The family takes it easy on Friday mornings. I know from following Afsha that she turns off all alarms on Friday and so, I decided to stay quiet as a mouse. The littlest mouse however had other ideas. We both spent the morning drawing and colouring.
After a biryani lunch, Afsha packed up the only child small enough to not revolt at the thought of an hour’s drive into the desert to “see some sticks”, we set out to see Richard Serra’s East West: West East.
One kahwa stop, lots of laughter and jokes, going off-road trying to find the installation, finding it and the shocked silence at the reality of it, all made for the best start to my trip.
We could get to a place that didn’t meet anyone’s expectations, high art not withstanding, we still laughed lots, made a ton of really bad jokes, got excited at the windy desert sunset, bumped into some unesco heritage sites and one of the oldest mosques in the land
We stopped by the sea, and marveled at how close to Bahrain we were. We drove back amid more jokes and laughter, and drove past a gorgeously lit up Lusail.
The day got me thinking how all the adults in that car today were highly responsible people, committed to their personal values, but are such funnies in very unique ways (if I do say so myself, about one of them 😇)
All of us start where we left off, don’t have any rancour among us. We all have a child like quality that ensures that greying hair notwithstanding, none of us take ourselves too seriously and are able to laugh a lot, be the class clown and be ourselves with levity. Just luck? Or is that why we work well while countless other associations and relationships have fallen by the wayside?
There and back again: An occasional wanderer's tale 