The Unfortunate Mess of Tuesday Morning

After being here a month, I thought I was getting used to the daily task of walking to my bus stop. See, my host family lives in a colony; it is a small collection of houses off the main road so life is a little quieter. Every morning, Pranjal and I have to walk to the main road, cross the street and hop over the cement divider, and go to our bus stop, which is an Indian sweets shop. Last Tuesday was like any other school day; walking to the bus stop means precariously avoiding the stray dogs and cows. But more importantly, we have to avoid the fresh cow patties that nearly checkerboard the streets.
I was considering not even telling this short story, to save my own embarrassment, but I’m trying to look at the event in a purely humorous way. Well anyway, after crossing the divider, I made sure to avoid stepping in a cow plop, the size of a serving tray. Then behind us, someone sped by, either in a rush to work, or just enjoying their foreign-made car. And just my luck, as the car’s wheel went through the pile of dung, three little plops were sent flying onto the back of my school uniform. Pranjal got hit too, and at the time we were so disgusted, we couldn’t even see the humor in the situation. All day, I felt uncomfortable, even though I had cleaned off my uniform. I guess these exchanges really do teach you how to deal in any situation!