a conversation, an interesting one.

I have been unemployed since I finished my Masters five months ago. Somehow I am not a big enough person to find solace in other's misery. I have been advised on several occasions to look at people who are worse off than me, people who have real responsibilities they are accountable for, and feel happy about not being in that situation. I do not comprehend this argument, and I don't think it is very humane in any case. Each one of us has our very own, customized-to-fit-personal-grievances hell, don't we?

Anyway, this is to remember a delightful conversation from just a few days ago. Conversations with strangers are usually so pleasant, perhaps because they are seldom tainted with our expectations from them, or from ourselves with respect to them.

I volunteer my time at the Habitat for Humanity, they are building houses in Oakland. I go there for several reasons, from the practical 'to-keep-my-VISA-intact' to 'I'm afraid-I-will-lose-my-sanity-if-I-don't-do-anything-with-the-time-I-have-at-hand' to 'I-like-to-work-with-my-hands'. I rely on public transportation system to take me there and bring me home, its a twenty five minute BART ride followed by a fifteen minute bus ride and ending with a quarter mile walk to the site of work.

This particular day, I was doing carpentry, not making furniture, rather straightening walls for the next level of work, putting the floor above in place. The residential construction industry in America is mostly wood based, as far as I have seen, and with a very few exceptions to this rule. I think it has to do with the seismic zones, the climate and overall simplicity of building with wood. The systems are strong and durable and I have a *lot* to learn about them, still.

Its very intensive labor, and by the time I am heading home, I am famished and ready to rest my limbs. And happy about my day being well spent. I was waiting for bus no. 45 heading to Coliseum. I boarded it and said a cheerful hello to the driver. This is how the conversation went,

Me: "Hello!" (paying fare, $2, into the machine)

Driver: "No I don't go to Fruitvale"

Me: "I want to get to the Bart Station"

Driver (handing me a transfer ticket)

Me (nodding a 'no' with my head saying I don't want it.)

Driver : "NOW you don't want a transfer, why did you ask for it in the first place"

Me: "I am sorry, I think you are mistaken. I most certainly did not."

Driver: "Of course you did, you first asked me if I was going to Fruitvale and then asked me for a transfer."

Me (very very confused): "Do you mean today? For this bus ride?"

Driver (exasperated): "Are you telling me you didn't say these things?"

Me (still very confused): "Yeah I didn't, all I said was a hello when I entered the bus"

Driver (still exasperated) : "I don't believe this, you think I am messing with you?"

Me (having taken a seat, confused, and also slightly alarmed, not sure of the sanity of this person) : "Yes I think you are joking with me"

Driver (laughing): "You bet I am!!!"

Me (grinning) : "And so I wondered!"

This dialogue doesn't sound a fraction of how interesting it was. There was more, but I am unable to translate its goofiness. I was genuinely confused and also felt slightly hallucinated in the head.

The driver later told me that he had noticed me boarding the bus on several occasions, and struck a conversation with me ( a perfectly sane one this time around). It was a delightful 15 minute journey and another seven minutes of talking after having reached the final stop (which was my destination). When I bought a BART ticket for the train ride and was waiting at the platform, he waved a good bye at me from his window. I was strangely elated.

The world is so full of good people! =) I am one of them!