As we get closer to the end, folks are being dropped off so I’m paying attention but not too pressed because I think the final stop is at the beginning point which was the tourism office. After the drama of the morning when my cabbie didn’t know the directions from my apartment to the meeting point, it was decided by The Office that Sagar would pick me up so there would be no more mishaps in the same day. Well. As I said, I was paying attention when folks were being let off but became totally alarmed when the tour guide abruptly jumps up saying ‘everybody get off’ then splits. I am so thrown because some folks stay on & I am totally in the ‘I don’t know where I am state’ of existence. It’s close to pitch black, the night urchins are swirling around & I’m like ‘ok, now what?’ Once the bus starts up, I realize ‘oops, this ain’t right’ & I leap up to get off but I don’t quite see the Tourism Office.
Now, I’d only been hearing for weeks from the Indians how unsafe it is for a woman alone at night & here I am, a woman alone, a FOREIGN woman alone with a soon to be very dead cell phone battery!! Since I hadn’t spoken to Sagar directly, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was to meet him. & walking toward the dead black tourism office with the scene between it & me looking more like Thriller as the street dwellers & packs of dogs emerge & all the blinking eyes become fixed on the one thing out of place—ME.
But what was deeper than deep, when I was crossing the street from the bus, I see one of my fellow tourists meeting her ride. Momentarily relieved I approach, letting her know my ride isn’t in sight. Now, if I had a ride & saw someone I had spent a day with alone in the dark with a bunch of street folks around & no one to pick her up IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, I certainly would’ve stopped to see if she was ok & probably would have waited until she was picked up. I definitely would’ve made sure she could make a call if she needed to. What happened? Miss Thing said ‘oh that’s too bad,’ got into the car with her friends & left my alone scared butt in the street with the street urchins & skanky dogs in front of the pitch black empty tourism office in a foreign country with a near dead cell phone.
& those blinking eyes are multiplying.
Scared, & I mean SCARED, I call Anil, just wanting a life line, knowing he couldn’t really help because Sagar’s cell phone was out of money & non-working for some time. Ooh & to make this drama complete, the bus arrived 20 minutes earlier than the appointment time so I was in for a very, very squeamish wait. Deciding to remain in front of the darkened office instead of wandering the parking lot, I strain in looking for that familiar white car with the black advertisement THE DANCEWORX, but that’s a sizeable parking lot when you don’t know where to look so, oh WAIT! is that him backing into the space on the end that’s faraway yet closest to me? HOLY COW IN INDIA, as I creep closer THAT IS HIM!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! Infinity.
Sigh of relieve & jubilation. I’d never been so happy to see someone in my life.
…& just when I think I can really relax until the next day’s drama, I am informed when I’m about to get out of the car that The Office has decided to give me another ‘stove.’ They wanna do what?! Give me a new stove?! What about the internet?!! I’ve been dying without the INTERNET, I HAVE BEEN ASKING ABOUT THE INTERNET, I HAVE BEEN BEGGING FOR AN INTERNET CONNECTION, I HAVE BEEN PROMISED I’D HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION…but you wanna give me a ‘stove.’ Right now at 11:00 at night. Weee! I’m gonna move up from a gas/propane burner to a gas burner hooked up to a separate extension but I have to turn the knob on the gas, turn another knob on the burner, then flick one of those things to make the fire go POOF! Holy Crap.
They have no idea how dangerous or how scared of those things I am.
Sigh.
