Unlikely Observations

ambulance, originally uploaded by chantelle.

Interesting day. Went to play basketball but ended up playing cricket. Unfortunately five minutes into my first batting attempts two young boys, running to catch my ball, collided. It was not a nice noise. The result - 1. big coconut, bleeding nose, suspected concusion. 2. Looked alright initially but concussion and potential whiplash. And an ambulance. Not saying I'm cursed or anything but It wasn't that long ago that I rescued a kid who'd been left on a bus. What was interesting was their mother and what I'll describe simply as some cultural observations (whether it's cultural or not can also be argued).

When she arrived on the scene with her daughter she didn't address her sons. Nor did their sister. Given she only spoke Bengali the kids friends translated events, still nothing. By this point 2. had stopped responding to questions, had the shakes and was scaring us somewhat so we called an ambulance. We'd already wrapped him in jumpers but needed to keep a blanket. I asked the sister if we could use her shawl and it took a lot of persuading to get if off her (to the point I was about to lose it, perhaps I was hasty, I know not if that piece of attire had deeper meaning). Then the mother asked that I go in the ambulance with the boys. I totally wouldn't have minded going but I didn't know her sons and thought it slightly inappropriate. End result was that the sister went and we departed ways.

Firstly I couldn't believe my choice to partake in cricket had ultimately ended up in two very sweet boys been carted off. Secondly the way the family reacted. Initially I thought it was just offkey but I was probably being harsh. I've had few encounters with the elder Bengali's. The mother was no doubt terrified and had little idea of what was going on. Maybe she was wondering what the heck her thirteen and eight year old son were doing sitting in the backroom of a cafe with three scantily clad white women. I'm showing my ignorance completely but the relationship between the women and the boys, the lack of affection and communication, is it a cultural/religous reasoning?

You are what you know and we tend to think what we know is superior to that of the 'others'. I don't have answers from today, nor am I suggesting supperiority, just observations, I just know if that my head had got hit that hard there's nothing I'd want more than my mother.