Imagine if you can

Oliver and I were in a rush today to get to school for lunch with Andy. Let me start from the beginning:  We bought a washing machine six days ago and the store is supposed to send an "engineer" to set it up the next day.  No one came.  I called and called and was told always "today!" but the engineer never came.  Then Andy called- we figured that my female/western voice wasn't getting very far-and told them they had to come TODAY.  The head of the school got wind of our frustration and also called them and said TODAY.  I was told to expect them between 11:30 and 12:00 so that Oliver and I could still make lunch.  12:00 came, no engineer.  My Ayah (housekeeper), Mooni, came to wait for the engineer so we could leave.  Rushing to get out and make it to school on time we bumped into our next-door neighbor, Rajneesh, who offered to give us a ride to school...on his scooter.  My mind flashed back several years to when Britney Spears was accosted by the press for getting caught driving with her child in her lap and child services was called.  But we jumped on anyways.  Oliver was in his Ergo, tight to me and I figured that I see people doing this all the time just holding their babies in the arms.  Besides, there is no child services in India, so who would anyone call and report me to?  My neighbor told me to sit side-saddle (because all ladies sit side saddle) and to hold on tight.  I tried to adjust the hood on Oliver's rain coat, but he wailed.  I tried to put up the cover on the Ergo and he kicked.  Rajneesh saw how much resistance Oliver had to being covered and said, "Just open your umbrella." So now, imagine if you can: Me and Oliver sitting side-saddle, me holding on to the scooter with one hand and holding up my open umbrella in the other, riding down the mountain on Rajneesh's scooter.  People waved and smiled at us; never once did a look of concern flash across any faces.  Oliver narrowed his eyes against the wind and laughed the entire way.  To be sure,  I questioned my parenting the entire ride.  I would be arrested in America!  We aren't wearing helmets!  But the ride was kept under 25 mph (what's that in Kilometers?) and Rajneesh often shuttles his children around on the scooter so I knew he would be quite careful. Two minutes down and we hopped off and were just in time for lunch.  I hope next time we get offered a ride going UP; that's the difficult direction.