Transit

I had ages in Doha airport (where I leeched free internet from), which seems to be at its busiest around midnight, when all the transit passengers come in from wherever they flew from and are ushered to their next plane (or at least that's the idea). Because Qatar Airlines is affordable, there were many South Asians around the airport the night I was there, waiting for their planes. Lots of families, some based in Qatar itself, making their way back to their homelands. Watching the kids was fascinating - how they found ways to amuse themselves, and how their inquisitive eyes would alight on me and stare, being the only paler-skinned one among the other South Asians. The families had some kind of rapport going on, especially those with children. The children would play together, and the parents would look at each other over the children's heads and smile and nod to each other. When they fed their children, they'd offer some morsels to their new-found playmates as well, and receive that smile and nod again. Was it the unifying power of being fellow passengers in transit, or the innocence of the children? Whichever reason it was, the "semangat muhibbah" was heartening.

As it happens, I made a little friend as well. I was sitting there, trying to get an internet connection, when this uber-friendly Bangladeshi boy peers over my laptop screen to find out what I'm doing. In a while, I gave up on the internet and settled in to play Pinball. He was fascinated by it! He ended up controlling the plunger and the right flipper, while i steadied the computer and controlled the left flipper. I must say, that he was a fast learner and we did quite well. His mother was wearing the full burkha so I couldn't see if she disapprove, but before they went she whipped out a camera-phone and took a picture of me and her boy, and I did the same with mine (the wonder of camera-phones). I wonder what I'll be remembered as, this random lady in the airport who let you play with her computer...