In this land of kindness…

June 6, 2010

It took a month for me to set up a bank account and yet one banker came to my house at 7 pm to get signatures, a second called to make sure I was being attended to and couriers came to my house to get signatures, pick up papers and deliver my account information.

A rickshaw driver stopped near me—as many often do—while it was raining and said he didn’t want money, but wanted me out of the rain.

Everyone calls me sir.

At shops the attendants come by with baskets to help you carry the merchandise you have picked out.

Attendants at some follow you about, ready to display any item you deem of interest

A pair of shop-owning brothers served my mother and me saffron tea, insisted on it, saying we should taste the most expensive of teas.

My partner organization’s family lives nearby and calls me whenever I don’t show up for lunch.  They want to make sure my mid-day meal is taken care of since…

My breakfast and dinner are provided by my landlady…no charge.  And in the evening, they wait at their house to eat until I show up.

My artist friend Velu, in Pondicherry, struggled for a seat on an A/C bus, a kind of tussle that look more like a mini-riot than anything else, to make sure I would have a comfortable ride back to Chennai.

The children who are so pleasant and anxious to talk, calling you uncle and auntie right away, all meant in respect.  I accidentally met my landlady’s son at a small function and, despite the fact that I had spoken maybe 10 words with him to that point, he was delighted to see ‘Uncle’ and came bounding over to me.

My friends and the people I visit who linger at lunch or dinner until you’ve finished, or the whole family who will see you to the door when you leave.  The absolute joy people get because you honored them by visiting their house.

Four different strangers on buses have made sure I knew the right bus stop and one went so far as to argue on my behalf with the bus driver.

And then there is my good buddy Gajen, who makes sure I have everything I need, am everywhere I need to be, will never give me directions instead accompany me to any place I need to find and has arranged for his own friends to help me out when he was traveling out of town.