We'll meet again...

The asphalt shivered nervously as cars sped away. The moon was a mere echo of itself tonight. It was cold, steam rising from the sewers grates like all of hell lay beneath it. After almost two years in Saudi Arabia, I was finally going home to India for vacation. It was weird, for people usually go for vacation to places other than home. But we expatriates had that luck. Two months in a year or a couple of years, pack up, go home... Saudi had always been another home too...

I had promised my nephew that I'd get him an mp3 player. Though it felt like something that happened in my last life or so, I still remembered telling him I won't forget. It had to be the night before and past midnight for me to remember it. There I was standing by the pavement for a cab to come along. Not every cab guy could be trusted at that time of the night, I could be robbed. Secretly I wished an Indian came by.

It started raining as I thumbed down a taxi and just jumped in. To my relief he was an Indian. He started off with a decent Hindi asking me where I had to go. I told him the need of the hour and we were cruising through the night, talking. Though my hindi wasn't so great, I could communicate and we got in quick rapport. It was important for me to get what my nephew wanted and he treated it more important than I did. We passed by most of the malls near my place and all of them were closed by the hour. We sat thinking about where to go next. He suggested another place but I was short of cash to go that far. He said it I could pay him the rest someday when we'd meet again. "Duniya bahut chotti hain saab..." (The world is really small sir). Hoping I could adjust the money buying a cheaper player, I agreed.

It was about a half hour drive. He kept mentioning that the mall we were headed too had everything anyone could possibly want. ("Duniya ki har cheez jo hain, vo aapko vahan millega") He was keen on trying to understand what an Mp3 player was or what it did. When I mentioned my nephew, he showed me a picture of his wife and a year old baby boy. He had come for work 13years ago and never seen them since. He told me there was some new thing that you could sit in front of a screen and see people who are far away. Though I knew he meant video chat, I pretended to be someone who didn't know much. I guess I wanted to get his picture of the world...

We talked a lot. About corrupt politicians... About riots.... About the Indians winning against Pakistan in a recent cricket match.... About how Pakistani's were wrecking peace in India.... I wasn't ever so patriotic, but I guess, going home the next day and having an Indian guy nearby inspired some spirit. We finally reached where we were headed. Yeah, he was right, you could probably get everything you'd ever want. He offered to shop with me. He looked about in awe at all the gadgets. We kept talking about things, like we were friends for ages. He seemed to like the Mp3 player, saying he would take one for his son when he got the next chance to go. "Kahin jayenge to bore nahi honge"  (You won't get bored if you have one when you're going somewhere), he said. I smiled at his innocence.

He was silent on the way home. After a while he said, he wanted to take a ticket and go back to see his family. Adding in an undertone that he would think the same every day all these years, worrying if something would happen if its late. ("Har din yeh sochtha hoon ki ghar jaaoon... Agar der hoga tho kya hoga") I didnt know what to say. He feared the wars and worried about their safety. They will be fine, I tried to tell him.We turned a corner and we were minutes away from home. I opened my purse and counted what I had. I had compromised on the player so I had enough to pay him. I figured I had little extra.

I stepped out of the car, handing him the money which he pocketed without counting. He said it was fine. We shook hands and I told him I was from Kerala and in an after thought asked him where he belonged. "Pakistan", he said with a smile and departed. Standing by the pavement, I wondered why our countries fought wars and were at each others throats when we regular people never felt any differences from each other.

I walked home with a smile, happy that I had paid him the little extra I had.