Thankful in India :: Our Guide Sharma

When we first arrived in Delhi it was just after midnight. We had been traveling all day, we were tired and all we wanted to do was sleep. At the airport, we grabbed a cab to our hotel that was part of some kind of hustle. The cabby did bring us to our hotel, but when we got there his (large) friend was standing outside to tell my husband that the hotel was full and we could not stay there. Same thing happened at the second hotel, and then off to a third hotel that was at least 3x the cost of what we booked and it was filthy. We were just too tired to fight it. We pulled out clean t-shirts from our bags, covered the pillows and slept on top of the bed. 

The next day we headed off to find a tour guide, and we could tell there was yet another bit of hustle happening. But a stroke of luck matched us up with a guy named Sharma. He was good to us, watched out for us and gave us good advice throughout our time with him. He became like family to us and he took to calling my mother-in-law "Mom."

Sharma had a different way of looking at things. Life through a different lens. I told his story about running over a farmer's chicken. And he negotiated what he thought was a fair deal by paying the farmer 30x over for the chicken. His rationale was that this chicken would lay eggs and have other chickens and thus cost the farmer much more over the course of time.

There was another time when we had been off looking at the Taj Mahal and when we returned to the car Sharma was getting his ears cleaned. Yep, I said his ears cleaned. I found this so incredibly odd. And asked Sharma why he'd pay someone to do that? He said because his ears needed cleaning, and that this man needed a job, that cleaning ears was this man's job, and that we all have our own roles to play. Sharma felt we should follow this balance in life. Wow was that profound for a simple ear cleaning with a Q-tip swab.

Then there was the story about the network of kids following us around with a picture of us on an elephant. Sharma helped us find piece and quiet that day. He had seen me tell the boy not to take the picture of us. But Sharma also told us when the fun was over. And that the cost (at the end of the day) would simply repay them for the cost of the film. To Sharma that was simply the right thing to do. You see, Sharma was right there with us on our adventures.

Sharma has a good job as a driver for a tourist company driving people like us around India. He told us his dream was to be able to own his own car and run his own company. So that he could support his wife and daughter who live in a small village, and whom he sends money home to. Right before we parted ways with Sharma, I handed Sharma a $100 bill that I had been holding on to. My mother had given it to me to buy a nice souvenir to bring home. I just couldn't think of anything better to do with that money then to give it to Sharma. I was surprised by his response as he seemed so taken aback. My mother-in-law explained later that I had given him something akin to 2 month's salary with that tip. Ok, now I was taken aback. Shocking how little money people live on in India. But it also made me realize how hard it would be for Sharma to earn enough money to buy his own car. I was happy to help him; in what I felt was a small way. Sharma was a big part of our having an amazing trip through India, and I wish him a lifetime of happiness.