Shoes from above

This is one of the most unexpected things I've seen: shoes falling from the ceiling.

In the crowded "shoe mall", the woman shopper tells the shoe attendant guy what size she wants in what shoe.
That man tosses the shoe to the the guy with the earpiece.
Earpiece guy speaks some description and the size to a mysterious being in the ceiling and a shoebox falls into his hands.
Whoa.
Then he tosses the box to the shoe attendant who asked for it.

All the tossing back and forth.
All the calling out of shoe sizes and descriptions.
All the women demanding another size, another pair.

It all comes together in one of the most organized of chaotic messes.

Purple hand towel

An awesome thing happened this morning.
Last Saturday I went shopping for some new towels for the guestroom. I wanted a full set of purple towels--bath towel, hand towel and wash clothe. But the hand towel wasn't available in that color.
I asked if they would have more in stock at a later time.
I was told no.
I asked if they would be ordering any more purple colored hand towels (never accept the first 'no').
Why yes, they would. And if I gave my address, it would be couriered to my house on Tuesday.
Really? Awesome.
And yes! My purple hand towel showed up this morning! What great service!

Unexpected wheels

My friend and I were walking along the beach and I wondered aloud how close the boat coming our way would be able to get to the shore before the people getting out would have to get wet.

"Oh, it's expected to get wet in a boat that small size," replied my friend.
As the boat came closer, it didn't slow down and I began to wonder aloud how it planned to unbeach itself after landing at that speed, but what came out was: "How will they--it has wheels!"
The boat didn't slow down at all--or ever intend to land. It transformed before us into a strange looking truck which drove right up onto the beach.
There were men waiting for it who unloaded the cargo from the boat truck and filled it again with new cargo.
Then the truck drove into the sea and floated away again.
Very unexpected.

Almost on fire

I went with some friends to a recently opened restaurant. We were enjoying the ambiance, good company and classy black silverware when our food arrived. I had taken about two bites of my penne pomodoro and my friend pointed to the window where smoke was billowing into the restaurant.
Several waiters and such rushed over to the window, but it was too late to stop the acrid smoke from filling the room and making the air imbreathable.

We sat at the table, eyes closed and napkins over our faces. Do we evacuate? It doesn't seem to be a fire. Our food just got here--and it's good food.
The other patrons seemed to be leaving.

The waiters came to our table and asked us to please move to another table. They had opened a window on the opposite side of the building and there was a table just beside it for us. They moved all our plates over and we continued eating.
Nothing was really on fire, it seemed, just some short circuit in the signboard outside the window.

One thing that didn't get moved to the new table was my friend's mocha smoothie. She was sad about this. And she asked the waiter about it. They thought it was gone and had removed it, but when she was sad, they brought her a new full one. Very nice.

We were now the only people left in the restaurant (After the man who threw a tantrum over his "long awaited" coffee left--I mean, really, didn't he notice the smoke emergency? Can't he practice a little patience?) and one of the waitresses came over to chat. She wanted to know our names and how our food was and after that she brought another friend over to meet us.

Then we sat there for awhile waiting until finally I asked for the bill, and we were told, there is no bill. Complimentary because of the minor disaster and inconvenience. Even that extra mocha smoothie. Wow.
And then they gave us each a 15% off discount coupon for our next visit. Wow. It wasn't even that much smoke, really.

We left a nice tip.

