It´s been 2 days and I´ve become a little lazy about writing. I needed to shake myself to write and that´s when I remembered something really unique about the Cubans. I´ve been taking it easy or relaxing like the Cubans. They wouldn´t fret at all about 2 days. What is 2 days in the whole scheme of things.

Why do I say that? When you see day to day life in Cuba, you notice that they love to queue up. Queue-ba. They have no worry about spending 2 hours outside an icecream parlour or 4 outside a bank. Don´t know whether it is the socialist feeling of everyone hanging out together waiting for the ice cream at Coppelia. Or, is it the perfect opportunity to make conversation with the neighborhood. Heard that it´s even a fad to stand in a queue outside sought after places. Either way, they are patient.

Forget big queues with others for company. People who are alone wait for hours. You see people patiently sitting around or waiting around in parks, in doorways, in rocking chairs. Maybe it is that feeling of watching the world go by and feel that you are in the same shoes, as you gently rock back and forth in the rocking chair.  Don´t really know. You see the Cubans and you feel a sense of calm.

They are epitome of patience. They wait as though nothing really matters. Coming from a city where people create round queues around entrance to the bus, all wanting to rush in at the same moment, impatient as hell, I couldn´t help but appreciate the patient and slow way in which things worked. Knowing me, I can probably appreciate this in a holiday and when it comes to real life, I´m a misnomer. My name Aparna means patience and Roy says that it is a reminder of what I don´t have.

Anyway, looking more at this Cuban snydrome, I found out the one thing that really describes it well. I read it in the book Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano, recommended by Ernesto, the Argentinian friend. The author who spent 8 years writing 3 volumes of a book said something very beautiful, ´I am not particularly interested in saving time: I prefer to enjoy it.´ And, the Cubans have mastered this better than anyone else.