Thank Goodness the Pig is Fine!

Ambrose called me yesterday. In his halting English, I understood "Raju, car, pig, under, car not run." I was so sure I could not be hearing correctly so I asked him to repeat the story. Nope, it was true. There was a car and a pig in the same story!

Raju was driving back to the office from the Honda repair shop when a pig suddenly either ran under the car or ran in front of the car (I still do not know the exact story) causing major damage to the radiator. The coolant gushed out and the car is drivable only in 3 minute segments to avoid overheating the engine. Imagine having a car like that--in Indian traffic! If someone told me this story, I would never believe it. But here, now, believe me because I have a 36,000 Rupee radiator replacement bill that will attest to this story.

"But madam, the pig is fine," Ambrose reassured me.

"The pig is fine? The pig is fine? Why would I care about the pig?"

Not having had time to reflect on this unusual event, I was hassled by the inconvenience, the 36,000, and the sheer absurdity of the whole thing! I was just beginning to see Raju in a different light, starting to think that perhaps I have treated him less than fairly. He holds on to his job by the skin of his teeth. He either locks the keys in the car, comes late for a drive to the airport, has trouble with his motorcycle and cell phone, or has a relative or two dieing. His employment with us has been quite eventful. Yet, he is always there with a smile, is never disrespectful, is a superb driver, and most of all, doesn't honk his horn unnecessarily (in India it is a pleasure to have a driver who does not use his horn as his brakes!). And now this incredulous pig under the car story.

"Raju was lucky it was not a cow," David teased when he saw my agitation.

"Better a pig than an elephant," Angelika joked.

In truth in India it is entirely possible to encounter a goat, a donkey, an elephant, or even a camel on the road. You know about the cows, of course. And I did once see a little piglet. So I suppose this story is not so far fetched after all. I finally decided there was nothing to do about this pig story. The radiator had to be replaced, that was all there was to it. No sense in reprimanding Raju. No sense in hassling about it. That was that. He was still going to get his Diwali bonus, it wasn't his fault the pig ran into the car.

Having made peace with the situation, I was ready to laugh at the incident. I recounted the story to Shailan (my photography guru). With a hearty laugh, he said, "So are we going to have a party?"

I just had to laugh! He explained that I should count my blessings that it was only a pig, not a man. True. And count my blessings that the pig is fine. Again that pig is fine line! He told me a story of a man who ran over a hen. The owners of the hen demanded 10,000 Rupees. The hen had just come of age, was going to lay eggs and would have earned the owners 10,000 Rupees!

"So Belinda," Shailan explained patiently, "thank goodness the pig is fine!"