Autos are hard work

The zipper on one of my suitcases broke off while traveling recently. The suitcase is a fairly new one, so I wanted to take it to the store where I bought it and have it fixed.
I called them first, knowing that if I went all the way out to the store and they didn't have what was needed for the repair that I would not be happy. They told me they had a store much closer to my location and I should go there instead.
Good idea.
That's where I headed this afternoon (first auto). The shop was supposed to be at a newly constructed mall. I walked to its location, didn't find it, and then I asked the lady at the information counter about it. "Oh," she said, "That shop is closed while they have a meeting."
"When will it be open again?"
"Two or three days."
"Days?"
"Yes, ma'am. Sorry for inconvenience. You look tired."
Of course I was tired. I had been carrying around a suitcase for half an hour.
So I headed out to another store in another market (second auto).
When I brought the suitcase in and showed it to the store manager, he was very happy to fix it and told me it would take two days.
"For a zipper?" I asked, hopeful that I could have it back within the hour.
"Actually, ma'am, our repair man is due to come in today for some other work. So perhaps it will get done today and you can pick it up tomorrow."
Well, if I must come all the way again tomorrow...
I got something to eat and headed back to where I'm staying (auto three). About half way there, the driver suddenly pulled up next to another auto and said to the driver: "Will you take this passenger to the PVR for 50 rupees?"
"Of course," he waggled his head.
What? My driver was kicking me out?
Apparently, he had bought his lunch just before he picked me up and was now too hungry to drive any further without eating it. He and the other driver made a deal and my price was the same, so I climbed into auto four.
Just as I entered the neighborhood where I'm staying, my phone began to ring. "Hello, ma'am? This is Mohit from the luggage shop. We have your luggage fixed. Are you still in the market?"
"No, I am not there anymore. I will come for it tomorrow." Bummer. Shoulda been more patient.
"Very good, ma'am."
I went into the house and started to wash all the dust off me from being out in the traffic so long and my phone rang again. "Hello, ma'am? This is Mohit from the luggage shop. We have fixed your luggage today."
"Yes." This sounded very familiar. Had he forgotten that he'd just called me?
"Inside your suitcase you have left some money. So it is best if you come to pick it up today."
OH! The suitcase has so many pockets and I thought I'd checked them all, but I'd missed a very important envelope with a significant amount of money in it. "Yes. You're right. I will come now."
I walked back out to the road and negotiated with a driver to take me to the market and back again, and off we went (auto five).
I got my suitcase from the shop and thanked the manager several times, telling him he had done a very good and honest thing.
Then I found my driver and set off again. It took us an hour and a half both ways.
Riding in an auto is hard work. All the bumps and jolts. The shaking and vibrating. The exhaust and heat. All together I spent over three hours riding around in them today. I feel tired and covered in dust.
I hope I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow.

IhateitIloveit

I went out shopping today and I experienced some contradictory emotions.
There were moments of "Oh, I hate this",
like when the guy behind me in line at the ATM told me to move forward and close in the four inch gap between me and the man in front of me. No thank you, I like my personal space, small as it is.
Or when there was one check out line at the grocery store that took at least half an hour to get through.
Or when the rickshaw-driver-with-a-death-wish nearly drove us off the road where it drops eight feet and later did not notice the car backing out in front of him.
Or the beggar woman who called me a "maharaja daughter" and told me to give her food before cursing me.
Or that buying groceries and eating out for lunch took four and a half hours.

And then there were moments of "Wah, is there anywhere in the world like this place?"
Like when the check out attendant told one of his minions to bring me a free carton of guava juice.
Or the other clerk who gave me a two-for-one deal on matches.
The smell of freshly cooked rice and the fall which can't be matched.
Or a walk on the bund over the newly fallen chinar leaves.
There was the ancient man in an even more ancient photo shop who ambled over the creaking floor to tell us he didn't have any camera batteries.
And the other old man in a camera shop who did his best to produce the battery we needed, even sending his assistant several blocks away to look while he gave a us a newspaper to read.
Or the relief of finally being back home where everything is quiet.

An ambulance ride

I got to ride in an ambulance today. I was sitting by the chemist counter, waiting for them to finally open at 11am. But the guy behind the counter really didn't want to put his "open for business" sign on the counter. Why? Because he knew he didn't have what I wanted. The day before when he didn't have the eye drops I needed, he'd assured me he would by this morning when I came back. He looked busy elsewhere as long as he could, but finally he put the sign out and I approached the counter.
Very sheepishly he told me they still didn't have new stock, but it would arrive in an hour. An hour? I'd already been sitting there thirty minutes. He told me I could go to the chemist counter at the hospital down the street and get what I needed.
I looked out the window and sighed. It was raining, and I'd have to walk.
"You have a vehicle, ma'am?"
"No."
"You will get there how?"
"Walking."
"Walking." It was at that moment he realized that, though he couldn't keep his word and provide the eye drops I needed, he could do something. He ordered the ambulance from the hospital to come and pick me up.
The ambulance came, and I rode the short distance to the hospital (we didn't use the sirens) to get some eye drops.