OUTLOOK — By Nizar Al Musalmy — On Monday, as I pondered on this week’s article, I realised how different people take the world through different senses — hearing, seeing or feeling. The day earlier (Sunday), I came across a person who thinks that it counts to be related to someone who is rich or who is in some big position. He looks at some of the rich and the famous and quickly claims that they are his relatives. When I asked him to prove the genealogy his explanation came in this form: “You see my grandmother’s neighbour had a brother who was a maternal uncle to my aunt. That aunt of mine is a sister-in-law to that famous person” and that qualifies him to be his relative. On Saturday I met one grandson of my mother’s uncle after a very long time. He told me of a story of how he had to wait for quite a while before his salary is deposited in his bank account. He has bills to pay for yet his employers can still find excuses of all types when it comes to paying salaries.
On Friday, there was this chap who caused his wife untold agony because of his fondness for the contents of the bottle. He got back home late, spent quite some time outside the door fumbling with keys, shouting louder with each failed attempt to get the right key into the right hole. When he finally made it into the house, he made a decision based on what he thought was proper, like leaving the lights off and trying to find his way around the house in the dark. Being blind and drunk, he made a lot more noise than he would have if he had just flicked the switch on. Then the bottle’s contents started to really work on him. He started abusing and cursing his wife claiming that every slight sound she made sounded like thunder in his head.
On Saturday, I was in a queue and one person didn’t feel comfortable until he got closer to me. Please understand that some people need some space so that they can inhale, exhale and relax. That thing called personal space is important to others and to some it is larger than it is with others. On Thursday, one of the neighbours decide to have a grand time playing some loud music, even though he did not understand what is being sung, he still found the guts to turn the stereo on loud until the small hours of the morning. That night’s tranquillity was really disturbed.
On Wednesday, the personal assistant to our director was complaining to me about the rules governing employment of housemaids. “They have taken all steps to protect the housemaid’s rights and some have even gone to the extent of imposing the unthinkable. This is done without considering the sponsors of the maids”. The rules being created by embassies does not take the sponsor into consideration and in the end he suffers a lot. This fine lady is challenging the authorities to take up this idea of forming a doctrine to protect sponsors of housemaids against cruelty. She argues that if one can allow one party to be protected and does not stand by the other party then what sort of governance would that be.
On Tuesday last week, I saw a man who is very well-known in our village as one who cannot keep his promise. He cannot live up to the things he says about himself. He came home with his friend and this friend of his, for some reason, could not keep his hands to himself. He is the kind of person who thinks that his hands must always be handling something. He touched and moved almost everything in our sitting room. By the time they left, everything had been moved to a new place and the mother of junior was not amused. She had to organise them afresh. You don't have to be a famous person just to make your mark.
