"The Mall" -- Matipa Mutoti

The mall – a place for shopping and activities. A place of excitement for a child getting a new pair of shoes and a dreaded place for a husband who has to hold his wife’s shopping bags.

I, however, see the mall as a cultural and social centre. A place specifically designed for us, as humans, to interact with each other and to see how diverse we are – yet similar in many ways. One would not notice this without an agenda at the mall but simply as a fly on the wall.

Entering the mall is entering a different world. The white, fluorescent lights attack my eyes causing brief blindness. Eventually, my eyes pick up the hints of yellow, brown, black, silver and the granite on the pillars. The cool air forms mountainous bumps on my once warm skin. I can smell the ammonia in the cleaning detergents used on the already clean tile floor as I stake out a place where I can become invisible. I find this place just in front of the Apple store.

I stand against pillar with my palms at my side. I move my fingers feeling each granite tile and groove where another tile begins or ends. My back begins to cool as the tiles absorb my heat – I become comfortable.

I look up to my left. I observe the sign of the iconic bitten apple illuminated by white, fluorescent lights looking even brighter against the black background easily grabbing shoppers’ attention. The clear, glass walls allow anyone outside the store to see those inside the all white store. I easily notice two people in the pool of white; a teenage girl wistfully looking at the latest MacBook Air as her mother looks at the iPhone 5C with the same expression on her face. I notice that even though I am not the same race or nationality as they are, I am still able to empathise with their desire.

Boom! The sound of metal dropping to the floor grabs my attention. My eyes follow the sound to the oak wood furnished Parrot’s Cafe to the left of the Apple Store. The waiter who dropped the tray looks relieved that there was nothing on the tray – or any customers around to see - and hurriedly walks away. The warm, brown furnishings give the cafe a relaxing, homely feeling in contrast to the mostly steel and aluminium Parrot’s Express Counter across.

The Express Counter serves a variety of food to cater for many nations and cultures. Beep, beep, beep. The microwave door of the Express Counter opens and seconds later, diffusion causes me smell a warm, blueberry muffin – my favourite. The smell hits the back of my throat giving me the illusion that I can taste the muffin.

“Dankie.” I hear an Afrikaans man that the cashier in his native tongue.

Closing my eyes, I become conscious of the different indigenous languages spoken in the multi-lingual South Africa. I can also hear a French family speaking their language with the same fluency I aspire to speak with one day. I smile to myself, feeling patriotic, as I hear a man speak Shona to the receiver of the conversation.

I open my eyes again and after my eyes adjust to the white light, I make out a glowing  globe moulded from several strips of metal going over, under and across each other a distance away from me but still captivating. The interior designers who put the metal artwork in that spot knew that the mall would be place where cultures meet and mix; from the emotion, food and language. Almost like an airport without the running around.

Matipa Mutoti