The Peace Corps jeep in Comilla was the property of the Peace Corps “boys” assigned to the East Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. I’ve always wondered if that was officially the case or if we all, boys and girls (in the old days, that’s how it was), just accepted it as right.
Whatever, the jeep, like all PC jeeps that I was aware of, was painted a distinctive color that became known as Peace Corps blue. Was it special issue by order of Sarge? Most likely there was an underling assigned to make such decisions and thought, maybe, that if they were easily identified there would be less likelihood of misuse? Who knows. But, that jeep in Comilla was known by all the folks in all the counties served by the Academy as the Peace Corps jeep, I have no doubt.
The boys also had a scooter which, if memory serves me well, no girl ever was allowed to drive. We girls had bicycles. I don’t recall ever seeing any of the boys on a bike! Tell me I’m wrong, please! It couldn’t have been that bad, could it have? But, I digress.
Two main memories arise when I think of that jeep. One, was of the Bengali driver—the boys’ driver, that is—who was fired frequently by one of the boys (no names from me) and almost immediately rehired. I never quite understood what that was about. Every now and then, when the Academy vehicles were not available and we girls were expected in a village we would very nicely ask the boys if we could borrow the jeep and driver. They usually kindly agreed. The driver would become very chatty, especially on trips after lunch, plus his driving seemed more erratic then. One day he explained to me that he and his friends, because alcohol was too expensive and hard to come by, would smoke hashish at lunch! Whether the hash was the cause of his chattiness and erratic driving, I’ll never know. But, it seemed that the trips were always a bit wilder after I learned that about him. He told me other things, too, that I swore never to repeat.
My other memory concerning the jeep was the one time I was actually allowed to drive it. Two friends and I were planning to drive through Europe en route back to the U.S. One had ordered a car with a standard transmission. I was the only one who had ever driven a stick shift and thought it would be a good idea to have a little practice with the clutch as it had been a few years. One day one of the boys—one temporarily assigned to the Academy as it were—and I were going to the new Campus. He very nicely allowed me to drive the jeep. Along the way, as was the custom, I stopped to pick up Bengalis who were going our way. In the rear view mirror I could see the looks of horror on their faces when they realized a female was driving! I’ve never seen people leave a vehicle as fast as those hitchhikers when we arrived at the destination!
No comments:
Post a Comment