13 hours ago
The Pleasure of their Company
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Humanity. I just don’t understand what it is with humanity. So here I was just about to call humanity an idea, but nothing that’s truly ever there… And then I met my taxi driver.
Like I said in my last blog, I was in Tumkur because of an exam… Well, the truth is, I flunked it on the first attempt, and the second time, I wasn’t allowed into the examination centre (long story) because I was late because I forgot my admission ticket at home. So right now, nobody really trusts me… Really not fair since it’s only happened once… but there it is… I’ve gotten used to it now… So that brings me to tuition for my examination and how I MUST have a taxi to get there and back because otherwise I’ll just fall into a gutter or something…
But I’m not complaining… The driver was a really nice person, and we talked about everything from the mileage that he get from his bike to how people who don’t know how to drive should just stay the hell off the road. What really surprised me that he invited me to his house, when I’d known him for just about five days or so and we couldn’t really talk about everything under the sun considering the fact that I couldn’t really speak his native language, and he couldn’t speak mine… I surprise you don’t I?
So I accepted his invitation, and I told him we’d go after tuitions one day, and I did… I met his family, and they turned out to be just marvellous. There’s this feeling that you get when you are actually welcome in somebody’s company, and then there’s this feeling of… closed doors. Their doors were wide open for someone they barely knew, and they were speaking to me as though I was a long lost friend of theirs. I’ll admit I was slightly taken back at this because, well, because how many times in a year does something like this happen to you eh? Well, basically I had an amazing time.
Why though? This has happened to me before as well (some of you might remember). Here I was walking along the road, going home from tuition, and this completely random dude on a moped stops, tells me to “Get on, I’ll drop you!” and off we went, weaving through streets that would’ve taken me another half an hour to walk. He dropped me off safe and sound close to home, and accelerated away before I could finish thanking him profusely. And to date I don’t know his name, although I will never forget his face. The thing is, he was riding a moped, and people who ride mopeds in India aren’t usually anywhere near the upper or upper middle class. They are usually people with not a lot of money. He didn’t need to pick me up, yet he did. Why? Why is it that every time the people who have the time to help never do, and the people who are hard pressed for anything in life are the ones who are always willing to go that extra mile, completely out of their way, just to be humane.
And the funny thing about both these incidents is that both of them have happened when I was feeling really down in the dumps about stuff. Humanity… I really wish I got it…
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People, and thus humanity, always have a way of surprising you. You are just experiencing the humor of the universe. Nice post :)
Yes, It is just amazing when people do things like this for you.
I once met an old lady who shared her umbrella with me while I was crossing the road on a rainy day.. and I can never forget the gesture.
Keep on keeping on my man, hang in there and remember it is not as important what others think of you, it's about what you know about yourself.
Brat if you were ever in edmonton you could come over to my house and meet my family get a ride in my taxi, I couldn't pick you up from the international airport we have rules you know but I am allowed to drop you off, your in India or you were, Global Citizenship sure is treating you nice, math is like a documentation of an exact change, I suck at it