Last Minute Gift From India

I probably would never have gone to India if it hadn’t been for my great friend and colleague John Dossey.

John had been given the task, by the U.S. Sub-Commission on Religion and Culture, of selecting four U.S. mathematics educators to speak at a World Mathematics Conference in Goa, India. I quickly accepted when John asked me to participate.

Upon arrival, on October 30, 1989, my wife Harriet and I were met at the airport in New Delhi by a representative of the U.S. Sub-Commission.

We had a strange mixture of emotions when he handed us a large bag of paper money (rupees) and told us that this was for our expenses, with any money left over to be spent in India.

When the wonderful nine-day mathematics conference ended, Harriet and I were in India for an extra week, and enjoyed the Taj Mahal, a touch of Ghandi, and some wandering sacred cows. We even endured a night with me sick in a third rate hotel in Jaiper, the Pink City.

But that’s another story.

On our last day, running out of the money and almost ready to board our flight home, we saw this special wall hanging in a little shop. We both loved it, and found that after we bought this last-minute gift, we would have 109 Rupees left, equal to about $1.50.

Harriet and I dedicated the wall hanging to John Dossey and whenever we looked at it we thought of him and that wonderful trip to India.