Thursday, February 18th, 2016

Thursday, February 18th, 2016                          
Dubai, UAE

Destined for India                             

Destined for India on Emirates Airlines are Corrado, Balarama, Mandala, and myself.  Next to me in seat 72E is young Mohammed.  Now what do you think a young, 9 year-old from Pakistan would be doing for those hours on a plane?  Yes, you guessed it.  He would not be praying (necessarily).  This young lad, whom I easily made friends with, was on for the long haul doing games with his hand-held device.  He didn't mind if I interrupted him so I could get a word in.  On occasion we did high-fives. I showed him how to offer pranams.

 Actually I was the one praying.  I dozed off at times, as did he.  I relished going over chapters 17 and 18 of the Gita and managed to slip in watching Robert Redford in "A Walk In The Woods," based on the novel of a retired man and his companion taking to the Appalachian Trail, starting from Georgia and going north.

Mohammed's mom and sister were sitting behind us.  I found the great opportunity to render him some service.  He made me feel like a granddad.  At one point he had a nose-bleed so I fetched him some tissue.  When he went to sleep I adjusted his chair to recline more and covered him with a blanket.

It was indeed nice to know Mohammed.  He really didn't ask me any questions.  He was just being himself, rather a fidgety nine year old.  I just saw a young Krishna in him.  When it was time to disembark we parted while giving each other a unique form of Props (fists gently smacking together).

Some hours were lost due to time zone change, but a friendship was gained.

May the Source be with you!

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