent, dynamic and a complete people’s person, Sarah epitomised the best possible way in which an expat can become one with Oman and its people.

At a recent WGO event where Sarah was the keynote speaker and made a presentation on the contemporary art scene in Oman, along with the majority of women present there, I clearly understood, (yet again) how her expertise in her field had made her so much more aware of other aspects of the art, culture, heritage and tradition in Oman.

Thirty minutes later, we all knew exactly what was happening in the contemporary art scene in Oman, in addition to details on the main artists, their special skills area and the very great potential that art had in Oman.

As one of the frontrunners of the development of art and culture in her capacity as advisor and museum director of Bait al Zubair, she was undoubtedly best equipped to talk on the subject. My mind goes back in time, and as far back as I can recall, I remember Sarah as a wonderful and caring woman who will have a place in our hearts, and minds for a very long time and as we all sat around talking about her yesterday, I couldn’t help but think of these lines by my favourite poet, Khalil Gibran,

“Then Almitra spoke, saying, ‘We would ask now of Death.’
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.”