Damn you, Karma.
No sooner do I decline to tip the guy for handing me an audio guide upon visiting the Ranakpur Jain Temple, I drop my phone, shattering the screen “protector” and shattering the screen itself. Some keys on the keyboard don’t work unless I’m adjacent to where the letter would be, as if every pixel/touchpoint was off a smidge… or more. Parts of my screen are splotched with dark oozing blackness, a digital cell phone Rorshach test.
Soon when somebody asks me what my favorite part of my trip to India was, I may not have an answer… but I damn well know what my LEAST favorite part of the trip was.
Oh, and when I returned the audio guide at the end of the tour, the guy asked me how did I enjoy my visit. I told him it was okay. “Just okay?” he says. “Yeah, well, Karma ya know?” And I told him about my phone. He nods and then points to the tip jar and says, “would you like to leave a tip for the audio guide?”
Oh, I got a tip for you, sir. But I figured I’d already angered the gods enough that day.
The face of a broken (phoned) man:
