Just Another Day at the Office

Due to the lack of excitement in Chandigarh, a common hangout for us trainees is a liquor stand/chicken joint.  It’s genius, really.  You buy your beer at the stand, then proceed to the back and sit down.  Peanuts, or moongphali, are brought out to you and then you have the opportunity to order some of the finest chicken tikka in town.  Chicken and Beer…such an exquisite combination.

Anyways, Ryan and I were loitering outside the liquor stand portion of the establishment when a tragedy happened.  I looked up at complete random to see a horse trapped underneath a card loaded with wood.  For the horse, the situation looked bleak at best.  Our first instinct was to run over there and lend a hand.  As we approached, a big crowd was starting to form.  One guy was shouting out directions in Hindi and there were probably 15 people trying to get that horse out.

Ryan and I went to the back and tried to use gravity to our advantage.  We pushed and pushed and the others on the front pulled and pulled.  Finally, we were able to get the cart to a level position – unfortunately that didn’t get the horse out yet.  I decided that standing on the cart would be better, so I jumped up.  I wish I could say that my actions made all the difference, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case.  

As the cart began to tip in our direction, boards started sliding off, almost crushing Ryan.  All that cycling he does paid off because he used is cat-like agility to get out of the way.  Finally, the guy was able to get the horse out.  Luckily, the horse’s leg wasn’t broken, but it was extremely weak.  I think it took about an hour just for the horse to “shake it off” and get hooked back up to the cart.  As is usual here, there were no “thank you’s” given or any signs of appreciation – just the liquor store salesman ushering back to his shop to buy more beer.  

After a heroic act like that, I think we did deserve a beer, right Ryan?  Check out his story.  You’ll probably find the two remarkably different for two people that took part in the same event.