Two days before the deadline!
1:30 PM:
The good girls are editing in the Lab...& the bad girls went out for lunch...
I asked Habib out for lunch! & Salama went with me!
As we were leaving the class...Dr. Nezar saw us: "Are you guys, going out to film?!!"
Me and Salama were like :/
I can't forget the look in Dr. Nezar face...as if he was saying: "Are you crazy or what?"
while the girls we're working on their final steps of editing...we went out to film!
Yes, that sounds crazy! but that's how we are...two unrealistic dreamers!
I always wanted to eat with Habib...I felt my ethnographic experience won't be completed without it...
Habib suggested Al-Ibrahimi Restaurant, but I’m used to their food, I wanted something different, so we told him to take us to another restaurant...He took us to"Nemat Kadah",, A pure Pakistani Restaurant..
Nemat Kadah !
Nemat Kadah is in Madinat Zayed, behing the Post Office.
"Nemat Kadah was opened 28 years ago!" Mr. Ahmad, the restaurant owner, said it with pride...
Mr. Ahmed is a Kashmiri man with a long black moustache...He's from Lahore...has been in the U.A.E. for 30 years ago...& works in The Defense (El-Difa3)
The restaurant wasn't crowded..3 Pakistanis we're having lunch (all taxi drivers), few Indians, and an Arab man...
"if you came at 9 morning, or at 8 at night, it would be full of pakistanis" Mr. Ahmed
Tahir..the aacountant..& also Mr. Ahmed son..asked us why we're filming?!
"We're making a documentary about Pashtun taxi drivers!" I said it with pride :D
Tahir laughed and noded his head right and left !
We just took some few shots, did few interviews with the people eating their...
Habib didn't enter the resturant first, he didn't understand that we wanted to have lunch with him!
I thought the man must be busy so I didn't ask him to come...
My hopes were broken :(
we went out, got in the taxi, & when we where about to leave, Mr. Ahmed went out and called us, he insisted that we have lunch...
I asked Habib, if he dosen't mind, he said it's ok, & we accepted Mr. Ahmed invitation =D
Mr. Ahmed took us to the second floor, where there’s a special place for families.. We didn't know what to order, so we asked Mr. Ahmad to choose for us...He ordered Biryani Samak, Tandoori Paratha, Haleema (a dish similar to Harees, even better)
The eyes were all over us...everyone passed by gave us a different lOOk... :/ We set up the Tri-pod, and started eating..& Mr. Ahmad sat with us,, we all 4 chatted together..The situation was exciting, new, so overwhelming that i forgot to say Besmellah before I eat.. The food was SO Delicious, much more better than Al-Ibrahimi..or maybe the food tasted better to me because I was feeling better.. Last days, I was so stressed; the exams started, and we weren't even close to finishing the film..That was an opportunity to clear my mind, and remind my self that it's about the experience, not the film... As we were eating we talked about many things, life, Taliban (of course), food, Abu Dhabi, Pakistan, many things,,,In this day, Habib was really open, spontaneous, comfortable,,,We were putting the rice to each other's plates: He kept telling us: "Azmaaa..sohn mal enta mafi akel,,,Salamaaa yallah kool, laish mafi yakol!"
I asked Habib how often he eats here: "in occasions, if a friend invited me, or if i invited a friend" During our chit chat, Mr. Ahmed was calling us my daughters..."you're just like my daughters.." he kept saying...
Talking to Mr. Ahmed was interesting..he was so kind & a good listener, I didn't felt for a second that I'm talking to a stranger...& neither Salama...I asked him many things...& in one of our silent moment..Habib said: "You should've ask him, why he didn't get an Emirati citizenship..that's a question you didn't ask" ...that question didn't cross my mind...& it was interesting that Habib was thinking of it..."If you stayed in Pakistan for 5 years, they'll give you the citizenship" Mr. Ahmed said smiling..I said: "yes...that what should happen"... Mr. Ahmed should get a citizenship..My parents came to the U.A.E. in the 70's, the same time Mr. Ahmed came...How come they got the citizenship as soon as they came, and Mr. Ahmed don't have it after 30 years of residence in the UAE...Is it because he's a Non-Arab?! I thinks it is...& I don't think it's fair...
When we finished our lunch Mr. Ahmed... he said:"My daughters, may Allah, protect you and guide you...remember daughters, no matter what you do in life, don’t forget to thank Allah and cherish you're parents; they're the happiness in your life, your parents"....We wanted to pay for the lunch, but Mr. Ahmed didn't let us: "Shame on You!" he said..."Does a daughter give money for her father when she eats"... ?!"...I was embarrassed, honestly, Mr. Ahmed words & kindness just overwhelmed me...
What a day!
"As if we were a family, Ahmed is our father and Habib is our old brother" Salama said..
I would never thought that I'll be so comfortable, so me, around those once called 'Others' Question after a Question kept flooding in my head:
Why they were so far from us, or we were far from them?
Why it's just now that I’m noticing them, knowing them?
Why I didn’t care to get to know them before?? It's not like they're hidden somewhere, they're all over the city,,,
Why I kept myself away from all the others? Why I shut my eyes from seeing them, from seeing anyone other than my family & friends?
My eyes weren't closed...it was my mind...
Questions, me and Salama asked our selves...as we left Nemat Kadah...
This Day!
"This day, will enter the history!" Salama says!
This day, I didn't care about the film or the editing..
This day, opened my eyes, mind, & heart...
This day, I didn't care about the film...the editing...the deadline
This day, I felt satisfied with my ethnographic experience…
This day I can truly say: "the Others are no longer others; they're now fathers & brothers.."
This Moment !
This moment...I don't know if our film will be completed by Monday...
This moment...I comfort my self with my favorite phrase: "Everything is okay in the end,,& if it's Not okay, then it's not the End !"
This moment...I'm pray to Allah..Most Gracious..Most merciful: To bliss our work, and help us completing it "... Ameen
