Road trip funnies

Had a few funny things happen while on this trip. I will post a few more in the days to come hopefully, but one of them simply needs to be shared right away.

After church on Sunday I had determined to find a place to change out of my Kurta (Indian man’s outfit) that I had worn to church. There was no way I was going to drive 6 hours or more wearing that. But there was no suitable place at the church, so while on the road I found what I thought was a good place. Often people here will change right out in the open, sometimes using a towel held around their waist to cover themselves. I however, do not have the prowess to do such a trick.

I pulled into the back corner of the government bus depot, which was almost totally empty, and parked near the fuel pumps, thinking no one would want to come back there, and I only needed two minutes to quickly change behind the car. I was no more than setting the parking brake on the car and a uniformed security guard began making his way toward us. I realized he likely thought we were trying to steal diesel from the pumps, but figured by the time he meandered over I could be changed and on our way. He came around just as I was putting my new shirt on, and said “You can’t be here, this is government property.”

I explained that I did not want diesel and I was only going to change my clothes very quickly and would be on my way. I had not even turned the car off. He repeated himself. The whole time I am continuing to change. He and his two friends who have now joined him are standing watching me get undressed and then dressed again. By the time I was done I had an audience of three grown men watching me disrobe and redress, plus my friend Ragaland who had also gotten out of the car to try to get them to understand I did not want to steal their diesel, and was only going to change my clothes and then leave.

I had no idea me changing my clothes would be this interesting. I nodded towards the men as if to say ‘I hope you enjoyed the show’, closed the back of the car and hopped in and off we went. As I got in I could hear the guys snickering to themselves, likely something about ‘crazy foreigner who takes his clothes off in the parking lot’.