I am proud to say that Scott has been driving us around a little bit.  He does amazingly well, considering the road situation here.  When I tell you that people just pull out into the middle of traffic, when I tell you that no one recognizes lane markers or attempts to stay within them, when I tell you that its pretty much a free-for-all on the roads with the cows being the only ones who are driven carefully around, I am not exaggerating in the least.  More than a few times I have become convinced that we were going to hit a pedestrian, traffic cop, scooter or another motorist as we went whizzing past.  In any case, the traffic is horrible, the driving is terrifying, and the being a pedestrian on the side of the road seems like suicide. 

Into all of this comes Scott the brave.  Driving more cautiously than anyone else in town, he attempts to ignore all lights, signs and long-accepted US rules and force his way into huge lines of speeding traffic just like anyone else.  And, he does a darn good job at it too!  He does get annoyed with my constant gasping at ever near miss, so I have learned to gasp quietly, and when I can’t take it anymore, to close my eyes and think happy thoughts until the car comes to a stop one way or another. 

Mujeeb is off on Sundays.  He will come if we need him, however we don’t like to ask that of him, after all, he does have a wife and two small children too.  So, yesterday we decide that we would like to go to a gaming place called “Lounge Habits”.  It is not too far away, and Scott is confident that he can get us there and back safely.  The ride there is uneventful.  Not too many close calls, and Scott drove us right to the door.  We played games, relaxed, ate dinner and then it was time to go.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, Scott immediatley knew that something was wrong.  We drove for about half-a-block when he pulled over and said “there’s something very wrong with this car, the way its pulling to the left.”  Sure enough, a flat tire on the front passenger side.

So, there we are, parked along a busy highway in front of a rather nice gated estate, changing a tire in the dark.  Lucky for me, my husband always knows just what to do, and is quite adept at changing tires. He had the car jacked up, the old tire removed, and the new tire almost in place when two men who were walking by came and forced their way in to take over the job.  Now, Scott was perfectly capable of completing the process, but not wanting to be rude, he let the men finish the job for him while we frantically searched our pockets to see if we would have an appropriate amount of rupees to give them as a thank you.

Soon we were back in the car and on our way.  We came to a busy intersection currently being directed by a traffic cop.  (yes, they do have those, but they never actually give a ticket or anything…who would even know where to start!).  The police officer motions for us to pull into oncoming traffic, and then begins YELLING at us to pull out.  The traffic coming toward us is nearly bumper to bumper and going fast, and he’s freaking out at us to pull right into it!  So, Scott tenatively inches forward until someone stops and he pulls in front of them and joins the stampede with everyone else.  We wished that we had a video of a police officer yelling at us to pull out into oncoming traffic in this manner…no one would ever believe it.

When we entered our community, there was a dead dog lying right in the middle of the road.  Just lying there, with cars going around.  It was yellowish like Beauty, and of a good size.  We were all horrified, until the dog raised its head and looked at us.  Not dead at all, just sleeping in the road, of course.  Silly us.  It seemed like a fitting end to our crazy adventure.

Needless to say, it was an interesting trip home, but it definitely gave us something to laugh about!