Sometimes it just takes one smile from a stranger, or a simple Namaste from someone you don’t even know to make your day that much brighter.
On Sunday we celebrated my 30th birthday at our new house in Nyack. While traveling in India, Chad and I had such an incredible time that we decided at the airport on our way home that my birthday party would be Indian themed! On our layover in India to New York we went to a department store, which was full of music, color and amazingness… I bought a sari and Chad bought a few bright colored, “diamond” studded button down shirts to round out our outfits for the bash. We bought bindi’s and masala chai powder for tea. When we came home, Chad found our local Indian restaurant, Keravali in Nanuet, NY and planned out the menu.
He specified making the food without chilis for my belly issues… but the food was still spicy… it’s ok though! They tried and it was still delicious. 🙂
The magic happened on the day of the event. We watched a YouTube video on how to wrap my sari, Chad put on my flower necklace and bindi and then the man from the Indian restaurant rang the bell to deliver the food. He walked in and immediately I saw the smile on his face. He was excited to see me in my sari and to hear the Indian music Chad had carefully selected for the party. Not only was his smile from ear to ear but he was also happy and eager to help. We were working on making masala chai tea from scratch (not the powder) and we had NO clue what we were doing. He overheard us talking about looking in the book and all of a sudden he chimed in. He said, if I may interrupt… this is how you make it and proceeded to fill us in on what would be the best masala chai we’ve ever had (probably because we made it ourselves!)
Fast-forward to the next day, after the incredible food, music and great company, Mr. Indian delivery man came back to collect the trays for the restaurant. He was genuinely concerned about how the food tasted and then proceeded to tell me how excited he was to tell his fiancée about our party and that they also wanted to have one like that too! His sincerity and utter joy made my day. We ended our encounter with a simple yet really meaningful Namaste. I’m grateful for his presence in my life, even for just a short moment. Namaste Mr. delivery man, Namaste.