Day of Amit

Today was the best and it was mostly because of Amit! I’ll do my best to explain but there’s A LOT, so I can’t share the play by play. Here goes! 

We flew to Kolkata today! I got green beans and green chilies mixed up at a breakfast buffet in the airport lounge. 😂😅 Super funny; I guess I really wanted a salad and some crunchy green beans this morning and 5:30AM saw what I wanted to see…. Evidence below see the chewed up remnants near the tines of my fork 🤦🏾‍♀️ …

Got to Kolkata and after struggling with Uber app, and deciding against the traditional bright yellow Ambassador Taxis of Kolkata I opted to download the Snap Cab app and do airport travel more like locals. Our driver was waiting at the booth outside the airport, all in my phone as I set up the app, just waiting on me to confirm my ride request. My aunt saw him peering and cautioned me to hide my phone screen so I angled my body away. This driver was Amit. 

Within 5 minutes (I think) we were at our hotel and not just because we were staying at the airport hotel and it’s close by but because Amit was whipping and running through traffic like a boss on these Kolkata streets! I mean I’m sure he could be 10 x 10 times safer. As he was navigating the roads he was also answering calls, changing the music, beeping at something like 5 beeps per second whenever he did use his horn which was at least 5 times every 30 seconds. But for real I’m not complaining! I definitely remembered the roads, the traffic, the car accessories, the lack of seatbelt wearing and volume of people in the roads from the last time I was in India too.

And now because I’m really exhausted I’m going to write down “All the ways Amit was Winning”  🏆 , but  tomorrow morning. I really need to sleep. Look out for the list tomorrow …in this same post.  ❤️😴 

Update Nov 8th…could only update 3 of these been moving around a lot and can’t find the time more later! Thank you! 

Update Nov 9th… back at 3:30 AM to finish 

Updated: “Amit is Awesome”

10. Giving me his number - After the first drop off Amit immediately suggested I take his number. I did that and I said I’d call him on WhatsApp.. and that’s exactly what we did because the hotel was more expensive and required more lead time. 

9. Showing me how to use Snap Cab app - So that I could book Amit (and not some random Snap driver) we had to coordinate in order time my click to confirm my ride request with his immediate acceptance. 

8. Taking us to Maidan to see Horses - I’ve been watching Heartland, a feel-good Canadian drama about a girl who cares for horses and lives on a ranch with her family. So it was cool to be around live horses! Had no desire to ride them down the middle of the road with the cars though lol
7. Remembering statue - He remembered a statue of a woman holding her dead son that we saw and were intrigued by from the road. He walked us to the area to photograph it.

6.  Walking with us - We had hoped to visit the inside of the planetarium but had some time to kill before the next English session. This is when Amit showed us around the area highlighting all of the above and helping us cross the busy streets!

5. Waiting - Even though he got out of car on a multiple lane road to confront an older man in an SUV hitting his mirror, and was quite angry about it it, despite their being no damage, I figured with all the waiting he did driving us around, parking and waiting he must be quite patient.

4. DJ Snap Cab - From the time we got in the car Amit was trying to win us over with music. From JayZ and Alicia Key’s “Empire State of Mind” to the Fugees, “Killing Me Softly” which had cross generational appeal as both my aunt and I sang along! There was much more but “Calm Down” (Rema & Selena Gomez) was definitely the song of the day which played at least 6 times throughout the drive! He also put me on to something new. Tom MacDonald is a rapper out of Vancouver, BC who raps about politics and other social commentary. His lyrics were pretty poignant so I will check him out more. 

3. Chicken Egg Roll:  At the recommendation of my friend and colleague from West Bengal living in the US, we were on a hunt for a good place to get this. We went two different places and waked out of both. Finally we found a bustling street food place that looked reputable and like it wouldn’t make my tourist belly ache. Boy did we make the right choice! The roll was delicious! 

2. Ice cream - Who doesn’t love it?! Well the roll place was supposed to be our last stop but my aunt had spotted an ice cream place. We went there and enjoyed tasty coffee, fig, and coconut ice creams! 

1. Photo Ops Galore - The biggest win for Amit was showing us the sites in the city and cool areas for photos! True he did benefit by getting a lot of pics with me, so that by night’s end we are looking like a couple posing by West Bengal’s Eiffel Tower. I mean I probably don’t need to be protecting his privacy cuz I’m sure my photos with him could be any and everywhere by now … lol sigh 🤦🏾‍♀️ Nevertheless it was a fun time! 

Final Remarks: 

Talk about how one person’s thoughtfulness and hospitality can do so much! 

Also, shout out to my aunt! She worked late the night before until 3AM and was up again by 4 because we were to head to the airport at 4:20AM. It was a long day of walking  everywhere! And she was super chill even with a driver not for the faint of heart! Also glad she suggested arriving early in Kolkata!

By the way I’m really struggling with this editor on mobile and I think my fonts are probably all over the place… will try to fix when at a laptop again.