Sunday Night Out
The lift gingerly approached level 5. Ding. The doors partially opened and then all went black.
It was one of those lucky escapes. There was just enough grab to slide both doors open and we clambered out. In the middle of Shillong in the aptly named Centre Point Hotel - through the darkness (as a result of the latest blackout) we navigated our way to the top floor restaurant. Nice. This place is perhaps the most Western place we have been - a real menu, a set table, glasses and cutlery.
“I’ll have the pasta with vegetables and pesto please.”
“… Okay sir…”
Whilst experiencing the the complete polar opposite of culture is a privilege, sometimes just a slither of home comfort is what you need and here we have it. A room in the middle of Shillong which is shut off from the perceived madness outside. Transported. Temporarily so but transported all the same.
“Excuse me sir. Your order. You want Pasta?”
“Yes.”
“Vegetables?”
“Yes.”
“…and custard?”
“No.”
Once we had finished, we pumped ourselves up for the arduous journey back to Nongkrem. This should only take around 20 minutes by taxi but given the traffic snakes around the whole of Shillong in a stationary fashion it can take up to two hours to get back. Thank goodness there are uniformed traffic officers at most junctions - the real hero’s of Meghalaya . . .
Brandon (the taxi driver we tend to use) met us at a nearby underground car park. He is one cool guy. Oozing a carefree attitude with an ability to transform a taxi ride into a full day out for himself. As he greeted us in his partial denim jacket, he took the bunch of bananas (daily breakfast) out of my arms and proceeded to open two of them.
“Hungry?”
“Yes, yes.”
As we were about to get in, one of our Indian colleagues arrived. Very good timing. Planned timing.
“Brandon wants to ask you for a very small favour. He has to buy a permit each day to be a taxi driver and he needs regular passengers.” Brandon leant against the tin box taxi and proceeded to chomp down on his newly acquired fruit.
“Okay, well look, we are happy to call Brandon for every taxi ride. That is absolutely fine. We can do that!”
“No, can you buy him a new car? He will pay you back.” Brandon just grinned, downed half of his water, walked to the back of his car, filled his half-empty water bottle with whisky and took another banana.
“See, look at him, he is very happy. Brandon sold 15 pigs today! He will drink that later to celebrate!”
“Congratulations, Brandon.”
“So, maybe £3000, £4000…?”
“No, we can’t.”