hejira

I took an overnight train from Bercy station in Paris through Switzerland to Venezia. I shared my cabin with Jamal, a travel agent from Algeria, with whom I conversed in a kind of volgare that mixed French and Italian. Jamal was bespectacled and soft-spoken- I was comfortable being with him because he seemed to understand what I tried to say, we discovered a common language.

Most Algerians living in North Africa are Muslim and, for more than a century, have been migrating to France such that there are now around 2 million French-Algerians. Together with other Muslim ethnic groups, such as those from Morocco and Tunisia, they comprise between 3-10% of France's population. In confronto, Filipino Muslims make up around 5% of our population; according to Tatay's history, Agos ng Dugong Kayumanggi, Islam has been in our archipelago as far back as 1280 A.D.

In the Spanish towns I visited, scholars now recognize the contributions of Islam to local cultures: the keyhole-shaped doorway of a church in Toledo, the sound of running water in the gardens of Cordoba, the divine cuisine of Tres Culturas in Sevilla. I would discover that in the Palazzo Ducale in Venezia, a city-state that became prosperous because of trade with Muslim dynasties, there is an exhibit on "the play of mirrors" between Venice and Islam, as seen in painting, glassware, and other spheres of artistic production. While all Filipinos observe Eid ul-Fitr as a national holiday, Christians and Muslims in the Philippines still have much to learn about each other's role in the development of a national culture.

One of my most vivid memories of Europe is that of Jamal standing in the side aisle of the train by himself, looking out the window, his thoughtful face bathed in the lemon light of a new morning.

I wanted to ask, What do you see Jamal?

I couldn't break the silence.

We stood beside each other for a long time, each of us enveloped in our own solitude.

Thanks to Robert Eldridge for the video that was inspired by Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso; the music is by Ennio and Andrea Morricone.