The LA Diaries- 3

Familiarity Breeds Respect

Two weeks is a long enough period for people who are coming face to face everyday to become familiar. The plainclothes cop at the entrance to the VIP Gallery in the Assembly has now started wishing me with a polite ‘Good Morning, Sir.’ With that respect come other concessions- my bag isn’t checked and I am let in after I leave my mobile phone behind. At the main entrances, the cops however keep changing. Everyone has to pass through the metal detectors and also get frisked. What worries me is the way I am waved through the moment I open my bag. The notebooks and the books inside perhaps give them the impression that I am not the sort to carry a bomb or anything like that. I am not asked to open the numerous other pockets that my bag has. One can easily get past with other stuff in the lunch box. That is a scary thought.

Stand Up Lunch

Curiously, the LA takes a tea break but there’s no lunch break. Not only do I have a hurried breakfast in the mornings at home before rushing to the LA, I am also compelled to have lunch at odd hours and in odd places. Since the canteen is always full and other places to have lunch in peace are hard to find I am finding it difficult. I am tempted to sit in the lawns of the Public Gardens and eat my lunch but I have to walk a bit and find a place in the shade. The other day I had, or rather was given, just ten minutes to finish my lunch. The lunchbox was in my bike which itself was parked somewhere in a corner of a parking lot. I did not feel bad about having lunch there because at least I had it on time even though I had to eat standing up under a tree.

Tying the Knot

The same day after lunch and while hurrying back into the LA a man in some sort of white and blue uniform stopped me. He held a strip of cloth in his hand and asked, ’Sir, can you tie it for me?’ I then realized he was one of the drivers of the four brand new Volvo buses of the Tourism Department parked inside. The drivers of these new Volvos were smartly dressed in uniforms -white shirts, blue trousers, a peaked cap and a tie.

I do not know how he surmised that I’d know how to knot a tie but he guessed right. It’s been more than thirty years since I last wore a tie. I studied for two years in a convent school where the tie was part of the uniform. I do not remember who taught me the half knot but for the two years in was in high school I wore the tie for just an hour in the morning. That was thirty two years ago but the other day I realized I haven’t forgotten much.

I did not want to disappoint the driver so took the tie from him. I put the tie around his neck and managed without much difficulty to tie the half knot. I thought it was perfect except that the one end of the tie was longer than the broad end which is supposed to be longer. I unravelled it and retied it. This time I couldn’t push the knot up the collar. I had to struggle a bit while the driver looked sideways at the other drivers and smiled like I was his valet helping him dress up. But he seemed grateful after I finished. He said ‘Thank you’ and shook my hand like I had saved his life.