Random

Great writing by my mom...Kudos

r a n d o m
January 10th, 2006

When I asked Nicole what her impression of Bahrain was, without hesitation she said “random”.

In a nutshell…that IS what it IS.

Now, as I venture out on the roads and look all around me….all I can think of is RANDOM.

For example, as I stepped outside my flat there was an old Bahraini man selling vegetables on a rickety old wooden cart and next to him was a sleek, super white, top of the line, latest model Jaguar. What a contrast.

As I drove down the road toward the “main drag” I had the latest pop song blaring on the car radio, all the while the main mosque across the road is screaming out the
“calling to prayer” a chanting/Islamic whining kind of sound that we hear several times a day.

I drive into a new area called Juffair and there are these amazing, huge villas, with immense walls surrounding the building, and outside the wall is a dusty, deserted lot filled with debris. Next to this is a tall, new apartment complex with impressive glass windows and marble walls.

In the souk I am fascinated by how many women are covered from head to toe in black, many with a veil over the entire face, yet they are talking on the latest model cell phones. By same stark contrast is a poor Bangladesh street cleaner talking on his simple, yet useful, cell phone.

I am sweating bullets cause driving here is not my cup of tea. In the last 2 days during their “EID” holiday there have been 65 collisions reported and This is a small island.
I drove down a one way street to pick up one of my students for an “afternoon with Miss Annette”. Mimi lives near by, and as I entered her street (one way) coming at me like fierce bullets are two large trucks (going the wrong way). They each decide to pass me on each side, leaving me cowering in the middle…..I am so furious I scream at the top of my lungs..”what are you doing??????” As they inch by they say “sorry”…yeah as I almost have a heart attack. I put Mimi in the car and tell her not to talk until I am out of there…I make a wrong turn and now I am on a one way street going the wrong way……..and the cars approaching me just keep coming…..
I almost cry.

All I want is to get home and “park”…I am now at a stop light and I look in my rear view mirror. Behind me is an Arab dressed in a disheveled red and white table cloth on his head, and his head is jerking around. It as though he had “turrets syndrome”
for he is talking out loud and no one is in the truck with him. Next to me is a large
truck carrying about 20 Bangladesh slave labor and the driver has a wild, ready to race look in his eye. These are the kind of drivers that turn corners on one wheel.
I think to myself “ 3 blocks and I am home”…but as I turn the corner there is a big sign: D I V E R S I O N. In this country it means you “gotta go another way”…I am sick…I want to get out of the way of the two trucks……….my knuckles are white, Mimi has not said a word, I almost close my eyes with tears ready to drop and then I find a tiny little quiet alley, with no one, no cars, no trucks, no people, no noise,
And I make the turn into a little utopia…..and I thought to myself…yes RANDOM is the perfect word.