Meeting people from different walks of life has been the hallmark of my stay in USA so far. Today I met a man named Edward. White. Young. With skinny haircut, like a military veteran. I could see his biceps and triceps menacingly trying to escape from the confines his right short shirt. A very young courteous man. Usually I have observed Uber drivers here, do not load your luggages. But he volunteered to, as I had loads of them. Held door open for me.
All set. Ha asked what I do. I told him.
While loading in my luggage I observed that the trunk was full with other bags.
I asked “are you too travelling somewhere? Because I see lot of bags there”
“No actually, one of the trips I did was to airport. And the guests bag was overloaded and his other bag burst open. He requested me to drop it to his mom’s place. And he tipped me additional 25$”
“Oh vow! That’s so kind of you Edward”.
“Thank you. Actually it is also on my way home.”
“And where are you heading to from airport?” He asked.
“Am heading to Nashville. I got a new job there”
“Oh great! Many congratulations”
“Thank you Edward!”
“I can see your biceps bulging out. Do you work out a lot?”
“No just the basic stuffs. I don’t do gym stuffs. I do push-ups”
“How many do you do?”
“300-500!”
“My God! How do you manage to?”
“Well I do it multiple times throughout the day. Morning I do 150. Somewhere noon when I am bit free I do next batch and evening I do another set. I don’t look for a specific place. If I am driving and I find a vacant place, I park, and do push-ups on walkway. Just try to be fit” (he was far too humble. Could see him being coy!)
“That’s excellent. Great inspiration man”
“Oh thank you very much sir!”
I asked “Do you drive through out the day. Is it your main job?” Assuming many drive only part time.
“Actually am marine corps veteran. I have a day job and work for federal agency. I am doing this because I have an additional expense of 7000$ coming up. My dog is ill and it needs surgery which will cost that much of money”
“You are a very kind man. But was your dog always like this? Or did it meet with an accident. How long did you own it?”
“No, we picked him some 11 months back from a rescue centre where they put all unwanted dogs. It had this problem since then. It just got aggravated. May be someone handled him rough, might have just thrown him during transportation or might have met with an accident”
“Hope you get enough money Edward, for this noble cause!”
“Thank you sir”
“So are you an American citizen sir?”
“No far from it. I am from India”
“Oh I hear many Indians face problem in getting work permit here”
“Yeah. Too many ppl wanting to emigrate, you see”
“Yeah. How is it with Pakistan? What is the issue?”
That came out of the blue. Wasn’t expecting this.
“So do you have time and do you want to get into this!”
“Sure! Why not?”
So my tongue kept working all the way from 1890-1947! History Indian partition in short.
He sounded interested.
“So what is the problem now?”
... kashmir ... blah blah ....
I changed the topic “So what is your day job like?”
“Like I said I work for federal agency after my retirement from marine corps. Go after criminals. Help federal agency. Not a direct police or fbi but one of their foot soldiers who keeps eye on problem cases like felony etc”
“Is it an uniformed service?”
“No”
“Do you have to get involved in hand to hand combat?”
“We are trained to”
“What is your opinion about backlash against police for violence against African Americans especially?”
“Oh yes it is sad. Situation is bad. Unfortunately many do end up like that”
To balance the situation I said “one of my friends gave me a different perspective. He says policemen work under stress and they get shot many times over and never make it to newspapers. “
“Yes that is also true.”
“But Edward I think you would agree if I say African Americans do get a raw deal. They get killed and their killer policemen never get punished.”
“Sadly that is also true. I do not disagree. They end up in jail for longer periods of incarceration unlike whites for a similar crime.”
“So when did you get into military service?”
“When I was like 16 year old”
“And how long was the course?”
“Two years. “
“And how was the experience?”
“Too much of hardwork. No academics. All physical training”
“How about officers? Do they also go through the same?”
“No they have different route. It’s bit more academic. How is it india?”
“Well the place I come from has a very reputed military training academy called national defence academy. It has both part academics and lot of physical training. But they all go onto become officers. Most start as lieutenant commander ”
I further probed “Did you ever get an opportunity to do on field work outside United States?”
“Oh yes! Been to many places. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Spain but more in Middle East”
“So how was it in Afghanistan? Of course a very naive question, still want to hear it from you”
“Oh it’s terrible that we are now negotiating with Taliban. It’s a big insult to veterans like me and many others who were fighting against them. We are like ‘what did we really gain?’ We don’t get anything. No strategic advantage, no diplomatic mileage. And we lost so many lives there”
“No I meant what was your experience on field”
“We didn’t even have proper barracks. We were living in makeshift shelters there”
“How was the food?”
“Food was ok. But middle eastern food was the best I ate so far. Afghan elderly men who were our interpreters vis-à-vis locals, had some very interesting stories to share. “
By the time I would have liked to know his interesting stories we reached airport. I requested if he would pose for a selfie, I would be happy.
Politely declined, “ I don’t want to end up on social media. Wouldn’t be good for my career!”
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