upbeat
I realize that many of my more recent posts have been or could be taken to be negative which might give you the wrong, or at least a very one-sided view of my experience in India. Of course we've had our ups and downs along the way, but it's time to tell you about more of the ups. Here's one of my favourite stories:
It dates back to the first 10 or so days in India. We were in Goa with Anil's uncle (aka "Baba") and well, let's just say that after a few days our patience was wearing thin. It must have been our fourth day there and we were planning on leaving in one or two more days so we needed to use the internet plan the next leg of our trip and book train tickets, etc. So, we're in Panjim (capital of Goa) one day and Anil and I have studied the map of the city in our Lonely Planet which indicated where all the internet cafes in the city were so that we could take the lead instead of being lead around like sheep. We had our eyes peeled for street names, but of course there weren't any so we wound up wandering a bit looking for landmarks. Finally we see a sign for an internet cafe and we head towards it. We tell Baba that we could be there a while so he makes himself comfortable on a chair near the entrance while Anil and I head to the back to where the computers are. Anil and I are sitting back to back in this tiny and hot internet cafe, but we were so eager to be online -- connected once again! We're busy doing research into the next part of our trip and two guys dressed in plain clothes walk into the shop with extension cords and a few tools in their hands. One of them climbs up onto a chair and starts tinkering around in the electrical box at the front where Baba is sitting, asleep. All of a sudden the power on the side of the shop that my computer is on goes out. I look up from the screen to see what's going on, but none of the staff are even acknowledging the power outage. I turn around and see that Anil's computer is still on. Then the power is restored and my computer comes back on and thankfully the email I was writing appears as it was before the power went out. I continue typing. The power goes out again. Still no acknowledgement or explanation about what is happening with the power. The two "electricians" are busy with their heads in the electrical box and the lady running the shop is playing solitaire at the front desk. I look around expecting someone to appologize or at least explain, but nothing. Baba, now awake, catches me looking around and makes some hand gesture signaling his irritation. The power comes back on and then goes off again. And then comes on again. I continue writing my email. It goes off. I turn to Anil to tell him I think it's a lost cause and then that's when his uncle looses it. He's out of his chair at the front desk waving his hands in the air yelling in Hindi at the lady in charge. The woman gets up from her chair too and starts talking back to Baba. Anil and I are sitting with our heads down praying that this is not happening. That's when we hear it... the only part of the "conversation" we understand because it's in English:
Lady: "Please sir, lower your voice. This is a place of business."
Baba: "How can you call this a business when the power keeps going off and your customers can't get their work done? You call this a business?!"
Lady: "I don't call it a business... I call it an inernet cafe!"
Afterwards, we said to Baba that he must have been really mad to loose it that bad on her. He said that he was just giving her a hard time... just for jokes.
