The Last Penny - Chapter 10 – The Itinerary – Stranger in Dubai and Kenya

Srini landed in Dubai, spent a couple of days touring around, staying in a hotel and seeing the desert on a conducted tour. He then flew to Nairobi, Kenya. He knew absolutely no one there. He had never been there before.  He stayed at a hotel near a park. He had befriended the taxi driver who had driven him from the airport. He got his phone number to arrange for him to drive him around for a couple of days. Srini had never been in Africa and it was a dream from his childhood to visit that continent. He slept in late, had breakfast at the hotel and wandered over to park nearby. He sat down on a bench. There were some people walking around, some children playing a little ways away from his bench. He could see and hear them.  As he was lost in observing them, he missed seeing a largish lady coming up the path with her a young boy, who put down a bag next Srini’s bench, shouted something at the lady and bounded off to meet up with the children playing in the distance.

“May I sit down next to you if this seat is not taken?” asked the lady with a very heavy typical local accent.

Srini’s attention came back to his immediate surroundings, he looked a little puzzled, but recovered his wits quickly.

“Of course! Of course you may! Sorry I did not realise anyone else might come up,” said Srini shifting to one end of the bench and making room for the lady to sit down comfortably with some space still between them.

She was a well-built woman whose age he could not tell exactly but she did appear over 40. Looking at her proportions, it appeared that God was in a generous mood when he created her. She had on a dress of a multi-coloured, beautiful flower pattern, well-groomed hair and bunch of large rings on her fingers.  She wore a few necklaces too that were elegant even though they stood out and captured the attention of people. They flowed down the contours of her open neck and front, coming up almost to her belly. She exuded a strong but pleasant fragrance that must have been a local perfume. She wore a pair of quiet, worn, but well-maintained shoes. At her side on her arm was a big bag that was too large to be a handbag. She set it down next to her as she sat down with practised ease, brushing down the back of her dress against her body with a downward sweeping motion of her free arm. Srini, who normally was not very observant of such details, surprised himself that he noted all these things in the woman. She sat down with her bag against the arm rest of the bench and leaned against it slightly as she turned herself around slightly, facing Srini.

“Good morning! Nice day to be out in the park,” she said.

“Good morning!” Srini replied and stopped quickly as he realised she was continuing to speak.

 “My grandson always plays with his friends on Saturday mornings. I bring him here every weekend. I have never seen you around. Are you new around here?” asked the lady in a friendly, but softly booming voice.

“Yes, I am. I came in yesterday. I have never been here before,” said Srini.

“Well, you certainly do not look like his or anyone’s grandmother to me,” Srini thought to himself. One could never tell with some women, especially from some cultures, age reading was a difficult and dangerous art.

“Well, I hope you enjoy Nairobi and have good time,” she said with polite friendliness.

“Thank you! I hope I am not occupying the seat that someone else usually does. Am I? Are you expecting any other regulars to come by?” asked Srini, “I can move on to another bench, if that is the case.”

“No, No! You sit right there as long as you want. Normally, no one else comes here at this time. Sometimes they do, but they can just as well find another place, you came here first today,” said the lady in her easy, friendly manner, patting the seat of the bench.

“Ok, thank you!” replied Srini. They both sat quietly without speaking for a few minutes while the lady pulled out things from the bag she was carrying, rearranged somethings, put them back and pulled her grandson’s bag closer to her. She picked up some craftwork that seemed like pattern weaving by hand. She went to work, busily.

Srini scanned the trees around him and saw the birds on the branches and flying around. He looked at the sky, the shouts of the children playing in the distance. He felt comfortable, totally at home, in a completely foreign country, among total strangers. He had never had time to observe himself like this. In the past, every time he had been to a new place, it was usually with a purpose – either on business or on a tour. He seemed to have no other goal now than to just be there and enjoy his existence.

Soon, an irregular stream of people walked past Srini’s bench.  Some wore formal business suits, some were in casual attire. Some walked alone, some in groups, talking animatedly. Some nodded greetings towards Srini and the lady, some were too busy. There were a bunch of languages he heard – he could identify some English, some French, even some German and Arabic. There were many that he could not. He was lost in it as he suddenly realised that there seemed to be some music playing in the background - someone was singing or humming, but no instruments were playing. He turned towards the lady next to him since it came from her direction, close by.

The lady had some long, coloured pins in clasped between her lips. She was softly humming and singing as she worked merrily on her craft project. The tune was a repeating one and it had slowly seeped into Srini’s mind subconsciously. It was a strange foreign rhythm yet friendly and catchy to the soul. Without realising it, he had started to hum along too, to the refrain. Portions of the tune reminded him of an old familiar song that his own mother used to sing. She too sang as she worked – cooking or cleaning or even combing someone’s hair.

It was utter bliss and happiness to feel the common humanity in a completely different culture and place. Srini suddenly realised that he would be leaving it all behind, soon. The feeling hit him hard. Much as he fought it, he could not control his feelings of not wanting to leave this world so soon. His eyes stung painfully, moistened over, but he mastered it and did not let the tears flow.

