Kris likes his vodka. Tito’s vodka.

When Dani is in his room cleaning, he will usually have her fill his vodka glass for him. Everyday before leaving, she will go into Kris’s room to tell him goodbye and see if he needs anything. The good man loves her and will always smile when he sees her. He is always asking Uma, “When is Dani coming?”

So, once when I was in the kitchen talking to Uma waiting for Dani to get her things, she went into Kris’s room and in her cute Dani voice said, “Kreees, do you need anything?” Usually, if he doesn’t, she will say, “Okaay. Bye-bye Kreees.”

This time, she brought his vodka glass into the kitchen and handed it to Uma and said, “Kreees wants more vodka and he told me not to tell you.”

Uma firmly put the glass down with a frown and took a deep breath. I don’t know what happened after we left, but I imagine she took him a little more vodka.

Dani works for Uma and Kris three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Those are also the days the next lottery comes out. So when Dani is in Kris’s room cleaning, if he remembers, he tells Dani to tell me to pick up three Powerball tickets and three Multimillion tickets. So, on my way to get Dani, I will stop by a convenience store and pick them up. From what I understand, you can ask for extras, which I believe it is something about winning more. Once a clerk asked me if I wanted extras, I told her No, because it didn’t make sense getting extras since the tickets won’t win. That put a funny look on her face.

So, one time when I gave him his tickets as he laid in bed, I told him, “Kris, if you win, Dani gets 1% of the winnings.” He gave me a big smile. So, back in the kitchen with Uma, we spoke briefly where all that lottery money goes, and I told her at one time it was suppose to go to the schools. She said Kris has been playing the lottery for 20 years, and she said something about him needing to change the way he prays to one of their gods to win. (something like that).

Then I told her, “When I gave him his tickets, I told him that if he wins, he needs to give 1% to Dani.”

Uma lit up!

“NO! I told him to confess (promise) to me that he will give Dani half. I told him to confess to me now, but he wouldn’t!”

That would explain why Kris gave me such a big smile.

~ you know, she is one of those people I truly wish I could record what she says. I feel so comfortable with her and can say anything to her. Once she was mad about her son who lives in Houston and after one long rant, I said, “Whew! Uma, you are one tough woman.” She didn’t respond. I love to push her buttons and joke with her to make her laugh. She has a beautiful smile and I wish I could get a picture of her. I once told her how beautiful her granddaughters were, and she was stunned, then smiled and thanked me deeply. I wondered if anyone ever told her that before.

During my last months in Afghanistan, the University of Maryland satellite school in Salerno offered a course on World Religions. I took this class to help me understand the Islamic influence in the world. It was a class that covered all the major religions. It was interesting and I made an A in the class and got 3 college credits. Ironically, it is the only college credits I have to my name.

It was a lot to digest as it covered the three Abrahamic religions, plus Hinduism and Buddhism and all their associated gods. So, we go through life hearing of the different gods that people across the world follow and worship, and never really give it much thought. But since visiting with Uma and Kris who are Hindu, it became interesting.

One day when I came to pick Dani up, she was sitting with Uma who was telling her about their gods, and the stories behind some of them. “We have a god for this and we have a god for that, etc.” I remembered hearing about the stories of the different gods at the class in Salerno, and now listening to someone who believes this way so casually was an eye opener.

They have many small Hindu statues throughout their house and even a small room similar to a walk-in closet for their shrine, but they also have several crucifixes displayed; there is even a picture of Mother Teresa on the wall. It was as if they honor all religions. India used to have a caste system that has since been abolished, but some people still cling to it. The other day Uma was telling me about the relative of someone or another, (it is difficult to follow what she is saying sometimes because of her beautiful accent), but it was a story about a certain member of that family who shunned someone because of the caste they were born in.

So, when I tell others about Uma and Kris being Hindu, I am intrigued with how they react. One good friend who I thought would say something pertaining to it not being Christian, listened intently and remarked how he met many Hindus while working in a prison ministry, and was impressed with them.

I will tell the story to others sometime and will see how they react. The more God shows me other people and their beliefs, the more I realize there is to discover and accept. When it’s all said and done and we are all standing in line to explain ourselves, we need to concentrate on what we will say about ourselves, because at that point, no one else matters, and I know it will be very difficult for me.

The first time I met Uma she was in a wheelchair. I didn’t know why at the time, and felt it was one of those things you just don’t ask. If I knew her as well as I do now, I would have asked, “Uma, why are you in a wheelchair?”

