Corporate America Runaway

When it rains, it pours…

I woke up this morning, and went out to fetch the Sunday paper. The moment I stepped out on our little terrace I knew it was going to be a tough day…the air was thick and heavy. The weather forecast in the paper said that it was to get to 35 degrees in Delhi today – which is over 100 degrees to those of you living in a Fahrenheit world. Today we had planned on hitting some of the good markets for shopping – but this meant being out in the middle of the day in the heat. I packed my water, sunscreen, sun hat, a granola bar and set off in an auto rickshaw to the first market armed with rupees. My roommates Lynn and Kate came along with me – as it’s always good to have extra people around for bargaining. It allows you to play the ‘good cop’/ ‘bad cop’ bargaining game.

Believe it or not – this was my first auto rickshaw ride in Delhi. Auto rickshaw’s are as common as yellow taxi’s in NYC…they are everywhere. They are basically a 3 wheeler motor scooter – and it’s not advised to take them for long distances as I think it would be rather painful, cramped, and slow. However – it was perfect for our short trip to the Dilli Haat Market. I realized very quickly that an auto rickshaw was most certainly one of the lowest vehicles on the totem pole of Delhi driving. As big buses, trucks and many cars whizzed by us, edging us over to the side – I felt a bit exposed…but our little motor scooter engine kept motoring away.

We bargained and shopped all afternoon amidst the heavy heat. India holds some of the best products and bargains I’ve seen in my travels to date! As the day went on, it became muggier and muggier. Sweat was rolling down my face, between my boobs. This was hard core shopping – nothing glamorous about it! You realized the real meaning of ‘shop til you drop’ as I think I could have easily fainted from dehydration and sun stroke! The skies looked a bit dark, but I kind of ignored them because I had been in India for 3 weeks now during monsoon season and it had only rained once so far!

We continued on to another market via auto rickshaw when we heard some thunder in the distance. Finally, it started to sprinkle – some relief to the humidity at last! It was a pleasant rain…just enough that you needed an umbrella – but not close to a monsoon storm! We were inside one of the shops for about 30 minutes trying things on – and when we exited the shop – we were met face to face with a honest to God downpour – the skies had opened upon us. It was as if someone from above had buckets of water they were pouring out. I got my raincoat out of my backpack – happy to finally be able to use it since I drug it along to India. We kind of stood there wondering what to do…realizing that any hope of us waiting there under the awning until it let up was about as probable as Brad Pitt pulling up in an auto rickshaw and offering to take us home. Under the assumption that “we won’t melt” – we decided to head out into the pouring rain in search of a taxi. All of you New Yorkers know how fun it is to try to get a taxi in the rain…well, the same principle applies here. We stood out there for quite some time until finally a taxi took pity on us, stopped, and we hopped in. Granted, we were only 3 km from home…but it was pouring, there was no way that we could really walk – and we had no where to go for cover. The taxi driver wiped off the inside of his fogged up window and took off peering out of his little 7 inch by 7 inch fog-free hole.

Photo: Kate reacting to seeing the flooded street!
We took off into the main street – all we had to do was go past two stoplights and we would be at our apartments. However – the traffic was horrendous! I thought that it was due to the fact that people slowed down in the rain or something – but as we watched the events unfold outside our foggy window – we realized that the traffic wasn’t moving because the whole road was flooded. There were cars and buses stuck everywhere! People were pushing their motorbikes through deep water, rickshaws were rapidly trying to get to higher ground – and the water was gushing out of the manholes. The good news is that our taxi driver did not drive into the flooded area – we were able to get stopped before we went too far. We backed up and found a little turn off that took us to higher ground. We tried two more side streets where we would get halfway down them and then hit a lake with stranded cars. Finally – he took us as far as he could and said – that’s all the further I can make it – you will have to get out and walk. It was still pouring outside – but we bundled up and got out with the hopes that we would be able to make it home on foot…albeit wet.

Everywhere we turned the streets and sidewalks were flooded and vehicles were stranded. The water was rushing down the streets – so we did what anyone else would do in the situation – took off our shoes, rolled up our pants, and started wading through the streets towards home! There were tons of locals out doing the same thing – so we were in good company – and it was actually a really fun bonding time. They were laughing at us, and us at them. Young men were helping old ladies. Daughters were helping mothers. We even saw this lovely young woman dressed in a beautiful white dress hike here dress up and wade into the dirty water. Yes – the water was a bit scary. I honestly have no idea what was in it. I can only imagine what was coming out of the flooded manholes! Think to all of those recent stories in the news about flooding in India and all of the disease…well – here we were walking in it.