He did not realise that he had been staring at the lady next to him with a strange look on his face. He was jolted into realization by her asking him a question and looking at him with a surprised and concerned expression.

“Are you OK, Mister?”

“Why? Yes, Yes, of course! I am fine. Thank you! I was just lost in thoughts. I hope you don’t consider me rude, if I was staring at you. I am sorry if you felt uncomfortable,” Srini was a bit flustered and a bit ashamed,

“Please do continue your work.”

He did not want to get up immediately and move away since that would have made things look worse than they were. He thought he might give it a few minutes, get up and walk way after politely saying ‘goodbye’.

The lady looked at him directly, and then she nodded and went back to her work and singing. As she finished some part of her work with a flourish of her hand, she ended her song with a flourish in her voice.

Srini could not help looking at her. She too was looking at him.

She looked him directly in the eye, as if searching deep inside his mind and reading his soul.  A couple of seconds passed as if they were hours.

“Tell me, what is wrong with you? Is there a problem?” She asked evenly.  The questions did not sound harsh or as if she was offended by his staring at her. It sounded like she had not made up her mind and was genuinely curious.

Srini, looked a bit surprised. He could not tell from her tone if she was upset with him or not. Come what may, he decided to be totally honest and tell her the truth.

“I feel very good and terrible at the same time,” he replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Why?” she asked, her voice softening a bit.

“I will miss all this terribly, when I am gone.”

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know,” replied Srini.

“If you miss all this so much, could you not come back for another visit?” She asked, her tone suddenly becoming very gentle and she kept staring at him – searching with such power in her gaze that he could feel it on his face and eyes.

“Because, I cannot!” cried out Srini, sounding defensive, in a strangely loud voice and he could no longer hold back his tears.

“Oh you! Come here!” She pushed her craft work into the bag and moved over closer to him. She reached out her arm, around the back of his head and pulled it over her shoulder as he leaned over and cried his heart out, quietly. He seemed to sob quietly and his body shook.

“I knew it! I knew it! You have the same look that my brother had,” she said fiercely at fate. She pulled him closer and hugged him, patted his back.

“So, how long are you here for?” she asked him as Srini regained his composure.

“A couple of days more,” replied Srini.

“How much longer do you have?” she asked this in a matter of fact way.

“A bit over a year, the doctor says.”

“What is your name? I am Amani ,” said the lady.

“I am Srini.”

“You Indian?”

“Originally yes.”

“Tell me about yourself, Srini.”

“I will, but you tell me about yourself too, Amani.”

“What have you planned for the rest of the day?” Amani asked, realising it sounded a bit odd.

“Nothing at all in particular!” said Srini smiling.

They both laughed.

“What did you plan to do when you came here to Nairobi?”

“I wanted to go and visit a place that I had never been to before. I thought I would like to look around town. Soak in the sights, no rigid idea of must  see tourist attractions. I want to see life in whatever form I come across it. I would like to meet people and make friends,” Srini explained.

“Friends for the rest of your life?” asked Amani with a strange cheeky smile. She definitely had a sense of humour.

Srini cracked up into laughter, “Good one that! Yes, of course for the rest of my life!”

They both laughed again.

Briefly, Srini told Amani about himself and the diagnosis and his plan for the rest of the time remaining for him. Amani heard him, often nodding. She had a brother who had passed away a few years ago. He had accidentally killed his own child and had taken his own life after a while not being able to cope with his feelings, despite the fact that no one blamed him. He had been a very bright, popular young man, in love with life and usually in such high spirits that no one believed what he would become. He had planned his exit ahead, silently and quietly by himself behind a façade of still being cheerful and busy. He had spent a few months with ‘a certain look’ as if he was drinking in all the pleasure of life and being alive for the last time. That was the look that Amani had recognised in Srini. Amani had broken through the wall with her brother and he had come clean to her. She had tried her best and realised that she could not change him. She had helped him until the very end.

Srini was caught unawares by his own feelings and how they surfaced in front of a total stranger and not around people that knew him the most. He thought about it and realised that he was not trying to hide his feelings in front of his kids and friends, but that they brought out other feelings in him that masked the ones that came out in front of Amani.

“Do you want to spend a day with my family?” Amani asked him.

It surprised Srini how easily she said it and invited him into her life and it surprised him how easily he accepted.

“Yes, I would like that,” he said with quiet gratitude.

They chatted for a while longer, talking a walk around, Srini helping with the extra bag. They walked up over to the sidelines of the children’s playground.

Amani’s grandson waved to them and continued playing.  Shortly, they left the park. Srini picked his wheeled airline carry-on bag from his hotel room nearby. He ordered a tea and some snacks for Amani and her grandson - Kiano.  Then they all walked to Amani’s house that was about half a mile away, past many city streets. Amani seemed to know a few people in the neighbourhood. They waved to her and she waved back. There were a few strange looks at Srini accompanying her, but no questions or comments.  Kiano was a well behaved quiet boy. He was shy at first, but then opened up and started to chat with Srini, asking where he lived, about his family. Amani too occasionally asked some questions.



Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2015
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