My Strange Encounters !

I have a very strange habit, which can be termed as good or bad, based on the situation in which I am in. Others (my mom and hubby) say its really a dangerous habit which can make me land in troublesome situations and that if nothing of that sort happened till now, its just cos, they are lucky.(and not me!).

The thing is that, I can strike up very open and close conversions(at least from my side) with strangers during my long journeys. Let it be in bus or train or airplane. I get close with my fellow traveller, very fast. Nothing matters to me. Their age, sex, nationality or even language. Only once it had landed me in trouble, and that was in my own place, kerala, and with a woman. (it turned ugly, cos that woman turned out to be a prostitute and she forced me to travel with her, when other travellers interfered and helped me out!!! It was a really terrifying experience!!!)

 

When I first started travelling alone by plane,  with transit flights thru more than 3 difft countries, my mom told me only one thing and that to keep my mouth shut with strange co-traveller. I could do it only once. Transit flights made me wait in airports anywhere from 1 hour to 12 hours, and for me to keep my mouth shut for such a looooong time was impossible. If I couldn't get any one, I would go and chat with the duty-free shopkeepers!!!!

 

Once, on one such 3 hr wait, in Qatar, I had dinner with an Italian lady. The funny part was , she didn't speak English and I didn't speak Italian. But for whole 3 hrs we "chatted"...LOL....And that too non-stop. Then I knew the universal language by which animals speak(and we too..). We used actions (even during our dinner, using our hands) and was perfectly happy with the results. She was going to Nepal, to see her daughter and she told me that she travels very frequently to Asian countries and was very much interested in Buddhism. (at least that's what I understood from her sign language). I told her about our Sonia Gandhi (the only Italian whom I knew...LOL!).

 

This time, I had 12 hrs transit delay in Abu Dhabi, and was put in Airport Hotel, by Gulf Air. I walked thru the whole hotel lobby to find my "chat-prey"(poor me!). I found 2 ...both were Indians,(but US citizens) waiting for US transit flight. One was a young guy (could have chosen him!! Sigh!!). But I chose the other uncle, who had a 24 yr old daughter and 22 yr old son, back in Florida (may be, I felt more secure with him). Again, I had lunch and dinner with him and we chatted for 4-5 hrs. Finally he gave me his number and address in US and in India when I checked out.

 

When I came back to India , during my first flight to Bahrain, there was this Arab man near me (I don't know his nationality, cos he refused to talk to me!!). First he refused to sit near me, till the cabin crew coaxed him. I tried my best, to chat up with him,. But he just leaned away from me and began writing some thing in Arabic in tissue paper. I have a very strong feeling that it may be curses for me in Arabic. He spoke good English with stewardess, so I am sure, that he certainly wanted to avoid me....

 

In the next transit flight. After 3 hrs wait in Bahrain, I was determined to chat with my fellow passenger, whoever he/she was (if he was NOT insanely drunk!!). Fortunately, he was a friendly keralite (again my dad's age!). I chatted non stop with him ,even mentioning about the Arabic man who refused to talk with me. He told me, that he hasn't seen any girl like me, who chatted like this so open and w/o any fear for strangers...somewhere deep inside me, a voice told me that this behavior of mine is not a very good one. But fortunately, he was a nice man, had a daughter who was 17 yrs of age. And when I landed in kerala, he also told me that he had a very non-boring journey with me...gave his address too...

 

NOTE: I havent given my address or phone number to any of my fellow passengers. Nobody asked too. But they all gave me theirs... May be, by sheer luck, they were all good people. But I know I am at risk, with this behavior of mine. Especially, when travelling long distance and have 2-3 transit flights in b/w. And my mom and hubby is completely unaware of these strange and would-have-been-not-so-good encounters of mine! May be God is with me...