The Wisdom of India: Delhi Day 28

Last week was not our best.

If this past month was a painstakingly built sea-line sandcastle, then last Wednesday was most definitely a big old shore-crashing wave.

Nevertheless, after a really lovely night with Chad, Doug, and Kate and caramel popcorn, french fries and cheeseburgers-- these guys really know how to make a girl feel at home-- I was fired up and ready to rebuild, shovel and sieve in hand.

Starting with a trip to the Embassy.

To be honest, I was quite excited, rising at 6 a.m., getting an early start in anticipation of some "unexpected" traffic (note that in Delhi you should always anticipate "expected" traffic), and feeling in an overall cheerful ready to take this week by the horns sort of mood. 

In honor of the occasion, we all donned our most patriotic attire. 

And after a quick one and a half hour drive, we arrived. 

I waited about forty-five minutes, was asked to hand over some documents, waited another half hour or so, and was called to the cashier to make a payment.

I hand over my credit card. 

Um, madam, I am very sorry to tell you that the credit card machine is broken today. 

Wait. Wha....???? 

Um, yes, you know we cannot process anything without payment, so you will have to come up with payment some other way. You should not worry, though, because if you walk out the door, and make a left, and then a right, and then five more lefts and rights, circle the roundabout, past the temple and the five spotted cows, then you will see a market. At the market, you will find an ATM. There you can get cash. 

Well yes, technically, if I had an ATM card-- and was crazy enough to take on pedestrian status in Delhi-- I could get cash. The problem being, I don't have an ATM card. (As for the crazy issue, it's still up for vote.)

Well madam, I am very sorry that we will not be able to help you today. 

It was a test. I could feel the Hindu gods looking down upon me. Arms crossed, eyebrows raised, lips turned up into a half smiles. Bernadette, in two days time, you will have been here one month. You have swapped your coffee for tea, your hello for namaste, your heels for bare feet and your Post for the Hindustan. But show us that you have acquired more than what is on the surface. Show us that you have acquired the wisdom of India. And, indeed, I did...

You see, one month ago, I would have responded as follows. I would have demanded that the person who created the problem take responsibility for fixing the problem, raced out of the Embassy and foregone picking up my cell phone from the checkpoint-- thinking I could make it through the whole day without it, calculated that I could make the 3 hour round trip back to Saket in 3 hours, counted on having enough RS back at my hotel to fund the payment, relied on making it back to the Embassy prior to its shutting down for lunch, all the while anticipating that after I finished at the Embassy, I could still make it to the NICU in time for Scarlett's feed because my second 3 hour round trip of the day-- just like my first-- would also only take, 3 hours.

But not yesterday. Yesterday, rather than respond in the manner above, I accepted that I would need to take full responsibility for fixing a problem created by someone else that has now adversely affected me, I recognized that I must pick up my cell phone as it's inevitable that I will need to call Rahul no less than ten times in the next hour for general help in all areas, I accepted that the 3 hour round trip to Saket will take no less than 4 hours because there will certainly be a bus accident, a broken down tuk-tuk, two weddings and a government protest along the way, I anticipated that I would not have enough RS on hand in my room and would need to factor in an additional trip to the money changer-- who would surely be out with some unexpected surgery today, I predicted that I would arrive back at the Embassy exactly .000012 seconds after it breaks for lunch and that it would most definitely not make an exception for the girl who was forced to leave because their credit card machine was broken, all the while knowing that there ain't a chance in hell that I'm making it to the NICU in time for Scarlett's feed, as that 3 hour round trip to Pitampura will surely take 5 hours due to an encounter with all of the above mentioned  obstacles faced on the prior trip back to Saket, plus an additional herd of immobile cows blocking the only road leading into town.

And so, rather than make any attempt to accomplish further activities at the Embassy, I calmly smiled at the cashier, and I mean it-- a real, genuine smile, apologized for not anticipating that the credit card machine would be down today-- silly me, I should have known, and made the decision to start again tomorrow. I picked up my cell phone, called Rahul, and headed to the NICU, where I did, indeed, make it in time for Scarlett's next feed.

Below was Scarlett's reaction when I told her about my day. Ordinarily my calm one, this girl has got a closet temper. 

Still preoccupied with his weight gain, Hayden was too busy engaging in his afternoon calisthenics to care.