Men here really don’t appreciate being lectured or told what to do by women. My rickshaw driver is the perfect example of this. Last week, my Dr. Savita discussed with him the need for him to be on time when picking me up to come to and from school. I know he was going to have a problem with being scolded by a woman because immediately during their talk he started to get loud to the point where he was almost yelling. Dr. Savita being the amazingly strong woman she is, shot him down quickly and made her point clear that he needed to be a more responsible driver. Well, during that ride post conversation, he drove like a crazy man! As if the roads here weren’t bad enough, he took turns and speed bumps like they didn’t exist. It was so terrible that during one of the bumps, the back of the auto went up so badly it made my head hit the roof of the auto. I wish this was the worst of it, but my head came down to meet my laptop sitting upright in my lap, resulting in me biting my lip very severely. I was bleeding for about 5 minutes and spitting out blood for the rest of the ride home. When the other volunteers asked him to be more careful, he just shrugged and kept going. It was really painful and made me so frustrated. When we finally got home, all I wanted to do was get out of the auto and get water for my mouth, but of course this man insisted on me getting water for him from the house. This is typical for drivers to ask for water, but I was already too angry at the whole situation I did not want to be serving this guy water. While I wanted to just walk away, I took a deep breath, grabbed him water and finally walked away. My tongue was swollen and made it impossible for me to eat anything. I also sounded like a person who had just eaten something they were allergic too (i.e. Will Smith in the Movie Hitch).
I hoped the next week would be better. Of course, not to my surprise he again was a reckless, inconsiderate driver who made me feel really uncomfortable. Monday after class was the final straw for this guy as my driver, when he refused to pick up the little sister to one of the girls in the auto with me that I offered to catch a ride with me since we were all going to the same sector, I just had it. He had no reason to say no since the sister was already in the auto going to the same location as the younger one would have been as well as there was enough space in the auto for one more, tiny girl. I tried explaining to him that it made no sense for him not to stop, but he kept waving his hand in my face and blowing me off. On top of that, he doesn’t speak English very well, if at all really, and so we’re just arguing in different languages at the end of the day. Of course I call Dr. B requesting a new driver and what does he say? He says, “ Tell me what the issues are so we can sort it out. It’s too much work for me to find another driver”. HELLO, IT’S YOUR JOB! “too much work”?! You have got to be kidding me. After I explained everything that had happened, he still insisted I use the same driver and that I wasn’t going to get a driver who could speak English because it’s India- “nobody speaks English”. Yeah, this guy is almost as bad as the driver. Finally after staying firm in requesting a new driver, he agreed to find me another. We’ll see tomorrow at 9 a.m. if this driver shows up. (oh and just another note, the bad driver lied to Dr. B and said he picked me up today after school. I had to find another way back to the hostel)
Maybe all these events get to me even more because I haven’t been sleeping much here. It’s way too hot and I’m constantly uncomfortable to the point where I lay in bed trying to sleep for a solid 2 hrs before I actually fall asleep and wake up earlier than needed because it’s too difficult to stay asleep. Last night I think was the worst of all though. The electricity in the entire sector was off. Usually there are generators that keep a select few lights/fans on, but last night those were out as well. So, it was almost 100 degrees at midnight, I couldn’t sleep and there was the most annoying dog outside barking. I wanted to go out there and shut the thing up, but we all know I don’t have that in me AND Devender had just given me wrist thread earlier in the day that is suppose to keep me on the right track. That dog got lucky, in my opinion ;D I think all the students had a rough night because of the heat. I could see today in class they all moved a little slower and were a bit more calm than usual. The heat has been absolutely crushing. I’m trying my best to stay hydrated and in good spirits. I know how easily it can be to become frustrated and unenthusiastic about daily routines. Despite the heat, the students had a great time making the letters of the alphabet out of their bodies! (Special thanks to Janice for the idea) They were super creative and got through the alphabet with no problems. They took a lot of photos, so I’m just going to post my favorite interpretation of the letter ‘D’. These kids never cease to amaze!
thread that keeps me on the right path :D
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