I came in through the open garage door looking for Dani, knowing she was inside the house somewhere. But Uma was in the doorway in her wheelchair and I couldn’t get in. I told her I was Dani’s husband and she started telling me about how she was in the attic looking through the Christmas stuff for something and fell through the attic. Her Indian accent made it a little hard to comprehend what she was saying, plus the sudden offhanded discussion and the only thing I could come up with was, “You fell through the attic?”

She said, “Yes!”

Still a little baffled by it all, I asked, “So, in the house?”

She said, “No, right there.” as she pointed to the garage floor right in front of her wheelchair. Damn, I thought. Looking up at the ceiling in the attic, I realized she fell a long way.

The only thing I could think of to say, “Oh my! How bad were you hurt?” She said, “I was on the floor for several hours until my husband came looking for me.”

She also said something about her phone that I didn’t really understand. So, it turned out her being in a wheelchair was just temporarily, which was good.

So, jump forward to the day I sat and visited with the family for the first time. Kris was sitting next to me in his wheelchair, and Uma was sitting in her wheelchair even though she no longer needed to. Dani was sitting on the couch and Raji was sitting in a chair across from me. Raji’s two beautiful little girls were dragging toys out, while doing their best to avoid me.

Raji asked me what I do for a living, and I told her I am retired. I thought about using my usual joke about being “retarded, er, retired”, but since these were doctors, I thought best not to.

“Okay, so what did you do?”

“I worked for the State Department.”

“So, what did you do?”

Remembering my daughter’s stepson, Stone, I told them what he thought I did.

“I killed people.”

It was the strangest thing to see. Raji burst out laughing falling backward and Uma was about to fall out of her wheelchair. Kris just chuckled as well as Dani, but she was laughing at watching them instead of what I said. The two little girls stopped for a moment to see what was happening, then continued with their task of making a mess.

It was at this time, I truly wished I did kill people for a living, making the conversation completely ironic.

When things subsided, Kris and I started asking each other what countries we visited. When we got to the African continent, I told them how I was sent to Pretoria, South Africa to get a hernia fixed. I knew since these were doctors, they would understand the story better than most.

I explained how I blew out a hernia lifting a small safe in Ethiopia, so they sent me to Pretoria to get it fixed. The German doctor looked at my hernia and said, “Yeah, I can fix that. I’ll fix your belly button too.”

“What’s wrong with my belly button?”

“It’s herniated. See how it’s sticking out?”

“I just thought I was fat.”

“No, It’s herniated.”

“So I’m not fat?”

“It’s herniated. I’ll fix it. No charge.”

They all chuckled, each of them seeing the joke from the point of view of a doctor, instead of the patient.

These people are a delight to visit with. God has given this job to Dani for so many reasons. Much more to tell later.

 

 

 

One of the amazing things in life is meeting interesting people, and I am convinced most people, if not all, can be interesting with the right questions and patience. Well, maybe not all, but most people.

Dani works part-time for an elderly Indian couple who are both retired doctors. Most days when I pick her up in the afternoon or evenings, I will go inside and visit with them. Uma is a Physical Therapist and Kris is an Immunologist. Both are in their mid seventies. Kris has had major issues with his heart and we don’t really know how much longer he will be around, but we are hoping for many more years.

So, Dani’s job is to straighten and clean the house, which also includes sorting out decades of living. I would guess the house would be close to a million in value, but as Indians go, it is cluttered. The house always smells like curry, which I actually enjoy since knowing them.

Uma is not a tall woman. Actually, she is shorter than Dani. I do not know how tall Kris is, because he is often bed-ridden and when not, he is in his wheel chair. I would love to get pictures of him, but, I have yet to see Kris wearing a shirt, and neither he nor I are photogenic without a shirt.

The first time I dropped in and ended up visiting with them, their married daughter Raji, took the wheelchair to his room and loaded him up. As I understand, he doesn’t like to visit with people, but I realize his daughter can pretty much get him to do just about anything.

So, she wheeled him in shirtless and parked him near me. During the short time I sat there, we got to talking about the places in the world each of us have been. Most of my places I went for work, whereas most of his was on holiday. Raji would go with him when she was young. Uma once told me, Kris never smiles in a photograph unless Raji is with him.

So we sat for close to an hour and then Raji took him back to bed. When she came back, she told me that was the first time he spent so much time talking to someone. Usually, he is ready to leave in 5 minutes. If it was not for both of us mis-understanding each other’s accent, I would love to sit with him for hours.

There is so much more to say about these good people, and if I spill it all out now, your minds will wonder off like our president’s. So, I will add a bit more later.

D&D