In 2001 I landed at Boston airport. The first time I'd ever been outside India, as also the first time I had taken a flight alone.
My sister, who was studying at Cincinnati, would arrive in Boston that evening. But I had landed in the morning. MIT, where I was going to intern for the summer, had put me up at a bed and breakfast near Harvard Square. But I had no preparation or plan on how to get from the airport to the BnB. (I had frequently traveled solo in India, and had not expected the Americans to make public transport in one of their major cities so complicated and so expensive).
Before I left, someone had given me the phone number of a couple of AID folks in Boston. So, swapping a dollar bill for quarters, I called Om Damani. He was surprised, and a little bemused. We had never spoken before, and I don't think that before that day he even knew I existed. Nevertheless, he drove down to the airport in the slight summer rain to pick me up, and brought me to his home.
Cut to now. I've just landed in Mumbai, and Om bhai is at the airport to receive me. In the age of Uber and Covid, he has chosen to drive down from Powai to pick me up.
Some people never change. Which is such a wonderful thing. 🤗❤️
My sister, who was studying at Cincinnati, would arrive in Boston that evening. But I had landed in the morning. MIT, where I was going to intern for the summer, had put me up at a bed and breakfast near Harvard Square. But I had no preparation or plan on how to get from the airport to the BnB. (I had frequently traveled solo in India, and had not expected the Americans to make public transport in one of their major cities so complicated and so expensive).
Before I left, someone had given me the phone number of a couple of AID folks in Boston. So, swapping a dollar bill for quarters, I called Om Damani. He was surprised, and a little bemused. We had never spoken before, and I don't think that before that day he even knew I existed. Nevertheless, he drove down to the airport in the slight summer rain to pick me up, and brought me to his home.
Cut to now. I've just landed in Mumbai, and Om bhai is at the airport to receive me. In the age of Uber and Covid, he has chosen to drive down from Powai to pick me up.
Some people never change. Which is such a wonderful thing. 🤗❤️