Hosahalli Tid Bits

Sameer

On my first bus ride to Hosahalli I talked with the bus driver for the last 10 minutes of the way, a guy called Sameer. He gave me his number and told me to call if I ever needed anything at all, be it bus routes or groceries from the city. Believe you me, he wasn’t kidding. On my first return trip from Mysore, I missed the 4:30pm bus to Hosahalli and called him up to ask for alternatives. He not only told me about a 5:30pm bus that went in the same direction, but also texted me a few minutes later with the name of the stop point and the bus’ vehicle number. When I found the right bus, the conductor asked me if I was Sameer’s friend. Sameer had called the bus central to ask for the bus number, and furthermore called the driver team and told them to look for me. Really great help! Two weeks later, after I had had amoebic dysentery and the school’s water filter was out of order, I called him and asked if he could pick 2 liters of mineral water for me. He arrived at the bus rest stop at 9:30pm that evening, and instead of allowing me to walk up to meet him in the dark he drove the bus down to the school, 1km away. He didn’t want me to risk running into wild animals (there are elephants, wild boars, and, albeit rarely, tigers that come out of the forest at night). Sameer refused to take a tip for it and underlined that he did it for friendship, not for money. It’s amazing when you meet such selfless people who are willing to help you out in spite of being practically a stranger. I hope he understands my deep appreciation for him.

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When I recently walked up to the “main road” shop a kilometer away, there was an old guy who asked me to take a little girl’s picture with him. On the way back, he called after me and said I should slow down so we could walk together. He babbled rapidly in Kannada, but I understood his point – he was going towards the school himself, and it’s always better and easier to walk as two. He had a hearty, almost toothless smile. He pointed out his house and departed the path just outside the school gate.

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If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from moving into a new room in Hosahalli, it’s that I hate wall clocks that don’t work. I’ve never seen the darn thing function and yet I still steal glances at it once in a while, caught off guard, to check what time it is. And it never tells me; it kinda feels a little like a personal insult, hehe.