Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Who Needs Language When You Have Laughter

Our driver Krishna invited us to his home a couple of weeks back. We really didn’t know what to expect since again at times I feel that the world around us can be far removed since we are living in our community. We pulled up to an apartment type building which was surrounded by stray dogs and dirt. Krishna walked us upstairs to his place. As we walked in I saw a three room place…kitchen, living space and additional room. It couldn’t have been any bigger than our living room. I was humbled. Krishna and his family were very happy to see us. We also had some gifts for them since it is close to Diwali. Krishna has two sons…Bartha and Adatha. Martin and I decided to sit on the floor with the kids and get to playing. We had a blast. By the end, all the kids were running around and playing inside and out.



In the middle of all the playing, there was lunch. BUT…what I didn’t know was that it was just lunch for Martin and I. Yes, it was VERY awkward. Krishna and his wife just kept bringing food out for us to eat. When I asked if they were going to eat, he said “We are going to eat later”. Again, it was very strange for us, but we appreciated all the wonderful food that was prepared and it all was wonderful! We even had fish…well, at least Martin did. Rohin and Veda also had some food. We sat in the back room that had a table, chair, 16” TV and stereo.



So, imagine this…here we are in the middle of rural India, in our driver’s house, eating a meal that they prepared for us watching…..SEINFELD. It was quite funny.

If I didn’t say it before it was a wonderful experience and I am glad we went. I was very proud of Rohin and Veda who integrated themselves great in the environment. I was so afraid Rohin was going to say something like “Mom, where is the toys?”, but he did no such thing. He just played with Bartha until we left. It was really cool to watch since Bartha knew some English and Rohin and V know a couple of words in Hindi. Point being, they really didn’t have a way of communicating other than laughing. Apparantly, a smile can say many things!!!



Thank you Krishna and his family.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Hayes family!

Katya said...

PLEASE POST AND TELL US YOU ARE OK. We are all worried here for you!