Ray

We’re in the People room today where I’m talking about an interesting man from India.  Over the years I was in business there were several opportunities for me to work with men from India, but I never felt inclined to become personal friends with any of these men. On the other hand, Ray became my friend, beginning with the business connection followed by the resulting personal friendship.

My first encounter with Ray was on the fourth floor of a new hotel building that was under construction in a small town in Tennessee. I had just walked past one of those fancy German cars, so I thought he might be the owner of this project whom I had never met in person. It turns out he was not the owner, he was there with his young son, Andy, just walking through and looking at the structure framing. I was there that day to do the same–walk around and look at the structure framing. As the architect for the project, I was visiting the site as a part of my job to verify that the construction in process was in accordance with the plans and specifications which I had prepared for a Nashville-based hotel developer. Ray, himself a builder and the owner of several hotels, was visiting that construction project purely out of curiosity.

Ray handed me his business card and I tried to pronounce his name. His appearance, and the Indian accent in his English, were clear indicators of his origin. The name on his card was Rajendra Bhakta, but he quickly interrupted my attempt to say his name, “You can call me Ray,” and he went on to say who he was, and why he was there. At that moment I didn’t think I would ever need to say his name again, but I called him Ray, gave him one of my business cards, told him he could call me Ed, and explained why I was there. That chance encounter was the beginning of a friendship that’s held together for twenty years.

The next day he called and said he wanted to talk to me about a project, and he asked if I could meet him in Winchester at the Best Western motel. Turns out that’s one of his properties, and we met there and talked for about two hours. That was the first of many conversations we would have over the next several years, sometimes about a project, sometimes about India, and other things. He seemed a bit reluctant to discuss his personal affairs, but, in time, I did come to know he owned several hotels in Tennessee and Louisiana. He had been the builder for most of his properties as he was a licensed general contractor in several states, and he was well-acquainted with working in the hotel franchise industry.

One day our conversation drifted into the subject of India, and some of its political details. I learned that the country is made up of three major factions, all of them along religious lines: Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. The dominant population group, especially in the Indian government, is Hindu. And these are the people who are trying to control everything at the expense of the others. It can be dangerous to call yourself a Christian in India, as this is the smallest of the religion groups, and the group facing the greatest threat of persecution. In India, everyone is born into one of the three religious groups. Early on in our friendship Ray told me he was a Christian, and he imparted that information to me much like he was simply stating a matter of fact, like he would disclose, say, his home address. Eventually, I concluded that he was able to call himself Christian by virtue of his having been born into a ‘Christian’ family.

Ray is among many people of Indian descent who have come to the USA, quickly becoming entrepreneurs, either starting new businesses or buying existing enterprises. And they have become very competitive among themselves about their succeeding in business. Ray was quick to acknowledge this in our early meetings, advising me that ‘they’ are all a bunch of crooks and not to be trusted. Of course, he was the exception to that rule, reminding me that he was a Christian and I could trust him.

One of the projects Ray asked me to help him with was related to an existing hotel in Antioch, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. This Holiday Inn Express hotel was currently closed for renovation and part of that work was a new enclosed swimming pool attached to the ground floor of the 8-story building. So I took on the project and drew him a set of plans for the pool building based on what he wanted to build. One day during the construction phase Ray called me and asked if I could meet him at the job as he had something he wanted to talk to me about. I met him there and we walked next door to a fast-food restaurant where we could get some coffee and sit at a table and talk. He wanted us to be able to talk privately, he said, away from the people working at the job site. I assumed he wanted to talk to me about another project, but this conversation went in an entirely new direction.

Ray started his talk by telling me that his son, Andy, was a fine young man, had some very good qualities, but he had made a mistake, and it was coming back to trouble him. He said one day almost two years past Andy and a friend of his went into Nashville to celebrate his friend’s 21^st birthday. They visited some clubs and in one of those bars he met a woman who, after an hour of getting to know all about Andy, talked him into taking her home.

From that one-night tryst a little girl was born who was now almost a year old, and had become the subject of a potential court case. Andy had been paying this woman for her expenses and he was being pressured for more and more. Neither of these people wanted to raise this child but the mother didn’t want to just give her to a home; she said she would like for someone responsible to adopt her. Ray told me he was hoping I might be able to help: He asked me if I would check with people in my church to see if anyone was looking to adopt a baby, perhaps a couple who would accept a child who was nearly a year old, and half east Indian. (First of all, I had never mentioned to Ray that I even went to church, much less one where I could ask people such a personal question.)

In an amazing coincidence, but there was a young couple in our church at that time who had a boy about a year old, and they were looking to adopt a baby girl as they had been told they could not have another child born to them. I told them the story about Andy and his father who had been talking to me that week. They had no problem with the child’s race and they quickly got excited to learn more so I gave them Ray’s phone number. A couple weeks later they told me they had called Ray and gave him their contact information. After talking to Ray, I think they grew a little leery about the baby’s mother and what kinds of things might arise over the grandmother and her side of the family. At any rate they told me a month later that they had not heard back from Ray or anyone, but they were letting the Lord guide the whole situation. The last time I talked to Ray about it he said the same things about the mother’s family, and he had suggested that they just wait to see how things developed with that family in Nashville. I’ve never wanted to get myself anymore involved, so I don’t know how that story ends, or if it has ended.

It’s been two years since Ray’s last call asking me about my health, my family, and my work. I told him I had to retire so I wasn’t going to be doing any more work. I told him we were keeping him and his family in our regular prayers. My prayer remains that perhaps something in my friendship and work with Ray would trigger a spark within him that being a Christian is more than just inheriting a title. It’s possible that an amazing realization could overtake him not unlike the amazing coincidence of Andy’s baby and the couple looking to adopt a child.

There are many other stories I could share about Ray, like his interaction with other Indians, whom he says he ‘hates’, and like how he was always trying to get me to work cheaper. But this piece is over 1500 words already so I will cut it off. But every time we’re in Winchester and drive by the Best Western motel I think about Ray. He spends a lot of time on the road, but maybe one day I will stop in, and, if he’s there, see how he’s doing. We’ve had an interesting working relationship and friendship for over twenty years.

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