The Director Visits

On Thursday (6/5) night I was informed that the room I was staying in was normally reserved for “the directors.” I wasn’t sure what that meant but I was instructed to move to a smaller room without a connecting bathroom because a director was coming. I immediately realized how much more I should have appreciated the first accommodation as the new room had stained walls, geckos crawling around, and less space for my things. The new bathroom was much smaller, more decrepit, and had a hole in the ground for a toilet. Needless to say I was relieved when I found out that the director was only visiting for two days.

There was a pleasant surprise when I turned off the lights to sleep. Floral patterns on my bed sheets lit up in the standard glow in the dark green kind of way! How cool!

Too bad I couldn’t sleep well that night because I had spent the day before sleeping while waiting for Ramesh to pick me up, which he never did. Apparently he had a crazy day.

The next morning I awoke to find Mr. Director, Divesh Mehta of Calcutta, himself sitting there at the kitchen table wearing nothing but shorts getting ready for a smoke. What an interesting sight to wake up to. He proceeded to kindly greet me as I sat down and had some chai. What a philosopher Mr. Mehta was. He told me about his job as a marketer for an outdoor lighting company and he told me parables about finding success and stories on how to motivate people by helping realize that they already have what it takes, they just need to ‘warm up to it.’ My attention was perked when he stated with conviction “I love my country!” Its been a long time since I heard anyone refer to the United States in a similar fashion. I’m glad to have befriended Mr. Mehta. He seems just as glad to find someone who listens to his stories with curiosity.