It took us about 30 minutes to walk home through the downpour. After we were able to shower and dry off – we remarked at how much fun it was to be out in the chaos of the rain storm. It was a memorable shopping adventure – a very local adventure! This experience seemed out of the ordinary to us, but to the people that live here – it was completely normal. Flooding streets, wading around in dirty water, pushing cars out of the flooded areas – it’s just another day for them. There wasn’t even a mention of it in the paper the next day. That night we did what any good New Yorker would do when the weather sucks outside…we ordered food for delivery!

People often wonder how I can be away from home for so long and not miss it. I myself am surprised at this some days. Then, on a night like tonight I realize that maybe it’s easy to be away from home because it’s easier not to deal with the realities of everyday life. Yet, every so often those realities come face to face with me…even halfway around the world.

I have so many people ask me – have you met any men during your travels. The answer is yes, sure I’ve met men during my travels. Some very, very nice ones. Ones that I even think are attractive, interesting, exciting and a bit dangerous…which as all women know…is the best combination of traits. I think to myself that in turn, I have a lot to offer – I am a risk taker, independent, a world traveler, smart, witty, and a bit unconventional. Ok – maybe that was too light…I am very unconventional. Yet, I’m faced with the same issues as I’ve always been faced with when it comes to men – even halfway around the world. All the men that I meet are either already ‘taken’ or are only interested in the young, and sexy women for a quick fling – or the young responsible women to settle down and have babies. Both of these scenarios pretty much suck for me. I’d like to say that I’m not bitter about this…but come on…of course I am. How can you be 37 years old, have not dated someone for 6 years and not be a little bit bitter. Yet at the same time – I put on a happy, positive face and say – my time will come. Overall – I do really believe that – I will meet someone that means the world to me and vice versa. But the waiting is really a shitty process. Instead of sitting around waiting, I go and live my life – do what I want to do – and believe that eventually – it will all work out.

Today, I was talking to the coordinator at my volunteer placement before I started my class. She was asking me some personal questions about myself. She asked about my family and if I was married. I gave her the same answer that I give everyone – “no, I’m not married” I get the standard response back, “Why?” This of course frustrates me because who really wants to try to defend why they are not in a relationship? Yet, as a single woman – I am always in this position of trying to explain why I don’t have a husband or a boyfriend. Honestly – this really sucks. It sucks to try to defend why you are alone. I get tired of it – I get angry about it – but it is a fact of life…so I go through the motions and try to explain that I simply haven’t met the right person yet. Upon hearing this explanation, the woman went on to say, “It’s such a shame because YOU should be a mother.” My heart just drops to my toes upon this statement. She goes on to say, “I get upset when I find out that smart, talented women like yourself aren’t going to be a mother. This world is losing out. ”

Now – before all of you freak out and try to tell me that I’m only 37 and I still could be a mother – stop. I really don’t think I do want to be a mother – so please don’t feel sorry for me – that’s not why I’m writing about this. I’m writing about this because I thought that wrapped up in that statement about motherhood – there was a lovely compliment in there. One that I can cling on to for a while and enjoy. No matter how many men my age pass me up (their loss!), I am still positive that I have a lot to offer the right ‘person’. Whether that ‘person’ is a man, my nieces, impoverished kids in India, or simply my friends – that’s fine with me.

I’m not going to pretend that being rejected by numerous men in turn for some young 20 year old, or some woman with the ‘perfect’ body, boobs, lean legs and long hair doesn’t bother me. It absolutely does. However, it’s life. One day, when one of those men take the time to actually get to know me and look beyond my newly formed wrinkles – then it will all work itself out.

I know this entry was a bit sloppy and unfocused – but tonight was the first time in 3 weeks that I’ve been out partying and socializing and interacting with men in a bar setting. It was a really fun night…but the old skeletons seem to always pop up. Those skeletons make me want to run…which is basically what I have been doing for the past year. For those of you out there that think this is a cry for help…it isn’t. It’s just the normal stuff that goes through the mind of a single woman in her late 30’s. We all have our good days and our bad days – our days of high self esteem and crappy self esteem. This honestly wasn’t even a bad day…it was just a little does of reality in my vagabond world.

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