Wednesday, September 24, 2008

India Day 6 Cleaning the Walls

Day 6
He lost his job at the mattress factor because of the pains that he was having in his right side which prevented him from being efficient. His daily take home pay was all of 10 rupees ($0.25). Being only 16 he was doing his best to provide for his family who had recently left his psychotic father. He was going door to door in search of work when someone suggested that he visit the center and that’s where I met him. He’s a good kid who found himself in a terrible situation by no fault of his own. It’s heart wrenching because its real and its happening right here in front of me. I hope they can help him and his family.

Today I spent a great deal of time cleaning and scraping the walls of the center. I can still remember those fateful words, “Hey you’re a graphic designer, you can design a mural for our walls.” Yea, you see, the thing is, I’ve never designed a mural. At work I design all of my jobs on computers. Normally, if I was given this task it would be a mutable week project including a team of people, a host of supplies, and computers. So, anyhow, I made an attempt at designing a mural. Thank God someone else is going to lay it out on the wall and make it work. I am no painter. The walls currently look quite ragged so hopefully this paint job will do the trick.

I taught some of the kids how to play tick tack toe today. The one already figured out the strategy for winning every time. I don’t play with him anymore. I think I may be acquiring an Australian accent.

In travel news, we took another motor rickshaw (tut tuts as they’re known here). Not so great, it broke down and we had to walk. This morning’s bus ride was a different story. It was quite bad. It just felt so long. It started off well enough though. As I stood there on the bus I gazed across the road, into the windows of a parallel metro. As I scanned the crowd I noticed a beautiful young Indian girl, standing there, staring back at me. I looked away but every time I turned, there she was still gazing with a teasing look in here eyes. The busses pulled away from the station and for a while remained parallel with each other. I could see a small smile coming across her face and then, she was gone. I may have to start riding the Metro when I get back to Cincinnati. That is no doubt where true love is found.

Quick side note, today I tried a mango flavored soda made by Coke. It came in a glass bottled and was quite delicious. Its price, 10 rupees ($0.23) Keith and I also went back to that trendy little bar this evening. I don’t think that I’m near cool enough to go to this place, good thing I’m rich though.

Public restrooms are quite public here. A lot of men will just whip it out and pee on the side of the road. If you are the more private type though there are urinals. They have dividers, a waist high wall towards the street side, and sit on the side of the road. Yep, they are 100% outside and if you can recognize someone’s back you will know who is taking a leak.





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