The disciples and the last supper

It was a long 8 hours at the airport. I wrote and posted the previous blog entry and I read and watched the world go by, but I was weary from the travelling and the packed aircraft from Rome. The workforce in Dubai is predominantly expatriate and drawn from around the world. The girl in Starbucks was from Nakuru in Kenya, the barrista in Costa was Somali and the airline staff are totally cosmopolitan. However, the largest source of labour in Dubai – and throughout the Gulf for that matter – is the Indian sub-continent, and south India in particular. The flights from Dubai to Kerala are often taking Indian expatriate workers back to visit their families, laden with the electronic goods that fill the shelves of the airport’s duty-free emporia. They are the disciples for the era of consumerism, taking the Good News back to the unenlightened ones.

Disciples waiting to spread the good news

The population of my airport departure lounge was almost entirely male, each man dressed to impress his parents, in-laws and wife, and each with the world-weary look of a man who lives and works away from his home, his family and his roots. I found myself absorbed in philosophical reflection, thinking about the Englishmen a few generations back who lived this same process in reverse. When I watched the Africans with their perfect English and skilful management of the latest retail technology I thought back to when I was in Kenya and all the expatriates I knew there who were each in their own field endeavouring to raise the abilities, ambitions and aspirations of local people. Then I ordered another espresso and I smiled as I realised that colonial education had done a pretty good job.
I chatted to the Emirates Airline girl in the departure lounge and managed to get the emergency exit sea so I could stretch out. I unwound with a spicy Bloody Mary, savoured my personal last supper before my month in the wilderness then dozed into oblivion

Chicken Biriani with raita, baked spiced custard, mango juice

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