It never ceases to amaze me how the human brain can adapt to change. I often sit back as an observer on my day to day experiences and wonder that I am no longer surprised or shocked by the things I see going on around me. This week was no different and I feel the need to share just a few of the unique experiences of my week.
The first was not so much an experience as a recognition of what has now become routine in my life. I regularly drive my children to school which is approximately 13 km away so it takes about 25 minutes without traffic and an hour with. In an effort to avoid said traffic, Javed, my driver, takes a few back roads and alley ways. Now for those who have never been to India, many of the streets have shanty’s haphazardly constructed along either side and will often include animals like cows and goats who lie lazily on the road in front. This is normal and expected and truly amazing how that becomes ‘same old, same old’. Now on this particular stretch of road that we drive through, there is a family of pigs. Pigs are not a regular site in Mumbai because the large muslim population of Mumbai do not eat pork. So as you can imagine, when I first went by these pigs on this street, I noticed and remembered them. Now these are more or less free range pigs who graze all day long on the piles of garbage on either side of the road and are not cute and pink but big, black and dirty. Quite a site really. Now on Monday of this week, I was driving by the pig family and turned to my husband and said ‘Look the pigs have had babies.’ My husband looked at me like I was crazy but I felt this little twinge of maternal instinct as I realized that these pigs have become a part of my daily fabric.
On another day, not far from my pig family I saw a second strange sight and I actually don’t know what it was but it was definitely a new experience. At the side of a bridge which we drive across daily, I saw 4 men carrying a huge wooden pole horizontally. On this pole was hanging a large cow upsidedown with all four of its hooves tied around the pole with twine. The cow’s head was hanging over the side of the bridge wall and the men were jiggling the pole up and down. Now to be fair I did not actually see the head and so my best guess was that they were draining the blood from it’s body but who knows. It could have just as easily been a religious hindu ritual. Again even though I hadn’t seen that before I certainly wasn’t surprised by it.
And then yesterday, I saw the strangest sight of all. My driver was driving me to school when his phone rang and he began speaking in Hindi. Now normally this is not a big deal but I could tell because he was interspersing his Hindi with English, that he was telling someone exactly where he was on the road and that he was taking madam to school. Strange but ok. Then he slows down by the side of the road and stops beside an old man, barefoot and in white robes, and opens the passenger side window. The stranger leans over and hands my driver a small plastic bag with brown powder inside. As you can imagine, based on my western upbringing, I’m thinking this is some sort of drug exchange. Javed says a few words, closes the window and drives away. So I immediately ask him who that man was and what was in the bag. He tells me that it was medicine for his mother. So still a little skeptical, I ask what is wrong with her and from what I gather she has some type of arthritis which acts up in the rainy season. I ask to see the powder and open the bag to smell it. It’s strong and spicy smelling and Javed tells me its Ayurvedic and he gets it for his mother every year. Yes, this in itself is strange but not as strange as what he said next. He proceeded to tell me that this old man in the white robes and barefeet is very poor and sleeps on the streets but refuses to take any money for his medicine. He says God has given him the gift to heal people and that he must not take any money for this. In a country emerging as a global economic leader and with a caste system based on those who have more money than they know what to do with and who rarely share their wealth with those in need, here is a poor individual who chooses to help others in pain instead of help himself. From all of the strange things I have seen including elephants beside my car to upside down cows, this by far, is the most memorable thing I have witnessed and would love to say that this selflessness becomes a part of the daily fabric of my life.
