Wishing all of you a Happy New Year…..

 

Today’s story begins with Sister Anna Mary and I going to the center of Rourkela to do a little shopping and saying a Thank You to the Ruby Sports manager and his workers.

 

We got a late start today as I have started to pack my bags to end my visit in Rourkela soon.

 

After a nice short ride we arrived back at the Super Max Bakery & Pizza Den. This is my 3rd time visiting the Bakery on this trip.

 

Sister Anna Mary does all the shopping for our ordered cakes, sweets and drinks while I just stand off to the side of the store and watch everyone and take one or two photos with my IPad.

 

As I said in an earlier post, this shop is like Grand Central Station. Many people come and go all day long. It is a favorite store for all the local people.

I am standing near the cake counter and no question I look like a foreigner. A man walks up to me and says “Namaste”.

 

Welcome to India and reaches out to shake my hand with a big smile on his face. I was shocked at his kindness to me.

 

I reached out to shake his hand and say hello back to him. He said today is my boy’s 6th Birthday and I came to buy him a nice cake. He asked would you like to take a photo of me and the cake? I said sure….

 

Well , me taking that man’s photo opened the door for many people wanting their photo taken by me. The store workers came out from behind the counters , the customers, the security guard and even the owner Mr. Manmohan Chawla came to stand beside me to have our photo taken.

 

I have never in my life seen so many complete strangers come to me and welcome me to Rourkela and India and have their photos taken with big smiles and Happy faces.

 

It was one of those moments in my life that I will never forget. Everyone was so friendly and kind to me. I think that it was a Happy moment for everyone and again , here we are complete strangers. It was just beautiful !

 

After Sister Anna Mary got everything we needed we made our way out of the Bakery shop into the waiting car. I was sitting in the back seat of the car when I looked out the window and I saw the Bakery owner Mr. Chawla making his way to the car. He came to my window and handed me a big Fruit Cake and said this is for you and Thank You for everything.

 

I am telling you I did not know what to say…..

 

My visit was like a beautiful dream, and I did not want it to end….Only it was NOT a dream…..It was the real world, far far away from Boston, USA .

 

The driver now moves the car up the street to the Tata Cycle & Rickshaw Company. This is a very big bicycle shop on the corner of a very busy street.

 

Sister Mary and I go in the shop and speak to the Manager Mr. Ankush Ahuja. Sister Anna Mary and I tell Ankush that we do not know what our needs are, but we would like to buy 2 bicycles. Mr. Ahuja asked how old the children are and what are the approximate heights of each child.

 

He recommended that we buy one small bicycle with training wheels and the other bicycle to be a tricycle with 3 wheels.

 

Mr. Ahuja took us to a section of the store that had models of the bigger bike that we could choose from. Some were girls some were boys and all in many different colors. After Sister and I made our choice, Mr. Ahuja took us to the front of the store to look at the small 3 wheel tricycles.. it did not take long and Sister and I made our pick.

 

It was then that the bicycles were brought to the front of the shop in a box and assembled by his workers right in front of our eyes.

 

It took 25 minutes and both bicycles were completed and ready to be put in the car.

 

After an inspection by Sister Anna Mary and myself I paid Mr Ahuja a very fair discounted price for both of the bicycles.

 

This shop was fantastic A to Z to do business with, and the service was excellent.

 

Mr Ahuja was an expert and did his very best to help Sister Anna Mary and myself buy something that would work for the 2 children who the bicycles are for.

 

After everything is loaded into the car the driver takes us back to the Ruby Sports store. My time in Rourkela is very short and I wanted to say a nice Thank You to the manager and workers at the store for giving Dinesh the beautiful sports jacket and pants from earlier in the week along with helping me with the sports equipment for the schools.

 

Dinesh was very very Happy with his new outfit and it was special that Ruby Sports gave it to him.

 

I always try my best to remember people with such kindness in their hearts so I bought them a nice cake at the Super Max Bakery and had the words Thank You put on it.

 

When Sister Anna Mary and I went into the shop with the cake, the Manager was surprised. I told him about Dinesh getting his gift and how Happy he was…and that it was all very special for him. This cake is just a small way for me to say Thank You to you and your staff. After a nice handshake, we then said goodbye to everyone.

 

Sister and I got back in the car and I requested that we make one more stop to buy the Convent some eggs and potatoes.

 

The Sisters get to eat 1 egg at breakfast … 3 days a week …and here I am, the Sisters giving me 3 to 4 eggs every day …so I want to replace the eggs that I’ve eaten along with all the great whipped potatoes the Sisters have made for me during my stay with them.

 

After a short ride in the center of Rourkela we stopped at a very small shop on a small side street. Sister Anna Mary walked into the shop and ordered our eggs and potatoes from the store.

 

During that time Sister Anna Mary had to call her friend Rajendra, one of the Angels sponsored school student Fathers, to bring his Atul ( auto rickshaw ) to help us carry the goods as we had run out of room in the car for everything.

 

After Rajendra arrived at the egg and potato store with his Atul he backed it up to the curb and two young girls carried the 50KG (110 pounds ) of potatoes to the car.

 

I honestly felt so sorry for the girls carrying the big sack of potatoes from the store to the Atul. My heart broke for both the girls trying to lift the potatoes over the back of the Atul to get the potatoes inside the vehicle. Those girls struggled but did it…

 

That’s just how it is in India: women work just as hard as the men and sometimes they even work harder.

 

From here we made it back to the Convent where I enjoyed a nice dinner with everyone.

Ray O