John - An interesting simple man!

I woke up at 5:30 a.m, my luggage was all packed. Was happy to go home and meet Lalit after 4 days. At 6:30 a.m, got a call from the front desk, 'Mam, your cab is ready.' I said ,'fine...' Checked the room for the last time in the 10th floor of the Intercontinental hotel, in Cleveland and locked the door. Settled the payments at the front desk and moved to my cab.

'Good Morning, have a nice day Mam' was a confident voice of a smart, fair looking cab driver. 'Thanks and wish you the same, do you know where to go?'I asked. 'Ya, he said,'To the airport.' I smiled and said, 'For a change, i would like to go to Greyhound bus station, do you know where it is?' , 'Yes, Ofcourse...' came the immediate reply.

The car was good...but i don't remember the name of the model, as am bad at it! He asked me, 'From where are you Mam? I said ,'Am from India. Oh...did u come all the way from India to Cleveland?' I replied ,'I stay in NJ, both myself and my husband work in NY city, came here for a confernce.Oh!! good, he said.

I asked him,' How long are you here?' He replied, 'Since 22 years, I came here to study, but have not completed it till now???, so am driving the cab. When I came here , it was a good city with booming Steel industry, now everything is quiet and standstill, no jobs so lot of drug dealings in young generation and prostitution too...... but you stay in a city, which is too fast!' Yes, I nodded. 'From which country are you?' I asked . He said, 'I am from Morocco.' I was a bit confused and asked him,' Where is it exactly situated, is it in Europe or in Africa?' As if he knew, he instantly said,'Lot of people are confused about it..Monaco is the wealthiest country near France...I am from Morocco,one of the poorest country in Africa, so I landed here.'

I told him, 'I visited the Cleveland Clinics and was amazed to see the huge investment done, in the healthcare sector here...but somehow after talking to the staff here, felt some negative vibes..as if the hospitals are only for rich and wealthy. There was lot of attitude in their behaviour too.' He said,' You are good in reading minds,Mam...No poor can get treated there, Here people, will treat a street dog or a cat....but not a humanbeing, if you don't have an insurance.Neverthless, this clinics are the largest source of employment in Cleveland now, so that's a positive point of them.'

He continued saying,' You know, I learned one thing here, when I was in college, I joined English Classes, I hardly had any money. One of my friend took me to a cafeteria, we were standing in the queue, when his number came he took his food,paid his bill and sat on his table, I was surprised,Oh!!! jezz, if you are not paying for me, why did you invite me, I am poor, I cannot afford this, that day I learned its a different culture my boy!! Later on, when i purchased a sandwich and offered a half of it to my friend, he said,'Why, you don't want it?' I said, ' Its not the way, I want to share it with you.' I was just amazed to know, how true he was!!

Ohh!! the station has come.' I mourned.He said. ,'Please give me a change Mam of 15 dollars,' I said ,' I need to open my baggage for a complete change, so we went to the trunk, i gave him 17 dollars with 2 dollars tip, as always insisted by Lalit to give a tip(But I know this was less than what Lalit's calculations say!).' He saw that, I finished all my change and said,' Oh!! you please keep this dollar back, and pick a popcorn or something to wooble, at bus station and he compelled me to take the money... I had some Indian food with me, I asked him ,' Do you like Indian food, he said,'ya' so I gave him the packet of Bakarwadi, from Chitale bandhu, he saw it and said,'Its sweet.' I said ,'No, its spicy'.He innocently asked, 'Do you have something sweet?' I was happy to give him , Rajgira laddus and some besan laddus made by me....., he said,' Thanks, Mam, I will have them when i feel hungry during day, as I am in car all the time.' I complemented him saying,' It was nice time with you, i would have like to interview you, but sorry for the lack of time!'

Standing in the queue for the bus, I was thinking...I just didn't ask his name?? So I am calling him as 'John, an interesting character,' I accidently happen to meet.But when I googled the country Morocco, I was surprised to find it as a Muslim religion following country....so may be his name might be different...but for me, he is a hardworking man ,working from 5:30a.m to 10:p.m, each day to earn his bread and butter... in a country which is culturally contrast to his, but now his own!!He just stands distinct by his simplicity and honesty, understanding others.... is what to be a good humanbeing afterall!