Deliberate conversations with random souls

Why would anyone talk to random people? Sounds strange !!!! Since childhood we are warned of strangers. And most of us grow believing strangers are dangerous. One doubtful gaze from a child and you want to prove that you are the most sensitive soul around. Hypocrites…..thats what we are.
An expression of gratitude to my parents is must at this point. I grew up watching my mum greeting everyone she met right from a milkman to the vegetable seller.
In your teens you are ashamed of everything, so I hated going to the market with my mum. A trip of 30 minutes would eventually finish not before an hour.
But now when I go alone to the same market area once a year, I am received with warmth and get heavy discounts because I am “Aunty’s” daughter. We learn with time, so have I.

Give yourself a moment and you will agree, we all are equal partners in this crime. We all do it, to some it comes naturally and to many it is an effort. But we still do it.

This blog is aimed to document these interactions. So in a way this one will never end.

These interactions happened in the rest rooms of Abu Dhabi international airport.

a) Just a day prior I was introduced to hair colouring, so the first thing that I noticed was her hair colour. The pattern or streaks or highlights were impressive. On top of it she was fair, thin and pretty. Next moment I noticed her going to a corner and speaking over a phone. So I stopped there and started washing my face. While I was splashing water, I heard someone saying “near the ear”. I smiled and asked “are you from India?”. That’s how we started chatting. She had been there for more than a year and now her husband was also planning to join her. She said it was not easy to be alone but she had no other choice. At this note she handed over my sweatshirt, I said bye. Was she expecting a tip, had she some more to share? I won’t know.. Being beautiful can be such a curse if you are alone……

b) The best thing about being alone in a plush setting is that you can try to explore but the worst is if there is another person around and he just looks so “I know it all”. My seven year old did  Aabra ka Daabra and made the water come out of the tap. Simultaneously I could sense a feeling of discomfort. So I quickly swung into action and showed the lady how to make it happen. Gave her paper towels to wipe her hands. She smiled and I did too. I deliberately spoke Hindi. She was traveling alone to Dallas. God that was first time I had heard of such a place. But I could fake it. She had missed her connecting flight like us. Next few hours she got locked out of her room more than three times. She had not eaten much. We roamed around in the airport before we had dinner. She was going to her daughters place and was due to return in a months time. Over and over again she put her arm around and thanked me. It felt nice to be of any help.

c) This conversation was again initiated by the sensor based tap and a smile can do miracles. She had three daughters. Her English was broken. But we tried to understand and continued. While visiting one of them she had been detected with breast cancer. So she was flying back to her home in Iran. She had a beautiful and warm smile. She was moving slowly and we rushed to catch our next flight.

To be continued………