Visacha Bucha Day

Today is the dreaded ISE day. ISE days would be nice if the bosses left us alone to mark students' papers and prepare lessons, but instead they drag us through pointless meetings.

This morning I came in by taxi and we saw a collision between a motorcycle and a bicycle. It was the motorcyclist’s fault. The bicyclist was barefoot and he had two Leo Beer boxes full of simple wares strapped onto his bike. We stopped to look. The motorcycle had remained upright but rolled to a stop about 50 yards past the collision. The bicyclist and his belongings had flown into the air and landed in disarray. The bicyclist sat up, so he was not dead. His face revealed not pain but a desperate struggle to control his anger. Then he stood up and squared his body toward the motorcycle. The motorcyclist craned his neck and peered back through the anonymity of his helmet's dark visor. It was an old-fashioned mad dog stare down. The taxi driver shook his head, said "stupid motorcycle," and drove off.

Bangkok is full of people who are trying to eke out a living by bicycling to some auspicious spot and selling for 25 Baht what they bought for 22 Baht. Today, on this Buddhist holiday, as I sit earning heaps of money for sitting through pointless meetings in air-conditioned rooms, I will do well to remember that bicyclist’s effort to control his anger.