Taxi & Mohammed

I got into the taxi from Tel-aviv to Hebron around 2:00 AM. I took out my Arabic vocabulary sheet and practiced all of it on Wael, the taxi-driver. This kept Wael awake though mildly irritated. Since my host family was not expecting me at 4:00 AM, Wael offered his home till the morning. His son Mohammed (~14 years old) gave me company and food for next 4 hours.

Mohammed is my first facebook friend from Palestine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Glamour & Gowns

Intead of taking taxi, I had started walking to and from Mai's house to the Excellence Center. There were multiple shops on the way showcasing westernized glamorous gowns. In a place where women are covered from head to toe, I couldn't figure out who these backless gowns were for. Mai invited me to a wedding in her relatives. She used one of my shawls for a make-shift hijab for me. As I entered the wedding hall, I saw the bride dancing in a white gorgeous gown! That was the aha moment for me. In the hall full of around 250 people, there was only 1 guy-- the groom surrounded by hundreds of women in traditional clothing. Then he left -- and there came dancing many more gorgeous women in glamorous gowns on the stage. With my little knowledge of the culture, only men who will ever see a woman without hijab are her husband, her real brothers, her father and her sons. Imagine dressing up just for women and these selected few. 
Read more

Mai's home is my home now

Now, I am in Mai's home. She has opened all doors and drawers for me. She is 32 and has lovely 5 kids. She has taught me how to greet a guest -- with kisses first on right cheek and then left. Her speaker plays Quran verses -- all the time. I have learned to wake up with Quran verses from speakers of mosque near by and sleep with Quran's verses as the last voice for the day. Mia showed me the videos of Mecca and Madina. Those places are absolutely massive! Mai is very smart and is learning English. Her English is enough for both of us to talk for hours. It is not the society, it is the women gossip that binds your planet together.
Read more

Gods: What's in the numbers?

From the Excellence center, I took another Taxi to go to my host family. This time, the driver spoke flawless English and kept me in his rear-view mirror through out the ride. After exactly 2 minutes, he asked me why do we have so many gods in Hindu religion? Why is it so hard for Indians to understand that there is no god, but one god. I would have explained him the intense teamwork of Hindu gods that keeps it all going in the universe. Then, I thought of skipping Hinduism and jumping straight to Jainism where every Jain has potential to be the God -- that is roughly 4,451,753 gods in making. This was little too soon to discuss religion or politics. How wrong I was.
Read more