While traveling around India I learned to expect the unexpected. Every turn delivered a surprise. When I was in Calcutta, a traffic jam forced my guide and I to abandon our tax ride to the Marble Palace. As we stumbled out the cab door we found ourselves amidst a frenetic fruit auction. My guide, who grew up in Calcutta, told me she'd heard rumors of this fruit market but had never been able to find it. She thought it was just a myth. The fruit vendors—all men—seemed just as startled to see two women running past the piles of oranges and bunches of bananas.

The market was so frenetic that became swept up in the hustle and eventually reached a dead end. Our only choice was to turn around and run the citrus gauntlet again. Vendors waved slices of oranges in our face and we finally stopped and agreed to have a taste, which brought about cheers from the fruit hawkers. I was so amazed that simply stepping down the wrong street could put me in this crazy moment.