An Ethiopian taxi driver in Columbus, OH, offered marriage to me. He felt that his US Citizenship made him irresistible. When I laughed, he chided me: “No no, I am serious. Take my card.” It took some amount of firmness to dissuade him. He was driving me from the Columbus airport to the Greyhound bus terminal. The meeting was at Cincinnati, but the airfares had been prohibitively expensive. So the smart of idea of flying to Columbus and taking the bus from thereon had been hatched. It was thus I landed in Columbus, bright eyed and busy tailed, on Tuesday morning. My driver handled my rejection gamely with “You Indians only marry Indians no?” He then proceeded to show me the meager and underwhelming landmarks of Columbus downtown. It was disappointing really, because from the air, Columbus looked like the modern day cousin of the “village we know so well”. There were neatly arranged houses in tidy neighborhoods everywhere. From 20,000 ft, it certainly looked like peace was reigning. But...