Good Morning, Sah!

Non sequitur. Apropos of nothing, just a memory that popped up recently. Some years ago, I attended a conference in India. As we had explained to us, a taxi “had been laid on” to take us from the hotel to the conference building and back again, and we were strongly advised to always take the taxi. We each got a small business card identifying the taxi, and indeed, they happily picked us up in the morning, and brought us back in the evening.

Now, at the conference center, there was a tall man in a semi-uniform who met the taxi, opened our doors for us, and, most importantly, when we went to leave, we told him the number, and he called our taxi for us. He had... I think it was a walkie-talkie, although it might have been a cell phone, I suppose. Very friendly sort, with his cheerful “Good morning, sah!” when we arrived. He had several assistants, but most of the time, he took care of us himself.

Anyway, the last day of the conference, I needed to go back to the hotel early. Actually, I was suffering a bout of intestinal distress, probably brought on by eating from the conference banquet dishes the previous day. So I went out to the parking lot by myself.

The attendant hurried over, and greeted me. “What can I do to help you today, sah?”

“I need my taxi.”

“Yes, sah. And do you know the number?”

I fumbled the card out of my pocket and handed it to him. He looked it over, then handed it back to me.

“Thank you, sah. Do you know the number?”

I looked at him, standing so straight and proud, and smiling at me. Then I looked at the card. There was a number printed in red across the top. I read it out loud.

“Thank you, sah!”

His smile grew a bit, and he took his walkie-talkie and called my taxi for me.

Then he said it would just be a moment.

I stood with him, and when the taxi came, he opened the door for me, and I thanked him.

On the way back to the hotel, I thought about this man. And the fact that apparently he could not even read the numbers printed on the business card. There’s a piece of me that wishes I could have taken the time to show him at least the numbers, and another piece that says no, there was no way to do it and maintain his pride. And he was proud, a man who worked, and clearly know how to do his job.

And I remember his smile, and his cheerful, “Good morning, sah!”