Summer of 2007 - Groom in Arabia
The Arab world is a fascinating and spicily flavoured with incomprehensible restrictions, prejudices and hence dilemma. To make that simpler, I find them an exotic and untamed breed of humanity, which makes them fascinating and hence magnetic.
Till date, I have never had the opportunity to befriend an Arabian; the closest encounters have been at the Dubai airport immigration officers.
On my transit journey to Bangalore today, I found myself amidst the Arab world. Replicating my last stopover at Dubai two years ago during pilgrimage to Karbala, I lug-gaged myself with all the chocolates I could carry, and the last Filing could buy.
Brother had equipped me with a thick and interesting plot of a fantasy tale to fill the void of five hours at the airport. But when I reached the gate designated for my flight departure, I took off on my own trip of fantasy.
In the lounge area I chanced to rest my eyes on the most brilliant looking Arab. He wore a cream robe which had a high buttoned-up Chinese collar and flowed till below his ankles, so I could not even see his footwear. Unlike other Arab men, he did not have his head covered with a red checkered scarf. Instead, he had styled and gel-ed his cropped hair and was clean shaved. His sharp features and serene poise had me magnetically drawn and I found my eyes glued to admiring his confident persona.
I am not clear on what and how good men are at picking up signals of attraction (prior experiences are blurred due to short memory span), but I think his receptors did pick up vibes from my antenna.
The transit bus, which transported passengers to the flight, chanced to bring us face to face with each other, with a sole pole between us. I was a bit surprised to find him there, because I had been glancing back during the walk down from the lounge area to the gate, and he had tailed behind, and did not notice him anywhere amongst the bobbing heads.
We gazed in each others directions alternately, waiting for the other person to look away, so either could unashamedly stare, while pretending to study the geographical goings-on in each others background. There was a single moment when our eyes accidentally met, and instantly turned away.
A hundred questions raced in my mind - was this even real? Could we talk, or atleast exchange a greeting before parting ways? A smile, or a nod?
I don’t know how these things are acknowledged in the desert land. Doubt it will happen on this encounter - he just stepped into the Business-class, and I’m in Economy.