Eavesdropping

Eavesdropping may be rude but it always happens to me "by accident". I just happen to be there, at the time, and I catch a conversation that is either meant to be occult by way of language or because people think I am completely unrelated to the subject.

Just last night, two Iranian ladies tried to swap my dinner seat for one of theirs in the same way they do at weddings, or on airplanes. They murmured under their breath in Farsi that I had caught them red handed and I retorted in their idiom that I was enchanted to understand Farsi!

In the locker rooms, after a strenuous workout in a hot room, ladies convene, to shower and change and recover. Frequently, especially the first timers,  choose this moment and place to vent their thoughts and release the remains of stress that the yoga itself didn't extract: "what was the instructor about?" is the most frequent question I overhear. "Why is he so severe? Why didn't he let us leave the room?" They don't know that I only attend classes with this given instructor and that I giggle at their first impressions. I then interject: "isn't he great? You must not give up. Come again!"

An  eavesdropping incident occurred at AbuDhabi Art fair this november. I happened to sit down in a gallery to take in the art, when I noticed a man talking to another: "did you see my picture in Canvas Daily?" I smiled at the idea that some still relished the simple narcissism moment of fame: a photograph in a publication! (In this case Canvas is a publication close to the heart). I therefore took a good look at the medium hight, blond man, with a certain Tommy Hilfiger look to him. When I was back home, settled with the aforementioned copy of Canvas Daily, I remembered to look for the man who boasted about his photo.

To my surprise, it was no other than Jeff Koons!