Timepiece

I have a digital alarm clock that I bought in India solely to ensure that I woke up by 5:00 a.m. in time to catch my plane from Trivandrum to New Delhi on my way back to Chicago. (A caveat: If my cell phone hadn't been unusable in India, this wouldn't have been an issue, because I typically use my cell phone as an alarm and I had expected to be able to do that in India, but that was not to be the case.)

Prior to my departure date, I had verified my checkout time with the lodge manager not once but three times because I knew they didn't typically open up the doors until 7:00 or later in the morning. I'm sure he was sick of talking to me by the time I left, especially after assuring me numerous times that I was allowing myself more than enough time to arrive at the airport if I left at 6:30 a.m. and that everything would be fine.

Finding the clock required a shopping excursion of sorts. Ater taking my life in my hands and dodging all kinds of foot, car and other traffic, I arrived at the three-story mall in a state of relief and quickly found a store that sold all kinds of clocks. Knowing that most people use their cell phones as clocks/alarms/etc. I wasn't sure that any store would even sell alarm clocks, but once I located one, I spent a lot of time wandering around looking at myriad clocks in all shapes and sizes for a basic clock that wouldn't be too complicated to use.

The store owner and his attendant were very patient and showed me numerous clocks until I found one that was lightweight and very reasonably priced (I can be kind of a cheapskate) and I decided to overlook the fact that it played "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" although it was already late January.

I tend to be a little deficient when it comes to such things as setting digital clocks that actually go off when they're supposed to, but I came home feeling confident that I would actually get up on time and arrive at the airport well ahead of schedule. The only problem was that I hadn't factored in how loud the traffic and sounds from the street were. When I tested the alarm clock back at the lodge, I realized that I'd never wake up because I wouldn't hear it.

At this point, I realized that I would have to stay up all night to ensure that I didn't oversleep. It then became a marathon night of watching every cable channel beamed to the Indian subcontinent. I watched talk shows, American television shows, some that I had never watched back home, and a show that appeared to be the Indian version of American Idol. Needless to say,I was relieved (and tired) when I finally realized it was 5:00 a.m.

It was still dark in the hallway when I opened the door and looked out to see if anyone was around. I took a quick shower, wheeled my already packed suitcase after me down the stairs and was relieved to see that manager had already arrived. He smiled at me kindly and tried to resist when I insisted on overpaying my bill because he had been so accomodating, but he finally relented and gave me a quick Indian head bob and suddenly, unexpectedly I teared up and he looked at me in a sympathetic way that made me even more misty eyed.

I realized that in just in the five days I stayed at the lodge, I had developed a routine of sorts--from the knock on the door every morning with one of the hotel staff asking if I wanted an Indian coffee, which is some of the best coffee I've ever had. I usually drank two or three cups, which they seemed to find very amusing; going downstairs to the second floor where the Internet cafe was located; the young man in charge always greeted me really cheerfully, "Hello Miss Gita. How are you today?" Making my way back upstairs to get ready for the day and figure out what I was going to do that day--take an auto rickshaw to the beach, the zoo, the temple, or try to find my way to the Kingsway that sold European groceries, pizza and pastries.

As I flagged down an auto rickshaw to get to the airport, it was finally starting to get light. We took off at breakneck speed narrowly missing other vehicles, cars, people and large and small animals and I already found myself starting to feel nostalgic for India.

Flash forward to the present. I placed my little alarm clock in my bedroom when I returned home and every night since I've been back, it goes off at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. in the morning and I'm awakened by the digital sounds of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." I'm sure I could fix it, but for some reason I haven't yet.

A Higher Law

"I have found that life persists in the midst of destruction

and therefore there must be a higher law than that of destruction.

Only under that law would a well-ordered society

be intelligible and life worth living.

And if that is the law of life,

we have to work it out in daily life."

--Mahatma Gandhi