A few more friends and neighbors in the great city of New York.

-Amir an immigrant from Pakistan who has been driving a taxi for two years.

-Patrick (aka RAMA - tall, bearded, blonde and young, wearing a bakery apron) and Vish (an Indian woman of about 30,wearing Krishna robes). Visitors to New York from Germany and Canada respectively. In town for a gathering of the followers of Uma (some kind of neo Hindu/Hare Krishna-like spiritual leader).

-Me, traveling home from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We all met on Sunday afternoon.

Patrick, who had never driven in NY before took the borrowed car of spiritual leader Uma's second in command into Manhattan from Queens on an errand.

Amir was driving me down Park Avenue. Patrick ran a red light. Amir and I crashed into Vish's side of the car Patrick was driving.

BANG!!! Big smashup in the intersection. Got out of the taxi. Everyone seems to be okay. Patrick is very upset, Amir is very upset. Cops take forever to show up.

While waiting for the cops Vish invites me to come and "experience Uma tonight." Patrick calls car's owner. Owner shows up wearing hare Krishna robes and a picture of Uma pinned to the robe. Starts screaming at Patrick, cursing, stamping ground.

I wonder where the peace of Uma is now. Give statement to police. Car's owner calms down, Patrick starts crying, Vish starts hugging me. Amir still upset.

Uma's car-owning (and much calmed) second in command tells us that the moment before Partick called her "Uma felt a great pain in her neck and winced. She must have taken the pain for all of you."

We all hug before parting. I walk away and go eat some Turkish food for dinner. I make my way back to my little palace, pick up my 1st edition copy of David Copperfield and read for a bit.

Stop reading. Think about how what really changes lives and history are not men and their ideas but a gust of wind, a little rain, and a thousand prior events in the chaos of time and space that create moments that create moments that create moments.