Don't Leave Home Without It & Driving Miss Connie

Last Sunday I took my camera out of my purse before we left home, as I was tired of the extra weight.  I couldn’t think of anything on our mundane list of errands that would offer a photo op. I was wrong.

First, at one mall I found a delicious mango juice at a coffee shop.   I was impressed enough with the taste to look at the label so I could remember it in future.  The name of the drink was WTF.  There in big letters on the side of the bottle:  WTF. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday you say?  Nope.  What’s The Fun was in the small print next to the large letters.  It would have been so much more fun to have posted a picture to share.

Second, a little later we were taking our lives in our hands by attempting to cross the street.  Forget about a pedestrian crosswalk, or any semblance of order, or even an opportunity to walk calmly.  Our strategy is to hold hands and coach each other through the gauntlet.  As we were making a run for it, I saw our end destination and warned S. to steer clear of the corner.  I spied an enormous swarm of bees, and as we were dashing across the street, we came close enough to hear “Honey, honey, honey.” And to see the dirty honeycomb in wrapped up in newspaper with a branch of the tree still attached.  Forget for a minute how unappealing it looked, who would be crazy enough to (1) get close enough to buy some and (2) carry off part of the large swarm’s handiwork with them still in it?   It was a sight worthy of a picture, trust me.  S and I watched an interesting Ted Talk this evening about Urban Bees. Check it out:  http://www.ted.com/talks/noah_wilson_rich_every_city_needs_healthy_honey_bees.html

I’ve spent several days trying to close the deal on someone to drive me around the city during the day.  I certainly wouldn’t drive in this chaos, even if I had a car, but I need to get around, and there isn’t any decent public transportation in this spread out city. It’s been the toughest challenge to date, I think.  It has involved begging people to try to think of someone who speaks fair English and has a car with a seat belt that hasn’t been cut out, and who is reliable.  Those 3 requirements narrowed the field considerably. One fellow claimed to know English, but answered the first 4 questions I asked him with what was clear was his only word of English, “Good”.  I guess it’s better than “Bad”, but it’s not sufficient to communicate with someone who is as exacting as I am. Next was a fellow who called after being 30 minutes late to say he’d be coming in 15, and then came in another hour.  He was disqualified before he got to the interview. Then there were negotiations over the salary with a chap who had a boss to please, and the talks fell through for reasons of greed.  Also, I’ve read White Tiger, and have a very vivid memory about how that story turned out, so I wanted someone driving me places who I didn’t think was going to off me at the end of my fellowship. That guy didn’t look too happy, and it worried me.

Today my prayers were answered when into my lap fell a 26-year-old young man who was polite, EARLY for our meeting, shy, agreed that laying on the horn every few seconds was irritating, spoke pretty decent English, and didn’t really enjoy the money negotiations.  After I spent some time in his new car (a Chevrolet Beat, which he says is famous in India!), and in his company, I was sold.  He carried my new printer up to my office, unwrapped it and set it up.  Then he offered that if I wanted any help in decorating the office (it’s pretty sad right now) he would be glad to be of service.  I was intrigued so I asked him what he had in mind.  He said something inspiring, with big words in bold, like HONESTY.  I just stared at him and said, “Yeah, that’s good.  Let’s go shopping together.”  Looks like I’ll be learning some things from him as well.

Oh, and he is highly educated. He has a degree in science and is driving a car for his livelihood.  I don’t know him well enough yet to ask him about his aspirations, but I’ll bet they don’t include driving an American around the city for a few months at her whims.  However, I will sleep much better tonight knowing that he will be here tomorrow morning to drive me to wherever it is I have to go.  I hope.  Another aspiring driver closed the deal then called the next morning to mumble something about not coming that morning….or ever!   It reminded us of one of our favorite New Yorker cartoons.  One man sitting at an office desk is making an appointment with someone on the phone and asks, “How about never?  Does never work for you? Never works for me.”