Road trip gear

Realized today that we needed one important piece of gear for our road trip that begins tomorrow. What piece of gear might that be, you ask. I realized we simply could not do this trip without . . . . . . . a 12v cigarette lighter in our car.

Now before anyone goes off on some rant about smoking, etc., we don’t need it for lighting cigarettes. We need it to power the FM transmitter my sister and brother-in-law gave us for our i-pods. Our car did not come with a 12v power source in it like most cars do. It didn’t come with a lot of things in fact. So, at 5:15 tonight, I took my daughter out for an adventure to try to find a cigarette lighter and get it installed into our car.

One thing that happens in many cities in India is that all of the similar shops locate near each other. So, I headed for the ‘car accessories’ part of town. I pulled up in front of one of the more well-known places, hopped out with daughter in tow, and asked about the cigarette lighter.

I was told it was indeed possible, and in fact would only cost $3 and would take about 3-5 minutes to install. Now I have lived here long enough to know that IST (Indian Stretchable Time) can be a funny thing. I decided to try my luck and let them have a go at it. I handed my keys over.

About 3 minutes later (no exaggeration), a small, wirey young boy returned to the counter to inform me it was all done. I was first of all shocked, then skeptical. I went to the car to inspect the work. Not only was it done neatly and cleanly, but it turns out this guy had wired it the way I wanted as well, which is that it is not powered when the key is off, so as not to cause a drain on the battery if we inadvertently leave something plugged in overnight. I have to admit it looks like a factory install.

This is just one of the MANY things I love about living here. Things that would otherwise be costly, time consuming or simply not possible to get done in the preferred timeline are simple, quick, efficient and inexpensive. Of course the reverse can also be true, but that is a different entry altogether.

Road Trip!!

Tomorrow first thing we leave on a road trip. We have a good friend who is getting married in Kerala, a state in south India. Our plan as of now is as follows:

Day 1 –
Drive to Bangalore, a major city about 10-11 hours driving time away from here.
Stay overnight in a hotel and get to bed at a decent hour.

Day 2 –
Drive the rest of the way to our destination, approximately another 7-8 hours driving time. Stay overnight at another hotel, arrange by our friend.

Day 3 –
Attend the wedding in the morning. I have a small part in the wedding. Reception in the afternoon, following the wedding. Stay in the same hotel overnight.

Day 4 –
I speak in the groom’s home church in the morning, and we leave right after church to return to Bangalore, about 7-8 hours driving time away. Stay in a hotel in Bangalore.

Day 5 –
We drive the remaining part of the return trip, arriving home sometime in the evening.

That is a five day trip, the better part of four of those days spent in the car. Leah is not fond of long car trips, but she is being a trooper and trying to make the best of it. This was the only way we could all afford to go, and since I have been away from them for so long already this year, we felt it was important to do this as a family.

So, off we go on another wild adventure. God, please let the car work perfectly the whole way with no breakdowns. And help us remember to enjoy the journey, not only the destination.

There must be a better way!

There must be a better way to meet new people than what I experienced last week. Allow me to elaborate . . . . . . .

Sunday morning, getting ready to head to church . . . car has moderate trouble getting started. Not a good sign.
Wednesday morning, getting ready to go to the gym . . . . .car has even more trouble starting. Again, not good.
Thursday morning, getting ready to bring the kids to school . . . . .car simply won’t start. Very bad!!

While tinkering with the car trying to roughly determine the cause of said starting failure, a gentleman who lives in our apartment building came over and joined me looking under the hood for a moment and then kindly offered his car to take the kids to school. We have not had much interaction with this man in the past, so his offer was a little surprising. “The kids need to get to school.” he said simply.

Later that evening, my son and I went to go thank him again for his gracious offer of his vehicle, and for his real kindness to us. We brought the one thing we thought he might accept. We knew cash was out of the question for covering the cost of fuel, which is expensive here. So we brought sweets. He was a little shocked, but then invited us in, and only agreed to accept them if my son helped eat some. No 5 year old I know would turn that offer down. So, we went inside, sat down and had a nice chat with this kind man. There must be a better way to meet such nice people than to have your car break down though, right?

Another episode that same day . . . . when the breakdown mechanic (roadside assistance kind of thing) arrived, he determined after numerous attempts that the only option was to push start the car. We do not have a small, lightweight car. It is big and heavy. So, with the mechanic in the driver’s seat, I began pushing the car. No luck on the first few attempts. Slowly a few young men who wandered by began helping me push. By the time we finally got the car started we had pushed it up and down our street at least 5-6 times. The guys who helped were very kind and I thanked them as much as our various languages would allow. But there must be a better way to meet these guys than to have your car break down, right?

A final episode from the same day . . . .after dropping the car off at the service garage to have proper repairs made to it, I needed to get home. I flagged down an auto-rickshaw and told him where I needed to go. He said in broken English that he did not know exactly where I wanted to go, but if I knew the way he would take me. Along the way we had a lovely chat about various things, again, as much as our broken use of each other’s language would allow. He was a very nice guy, and was one of the few honest auto drivers I have met in this city. But there must be a better way to meet guys like this, right?

I could also tell about a couple of very helpful and conscientious taxi drivers, a very helpful service advisor at the service garage, another auto driver who took me back to the service garage to pick up the car, etc. All because of a break down with our car.

So as a result of our car breaking down, I met and interacted with a hand full of guys who blessed me in some way, but who would have likely remained unknown to me otherwise. So good things came out of it. That does not mean we are giving up our car altogether or that we hope it breaks down more so we can meet more nice people. What it does mean is that this is a good reminder that all around us are people with stories of their own, people with break downs of their own, and maybe some who have needs we could help meet, if only we take the opportunities to do so.

Update for those who care

For those of you who care . . . . . . .


Total driveway shovels: 0