Ode to Tariq

i felt the need to write this in light of the number of folks who have tried (and surely at times succeeded) in cheating me (and michiko) of money.
and, more importantly, peace of mind.
again - i write days later and every day is a new adventure in interacting with transportation folks, hotels, and just hawkers on the streets.
we've been hassled, harassed, and tossed about.
and i mean harassed.
males of all ages will talk you into all sorts of shit (if you let them).
i know theyre working just to make a buck.
but i feel it need not be this way.
and indeed. ive been proven correct.
and so.
here is my ode to a tuk-tuk driver named Tariq.
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Tariq had won us over.
i felt good about him from that morning when he asked for the job of taking us around for the day.
i have no idea why.
my instincts are usually rather good (but i have been wrong)-
and on this occasion, i went with them.
he just lovely and got lovelier as the day went on.
quiet, calm, and clear.
never pushy.
always smiling.
and really - rather paternal.
in a gentle way.
i have his phone number and address.
should anyone be heading to agra.
TALK TO ME.
i demand you use him.

after all our wandering about the city he took us to his home.
met his wife and his three rather charming children.
two boys and a baby girl.
offered us dinner (which we declined) and two cups of chai (which i happily accepted)
spent a couple hours in the candlelit evening (electricity had shut off) sitting on the patio of his new home.
chatting and learning random bits of life in agra.
and laughing at the baby girl who seemed rather fond of her baba.
this man has been a tuk-tuk driver for 25 years.
its only in the last 3 that he has owned his own, prior to that time he was saving up all his money as he drove and rented the vehicles of others.
and now he works to send his children to private school because the government schools generally (apparently) suck (numerous sources have noted this).
he cannot read or write even in his own language.
but speaks several (his english is some of the best we have encountered so far)-
and really.
lovely.
just lovely.
all of them.

in the end we loved him so much we gave him an extra cash.

admittedly. after only a few days in india you begin suspecting that everyone is out to swindle you. that they will figure out some way to cheat you and squeeze you dry.
because (disproportionately i hope) you encounter a hell of a lot of that as a tourist-
that even with open and straightforward people you suspect the worst.
and so the cynic in me will not die.
and even if the presentation of Tariq the tuk-tuk driver is all some elaborate (and brilliantly clever) ruse to get more money out of foreigners - i have to pay the man some respect for that cleverness alone because i certainly enjoyed the ride.

and so - though you may never read this good sir -
thank you tariq for a long long day in agra.
you made it far more pleasant than it would have been otherwise.