Food for my soul

I know I am doing it again, but believe me, it is like one of those things which are beyond control. It happens, at the most, three times in a year; and every time it happens, it leaves my soul fed and hearty for a while.

Today, it happened by chance. I had no plan to sit in the school cafeteria for three hours, waiting for school exams to finish; but with the temperature in the car showing 50 degrees, i thought it best to bring the kids home with me rather than letting them walk to the bus area. So, there i was, in the school cafeteria; with the one-of-its-kind opportunity to observe children of various age groups and nationalities in their own element.

What fun! What joy!

How i wished i could be like them, one of them- that group of 8-9 year old boys sharing a box of store-bought humus with the soft triangles of khaboos put directly on the table (yes mommy! no napkin, no plate- didn't even sanitise hands!!!!), and enjoying every morsel of it. How i wished i could grow younger again and not worry about germs and sickness and anything beyond the moment i was presently in. Oh! what calm.....

Then I met a group of chatty grade 3 girls- three different nationalities, who, looking at the bags i was carrying thought i was a 'Miss', a teacher at the school. They reminded me why i miss my girlfriends so much! They were very friendly, shared their jokes with me, told me why it was bad to go out in sun in such weather, laughed with me at our sweating faces as we stood waiting and waved a lovely bye when it was time for them to go. I am thinking, they were really the conversation gurus every corporate team building event and every social etiquette class needs. They needed no introductions, no reasons to start talking to me. We were just at the same place, at the same time and in those ten minutes they spoke to me as one of their own- jumping and screaming with extreme joy when i reminded them that the school vacation was just a week away. They reminded me what a beautiful age it is - this 6-9 years age. Wonderful, carefree, curious, open, innocent, pure.

And then i saw some of grade 11 or 12 girls with their manicured hands and pedicured feet, wearing Birkenstocks with their school uniform, in their own world of prom night and university admissions.

Soul food...that's what it was.  One school cafeteria is a small reflection of the types of people (and in Dubai, types of nationality) one can find in the world. From  black to white and all shades of brown in between; from grumpy to happy and all shades of personality in between; from studious to carefree and all shades of casually-looking-at-the-revision-sheets in between.....it feels quite like an airport here. Everyone sharing the same goal of boarding a flight and yet, everyone going some place different; carrying their own luggage!