We all have to admit – saying goodbye to our beloved Naveen was one of the hardest parts about leaving India. Naveen had not only been our amazing driver for 3 months, but he had also become a part of our family. And our hearts still miss him dreadfully to this day. We don’t know how we got so lucky and so blessed to have had this wonderful man be apart of our everyday lives, but we thank God for allowing us the chance to come to know him and his sweet family. Naveen truly had a heart of gold and loved us all unconditionally and completely. We weren’t just another family that he had to drive around. He treated us with all the care in the world and loved us as his own. We just couldn’t have asked for a better man or better service during our 3 month stay! We will forever be blessed by this good man!
Some memories we want to remember with Naveen:
– Listening to the same Indian music CD in the car with Naveen on all our road trips and then having Naveen give us the CD as a going away present!
– Having Naveen tease Dawson by calling him his Puta and making up a song about it. “Dawson you are my Puta – my angry puta” etc. Dawson had a love/hate relationship with the song, but adored it when Naveen gave him so much attention. Dawson would be growling at Naveen but smiling at the same time. It cracked us all up.
– The kids loved getting to sit up front with Naveen when we went around town running errands. NOT allowed in America, but very common in India.
– The kids loved getting ice cream and little toys from Naveen – which he would usually buy for them while I was running a quick errand in a store.
– We loved taking Naveen with us into all the fun things we did. Usually drivers would sit in the parking lot and wait, but we loved inviting Naveen in with us. He was able to go see the big Banyan tree with us, visit the Mysore temples and palace, go to the zoo with us, go on a safari, explore Kerela, come to church with us, go on lots of hikes, and to museums, and aquariums. We loved having him join us every chance we could. What a blessing he was to our family!
– We loved introducing Naveen to his first friend fry and other American foods. His reaction to tasting his first french fry is one we will always remember, “Oh madam this is beautiful!”
– We loved getting to visit the birthplace of Savitha (Naveen’s wife) and attend the festival with their family in Manya. What a wonderful time we had with them!
And those are just a few off the top of my head. More to come soon.
As a going away present for Naveen we wrote him a very long letter with many of the memories listed above and each of us telling him how much we love him, and then we also left him enough money to take care of him and his family for a month. We just felt so grateful for all he had done for us. We also bought him a large picture album and had over 100 pictures printed to put inside of all our adventures together and then we left him a message in the book as well. Then we took Naveen and his family out for one last hurrah with us to the art museum and aquarium and then one last lunch! We sure do love our Naveen and feel so very blessed to have him in our lives! He will forever be a cherished friend and part of our family! Our hearts are just so full of gratitude and love for this good man! We sure will miss you Naveen!
As you can see from the pictures below- their weren’t a lot of happy faces at the goodbye! The kids were so sad to have to say goodbye. Especially knowing they most likely wouldn’t ever see their beloved Naveen again. Dawson especially took it really hard.
Naveen sent Ady and I away with a beautiful bouquet of white roses. Since we knew the roses wouldn’t survive a long flight to Korea very well, we decided to do one last act of random kindness and we had Ady give individual white roses to people throughout the airport to brighten their days! Boy oh boy did she get a bunch of smiles from people she gave the roses too. It seemed like a perfect way to end our time in India! How blessed we have been to have had such an amazing adventure and to have made so many amazing and cherished friends! Living in India was a gift and blessing to our family. One we will never forget!
